For the past seven years, the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival has been a late-summer pilgrimage for our family — soaking in the music, the community, the particular magic of Lyons in August. This year, I finally brought some songs to the table.

I finally got the momentum pointed in the right direction and submitted two original songs to the Songwriter Showcase, with the big reaching dream of being chosen as one of the 10 finalists that get to showcase a few songs from the main stage.  I've watched this showcase/competition eagerly each of the past seven years, imagining myself up on that stage.  It is always an amazingly creative and talented group of musicians…Wish me luck.  

The two songs couldn't be more different from each other. Doot Doodle-ooo came out of my work as a hospice nurse, written after a patient whose jaw had locked up left me with a refrain I couldn't shake. Papa's Pliers was written to honor my father-in-law's retirement from a seventh-generation family farm outside Sioux Falls — a song seed I'd been carrying for fifteen years before the right moment arrived to plant it.

Both songs feel true to me. That's about all I can ask.  I just posted them to the top of my music page.

And yes, that's a #3 tarp run lottery ticket in the photo. If you know, you know. I'll say this: even if I somehow end up on that Folks Fest stage as a finalist, I guarantee I will still be sprinting for position on Friday morning. Some things are non-negotiable.

Fingers crossed. More to come.
 

During every spring, since 2015, npr's Tiny Desk Contest has motivated me to get out my guitar and a camera and share a new song.  I may not have the time to make music a huge part of every day.  But year after year, I at least keep coming back to this contest.  

Here's a video of my original song “Time Traveling Heroes.”  Thanks Tiny Desk for the annual motivation!  Now, it's time for all of the time traveling heroes.  Let's go change the world…

Here's a link to a playlist with (most) of my older entries.  

I'm launching the website today with my 2022 entry into NPR's Tiny Desk Contest.  I've entered the contest (almost) every year since 2016, and I always look forward to the opportunity, no matter how busy I am, to take a few days each spring to share a song.  

This year, I've chosen to enter my song, "If I Ever Figure You Out." 

It is a song originally written for my wife, but I hope it speaks generally to the fact that, in any relationship, if I ever find myself frustrated or numb, I've probably been pretending that things are too familiar.  In those moments, I need to step back, embrace the unknown, and step forward with curiosity and the courage to not know.