Have you ever been around me when a song came to me? Do you remember which song.
It usually starts weeks or months or years earlier. Someone says something and a seed is planted. For me yesterday, I remember Eric Struthers had told me about some instrumental gospel songs he recorded.
I held this old giant Gretsch guitar from the 1930s in my hands at Dusty Strings and that feeling came. A holy instrument from the dawn of popular music’s love affair with electricity.
This is where I was intern in 2001, just across the street at the Recording Academy / GRAMMYs‘ Northwest chapter, working for Deborah Semer.
It was here I decided to continue playing guitar left handed, but rather upside down and backwards, so I could play all these vintage and hand crafted guitars.
It was a great move. It led to me writing hundreds, if not thousands of song sketches across an evolution of formats, I am still going back and mining for chord changes and cold cold hooks.
Micro tapes, SD cards, hand held wav recorders? You name it. I wrote a hundred songs on one of em’. Because there are 365 days in a year. Plus a quarter.
As I held that guitar and saw Struthers I thought of the sadness a few weeks ago as I watched my Lutheran church die. I told Struthers after this moment, that I want to write and record a Gospel album capturing my wavering passion between agnosticism, doubt & faith, admiration for the miraculous woven fabric and blood hot crucible of Black & White gospel that gave America Rock & Roll.
No matter how much I preach the glory of evolution and scientific methods, I am a Lutheran. As much as I am fascinated by Martin Luther and his boldness and genius and humor I am revolted by his anti-Semitism.
As much as I tell myself I don’t believe in fairy tales I cling to the importance of myth, and feel what some call the Holy Spirit when I sing through that mic. And that might be my secret weapon. Because I do, and nobody can stop me from singing how I sing because there is nothing PC about the absolute truth.
There is nothing more Libel than the truth. Unfortunately lies are pretty libel too.
So I touched that guitar, searching for truth and sketched out the title track of a gospel album I hope to record in The South. I want to break bread with folks I met in Arkansas like Peter Read and Jesse Dean, and many more across a beautiful spectrum.
I even want to see what happens when a Sephardic Jewish Cantor and an Islamic voice from North African Bedouin & Taureg traditions, that is not so different, sharing my Moorish & Subharahan blood, sings over American Gospel.
…I that touched almost 100 year old guitar at Dusty Strings and that guitar gave me,
‘LUTHER’.
Music is one of the greatest journeys. It’s a faith I understand. It’s a journey within that reaches so far with out us it fills the airwaves if you strike just the right chord.
Davin’s new song has been released and has become a global earworm and Caribbean dancehall hit. Listen here on Reggaeville: DAVIN MICHAEL STEDMAN & ANTHONY RED ROSE – FREE YOUR MIND FEAT. SLY & ROBBIE WITH LENKY MARSDEN. The video is now available on Youtube.
– Musician and writer Davin Michael Stedman has many ventures, such as the AMAZING blog, 100milesofmusic.com, and is one of the driving forces behind the Staxx Brothers. This past spring he spent weeks networking in and reporting from Kingston, Jamaica. He will return there soon for more recording. His single with British band Sherlock Soul is now available as well.
