A lot has changed since 22

Before the 2017 Gospel Jamboree, I did not think I could have anything in common with anyone in the Bluegrass community. Boy, was I wrong.

From a musical aspect, I had never played Bluegrass music but I could relate to a few aspects of being a Christian traveling musician.

My wife and I had a conversation with a young 22-year-old from one of the groups. This young lady had a desire to be in a marital relation one day. Even from a young age both Susan and I could relate to wanted to be with a lifelong partner through marriage.

Then I had a chance to interview a mother and father couple that played at the Jamboree. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to run the story because our community has had a lot going on but listening to the couple talk brought me back to when I was in a traveling band.

During my time as a drummer with an Australian band, the job situation was a little complicated because, at the time, we had tons of odd jobs and yet no real working occupation. My only occupation at the time was a drummer.

They talked of going to music festivals and jam sessions and it was like time froze. It was at that time that I realized that I had spent hundreds of hours of my life in jam sessions (with other musicians) before I had moved here to Malta.

Since living in Malta I haven’t had any jam sessions and during our conversation, I realized just how much I had missed it.

While we were doing an interview downstairs, the kids were upstairs jamming. While I wouldn’t listen to Bluegrass daily, I respected their love for music and the skill of these young musicians that have been playing most of their lives.

It brought me back to a time where the music seemed to be everything in my life. A time where I was in demand as a drummer and I time where it was no big deal to stay up late just to turn on my mp3 player and drum along.

My life had literally flashed before my eyes when doing that interview and I do hope it triggers something within me to try and find just a few minutes a day to tap the skins again.