A Few Notes

I was carrying on a conversation recently with the autumn wind. We were laughing and joking together when the wind turned suddenly, dancing around me and swirling about my head, and with the coolness of the season, came and whispered to me. "Do you want to know what I think?"

With the passing of a breath, in much too short a time for me to respond, the wind said, "I think you're becoming an old dog."

"Fine," I said. "I could think of worse things to become. I've always been rather fond of old dogs. They don't try to be something they're not and they love just for the sake of loving. They become old in time and body but their hearts are forever young."

"Let's play," said the wind. "I'll toss you a flutter of leaves or a stick from that tree. We can chase them around and around and forget about everything else.

"No, not now," I replied. "I've got a lot of work to do -later perhaps or maybe sometime tomorrow."

"Do you want to know what I think?" asked the wind. "I think that you still have a long way to go."

Many thanks, as always, to all of the musicians who played on this album. They are forever my friends.

Thanks to my wife, Karen, for her support and for being there. Her photographs have graced many of my album covers. She would deny being a photographer, but I would disagree.

Thanks to my son, Bowen, an artist, musician and filmmaker. He plays rings around me on the guitar and is a fine songwriter, as well. He joins me on the song, Cody.

Artistic note: The cut I entitled Cotten Pickin' is a medley of two songs written by Elizabeth Cotten—Freight Train and Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie. Elizabeth Cotten played the guitar upside down and backwards, using her thumb and index finger to pick the strings. This unusual style became known as "Cotten Picking." I also play the guitar in that style and so for this particular recording, I am playing the guitar as she would have played it, hence the title,

Finally, many thanks to the folks at Red House for keeping the faith and helping in a big way to keep the music alive.

—Bill Staines