April 2025: The Timeless Power of Music

An old friend was recently recounting seeing a Texas legend in concert.  An act he had seen dozens of times over the years.  He was remarking that the show wasn’t that good and it had him wondering, was this particular artist’s show ever good?  Or was my friend pondered if he was just always hammered and having such a good time he didn’t notice how good or bad the show actually was.  This conversation was taking place in a group text.  Another old friend replied to the query and said, “His music changed the course of everyone’s lives that was around when he blew up. All of our lives are different from having existed when he hit the scene.”

That was all the confirmation my first friend needed and soon enough we were all recounting some of our favorite shows, memories and moments from over the years regarding music.  Texas Music to be exact.

That’s the thing, and Wade Bowen said it best way back when as he sang “A song is more powerful than most people think…”  Music transcends time, reason and order.  It sets uniformity asunder.  It makes sense of the abstract.  And it can be uniform and abstract.  Its true essence is in the live form.  Recorded music is great.  But, there’s something about the energy, drive and passion that comes from feeling the bass rattling your soul and the kick drum thuds your chest and the guitar howls into your ear canals that is indisputably magnificent.  The emotions that can get pulled out of you at an acoustic show are just as invigorating.  Hearing the song in its purest form is exhilarating. 

There have been several true movements and moments in the history of this music scene we all love.  It started with Willie and Jerry Jeff et al, lulled before Robert Earl Keen rose up and gave way to Pat Green which begat Ragweed, Randy etc onto Turnpike and Koe.  Current day finds acts as disparate as Red Clay Strays, Treaty Oak and Shane Smith and the Saints at the head of the table.  Each era is marked by changed lives.

In the fantastic Eagles documentary, Don Henley remarks that people did things to the Eagles music.  He posits that the way their music transitioned from albums to classic rock radio with no pause in the late 70’s/early 80’s is what made them ubiquitous.  They had a song and vibe for all life events.  Marriage, divorce, party, heartbreak, road trip, chilling out.  Life.  People lived with the Eagles. The music was there when other things weren’t. The music was alternately a starting point and an ending depending on when you jumped on the train.

In the context of the conversation in that top paragraph, the two guys talking were most definitely there at the dawn of that particular journey. It is no exaggeration to say that their lives were majorly impacted by the songs, shows and stories of that time period. The ripples of which continue to reverberate today.  Anytime you’re listening to or seeing an artist that you were there for at the beginning of their career and they’re now much more seasoned, it is natural to compare the present to the past.  Good ole days syndrome encroaches on everything.  “Back in my day…”  There’s a reason for that.  That’s when the connections were made. 

Don’t ever doubt your passion for an artist you once loved.  Even if they’re not at the top of your current playlists, there’s a reason you first fell in love with their music.  Anytime you need to rekindle that flame, go hit a show.  It may not sound or feel like it did 20 years ago, but there will be enough reminders around that you will transport your soul back to that place, back to that time. Gary P. Nunn famously remarked on the landmark Jerry Jeff Luckenbach Live recording, “Let me try to put myself back in that place…”  He meant a freezing London flat as he was homesick.  The same thing applies to music.  An old song is like an old friend you haven’t seen in a long time.  It has the power to transpose time and take you to other realms.  A song is more powerful than most people think.  They change lives. Sometimes they connect you, remove you and reconnect. A massive reconnection is happening in a couple of weeks in Stillwater. A live show is more powerful than most people think. Music changes the course of everyone's lives.