You’ve seen it. Maybe recently. Maybe in someone you love — the way their eyes changed before anything else did, before there was a name for it, before either of you were ready to say what you were both already knowing. You didn’t look away. You’re probably still carrying it. This is for you. WhenContinueContinue reading ““The Shadow Behind Your Eyes””
Category Archives: Stories & Sound
Writing More Like Elmore
A few years back I came across Elmore Leonard’s short list of rules for writing. The man had a way of making stories feel like real life overheard. One line from him has stayed with me: “My most important rule is one that sums up the ten. If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”ContinueContinue reading “Writing More Like Elmore”
Exploring the Depths of ‘Gideon’ by My Morning Jacket
The song that wouldn’t let go In a world full of noise and division, certain songs arrive like quiet companions. They ask honest questions and refuse to let go of them. “Gideon,” from Z by My Morning Jacket, is one such song. The echoing guitars and Jim James’ yearning vocals open space for honest searching. They pose simpleContinueContinue reading “Exploring the Depths of ‘Gideon’ by My Morning Jacket”
Dark Room, Yellow Light: How “Wrecking Ball” Remade Emmylou Harris
I came across the Wrecking Ball CD in the late 1990s, pulling it from the racks at the Vernon Parish Public Library in Central Louisiana. The cover alone — a high-contrast black-and-white close-up of Emmylou’s face blurred and streaked as though dissolving into shadow or motion, pierced by a single vivid yellow glow that cuts through theContinueContinue reading “Dark Room, Yellow Light: How “Wrecking Ball” Remade Emmylou Harris”
Hearing a Soul Mid-Sentence
There are songs that arrive already sorted out. Clean lines. Clear message. You know where the singer stands by the second verse, and nothing in the bridge is going to change that. And then there are songs that sound more like a man sitting at a kitchen table early in the morning, coffee going cold,ContinueContinue reading “Hearing a Soul Mid-Sentence”