Old friends rediscovered and re-appreciated.

This picture is from a gig an old friend of mine--Phil--did with Emmylou Harris this summer at Telluride. Seeing him on Sunday morning hanging with Emmy and her new grandbaby kind of blew me away. They looked so—stinkin'—comfortable. She the ‘superstar’ and he, the casual friend from Wheaton (Taylor, actually) that I had totally lost track of.

Back in college days, we used to hack around a bit and make some music. I think I’ve still got an audio tape (somewhere) of him and me jammin’ on a campus radio station (another friend had a radio program and we went down and did some live music). My friend, Phil, was on piano and I was on guitar. When I had listened to a replay of that tape (like 35 years ago), I recognized that Phil's (superior) playing had elevated my (pedestrian) playing. I was impressed with how good…I sounded. I already knew he was good. But his talent encouraged my playing.

And that’s the way it should be in life.

We should elevate each other’s playing…and each other’s lives.

At any rate, I’m glad to have re-connected with Phil.