RockOm

Wishing to encourage her young son's progress on the piano, a mother took her boy to a Paderewski concert. After they were seated, the mother spotted a friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to greet her.

Seizing the opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall, the little boy rose and eventually explored his way through a door marked "NO ADMITTANCE." When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother returned to her seat and discovered that the child was missing.

Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlights focused on the impressive Steinway on stage. In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard, innocently picking out "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." At that moment, the great piano master made his entrance, quickly moved to the piano, and whispered in the boy's ear, "Don't quit. Keep Playing."

Then leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in the bass part. Soon his right arm reached around to the other side of the child and he added a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice transformed a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience. The audience was mesmerized.

That's the way it is with our Heavenly Father. What we can accomplish on our own is hardly noteworthy. We try our best, but the results aren't exactly graceful flowing music. But with the hand of the Master, our life's work truly can be beautiful.

Next time you set out to accomplish great feats, listen carefully. You can hear the voice of the Master, whispering in your ear, "Don't quit. Keep playing." Feel His loving arms around you. Know that His strong hands are there helping you turn your feeble attempts into true masterpieces.

Remember, God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called. And He'll always be there to love and guide you on to great things.

[Author unknown. Found at sermonillustrator.org]

Every once in a while a piece of writing comes along that touches all who read it. Recently the following excerpt from a 2004 welcome address given to parents of incoming students at The Boston Conservatory by Dr. Karl Paulnack, Director of the Music Division, has been making its way around the internet. Dr. Paulnak has given RockOm permission to reprint his writing here and we're quite confident that what you're about to read will move you on many levels.

One of my parents' deepest fears, I suspect, is that society would not properly value me as a musician, that I wouldn't be appreciated. I had very good grades in high school, I was good in science and math, and they imagined that as a doctor or a research chemist or an engineer, I might be more appreciated than I would be as a musician. I still remember my mother's remark when I announced my decision to apply to music school-she said, "you're wasting your SAT scores!" On some level, I think, my parents were not sure themselves what the value of music was, what its purpose was. And they loved music: they listened to classical music all the time. They just weren't really clear about its function. So let me talk about that a little bit, because we live in a society that puts music in the "arts and entertainment" section of the newspaper, and serious music, the kind your kids are about to engage in, has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with entertainment, in fact it's the opposite of entertainment. Let me talk a little bit about music, and how it works.

One of the first cultures to articulate how music really works were the ancient Greeks. And this is going to fascinate you: the Greeks said that music and astronomy were two sides of the same coin. Astronomy was seen as the study of relationships between observable, permanent, external objects, and music was seen as the study of relationships between invisible, internal, hidden objects. Music has a way of finding the big, invisible moving pieces inside our hearts and souls and helping us figure out the position of things inside us. Let me give you some examples of how this works.

One of the most profound musical compositions of all time is the Quartet for the End of Time written by French composer Olivier Messiaen in 1940. Messiaen was 31 years old when France entered the war against Nazi Germany. He was captured by the Germans in June of 1940 and imprisoned in a prisoner-of-war camp.

He was fortunate to find a sympathetic prison guard who gave him paper and a place to compose, and fortunate to have musician colleagues in the camp, a cellist, a violinist, and a clarinetist. Messiaen wrote his quartet with these specific players in mind. It was performed in January 1941 for the prisoners and guards of the prison camp. Today it is one of the most famous masterworks in the repertoire.

Given what we have since learned about life in the Nazi camps, why would anyone in his right mind waste time and energy writing or playing music? There was barely enough energy on a good day to find food and water, to avoid a beating, to stay warm, to escape torture-why would anyone bother with music? And yet-even from the concentration camps, we have poetry, we have music, we have visual art; it wasn't just this one fanatic Messiaen; many, many people created art. Why? Well, in a place where people are only focused on survival, on the bare necessities, the obvious conclusion is that art must be, somehow, essential for life. The camps were without money, without hope, without commerce, without recreation, without basic respect, but they were not without art. Art is part of survival; art is part of the human spirit, an unquenchable expression of who we are. Art is one of the ways in which we say, "I am alive, and my life has meaning."

In September of 2001 I was a resident of Manhattan. On the morning of September 12, 2001 I reached a new understanding of my art and its relationship to the world. I sat down at the piano that morning at 10 AM to practice as was my daily routine; I did it by force of habit, without thinking about it. I lifted the cover on the keyboard, and opened my music, and put my hands on the keys and took my hands off the keys. And I sat there and thought, does this even matter? Isn't this completely irrelevant? Playing the piano right now, given what happened in this city yesterday, seems silly, absurd, irreverent, pointless. Why am I here? What place has a musician in this moment in time? Who needs a piano player right now? I was completely lost.

And then I, along with the rest of New York, went through the journey of getting through that week. I did not play the piano that day, and in fact I contemplated briefly whether I would ever want to play the piano again. And then I observed how we got through the day.

At least in my neighborhood, we didn't shoot hoops or play Scrabble. We didn't play cards to pass the time, we didn't watch TV, we didn't shop, we most certainly did not go to the mall. The first organized activity that I saw in New York, on the very evening of September 11th, was singing. People sang. People sang around fire houses, people sang "We Shall Overcome". Lots of people sang "America the Beautiful." The first organized public event that I remember was the Brahms Requiem, later that week, at Lincoln Center, with the New York Philharmonic. The first organized public expression of grief, our first communal response to that historic event, was a concert. That was the beginning of a sense that life might go on. The US Military secured the airspace, but recovery was led by the arts, and by music in particular, that very night.

From these two experiences, I have come to understand that music is not part of "arts and entertainment" as the newspaper section would have us believe. It's not a luxury, a lavish thing that we fund from leftovers of our budgets, not a plaything or an amusement or a pass time. Music is a basic need of human survival. Music is one of the ways we make sense of our lives, one of the ways in which we express feelings when we have no words, a way for us to understand things with our hearts when we can't with our minds.

Some of you may know Samuel Barber's heart wrenchingly beautiful piece "Adagio for Strings" [Listen]. If you don't know it by that name, then some of you may know it as the background music which accompanied the Oliver Stone movie Platoon, a film about the Vietnam War. If you know that piece of music either way, you know it has the ability to crack your heart open like a walnut; it can make you cry over sadness you didn't know you had. Music can slip beneath our conscious reality to get at what's really going on inside us the way a good therapist does.

Very few of you have ever been to a wedding where there was absolutely no music. There might have been only a little music, there might have been some really bad music, but with few exceptions there is some music. And something very predictable happens at weddings-people get all pent up with all kinds of emotions, and then there's some musical moment where the action of the wedding stops and someone sings or plays the flute or something. And even if the music is lame, even if the quality isn't good, predictably 30 or 40 percent of the people who are going to cry at a wedding cry a couple of moments after the music starts. Why? The Greeks. Music allows us to move around those big invisible pieces of ourselves and rearrange our insides so that we can express what we feel even when we can't talk about it. Can you imagine watching Indiana Jones or Superman or Star Wars with the dialogue but no music? What is it about the music swelling up at just the right moment in ET so that all the softies in the audience start crying at exactly the same moment? I guarantee you if you showed the movie with the music stripped out, it wouldn't happen that way. The Greeks. Music is the understanding of the relationship between invisible internal objects.

I'll give you one more example, the story of the most important concert of my life. I must tell you I have played a little less than a thousand concerts in my life so far. I have played in places that I thought were important. I like playing in Carnegie Hall; I enjoyed playing in Paris; it made me very happy to please the critics in St. Petersburg. I have played for people I thought were important; music critics of major newspapers, foreign heads of state. The most important concert of my entire life took place in a nursing home in a small Midwestern town a few years ago.

I was playing with a very dear friend of mine who is a violinist. We began, as we often do, with Aaron Copland's "Sonata", which was written during World War II and dedicated to a young friend of Copland's, a young pilot who was shot down during the war. Now we often talk to our audiences about the pieces we are going to play rather than providing them with written program notes. But in this case, because we began the concert with this piece, we decided to talk about the piece later in the program and to just come out and play the music without explanation.

Midway through the piece, an elderly man seated in a wheelchair near the front of the concert hall began to weep. This man, whom I later met, was clearly a soldier-even in his 70's, it was clear from his buzz-cut hair, square jaw and general demeanor that he had spent a good deal of his life in the military. I thought it a little bit odd that someone would be moved to tears by that particular movement of that particular piece, but it wasn't the first time I've heard crying in a concert and we went on with the concert and finished the piece.

When we came out to play the next piece on the program, we decided to talk about both the first and second pieces, and we described the circumstances in which the Copland was written and mentioned its dedication to a downed pilot. The man in the front of the audience became so disturbed that he had to leave the auditorium. I honestly figured that we would not see him again, but he did come backstage afterwards, tears and all, to explain himself.

What he told us was this: "During World War II, I was a pilot, and I was in an aerial combat situation where one of my team's planes was hit. I watched my friend bail out, and watched his parachute open, but the Japanese planes which had engaged us returned and machine gunned across the parachute cords so as to separate the parachute from the pilot, and I watched my friend drop away into the ocean, realizing that he was lost. I have not thought about this for many years, but during that first piece of music you played, this memory returned to me so vividly that it was as though I was reliving it. I didn't understand why this was happening, why now, but then when you came out to explain that this piece of music was written to commemorate a lost pilot, it was a little more than I could handle. How does the music do that? How did it find those feelings and those memories in me?"

Remember the Greeks: music is the study of invisible relationships between internal objects. The concert in the nursing home was the most important work I have ever done. For me to play for this old soldier and help him connect, somehow, with Aaron Copland, and to connect their memories of their lost friends, to help him remember and mourn his friend, this is my work. This is why music matters.

What follows is part of the talk I will give to this year's freshman class when I welcome them a few days from now. The responsibility I will charge your sons and daughters with is this:

"If we were a medical school, and you were here as a med student practicing appendectomies, you'd take your work very seriously because you would imagine that some night at two AM someone is going to waltz into your emergency room and you're going to have to save their life. Well, my friends, someday at 8 PM someone is going to walk into your concert hall and bring you a mind that is confused, a heart that is overwhelmed, a soul that is weary. Whether they go out whole again will depend partly on how well you do your craft.

You're not here to become an entertainer, and you don't have to sell yourself. The truth is you don't have anything to sell; being a musician isn't about dispensing a product, like selling used cars. I'm not an entertainer; I'm a lot closer to a paramedic, a firefighter, a rescue worker. You're here to become a sort of therapist for the human soul, a spiritual version of a chiropractor, physical therapist, someone who works with our insides to see if they get things to line up, to see if we can come into harmony with ourselves and be healthy and happy and well.

Frankly, ladies and gentlemen, I expect you not only to master music; I expect you to save the planet. If there is a future wave of wellness on this planet, of harmony, of peace, of an end to war, of mutual understanding, of equality, of fairness, I don't expect it will come from a government, a military force or a corporation. I no longer even expect it to come from the religions of the world, which together seem to have brought us as much war as they have peace. If there is a future of peace for humankind, if there is to be an understanding of how these invisible, internal things should fit together, I expect it will come from the artists, because that's what we do. As in the Nazi camps and the evening of 9/11, the artists are the ones who might be able to help us with our internal, invisible lives."

Karl Paulnack, Director
Music Division
The Boston Conservatory
8 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02215
www.bostonconservatory.edu

By Anne Trenning
DUBLIN, GA. (Top40 Charts/ Shadetree Records)

Instrumental pianist Anne Trenning titled her third recording Watching for Rain, as a metaphor indicating a time of hopeful anticipation. "As our world continues to face the challenges of economy, war and the environment, we find ourselves looking toward new opportunities, for rain to come and refresh the earth, and for growth and positive change to occur."

Trenning explains, "In a broader sense, it seems many of us are hoping for our world to enter a period of healing; we want to be part of a cleansing transformation - which is why I chose the analogy of rain.

I wanted the music on this album to reflect new beginnings, and to offer emotional encouragement during this time of anticipation and hope."

Her CDs can be purchased at her site, at major online stores such as amazon.com and cdbaby.com, or at a variety of digital download locations such as iTunes and Rhapsody.

Trenning has always used personal experiences to create music that she hopes will resonate universally. "Sorrow and grief are as much a part of life as joy and happiness, and all those emotions resonate in my music. My compositions are often melodic portraits of challenges I have faced in my own life."

She began exploring those emotional landscapes on her first album, Suite Tea. That recording also evoked water imagery with the original composition "Where Rivers Run" as well as a cover of Led Zeppelin's "The Rain Song." Trenning's second album, All One World, promoted her belief in global peace, love, and friendship, but also addressed personal challenge ("Walking Through My Tears") as well as willingness to reach out (the traditional "Give Me Your Hand"). While Suite Tea received substantial sales and airplay internationally, Anne's popularity soared with her next recording. All One World debuted at No 4 on the national New Age Reporter radio airplay charts, and NAR also named All One World one of the Top 5 acoustic piano albums of the year. It ranked No 9 in a competition of 2,800 recordings on NAR's annual list of all contemporary instrumental albums.

Trenning has become known both for composing strong melodies, and for arranging memorable tunes in new ways. Trenning's sound blends her classical training with her love of new age, gospel, Celtic, jazz, classic rock, folk and Americana. Her recordings feature a few solo piano pieces along with an assortment of selections where the piano is accompanied by other acoustic instruments such as violin, cello, flute, piccolo, guitar, bass, and percussion. All One World and Watching for Rain were both produced by classical percussionist Rick Dior. Dior graduated from the Manhattan School of Music, studied with jazzsters Bob Mintzer and Joe Morello, and serves as a percussionist for the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. Dior has backed numerous stars including James Taylor, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Hamlish, Ray Charles, Bobby McFerrin and Lionel Hampton.

Watching for Rain contains ten originals plus the Welsh folk melody "The Ash Grove," the traditional spiritual "I Want To Be Ready," the modern gospel "H. I. A. T. W.," the Don Schlitz-Paul Overstreet country classic "When You Say Nothing At All" and a 37-second benediction-like coda of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released." Trenning also offers a new arrangement of the Celtic-spirited "Eden Hall" that originally appeared on her first recording. Her new material ranges from the grand and stately "The Welcome Song" (featuring a piano-cello-violin trio), to the Americana minuet-feel of "Carolina Moon." "You and Me" is about the evolving nature of relationships. "A Prayer for the World" is both reverent and soulful.

There is an organic quality to Anne Trenning's music that derives from her love of nature and the world around us. She has a deep respect for rural lifestyles. She believes strongly in the importance of family and tradition. History is another fascination, reflected by her penchant for antiques and old homes. Her love for the past also is evident in the traditional sounds of acoustic instruments found throughout her recordings. Anne, who is an avid reader of all genres of literature, feels strongly about passing on knowledge. When not writing, recording, or performing, she teaches piano performance.

Trenning lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was raised in the Chicago suburb of Barrington, Illinois, where she began playing the organ at age seven. She remembers 'learning lots of sheet music from the Big Band era.' When she was 12, Trenning shifted her focus to playing piano. Church and choir also shaped her earliest musical memories. Her father encouraged practicing and a love of four-part harmony by paying her a dollar for every hymn she learned to play from a Presbyterian hymnal passed down from her grandmother. "My entrepreneurial spirit insured that I learned to play most of the songs in that well-worn, treasured family collection."

Anne has always loved varied and diverse musical forms. Her early classical studies led her to appreciate Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy and Chopin. At the same time, she always loved listening to "just about anything on the radio." A teenager in the eighties, she found herself drawn to classic rock and pop music from the previous decade, including Crosby Stills Nash and Young, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Steely Dan, The Guess Who, Elton John, The Allman Brothers, and Dan Fogelberg. Trenning attended Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina on a music scholarship, and earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music and History. In college, her classical studies expanded, and she became a fan of Mendelssohn, Scarlatti, and Ravel. Simultaneously, she explored country, folk, and new age music, and was especially inspired when she discovered the music of George Winston. Other artists of influence were Joni Mitchell, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Bonnie Raitt, and Emmylou Harris. In more recent years, Trenning's musical tastes have continued to expand to include other new age musicians such as Suzanne Ciani, David Lanz and Jim Brickman. Jazz and Americana are newer interests, as well as traditional folk music by artists that include Jay Ungar and Molly Mason.

After college and three-months of traveling in Europe, Anne moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. Her musical career took a dramatic turn when she began composing music. "I didn't even own a piano in the immediate years following my graduation from college, but after I purchased my first home, I inherited the family piano. After years of taking lessons, I suddenly found myself sitting at the piano without a set goal for my practicing. That's when I began experimenting and creating my own music." Soon Trenning made a demo tape that was heard by best-selling new age artist David Lanz, who said he liked her style, and gave her welcome encouragement. Anne then recorded her debut album Suite Tea. "The title is a tongue-in-cheek nod to years of classical studies, and my whole-hearted embrace of the refreshing Southern tradition of sitting back and enjoying a cool glass of sweetened iced tea." The recording was produced by GRAMMY-nominated and DOVE Award-recipient Dave Moody. She followed that CD with the Top 5 airplay album All One World. Her third recording, Watching for Rain, continues to showcase carefully arranged material for piano-led acoustic ensembles.

"I am always watching the horizon, not just for rain, but for whatever is coming next. There is a change in the air for the whole world, and I wanted this collection of songs to communicate the hope for constructive transformation. Water is one of life's essentials, and I feel the same way about music. At times it simply washes over me, and other times I completely immerse myself in the blessing it has to offer. Music, like rain, suffuses the world in beneficent grace."

http://www.annetrenning.com/

By Tom Crenshaw, tom@rockom.net

There are only six musicians in the world whose email signature includes the iconic lips and tongue logo of The Rolling Stones. Keyboardist Chuck Leavell is one of those six. As a member of the Rolling Stones for the past twenty-seven years Chuck Leavell has played an integral part in shaping the music of the Stones since joining the band (on suggestion to The Stones by Bill Graham) on the 1982 European tour for the album Tattoo You. He has since gone on to contribute to the songwriting team of Jagger-Richards and in assisting in the arranging of their last umpteen albums since 1983’s album Under Cover.

Chuck Leavell may be a Rolling Stone but he’s getting used to playing a role much more influential and rewarding than being a member of the world’s greatest rock band through his work as a conservationist, environmentalist and founding board member (and Director of Environmental Affairs) of the Mother Nature Network (www.mnn.com). In addition, he and his wife Rose Lane were named National Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year in 1999 for their management of Charlane Plantation in Macon, GA. He is also a board member of the U.S. Endowment for Forest Communities and was the keynote speaker at The Presidential Seminar and Fortune Magazine’s Green Summit.

Chuck Leavell is one of the most sought-after keyboard players in all of rock and roll. Before joining the Rolling Stones, Chuck was a member of the Allman Brothers Band and Sea Level. He has performed and recorded with the likes of George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, The Black Crowes, Widespread Panic, The Indigo Girls, Blues Traveler, Train, Rod Stewart, Steve Winwood, Seal, Robert Palmer, Chaka Kahn, Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, Montgomery Gentry, Lee Ann Womack... (ok, you get the drift here - who HASN’T Chuck collaborated with?)  He has recorded and released four solo albums with his latest double disc release being 2008’s Live in Germany. Chuck has also authored several books including an autobiography entitled Between a Rock and a Home Place and a children’s book on environmentalism entitled The Tree Farmer.

Chuck Leavell has carved a legacy for himself that few could ever imagine creating. His contributions to the annuals of music and to the preservation of our world for future generations aren’t fully appreciated at this moment in time. But that’s probably just fine for Chuck Leavell.  After all, as you'll soon learn, he’s got a grandbaby to play with now. One must remember to tend to the truly important things in life.
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RockOm: Thanks, Chuck for allowing RockOm the opportunity to spend some time with you. It’s a great honor. What are your earliest musical memories growing up and what first inspired you and made you aware that you wanted to be a professional musician?

Chuck Leavell: It was my mother that inspired me to play the piano. She played, just for family enjoyment, and I was the youngest of three siblings. So often it was just my mom and me in the house together, especially when I was just a child - five, six, seven years old. I would tug on her skirt and ask her to play and she would usually oblige if she wasn’t too busy. I loved hearing her play and watching her hands going up and down the keyboard. It was a huge thrill for me.

RockOm: Did you ever in your wildest dreams imagine that music would take you from Alabama to see the world and collaborate with the greatest musicians in the industry?

Chuck Leavell: No. All of that came in due course, but when I started, it was really just for the love of doing it. Although I must say that in my first band when I was 13, The Misfitz, we were doing quite well. We played the YMCA every Friday night and on Saturday mornings we had a TV show called Tuscaloosa Bandstand. Between those two gigs we were bringing down something like $45 each a week, which was pretty substantial for the mid 60’s. So it became an enterprise as well as a joy very early on for me.

RockOm: To say you’re a staunch conservationist is an understatement. You’re an avid environmentalist, preservationist, a board member on the U.S. Endowment for Forest Communities, author of several books, owner and operator of Charlane Plantation, which is a 2200 acre pine forest and farm outside Macon, GA. Now you’ve developed and launched a very exciting and important new project, the Mother Nature Network (www.mnn.com) and are the project’s Director of Environmental Affairs. Some social and political leaders have stated recently that conservationism and environmentalism are indeed spiritual matters that the church and religious institutions need to address. Do you agree with their assessment?

Chuck Leavell: I think all of us have to address our environmental challenges. Our churches and spiritual institutions, sure, but also our government, businesses, schools, universities, nongovernmental organizations, non-profits and other groups - and of course as individuals. Theodore Roosevelt said over 100 years ago at a conference on water issues in Memphis, Tennessee that if we don’t address the challenges that face our natural lands we stand little chance of solving other problems. I think he was right then and he’s right now. I do think that now the “sleeping giant” (America) is finally awakening to these challenges. Maybe not everyone, but I think enough of us now see that it’s inevitable we make changes in our lives, our energy sources and energy consumption, our development models and methodologies and so forth if we want to have a beautiful and safe world to live in. I believe we also have to face some realities in population growth. It seems to me that the Europeans and some other countries have made more strides in all these matters than we have. But with the new Administration now in place, I’m confident that we will do better. Hey, I’m a grandparent now and I worry about the world our future generations will have to deal with.

RockOm: As a “Carolina boy” I grew up enjoying time in the woods, the countryside and mountains and understand it when you said that, “There's nothing like being next to nature and the feeling of spirituality that comes with that."  When you’re out walking Charlane Plantation is there a “natural music” that you hear in the woods, the fields? How have you used your time in mother nature to help you be a better musician?

Chuck Leavell: I like to say that walking in my woods or any beautiful natural setting is, for me, like being in church. I think one can feel a connection to all things when in nature - a connection to wildlife, to plant life, to the Earth itself and even to the universe and beyond. Maybe that sounds a bit extreme or over the top, but it’s true, at least for me. I have a feeling of calm, connection, reverence and spirituality in nature. And yes, sometimes it inspires musical ideas.

RockOm: Why do you think music cuts so easily through cultural, social and religious barriers and has the ability to bring people together unlike any other medium?

Chuck Leavell: It’s simply THE universal language. We can all respond to it. It’s a means of cutting through words - although, of course lyrics can be equally important as melody and rhythm and getting to feeling. It can also be an expression of our culture. Food and music do a lot to define our heritage, who we are, our respective cultures. I think it’s also that music expresses emotions of all kinds: joy, sadness, loneliness, longing, fear, defiance, love and other emotions. It allows us to communicate in a way that sometimes spoken languages can’t.

RockOm: You’ve recorded some righteous gospel tunes and worked with spirited artists on many occasions including Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton and the late George Harrison, all of whom have openly expressed their spirituality. Can you mention some other songs or artists you’ve written or worked on or with that have a quality that you would call spiritual but aren’t religious at all?

Chuck Leavell: Well, certainly the ones you’ve mentioned were very spiritual, and it was an honor to work with them. My friend Randall Bramblett, who worked with me in Sea Level and who I still work with from time to time is a very interesting spiritual person without necessarily being religious. His music and especially his lyrics reflect that. He goes deep into social issues, moral issues, love, forgiveness, conflict and more. I think he’s one of the greatest songwriters in our country now and much overlooked. I just did a CD with Bonnie Bramblett, a gospel record. I love gospel music, and gospel has been a huge influence on my playing. When you think about it, most rock piano comes from the church; Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Aretha and others all started playing in church settings. It’s a stylistic thing, but also a certain feel, a groove. I can think of some bands that have inspired me that come from a spiritual place like The Mahavishnu Orchestra, for instance. Very spiritual. Ravi Shankar is another example in a completely different genre. Keith Jarrett moves me in that way. McCoy Tyner. So do players no longer with us like John Coltrane and Miles Davis.  U2 writes about social issues that get into a degree of spirituality, I think. Joni Mitchell strikes me as spiritual in some of her songs.  Certainly not all music has to be “spiritual”, but I think a lot of those that attempt to be spiritual through their songs and interpretations can be moving and inspiring. It’s part of the magic of music.

RockOm: Would it be fair to say that music is something spiritual for you and if so, can you elaborate, as much as you’re comfortable doing so?

Chuck Leavell: For me, music is sometimes a spiritual exercise, but also an intellectual one, as well as a physical one. I think it’s possible sometimes to reach new heights musically if you are somehow inspired spiritually. As a musician, sometimes when I take a risk, trying to do something that perhaps I have not practiced enough to be confident in doing, yet am willing to try at a certain moment when a certain “spirit” is within me, the spirit seems to take over and make it possible. I guess in part spirituality gives you faith in yourself to go beyond what you may be comfortable trying. It’s sort of like calling on a universal connection that exists between all of us and gaining strength from that to try things you may have some fear or trepidation trying. It’s perhaps a bit like when the adrenaline takes over in an accident and gives someone extraordinary strength to lift a heavy object or perform some other physical feat that you would normally say is impossible or beyond your normal means in order to save a child, or a loved one. Spirituality gives us hope, power, possibility that may not have existed a moment before.

RockOm: What moves you as a songwriter and musician into that space where inspiration flows easiest? How do you best create music?

Chuck Leavell: Well, I have to first of all admit that I am not a prolific songwriter. I enjoy writing, but for whatever reasons, I am more of a player than a writer. As far as inspiration goes, it can come from just about any source. I suppose a good example for me was my Southscape CD. I wanted to pay tribute to my southern heritage. To do a project that expressed musically what the South means to me - the places, the people, even the food. So songs like “Cherokee Wind” pays homage to the Native American influence and heritage of the South. “Tomato Jam” is a nod to a sweet yet spicy condiment that is southern. In “Altamaha”, I try to paint a picture of that very important river in Georgia. I guess I like having a purpose to write music but sometimes things just pop out of the fingers or out of the mind. I’m not so good with lyrics but once in a great while I’ll write them. However, I don’t have near the confidence in my lyrics as I do in my playing.

RockOm: Your style of playing the piano and your contributions to Rock ’n Roll are historic and are still evolving, placing you right there alongside the greats in the industry. How do you maintain the humbleness you’re been noted for?  What keeps you grounded and your name out of negative press when many of your peers have had such difficult times adjusting to fame and fortune?

Chuck Leavell: I’m not sure I really know the answer to that. I certainly don’t think I have any special gift that makes me in any way better than anyone else. I am just so grateful for the life I’ve been able to lead, for what talents I’ve been offered. I’m so blessed to get to play music with others, to have a wonderful family, to be able to work in nature and hopefully to appreciate it and help the health of our natural lands, our wildlife and all the bio-diversity that exists in our world. My parents were certainly an influence on me. My dad told me things like, “You make your own luck” and “there is an art to everything.” My mom was such a loving individual and had deep faith. She was also an inspiration in that she had one of the worst cases of rheumatoid arthritis you could imagine, yet hardly ever complained. She lived through a tremendous amount of pain and suffering because of it, yet was grateful for her life, her opportunities, her family, her friends. When I think of any of the problems or challenges I face, I think of her and I think of what she taught all three of her children... to be grateful for what you have, to try and overcome obstacles, to try and make a positive difference in the world, to love your fellow man, to be willing to forgive wrongdoings and to get beyond things like hate, revenge and vengeance. Carrying around excess baggage can drag you down. Not that we need forget things that happen but it’s more about moving forward and trying to help induce positive change.

RockOm: After almost 30 years as a member of The Rolling Stones is it still exciting when you get the call that it’s time to record and tour again?

Chuck Leavell: Absolutely! I love working with the Stones, love all the individuals involved - not just the band, but all the folks that are attached to it. It’s quite a large family and most of the members have been there a long time. It gets in your blood. It’s part of me, of us. I wish we would work more often, record more, try different approaches to touring. But it’s all up to the guys that are in charge, mainly Mick, Keith and Charlie. We’ve been off now since August of 2007, almost two years. We haven’t played in the U.S. Since February of 2006, three years. It’s great for me and all the others to have different things to do, different settings to play music in, but the Stones are, well THE STONES!

RockOm: Who would you most like to collaborate with musically if you had the opportunity?

Chuck Leavell: There are a lot of artists I admire and would love to play with - some established, some new. I like the works of Joni Mitchell, Sting, Ben Harper, U2, Macy Gray, Alison Krauss, Bob Dylan and others. I’ve enjoyed working in the Country genre from time to time. I have worked with Montgomery-Gentry, Miranda Lambert, Lee Ann Womack, and David Nail. I like Taylor Swift’s voice and have never worked with her. I’m sure there are lots of others. Send me a list and I’ll tell you!!

RockOm: What’s next for you? Any projects in the near future that you care to mention?

Chuck Leavell: My next CD will be a tribute to pioneering piano players. Mostly from the 40’s and 50’s, but I’m trying not to be too restrictive. I don’t really want to go past the 50’s era, though. There have been a lot of tributes to guitar players of the era, but very little has been done to pay homage to these piano players such as Little Brother Montgomery, Lee Roy Carr, Amos Milburn, early Ray Charles, Cow Cow Davenport and the like. I want to concentrate mainly on blues players, but maybe a little stride and boogie will edge their way in. I’ve started research for it and I believe it will be a fun project. I don’t know what the Stones have in mind. They have had some meetings, but I don’t think any decisions have been made yet. Of course if the call comes, I want to be there. I mentioned the Bonnie Bramblett sessions and have one coming up with Montgomery-Gentry. I love doing session work and hope there will be more coming my way this year. I’ve started a new book called Smart, Strong and Sustainable that will deal with growth and development issues. And of course I’ll be working quite a bit on The Mother Nature Network project. I’ll certainly be working on Charlane Plantation as much as possible, too. I love working on our land. I’m also involved in some interesting Boards... the U. S. Endowment for Forests and Communities, The American Forest Foundation, The Georgia Land Conservation Council, The Dell Re-Generation Board and some others. These are all wonderful opportunities, and I hope to do them justice.

To learn more about Chuck Leavell please follow these links:

The Mother Nature Network: www.mnn.com

Chuck Leavell’s Homepage on the web: www.chuckleavell.com

Chuck Leavell’s MySpace page: myspace.com/chuckleavell

Chuck Leavell at Amazon.com

Over the Rhine is an Ohio-based indie husband-and-wife duo with a huge devoted fan base and eleven studio albums under their belts. Known for their unique yet ever-changing sound and thoughtful lyricism, Over the Rhine has made a name for themselves while playing the industry game their own way. OTR's Linford Detweiler spoke with RockOm's Trevor Harden about their career, the band's newest release, The Trumpet Child, and the biblical imagery and whimsical political musings within.

Linford Detweiler: I think when people walk away desiring to be a better human being (laughs) that something important has happened. I know when I encounter any kind of creativity that moves me on some significant level that's one of my immediate responses. I just want to be a better person. I love that art can do that – there's something mysterious about how and why that happens. But that's what keeps it interesting and meaningful for us, to get caught up in that sense of creativity being a springboard to being more fully alive.

RO: You've also said that one of the things that Over the Rhine has been interested in – among other things – is "challenging the status quo and taking power away from those who have too much and transferring it to people who have too little." This sounds to me a lot like Jesus' saying that "The first shall be last and the last shall be first." In what ways has Over the Rhine's career and music promoted that attitude or approach?

L: I think some of it has to do with the ethos of the band and our do-it-yourself work ethic from the beginning. The music industry, the whole power structure of it, was centered around LA and New York and Nashville and there was a lot of discussion early in our careers about getting on board and moving to one of the power centers for the industry. But we took a little more of a communal approach; a little bit more of a historical approach, maybe, in that we opted to stay closer to home where we had roots, where we also had friends that had been important influences to us and where we had a sense of community. Right off the bat we said, "Thanks but no thanks," to aligning ourselves with some of the big industry structures and decided to strike off the beaten path a little bit. That being said, I hope our recordings have filled a niche on people's shelves and served a purpose in a way that they couldn't really find exactly what we were doing anywhere else. There was a little bit of something kind of strange and wonderful about what we were trying to do with our music. I think we gave permission to a lot of people to sort of strike out on some sort of creative journey with or without the partnership of a record label or a publisher and [promoted] the idea that everybody has something to contribute, something to say, [that] anybody that wants to live with their eyes wide open can participate in this bigger conversation.

RO: Your new album's title track, "The Trumpet Child," beautifully blends apocalyptic biblical images with some jazz references. Is this a fresh modern retelling of the Christian end-times Revelation story or does it have a second, metaphoric meaning?

L: "The Trumpet Child" was an interesting song for us in that it kind of veered into a new territory musically. There are a couple things going on there. Some of it was on sort of a personal level and there's also a bigger, spiritually symbolic level. On a personal level, one of my earliest memories was the sound of the trumpet at a camp meeting revival that my parents took me to. It kind of woke me up to the world; it really is one of my very first memories. The sound of that trumpet up on that little wooden stage appeals to my imagination and so the idea of a child discovering a trumpet was always a powerful image to me. I can remember the first time I heard a piano as well. It seemed like a strange little wooden house was calling my name when I heard what was coming out of it. There's also an image in the Old Testament about the lion lying down with the lamb, the earth being healed, and a child leading the lion – which is a powerful image that some of us grew up with in Sunday school. So there's some of all of that tangled up in there and I guess the song is just a riff on this idea that we hear over and over in gospel music that the earth might be reborn somehow with the sound of a trumpet. We were wondering what that might actually sound like and thinking of [how if] some of the great American horn players like Louis Armstrong and so forth did start blowing riffs in the sky, what kind of a musical ride that might be.

RO: And now just several weeks away from the big 2008 presidential election, I'm sure your song "If a Song Could Be President" takes on a timely significance. It seems to speak of how hope, democracy, love, and change can – as your lyrics state – "break us out of a minor key." How have you seen your thoughts about this song or your mindset while you're performing it change in light of the current political landscape we find ourselves in?

L: The song was kind of a whimsical little idea that popped up on our radar while making The Trumpet Child. We got to thinking about what might happen if we sent some of our personal favorite songwriters to Washington to help sort some things out. We got to wondering who might do what. John Prine could run the FBI. In concert, we talk about the fact that Tom Waits could be Secretary of State. Emmylou could be ambassador. I think those are all still really good ideas (laughs) but I think one thing that we were hoping that the song might contribute is this sense of reminding people that American music is something that we still hold in common regardless of political affiliation. It seems like as the political landscape sort of revs up that there's a lot of pressure on people to divide into separate camps, surround yourself with people that think like you do. There's very little opportunity actually for real conversation. We've noticed that if we go to an Al Green concert, it's one of the most beautiful mixes of people in the same place with a very diverse audience – black, white, wealthy people, working class, people that are drawn to the religious component of Al Green's gospel music, people that are there because they love the early love songs. It's just this big melting pot of America in the same room and music is the common thread that is getting people back together in the same place. I think people forget and take for granted all the music that could've only happened here in America – ragtime, blues, jazz, rock n' roll, bluegrass, country and western, or gospel music. There's so much music that has come from this messy experiment called America. So we were hoping that the song might be a reminder that music is something that can get us out of our separate camps and remind us that we are all Americans.

RO: Lastly, Over the Rhine is on tour and people can catch you all over the country. In December, you're doing a two night 20th anniversary concert in Cincinnati, back where it all started. What can people expect at such a special event like this?

L: We've put out quite a few CDs over the past 20 years so we've decided to break it up into two nights and focus on our first decade of recordings on the first night and the second decade on the second night. We've had a pretty amazing revolving door of musicians that have inspired us, contributed to these recordings over the years and toured with us. Obviously Ric Hordinski and Brian Kelley, the two co-founding members of the band, were extremely significant in getting the music of Over the Rhine off the ground. So they're going to join us on that first night and we're going to revisit some of those early songs we've not played in years. And yeah, just invite the people that haven't been around in a while to join in and hopefully make a bit of a lovely ruckus for a while.

www.overtherhine.com

[Edited by Andrew Hoogheem]

Discuss this article

Wishing to encourage her young son's progress on the piano, a mother took her boy to a Paderewski concert. After they were seated, the mother spotted a friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to greet her.

Seizing the opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall, the little boy rose and eventually explored his way through a door marked "NO ADMITTANCE." When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother returned to her seat and discovered that the child was missing.

Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlights focused on the impressive Steinway on stage. In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard, innocently picking out "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." At that moment, the great piano master made his entrance, quickly moved to the piano, and whispered in the boy's ear, "Don't quit. Keep Playing."

Then leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in the bass part. Soon his right arm reached around to the other side of the child and he added a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice transformed a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience. The audience was mesmerized.

That's the way it is with our Heavenly Father. What we can accomplish on our own is hardly noteworthy. We try our best, but the results aren't exactly graceful flowing music. But with the hand of the Master, our life's work truly can be beautiful.

Next time you set out to accomplish great feats, listen carefully. You can hear the voice of the Master, whispering in your ear, "Don't quit. Keep playing." Feel His loving arms around you. Know that His strong hands are there helping you turn your feeble attempts into true masterpieces.

Remember, God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called. And He'll always be there to love and guide you on to great things.

[Author unknown. Found at sermonillustrator.org]