Mule

My good friend and spirit animal Dave Hicks took his tricone to see the mighty Dinnie stones in Scotland. In Scotland there are historical tests of strength called lifting stones. Most are massive. The Dinnies combined are 733 lbs. You successfully lift them and you become part of history.

Background - I’m a sucker for stories. When faced with decisions if I hear Dave Atell’s voice say “Do it for the story” it’s pretty much a done deal. Unfortunately all good stories involve suffering and fortunately instigating and enduring suffering is a natural talent.

I grew up in Alma, MI “Scotland USA” - not Scottish to my knowledge other than a Highland Festival that happens every Memorial Day Weekend. The parade. Pipes. The drums. Men throwing telephone poles and cannonballs on chains. To 10 year old boys this is the most awesome thing that could happen that doesn’t include fire. My violin playing turned to fiddle tunes and my first girlfriend competed in Highland dance. It’s all pretty much make believe but don’t we all just all just agree to believe in the lives we make?

Twenty years later I’m making guitars, Dave and I are spirit animals and Im running around the UK with him. I had played a Netflix redcoat, shot one of Momoa’s friends from a castle which led to an encounter on a beach involving a knife, my cloak catching fire, and my eventual death.

I escape to Edinburgh and it’s Magic. Home. It felt like a child hood imagination come true. Pipers. You can feel the buildings, the contours of the street against your shoes. It’s soot and stone and grit and pure gold. It’s smart and violent and legend. I’m not a city person.

Two weeks before my return trip to the highlands to spend rainy nights in bothys, swim in fairy pools and drink in 700 year old pubs international travel stopped. Stuff got weird.

Seeing the mule I made for my friend next a pair of lifting stones-my childhood, my past, my present tied together in one photo… there’s probably a German word that doesn’t well into English to describe the feeling.

This is what music and the tools we use to make them do. The artful lifting stones that connect us with each and with stories bigger than ourselves.