The Healing Power of Music

"I'm a Disney Democrat, and I'm voting for Mickey Mouse"

"Well I'm a Warner Bros Republican, and I'm voting for the Road Runner"

"OK I refuse to even talk to you anymore, how could you even think about voting for that criminal?  That bird continuously teased and abused Wile E Coyote and that is an unethical treatment of an endangered species!" 

"Yeah? Well that evil SOB Wile E Coyote was always trying to torture and kill the Road Runner.  Mickey would never even think of doing that.  How could Warner Brothers advocate that kind of violence?  I'm not going to talk to you either!"

One of the things about people is we all have very different ways of looking at things.  It seems to be a part of being human - something big happens (like an election) and everybody has a different take.

Historically, this ingrained diversity of thought in humans has probably ensured the survival of our species in an ever changing world. You could always find someone that thinks differently enough about a surprising new problem or situation to suggest a solution.

But it doesn't seem to be doing us much good anymore.  We now seem to think so differently about things that we can't even speak to each other in civil terms anymore.

What can possibly bring us together? Well, Pete Seeger had it right. 


I've spent my life in and around bluegrass and old time music, and the amount of friendship, love, mutual respect and support in that community is just amazing.

One of my earliest experiences with music growing up as a city boy in the '70s was taking quite a few trips south into rural Appalachia accompanied by a bunch of long-haired liberal hippies from the big apple.  We almost certainly had a different point of view - politically, culturally and everything in between - than just about everyone we met on these trips.

We would visit very conservative and somewhat elderly musicians in places like Southwestern Virginia, East Tennessee and Western North Carolina where we would be welcomed into their houses, fed and kept overnight, and of course, included in jam sessions.  Can you even imagine what would have happened if we showed up at these folk's residences sans music?  Shotguns would have been involved, that much I can tell you.  It was a cultural experience that informed much of my current perspective on things and I am eternally grateful for it.  

More recently, I've seen conservative MAGA-hat-republicans making music together with liberal democrats wearing BLM t-shirts.  Performing together.  Eating together.  Camping together.  Sharing funny stories.  Helping each other out when in need.  Becoming lifelong best friends.  

I've seen the "Bluegrass Pride" community be adopted and embraced within the historically very white, straight and conservative body that has represented the bluegrass audience and performers for decades. 

Our local music community where I live is composed of many folks with all kinds of political points of view.  We all get together weekly, enjoy food and drink and good conversation around the hearth that is the bluegrass stage.

I will hasten to add that, even though bluegrass has come a long way, it still has quite a distance to go with inclusion of people of color and women in key roles.  We can't lose sight of this, otherwise bluegrass will lose out by becoming obsolete and out of date.  Not to mention the unfairness and lack of inclusion, which is bad business practice in any arena.

In these current times of Covid-19, live music is not a viable business on a large scale.  We stand a real and present danger of losing the many artists, talent buyers, agents and support people.  Talented folks will exit the business forever and we will all lose as a result.

I have confidence that the music will return.  We can't exist without it.  But in the meantime, please do anything you can to support the folks in the music business.  Living without them would make the world a much more divided and polarized place to be.

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