"Journeys"

I’m in the process of writing a new set of songs for a CD that will be released this fall.

I say “songs” because the majority of them will have lyrics written by my very good friend Douglas V. Rose. Doug and I wrote the cantata “God’s Gift of Music” last year for the Norwich-based Monday Evening Musical Club.

The mood and feel of the music is best described as “new age”. Much new age music is expressive of the artist’s spirituality; our songs will do the same, but in our own unique way. I’m pretty excited about this project because it is yet another departure for me; another new avenue of musical expression.

It is also great fun to be writing with Douglas. Not only does he have the most uncanny way of molding words, but our friendship dates back to (dare I say it) 1963! Wow, that would make us…younger than we’ll be next year on this date.

We’ll post an announcement about the new CD “Journeys” as soon as it’s ready, hopefully around September.

New Single Available

"God Bless the World" is now available as a download; $.99 and it's yours!

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/TomRasely

From the "Life on the Road" Department

I had to travel all the way to Indiana for this story.

Way back in October, 1983 I was touring churches and Christian coffeehouses all over the place, trying to make a living. One evening, I was booked at a coffeehouse in Indianapolis. More than likely it was called The Lighthouse or The Upper Room- they all were. The place was a mess: buckets catching water dripping from the ceiling, the place wasn’t well lit, I was worn out from the traveling, and my host wasn’t there- that happened a lot.

Well, I did two sets of music that lasted an excruciating hour and a half. When I finished and was packing up, a young man who had sat in the back the whole night, came up to me. He said, “Man, that was great. God really blessed me. I had a hard day at work and that was just what I needed.” I think I had the presence of mind to thank him and shake his hand, but I distinctly remember thinking “Brother, if that’s what you needed, you DID have a hard day at work.”

Lesson learned: you never know who’s listening or how it will affect them, so always play your best.

In the Psalm of My Hand

Did you know that there are 150 Psalms in the Bible?

Did you know that the book of Psalms is often referred to as the songbook of Israel’s Second Temple, and that the literary genre known as Psalms began during the Babylonian Exile (1030 – 962 BCE)?

John Tesh would call that some very good Water Cooler material!

As a songbook, Psalms isn’t terribly long on melody, although there has been an attempt to work out some sort of melodic system; however, this book provides a composer with a potential 150 sets of lyrics!

Recently, I completed a set of 10 anthems based on the Psalms 20 – 29. My working title for it is “Psalms: The 20-Something Collection”. The challenge was to give each one its own musical “voice”.

One of these pieces was written over 30 years ago (not quite as ancient as the lyrics), and the last one was completed in March of this year. They are all for SAB voices and piano…no guitar. I’m hoping that a publisher will be interested in the idea, but I plan to make these available soon either way.

Do you have a favorite Psalm? Or a Psalm story? Why not share it here.

CD Giveaway

Late winter seems like the perfect time for some grassroots marketing; let’s keep me inspired with some new readers.

Tell one new person about the Musician in the Middle of Nowhere and then post here about who you are and that you spread the word about Tom Rasely’s music (or on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/trasely) .

You don’t have to walk up to strangers either. Write the blog address on a post it note and leave it at the music store. Email a coworker who likes music; leave the Facebook link scribbled on a napkin at the Open Mike night. The idea is to spread the word about the nowhere guitarist and help my readership grow.

So post today who you told and that’s it--you’re entered in the drawing. At the end of the week, I’ll pull a name out of the hat and announce it on the blog and Facebook. Then you email me and I’ll send you the free cd; couldn’t be easier.

(Thanks to Jenna at Coldantler Farm for the idea).

LORD'S PRAYER, free sheet music

Here's a new setting I wrote of this familiar prayer. It's simple to learn and simple to sing - 5 notes in the melody line and 4 chords in the guitar line.


http://www.uccnorwichny.org/Portals/1203/The%20Lords%20Prayer%20Rasely.pdf