This is “Alabama Rain” by the late, great Jim Croce. It’s a really nice song and I worked out my own arrangement to play it as a one-guitar song. Like most of Jim’s music, those of us who know it are used to hearing it performed with his excellent sideman Maury Muehleisen’s intricate fill work. I’ll probably revisit this one as a two-guitar performance later, but for now this is what I’ve got.

As a dedication to Tom Petty as well as to our late friend Chris Brady, Ben Robert Eastman, John Bacon, Gary Schoolcraft and I put together this collaboration video of this Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song. Join us for a wild ride as we’re “Runnin’ Down a Dream.” Thanks for watching!

Also, for more great indie music, check out these channels: https://www.youtube.com/@benroberteastman3940
https://www.youtube.com/@JohnBaconMusic
https://www.youtube.com/@garyschoolcraft3352

“I Guess He’d Rather Be in Colorado” has been covered by a few artists, but it’s most identified with John Denver. Written by Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert, Denver released it on his 1971 Poems, Prayers, and Promises album, along with another Danoff/Nivert composition you may recognize–“Take Me Home Country Roads.” It’s a great song about wanting to be somewhere else, and my favorite bit of lyrical magic is rhyming “office” with “cough is.” 😉

Here’s an old John Prine tune that I think is pretty appropriate for these times when we’re all feeling a bit stressed: “That’s the Way That the World Goes Around.” This song has a particular mondegreen, or misheard lyric, associated with it. Prine told a funny story about it–see if you can hear where I dropped it in.

“Wild Montana Skies” was written and released by John Denver on his 1983 album It’s About Time. Denver recorded this as a duet with country music great Emmylou Harris. I was thrilled when Marsha McConchie MacMartin agreed to join me for this project, and while I’m no John Denver, I believe Marsha gave Emmylou a run for her money. This started out as just me and my 12-string, but once Marsha came aboard I thought the song deserved more, so I added a six-string and a bass to fill it out a bit. Montana has always been a bucket list destination for me, and I now have it in my sights for a 2026 road trip.

My favorite Crosby, Stills & Nash song. CSN (and later Y) got off to a good start in 1969, but their internal clashes over pride, ego, addiction and other issues interfered with their work. In 1977 they reunited for the Daylight Again album and Graham Nash wrote “Wasted on the Way” as a way of saying to the group, “Let’s put all that behind us and make music.” It’s a message we should all heed: don’t get caught up in the weeds of life–seize the day!

How about sailing away with me for a little July 4th getaway? Jimmy Buffett’s grandfather was a sailing man and obviously had a big influence on his life and his music. Jimmy wrote several songs about him, including this title cut from his 1978 album “Son of a Son of a Sailor.” Even for a landlubber like me, the notion of filling your sail and traveling where the wind may take you fits the romantic ideal of real freedom. I’ll handle the rudder if you’ll cast off that forward line and hoist the mainsail!

When you go all-in with alliteration on a song, it could get silly sounding (see what I did there?). Still, Stephen Stills managed to maintain (okay, I quit) the gravitas necessary for this song about unrequited love that Crosby, Stills & Nash released on their terrific 1969 debut album. I’ve wanted to learn and record this one for a while and finally tackled it. Hope you enjoy my attempt at “Helplessly Hoping,” and thanks for listening.

Memorial Day is over, so that means it’s summer, which means it’s time for some Jimmy Buffett. June 1 also marks the beginning of hurricane season. We don’t want any, so here’s “Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season.”

I finally watched the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown (good movie) and then saw Dylan in concert a couple of weeks ago at the opening show of the Outlaw Festival tour, along with Willie Nelson and Billy Strings. Obviously, I’ve had Bob on the brain lately, so I thought I’d give you all a piece of my mind. I tried to reach back to Dylan’s first release of this song and get somewhere close to his sound without lapsing into mimicking him. He strummed it, but I’m fingerpicking, just ‘cuz I ‘druther. Here’s “It Ain’t Me Babe.”