This song is dedicated to Dan Todd, who left us June 16, 2018. Dan will be remembered as fondly by his many students and by many more who heard him play guitar and harmonica with such bands as Toy Boat, the New Mules, the Tube Radio Orchestra, and What’s Right. © 2019 by Deb Teel *** Deb Teel lives in Killeen, Texas. She is the product of an old-style
“[I]t’s impossible for me to say – as much as I loved him – that in his most productive and influential period Art Tatum was the only guy. How could I leave out Teddy Wilson? How could I leave out Hank Jones? How could I leave out Milt Buckner? How could I leave out a whole bunch of other people who were operating on a different wave length at the
I’d learned a lot of blues songs, quite a few famous and obscure standards from the 20s and 30s, some Irish tunes, a few old Burl Ives songs and others from the dread folk music revival years, a few Dylan tunes. (While I’d dug Dylan’s early lp’s, he was leaving me pretty lukewarm as his lyrics expanded. I didn’t stop to analyze what it was I didn’t dig until
Many studies have shown how music makes people smarter, but did you know that supporting live local music has many more benefits than just increasing your brain power? Colorado Springs has a thriving music scene, and many burgeoning as well as seasoned musicians love getting out there to show off their talents in front of a live audience. Here are ten reasons to get out there and see them: It
A remarkable woman named Margret Korzus inspired this song. Margret had come to the U.S. in the early ’60s, speaking no English, and by the time I got to know her she’d gotten her PhD in English at the University of Denver. This left her discontented with her lot, so she decided to legally change her name to Thyra, which she did. I wrote this song for the occasion.
I’ve spent the last fifty years or so writing songs, performing them, trying to sell them, all without the slightest financial reward. Well, I overstate – back in the early 1980s, I played many paying gigs with a small group, Toy Boat. In 1982, Toy Boat had had two extended gigs at a Westside club and many casual weeks at other clubs. When I sat down to fill out my
