Time passes quickly and the wonderful moments in our life can quickly become footnotes in our memories, where we can easily question whether something even happened or not. Or, we pine for those moments to come around again, not knowing if they ever will.
And so it is that over a month has passed since I was the opening act at the Woodstock Music Festival, in the Town of Woodstock, Alabama, USA. You can check out a few of the songs I performed live on YouTube - click on the image to get there.
It would be natural for anyone to think that the highlight of my trip was performing to over two thousand people from a big stage in glorious sunshine. Add to that the signing of autographs, photo requests, people wanting to discuss particular songs with you - "I loved House of Fools", "I really understood Starlight, and the grief you talked about, thank you", "Oh, Let it Rain got me right here", as they put a hand to their heart.
From a singer songwriter perspective you feel validated. And that's really nice. I'm sure there were many people there who were indifferent to my music. And that's okay too. Because that's the beauty of music, accepting differences in peoples tastes, likes and dislikes. But what I find you always get from people who like music - particularly those who listen to live music - is that despite those differences, there's an appreciation and acceptance of those differences, which doesn't negatively impact on a relationship.
However, the highlight for me wasn't the bit about me performing, it was about how I was welcomed and looked after. I'm not got going to go into detail. But from being greeted at the airport, fed, hosted, not having to worry about a single thing the whole week...that is what was wonderful about it.
You've probably heard talk of the famous southern hospitality. That's what I got. Now, most of that special looking after came from people I've classed as friends for some time now (since I first performed at the festival in 2019), in the form of Cheryl Dodson, Mayor Jeff Dodson, Kellye and Keefe Burt, without whom I wouldn't have felt completely at home.
But the hospitality and friendliness stretched way beyond that from everyone else. There wasn't a single person who didn't go out of there way to say hello, have a friendly smile, talk, discuss, laugh...and at the end of the night share their moonshine. There were many, many people I was introduced to, and I'm grateful to all of them for their kindness.
They say home is where the heart is and there's definitely a piece of mine in the Town of Woodstock.