My Dear Friends,
This is to thank all of you who sent me cards and requests for the TRDL concert on the 7th December to celebrate my 70th Birthday.My special guest musicians and I were overwhelmed by the warmth of your welcome and reception for the concert itself.
As for the gifts and cards I am truly grateful and deeply touched by both your responses and kind messages.
It would have been impossible to have read all the dedications and requests as we had a fixed repertoire and my guests had learn and read the arrangements for the running order etc. but I have now read them all and am so pleased that most of the songs requested were covered by our choice of songs picked for the line up we had on stage.
It was wonderful for me to have some of the great friends I have made over the years onstage with me to share the occasion and all those present represented others who could not be there.
It is truly a humbling experience to see the ability music has to bring us together and how much even the most experienced veterans still get nervous before taking the stage. My pre show nerves are legendary but all my guests show some anticipation prior to performing.
To me this shows that we are still somewhat in awe of the power music has and us being the conduits and bearing that responsibility. The thought that overlapped each song were in part relief that I had remembered the agreed structure of the songs for 90% of them and that my wonderful friends covered for me with the odd little error occurred, but also the spirit contained in the original germination of the song’s idea and where it was in my life and where my life was when I wrote it.
To hear you join in with remembered words and to know there is a resonance with your own lives, loves and experiences with laughter and a few occasional tears is all any writer performer could hope for.
It is sobering to have reached this grand old age, or at least it was until my home was invaded by the three fiddlers who decided that at 3.30 a.m. what we needed was to hear three fiddles playing together.
Fabulous!
Jane, John and Frank joyfully serenaded us for an hour or so but tired and happy we departed around 4.30am and I was left to reflect on one of my life’s highlights.
Thanks to all of you who were there with me and all of you who would have liked to have been there.
The good news is that it was all filmed and so it is hoped might become possible to share the evening with those who couldn’t make it.
I will write again before the Christmas holidays but in the meantime my heart felt thanks to you all.
See you somewhere down the road
Ralph
