Music by james madison thomas
This was another exploration of creating a song using an alternate tuning in combination with a modified capo, like I did on Waterwheel. The
video was shot in a dark room, and I can’t remember now with certainty,
but I’m inclined to think that this was a short capo which left more than one string open. I remember it being a capo different in some way from the one
I used on Waterwheel. There’s not enough light here to tell.
The song used my very first Taylor guitar, the 514cw. It was cedar, a Limited Edition, and a masterful creation. I bought it in Tampa at Mars Music.
It was a bit more than I could afford, but I believed I could work it out to pay
it off. When I brought it home, I found a message awaiting on the answering machine, informing me that my father had suffered a fatal accident. I did in-
herit some money from him down the road, so it always seemed that this
guitar was a gift from my dad.
I used this guitar in worship bands, most notably in my time at
Calvary Chapel South St. Petersburg. I had a rough patch in the mid-2000’s and had to sell many of the instruments that I had acquired over many years. Because of the connection to my dad and my history with this guitar, I never expected to part with it, but I knew it would still be used for ministry, so I gave
it up. The young man who bought it was a worship leader at the big Calvary Chapel in St. Pete. A number of years earlier, Anne and I were active in a
small fellowship on the south side planted by that church. A friend came with him looking for a mandolin. I sold the Takoma mandolin too that day thoug
I hadn’t intended to. I have a story to tell about that instrument but I’ll save it for the page with the video I play it on.