We blew through Summer and here we are starting the Fall season. No, we haven't just been luxuriating and kicking back in Nashville. The big event of the Spring for Kimberly and me was our trip to Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales. I can hear those ancient voices calling in "The Celtic Ray," which Van Morrison wrote and later recorded with the Chieftains. Twenty eight days we roamed the Wild Atlantic Way, the heather and the hills, and the streets of the dirty old towns of our heroes and ancestors. I'm not going to recount the entire trip. I did that extensively in words and photos on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/DonWallTX/), and you can see most of it there.

The highlights will last our lifetime. In Dublin, I got to play a couple of songs with Seamus Byrne and his friends at O'Donoghue's on Merrion Row, the original home of The Dubliners, channelling the ghost of Luke Kelly. A place we will definitely go back to is the Ballinalacken Castle Country House Hotel & Restaurant in County Claire. We stopped there after a great day hiking the Cliffs of Moher, toured the ruins of the castle, and ate a gourmet meal in the hotel restaurant. Very romantic.

Galway became our gateway to the North. We "cast a cold eye on life, on death..." at the grave of WB Yeats in Sligo. In East Belfast, we found the childhood home of Van Morrison, and his beloved "Hollow," made famous in "Brown-Eyed Girl."

We flew from Dublin to Edinburgh, one of our favorite stops. Great city, wonderful spirit, the spirit of Scotland.

From Edinburgh, we drove to the Highlands, to the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Loman and the Village of Luss, final resting place of several of Kimberly's MacFarlane ancestors.

We walked to the church, the Kirk, and saw that it was surrounded by a grave yard. A man was painting the rod iron fence black. We said something about MacFarlane graves. The man looked up from his painting and said, "Are you looking for the MacFarlane Corner?" We said, "Yes," not knowing there was such a corner, and he put down his brush, covered his paint can and showed us the graves of some of Kimberly's ancestors.

He introduced himself as John Taylor, the beadle. He takes care of the church and assists the clergy during services. He even went inside the church to look up the records, and showed us 40 MacFarlane graves. We learned about the bad blood between Clan MacFarlane and Clan Colquhoun. The Colquhoun chief was apparently having an affair with the wife of the MacFarlane chief, who retaliated by killing his rival, cutting off his shaft and serving it to his unfaithful wife in a bowl of soup. Ultimately, the Colquhouns prevailed and the MacFarlanes were driven out of Scotland, moving to Northern Ireland before emigrating to the American colonies, where they finally settled in North Carolina, in time to take part in the American Revolution.

The other remarkable experience was the week we spent with friends, Trevor Valentine and his lovely wife Claire, at their home near Bristol, England. Trevor set us up to play folk clubs every night.

Trevor even treated me to a recording session with his friend, Al Steele, a member of the Korgis, and Musical Director at The London Palladium, The London Hippodrome, and the Royal Albert Hall. Al has produced more than 200 albums at Shabbey Road Studios, in Wales, even recorded Elvis Costello. We recorded a song called "Waylon and Me," which I co-wrote in Nashville with Kaysie and Mark Young, and Eric Smith. It came out of a songwriting workshop we did with Marc-Alan Barnette, an excellent artist, songwriter, and teacher. Meanwhile, back at Shabbey Road, Trevor added finger picking on his acoustic. I played acoustic rhythm guitar and sang. Al played electric guitar, bass, banjo, and sang backup vocals. Together we added the drum tracks. A Yank, a Brit, and an Aussie.

I really liked what Al did with my vocals and employed him to master the recordings I've been working on with Bryan Cumming at Studio 23 in Nashville. I plan to release 11 songs over the next several months. I'm learning about distributing my music, getting radio play, and seeking placement on playlists to build a following.

Most importantly, I hope you like my recordings. My goal is to achieve some level of acceptance as an Americana artist, songwriter, and producer. The recordings will be released as singles, and I'll compile them into a couple of EP's or maybe one album.

So here is a preview of what's to come. I want you to be the first to know. I hope you will support my music the way you have supported my journalism over the years. The song will be released on streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple, and iTunes on November 1, 2024. The preorder for the single "Waylon and Me" is now open. Just click on this link, add your email, and you will be notified when the song is live. https://distrokid.com/dashboard/album/?albumuuid=D89FB0C3-3693-46A6-93C771F51D3FDD47 I'll write more about the other songs and the recording process in the near future.

I just want to say that the songwriting community in Nashville is one of the most welcoming bunch of people I've ever met. They make Kimberly and me feel very welcome as we continue to seek opportunities to share songs and stories and just enjoy our life together. I know we make our own luck in life, and I'd rather be lucky than good. I am happy to conclude that I am a lucky guy.

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