Welcome to my blog. As I say on my home page, I have begun this blog for two reasons: to share with you my enthusiasm about the music videos I have recently begun to post on youtube, and to also talk about a bunch of other things that really interest me and that I hope also interest you.
First, the music. I call myself John the Folksinger. I first thought of calling myself John the Troubadour, but a friend of mine, Greg, told me not to, because no one would know what a troubadour was. I told him that a troubadour was a young man who lived back in the 11th and 12th centuries in France, about the time of Robin Hood (who lived in England), who went from village to village bringing the latest news, telling stories, singing folk songs, and being wined and dined for his entertainment. He would then seduce all the beautiful young women and leave town the next morning (or perhaps in the middle of the night, depending on how things went). Who knows how many of his progeny are on this planet as a result of his amorous adventures?
Greg insisted that while that's an interesting story, most people would still not know about troubadours and suggested that I pick another name. I finally decided upon John the Folksinger.
As you will see, my music falls mostly into two catagories: folk music and country music. I enjoy singing and playing this type of music for several reasons. First of all, it is very compatible with the guitar, since many folk and country songs have a lot of rhythm and sound good when accompanied on the guitar. Many folk and country songs also have beautiful melodies. Folk and country songs often have powerful messages, since they deal with life and its many challenges. Finally, folk and country songs are meant to be sung from the heart, and often have a lot of depth and meaning.
I realized several years ago that it's not easy to listen to county songs. They're always talking about things that are not easy to deal with, like heartache, or loving someone who doesn't love you in return, or being cheated on, or being tempted to cheat on someone when you know you shouldn't, or the need to have the courage to stand up to the bossman who's taking advantage of you ("Take This Job and Shove It" comes to mind.)
These songs also deal with themes like patriotism and being loyal to your country, like honesty and being loyal to yourself and your beliefs, like self-reliance and being willing to work hard and persevere and make the effort to succeed in life, despite the odds.
My favorite songs of all are love songs, and songs that talk about love and what it means. I believe many of those who have watched my videos feel the same way. While I've just begun to post my videos, the song that has gotten the most hits so far is "We Believe in Happy Endings." As I say in my brief introduction to this song on the video, this is an unbelievably beautiful song. It has an incredible melody, a powerful message, and talks about what love is all about: "giving in and forgiving," forgetting about "who's right or wrong," "never breaking, only bending," "wondering why we're oh so proud, when all that matters is our love."
This is a truly beautiful, inspired song. I found out later after posting the video that Johnny Rodriguez also recorded a very nice rendition of this song, along with Emmylou Harris and Earl Thomas Conley, the artists that I spoke of. So I want to acknowledge him at this time as well.
On my home page I also speak of being very interested in a lot of other topics, such as reincarnation, numerology, new age religion and metaphysics. I have done a lot of reading these past several years in these areas, and we have all been hearing about the changes that are supposed to take place in the year 2012. All of these areas fascinate me and I have a real passion for knowing what's really going on and in finding the truth about things like this. I would love to share my thoughts about these things as well, since I believe they are very important.
I will stop for now. I don't know how long these posts are supposed to be, but I will be posting many more and don't need to talk about everything now. Love and peace.
John the Folksinger
Welcome to My Blog
