Enjoy the ferocious twang of the mighty Albert “Iceman” Collins

Here’s the song that turned me around.  I used to be kind of neutral toward Bruce Springsteen.  I thought he was overrated and overhyped, but undeniably talented.

Then I heard this song and I “got it.”  Bruce is the man.  He has stated that there is a common thread between front porch music, whorehouse music, field music, bar room music and church music.  Here he bridges the gap with a proclamation of hope and good news.

I dare anyone else to write a gospel song this good, this effective, this chillbump-inducing.

That’s a Fender Custom Shop Telecaster with Joe Barden pickups.  Anyone who feels like buying me one just like it can feel free to indicate so in the comments or by email.

While chillin’ on the couch all sick with the flu or the plufus or whatever the heck you call this rot, I put in the Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007 DVD.  Great music.  It’s like a who’s who of Willie’s favorite musicians: Clapton, Derek Trucks, Robert Randolph, Los Lobos, Jeff Beck, Jimmie Vaughan, Robert Cray, Hubert Sumlin, BB King, Susan Tedeschi – are you kidding me?  This is GREAT, especially since it’s just me and the 12-year-old boy; you know, the other guitarist in my house, the kid with the same musical tastes as me.

So who knew Gavin Richardson was drumming for Los Lobos these days?

Dig David Hidalgo’s sweet Telecaster!

Rick Mang, another guitar-slinging preacher, wrote in the comments earlier this week:

Dude,

You are certainly no ordinary UMC preacher!!!

Thank God for that . . . because we don’t need anymore ordinary UMC preachers in the UMC.

We need people like yourself, who are passionate about using the gifts God has given them instead of trying to be something they aren’t in order to please their conference BOM, cabinet or bishop.

I appreciate you!

His comments got me thinking…..

While I was in seminary and serving at my first appointment, Katy would often comment that I should be singing and playing more.  I was intentionally not playing because I was the preacher – “special music” was no longer my role in church.  It took me a while to realize Katy was right (I don’t know why it took so long – Katy is usually right) and that I needed to be playing more.

These days I play all the time.  I play the acoustic and electric guitar during the hymns and for evening services.

I have recently come to the startling realization that God did not call Willie Deuel to play preacher in front of the congregation.  God did not call Willie Deuel to conform to anyone’s stereotype of who a preacher is or what a preacher does.

God called Willie Deuel to be a pastor.

Problem is, I put too much emphasis on the “to be a pastor” part of the sentence and forgot about the God called Willie Deuel part of the sentence.  God called me to be me and to do the work of a pastor.

Playing the guitar and making music is a huge part of who I really am.  I hear music in my head all the time.  I love ukuleles because they are essentially tiny little portable guitars I can take everywhere I go.  I crave the guitar.  I drive my family crazy because I am constantly reaching for the guitar while we watch TV.  (Our older son understands, he does it too).

The epiphany, really, then is that the guitar is no longer an avocational interest for me.  It is part of my vocation (remember, vocation comes from the same root word as voice, and you don’t really get to choose your voice.)  I am a pastor who is a musician.  Not really a “music minister” per se, but a pastoral minister with a musical voice, a musical identity.

God called me to be a pastor, but I pray I never forget that God called me to be a pastor.  Not some artificial me, the real me.  The whole me.  The husband, the father, the academic; the saved, redeemed, Tele-twangin’, uke-plinkin’, singer-songwriter, joke telling, narrative-loving me.

Thanks for giving me food for thought, Rick.

Lots of folks participated in National Novel Writing Month this past November.  I’m not a novel reader, nor a novel writer but I’m always up for a challenge.

So I just made a commitment.  I’m participating in RPM ‘08.  It’s a challenge to write and record an album (10 songs or 35 minutes worth of material) in the month of February.  Yikes!

I’ll update here on this blog with links to the new songs.  I’m not even sure what direction I want to go with this project, and I’ve got about a day to decide.  Blues?  Surf?  Rock?  Country?  All of the above? (most likely).

Love songs?  Jesus songs?  Funny songs?

I gotta get crackin’.  I’ll be performing all the vocals and instruments except drums (which will likely be loops from Sonoma WireWorks), but I might get experimental there too.

Well, Bible study is in about an hour and a half and I gotta get ready.  Just wanted to post about RPM here.

Here is an instrumental version of the Thomas A. Dorsey classic, Precious Lord Take My Hand. I started by using Rifftracker to create a backing track for church but let my Roy Buchanan jones show a bit by laying some melodic soloing over the whole thing.  I think it turned out pretty well.

Click HERE.

I used drum loops with the Rifftracker,  my Rogue Beatle Bass and my 1969 Telecaster through the GuitarPort.  Rockin’!