Sunday, November 05, 2006

Michael Kelly Blanchard

Wednesday morning I went to see singer/songwriter Michael Kelly Blanchard. He was brought in by Prairie View's Food for Thought series.

His presentation was about telling our stories, and how important it is to do that. He suggested various categories we could look at - home, heritage, animals, work and fun.

He used some beautiful turns of phrase in his brief bits of conversation between songs. One of the first was that "we have an art gallery in our soul" that we're walking around with every day, those things that we carry with us all the time. It caused me to think about just how true that is.

He did a number of songs with incredible phrases in them. One I made note of was in a song where he was talking about the house he grew up in. "Where souls are grown and then they're set free. Wood and stone 'round flesh and bone, call it home to me."

I spent my growing up years in the same house. It stands empty now that my mother is gone, and it breaks my heart a little every time I drive by it.

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