Sitting here listening to The Moody Blues’ 1971 album Every Good Boy Deserves Favour.

From The Moody Blues, I would say we have gotten our share of favour.

I got it today.  I received my obligatory email alerting me to the latest ticket pre-sale opportunity for The Moody Blues next scheduled, as of now, concerts.  They are in Las Vegas at the end of September and early October.  My dear wife, Carrie, and I will not be there.  We saw our last Moody Blues concert in Nashville on July 22nd last year at The Ryman Auditorium on a very hot day and night.

This is not about anyone getting any older.  Not me, not The Moody Blues.  It is about perfect symmetry.

I have told the story many times.  I was injured in a weight lifting mishap when I was a freshman in high school.  Ironically, it was my 15th birthday the day I picked up the Days of Future Passed cassette stopping at a store with my mother after a doctor appointment for my back.  I took the cassette with me to see The Moodies play Days of Future Passed live at The Fraze Pavillion near Dayton on July 1st last summer.  My sister, Lynn, finally acquiesced and I took her to see The Moodies.  She, among others, have given me a bit of a ribbing over the years about my appreciation of this group.  Guess what?  My sister was humming Moodies songs every time I saw her afterward for at least three weeks.

Justin Hayward and John Lodge with Julie Ragins in the background that evening.

I really did take it with me.

I did not take it to Nashville 3 weeks later.

A great photo from the balcony of The Ryman.   Walking out that night, I knew it was our last Moodies concert.  Folks are laughing right now.  But, it’s true.  That is how I want it to end it.  From picking that cassette up in 1983 to seeing the album performed live 34 years later in The Ryman for goodness sake.  That is where it needs to end.  It is as good an ending as I can think of.

The Moody Blues have not failed us.  Carrie and I have seen them every year since 2003 after I took a concert hiatus to concentrate on my own music after I saw them in 1999. My first Moodies show was in 1986 on the heels of the album The Other Side of Life and the top ten hit Your Wildest Dreams.   I was 18.  I got 57 Moodies shows in over the course of 31 years with a storybook ending.  I know that plenty of folks would have liked to have been in The Ryman last summer to see that show.  I was fortunate enough to be there.

I met up with Julie Ragins before the show.  She and I have been complimentary of each other’s music and she is just flat a great person.  She and her husband Curtis Brengle are quite the Pear Duo.  In fact, you can find them at pearduo.com.  I wrote some nice words she shared on one of her blogs.  In addition to being a great person, Julie is a gifted musician and vocalist.  I recommend her work highly.  The Moodies are not fools.  Julie is proof of that, having played with them since 2010.

When I was 16 I would slap a pair of headphones on and listen to an entire  Moodies’ album just like I have been doing as I write this post.  It has been fun.

The Moody Blues are to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in April so to me the place finally is legit.  Never was too high on those places.  Folks are shocked when they find out of all the places I have been I have never been to The Pro Football Hall of Fame.  It just never drew me there.  I don’t plan on stopping by Cleveland as we head to the Northeast for a summer visit any time soon.

A Moody Blues concert on the calendar has been a fixture.  It has been something to look forward to.  It has been an island that I know I can get to and find some great memories while listening to music that I get and means something special to me.  No, when I started recording I did not try to sound like anyone else but me.  I write my songs and record them the way I need to.  The Moodies learned that from Buddy Holly and guess what…they passed it on.  Will I be a famous recording star?  I doubt it.  I make music for two reasons… because I love it and because I can.  Most folks don’t get that chance.  I know that.

Waving goodbye at The Ryman in 2014.

So a last big thank you to The Moody Blues.  Justin, John, Graeme, Ray (we miss him), and Mike (though I never got see him). All the best to you and yours! I still be listening.  The shelf is rather full.  But I will keep on making music anyway.

And I will keep speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson