That is the one.  This is the tape….that still plays by the way, a testament to the staying power of the music.  I bought it in March of 1983 on my 15th birthday.  I held it up Saturday Night before I witnessed a great concert by The Moody Blues.  The first set was a collection of hits and a couple should have been hits.  The second set was The Moody Blues performing, in its entirety, “Days of Future Passed” which is the band’s first album released in 1967.  That would be 50 years.  How?  I have no idea.  But it sounded better than ever at The Fraze Pavilion just South of Dayton where a capacity crowd responded in kind with strong ovations after each song. This was for good reason.  My sister, Lynn, attending her first Moodies concert, reluctantly became a fan quickly.  Her question after the show:  “Are they always this good?”  My answer:  “Why do you think I keep coming back?”

When you are fifteen and pick a cassette up from an end-cap bin filled with artists and songs from multiple countries, styles, and genres, you hope you picked up something you had to pay for that would be worth it.  Check that off the list.  What I did, I know I have written about it before, is pick up the cassette shown above and read it.  I saw the reference to the song “Nights in White Satin” and I told myself I know that song…I think this would be cool.  I enjoyed The Moodies in solitude and anonymity for long time.  My friends didn’t get it.  I didn’t care.  They’re my ears.

I was 18 when I attended my first Moody Blues concert at The Louisville Gardens in 1986, the same year the band scored a top ten hit with “Your Wildest Dreams” as I was graduating from high school.  This was good timing. I have appreciated their work ever since.

Justin Hayward playing the 6-string Gibson and John Lodge playing the Fender.  Let’s not forget Julie Ragins playing a keyboard in the background.  Along with drummer Graeme Edge, an original member, the three Moody Blues are ably helped out on stage by drummer Billy Ashbaugh, Norda Mullen on flute, guitar, and vocals, and Alan Hewitt on keyboards and backing vocals.  Oh yes, Julie also sings harmony, plays guitar, and sax.  She stays busy.

My gut tells me this is the last tour I will see of The Moody Blues….at least for a while.  Why?  Well, it is NOT because of the age of anyone.  The Moodies are all in their 70s and I will be quick to point out that has less to do with it than my own age (49) and my own endeavors.

I began singing and recording songs around 2000.  I took a three year hiatus from attending Moody Blues concerts or much of any concerts for that matter.  Why?  I was hearing my own music and I just didn’t feel the urge to hear something else, to invest my time and sensibilities on other sounds.  Not sure what that sounds like…but it is the best way I can describe it.  And I feel I am there again.  I finished a recording project this year.  I am still rather into it.  But this time what is tugging at me is writing some prose…that  and I still feel compelled to grab my guitar to write another song.   I give it all I have got.  That is why it works.  That, and I am blessed to be associated and surrounded by musical folks who understand me and my music and we make it work very well.

The Moody Blues music was my music…until I picked up a guitar and started making “my” music.  I write rockers, ballads, rootsies, spirituals, and whatever hits the brain and the finger tips.  This is a very good thing.

I fell in love with sound of Billy Swan’s “I Can Help” at age six and played and recorded years later with a member of his band.  Tim Krekel played the guitar riff I fell in love with in 1974.  I wish I could explain it.  I can’t.  That may be the best thing I can say about it all.

That and thank you to The Moody Blues.  I’m not sure….but I think I get ya.

Fraze 2017

Ryman 2014

Speaking the music rights…

Danny Johnson