Posted on December 15, 2017 at 6:29 pm

The good folks at Brigham Young University (namely Jeff Martin) got wind of the SubCulture concert that Kelli and I did together last January, and asked if we would come and do it in their gorgeous deJong Concert Hall to finish the BYUArts season. Thus it was that I got to fulfill my lifelong dream of spending the third night of Chanukah in Provo, Utah.

Eight hundred folks came out to share our evening of music-making, which included a suite of songs from The Bridges of Madison County; Kelli’s first time singing “Still Hurting” since 2001, when we offered her the understudy track (!) for the premiere in Chicago and she turned us down; our frantic pre-show attempts to make sure we took out all the swearing in our songs lest we violate the “morals clause” in our rider (sporadically successful); and for the finale, Kelli’s bravura performance of the most gonzo piece of special material I’ve ever heard, Dan Lipton and David Rossmer’s “They Don’t Let You In The Opera.”

December 14th also marked the fifth anniversary of the shootings in Newtown, CT, an event that changed my life and instilled in me a determination to do whatever I could to get guns out of the hands of those who should not have them. I’ve met some of the family members of the children and teachers murdered at Sandy Hook, and had the unbelievable privilege of making music with Jimmy Greene, whose daughter Ava was among the victims. I don’t sing “Twenty-Six Names” very often – it hurts too much, to be honest – but it felt important to share it last night, to again say out loud those names so that they can be remembered, and celebrated. My commitment to the Brady Campaign continues, and I hope you’ll consider contributing this holiday season.

Hope (2016)
I Love Betsy from Honeymoon In Vegas (2015)
KELLI: To Build A Home from The Bridges of Madison County (2014)
KELLI: Another Life from The Bridges of Madison County (2014)
It All Fades Away from The Bridges of Madison County (2014)
The Old Red Hills of Home from Parade (1998)
Over from Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes (2005)
Fifty Years Long (2015)
KELLI: Still Hurting from The Last Five Years (2002)
Twenty-Six Names (2012)
All Things In Time (2009)
Invisible (2016)
KELLI: Christmas Lullaby from Songs for a New World (1995)
KELLI: Make Someone Happy (music by Jule Styne, lyric by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, 1960)
KELLI: They Don’t Let You In The Opera (If You’re a Country Star) (music by Dan Lipton, lyric by David Rossmer, 2011)
Moving Too Fast from The Last Five Years (2002)