The Land of Hope and Dreams: Thoughts on 49 Years of Music

Birthday contemplations about a gospel-inspired song by Bruce Springsteen that has quickly become an all-time favorite

This Thursday, I will turn 49 years old. First of all, in so many aspects of my life, I feel like I’m still the 24 year old kid who showed up to Nashville with no real plan, other than to get here and make my way. But I’m not 24 anymore and I’m much more mournful of the world’s condition than I ever anticipated I would be by the time I reached this age.

The months leading up to this birthday have been reflective as I’ve been working on reissue projects with two of my core influences, artists whose music shaped me as a child and made me want to come to this city in the first place. Working on these projects has given me a chance to re-evaluate the past, revisit the years I first heard the music that made me and dig deeper to understand the cultural and political context in which the music was created and through which I heard it.

So much and so little has changed all at the same time. I could jump into what some of those things are—but then this would be a completely different post than what I intended it to be! I’ll just say this: the ways music is made and the ways that people experience music are vastly different than they were even a decade ago…let’s alone 49 years ago!

I wanted to share a song that has crashed into my world and become an all-time favorite. If there’s a song that most articulates my core beliefs and values at this moment in time, it’s this one.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band—The Land of Hope and Dreams

Delving into the Bruce Springsteen catalog was not on my agenda this past year, but I’m so glad I (finally) did. After watching the incredible HBO documentary on E Street band member Little Steven Van Zandt, I began reading Steve’s memoir and immediately bought Bruce Springsteen’s memoir and began reading them at the same time while I listened to Bruce and Steve’s catalog. What I found was a group whose gospel and soul influences have always been on front street, even if the world didn’t readily recognize them.

It was this composition, however, that really did knock me to my knees. The song is about a premise near and dear to my heart: the idea that there is room at the table for everyone. Inspired by Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready” and the old gospel tune, “This Train,” Springsteen subverts the idea that “this train don’t carry no gamblers,” to the more inclusive “this train carries saints and sinners/This train carries losers and winners.” While a sermon from a certain quasi-well known singer/preacher went semi-viral this past week that decried a message of grace, Springsteen writes the concept of grace with the kind of compassion, empathy and love that preacher could stand a dose of. I have played this song almost every day since I first heard it earlier this year and I’m grateful for these nine minutes of music that keep me reminded of the higher things, the better ways of loving and caring, that we should all be aspiring to. If I wish for anything as I head towards 50, it’s that we keep working to be our most compassionate, best selves.

Contribute to the NYCC Book Project

Just over a year ago, we reached the $10,000 mark on the GoFundMe for the New York Community Choir book which began for me as a research project in 2014. With your help last year, I was able to make some vital trips to conduct interviews for the book and complete all but one of the chapters of the book. Reissue work and a day job took me away from the last chapter, but I’m 1/4 of the way through it and am nearing completion.

I’ve created a stretch goal of $5,000 because the time is approaching to move the book into the next phase: editorial! I’ll be ready to pass the book on to an editor to help me shape it up and I need your help to make that happen.

If you’d like to contribute, you can join the 77 contributors who gave to the first round and become a patron of this project. Every patron’s name will be listed in the front of the book with my overwhelming gratitude. Click here to give. If you are uncomfortable with GoFundMe, you can contribute via CashApp or Venmo.

If you are new here and have no idea what I’m talking about, you can read a summary of the New York Community Choir story below!