six string dream

My brother, Josh, is a philosopher, a thinker and a reader.
But most of all, he's a learner.



He's devoted nearly a decade of his life to an extended education studying the questions, the wonders and "reasons why" and examining the greats of our past who have pioneered this rhetorical train of thought. Reading will always be his first love and primary hobby, but about two years ago, he taught himself music...on a cheap guitar our mama bought him on a whim.



He learned the technique from a few theory books and videos online, he practiced diligently and to himself. He never yearned for a jam session or to host a sing-a-long; he simply got lost in the art, the music, the technique, the words, the life it created and the stories it told.

He fell in love with the reasons why.



This evolved into interest in the banjo and mandolin, which he quickly picked up, learned and is practicing to perfect. He was spending hours a day strumming the strings on these instruments who had become his dear companions.

So Josh had an idea and a little dream.

He had a brief discussion with our parents and with smiles on their faces, undying support and their "life's too short and we think this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity attitude", they sent him on his way. They sent him to what my Dad likes to jokingly call "carpentry school" but what's most commonly referred to as the Vermont Instruments School of Lutherie .

He was there for several weeks.
And it was there he learned a lifelong a trade.
He learned an art.

He learned how to make guitars.



He lived in a lodge attached to the workshop and every single day he learned this trade, all the while building a new guitar of his own.

They had a garden outside and a lake in their backyard. They worked six days a week, cooked their own dinner and drank a few brews 'til bedtime. Josh told my mama he went to bed early every night so the next day could get there just a little bit quicker.



He chose seven different types of wood to go on his guitar.
And that little vertical sliver below, happens to be Laurelwood...



He had to trace the template for every inch of the instrument.
He had to make each cut and suffer through each mistake, which he claims were aplenty.



On his way back to Georgia he stopped in Nashville for a few days and told us the whole story, answered all our questions, let us hold and play his new offspring and talked me through all of his amazing pictures.



I'm still blown away by this new craft he's learned. This is something he'll do the rest of his life. He'll create his own brand and style, he can travel all over the world, create a niche and keep nurturing a love for music through any culture and on any dot on the map.



I thought of him often and talked about it giddily with so many folks, but my favorite conversation happened when I was at home a few weeks ago and went up to the road to visit Lela, our 97 year old surrogate grandmother.

Lela is extremely feeble and can barely walk but her mind is extremely sharp and her humor is incredible. Now, Lela has never made it a secret that Joshua's always been her favorite of the four kids, so after she asked about him no less than 47 times I finally dove in and told her where he was. I simply told her he was in Vermont at a carpentry school learning how to make guitars.

She pondered it a bit and said:
"hmm, y'all sure are smart chillins, you are. And I tell evr'body that, too. Cause y'alls mama and daddy raised you right. And raised you to love all kinds of folks no matter they color and told y'all that you could be whatever you wanted to be"

She thought about it a little more....
"now Joshua, he's gonna build them guitars real good, ain't he?"

Me: "yes ma'am I think he will"

"Cause he could read real good when he was a little boy and then we'd shut them books and he could memorize the pages. I ain't never seen nothin' like it"

Me: "we'll he sure is a smart boy but this is a craft he will be able to play for himself and build for other people."

"Well, I sure hope when he comes back he'll come tell me all about it"

Me: "well I'm sure as soon as he comes home, he'd love too"

"Well you tell him if he'll play for me, I'm ready to dance."

I died. She cackled her signature laugh and I burst out laughing while my heart overflowed.



I'm beside myself delighted for Josh and excited to see where this journey leads. And while I may never be able to afford one of these custom made jewels of his, one thing is for sure....I'll be right there with Lela: ready to dance where ever and whenever he's ready to play.