Rubylith

4 minutes 20 seconds| The photograph is of my hard-working father, in his blue uniform with his plastic pocket protector. My sister stands behind him, circa 1976.

Sometimes you do not know what a piece of music is about until image and music is joined.

I am reminded of a trip home over Christmas, one of many I made on a Greyhound bus during the 1990s. (These bus rides were grueling and unpleasant.) My father drove me in the twilight to the bus station, since the days are short in December. We listened to the radio in silence, where one of Bread’s many beautiful songs played as we pulled into downtown Memphis. I believe the song was If. (Bread, though a California band, had a Memphis connection through one of its band members.) This sad song captured my mood in that car ride.

Leaving Memphis and my family was always a wrenching experience, even though I did not fully understand why. I was happy to return to Bloomington and my strange life in those days, but as more time has passed, and my parents are no longer with me, I realize that Memphis is my home; and always will be.

The last theme of Rubylith evokes the orchestral backdrop for many pop classics of the 1960s and 70s. Likewise, it marks the continuation of my exploration of seventh chords in recent compositions.

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