What Makes Your Soul Stir

Hey, you're quoting Rich Mullins in your signature there... may I ask if he's good to listen to? I've heard a lot about how great a writer he was, and how he inspired a lot of other musicians and writers before he died so young, but I don't think I've ever actually heard him sing.

And I've heard of John Groban too, but not literally heard him...

Goodness me, it sound like I just 'don't get out much' as they say around here!

Yes he is very good to listen to. In my opinion, he was one of the best song writers in America. His genre was American Folk/Spiritual. But what really struck me was his raw honesty about life and his belief in God. It has been said he pushed against the grain of more than a few establishments, because he didn't fit into their molds.

Besides being a wonderful songwriter, he also wrote prose and muses about life, which I totally adore. You are seeing a few examples in my signature. It shocked me when he died suddenly back in Sept of 1997. I heard about it on the radio and read about it in my local newspaper on the second page. The impact was so great, that there were four memorials services held for him. A large one in Nashville, TENN, Witchitaw, KA, the State of Indiana where he was born, and on the Indian Reservation in Arizonia where he lived for the past three to four years before his death.

He traveled all over the world performing and his records (CDs) sold millions upon millions. He could have been a millionaire, but he gave it all a way and received only what the working man's salary was every year. I read that when Rich Mullins lived in Witchitaw, KA. he would go to the local radio station to ask the DJ (a friend of his) out to lunch, but he never had any money on him. Another example of the kind of man he was is back in the early 90s he was attending a big music award ceremony in Nashville and after the show he put on an apron and started to serve the guests their food. He was more confortable out of the spotlight and in ranks with the average-Joe.

I think I told you more than you ask for---sorry for getting carried away.
If you want to hear Josh Groban go to www.joshgroban.com then click the news link and scroll down pass the lastest news and you'll see a list of songs from his lastest CD entitled "Closer". Go ahead and click on them to listen. If you scroll down more you'll see a selection of songs from his first record and you can hear them too. Good listening.

Roisin and Siusaidh! I have The Best of... Rich Mullins CD and I highly recommend it. It was given to me as a gift because a friend of mine loved it so much. It has some wonderful worship songs on it. Songs, Siusaidh, I am sure you have heard. I didn't know he was living on the reservation here in Arizona right before he died though. I knew he had put out a CD with money from it to go to the Indians. I remember exactly where I was where I heard about his death and it was very shocking to me as well. I am sure he is having a great time now, but us here lost a really great singer/songwriter.

Forgive me for not responding sooner, I am sooo sorry! Its been nearly impossible to find the time to visit here these last few days especially, and I have been hoping when I returned I'd find an answer to my questions about Rich and Josh (not John - daft me )

Thanks for telling me so much about Rich! I appreciate it. Oftentimes I've read from other songwriters or performers what an impression he made on them, as he did you. His pushing against the establishment is something I feel a kinship with, as I often find myself traipsing outside the lines of what is expected of me as an artist, even a mother and a woman of my age! I do not find it easy or comfortable to conform... seems like Rich didn't either then. Bet you don't like conforming either, do you?

Here's to finding ones own self-expression then... lets revel in being our true selves...!

Siusaidh,

Rich Mullins blew a few theological mind-sets in his day. He believed you should live what you believe more than speaking what you believe. In other words, walk the walk more than you talk the talk. He was often critized by the religious "elite" for living an unconventional Christian lifestyle. He played in Pubs, hung out with what the "Church" believed were the rouges of society and lived what he truly believed and cared less of what people thought of him.
I guess I am more like him than I realized. We all need to be trail-blazers!

Hey! My kind of Christian!

I write poetry because I sometimes have trouble expressing how I feel. I'm very emotional and cry at the drop of a dime, so when I have something really emotional to say I write it out and it becomes poetry. I'm usually crying while I write my poetry, well except the funny ones of course.

I also write because there are some people in my life that I can never tell what is on my mind. So I keep it locked away inside. it builds and builds untill I can't take it anymore and the only thing i can think to do with it is write it down. (hence my poem to my mother)

yes yes YES - we do need to be trail-blazers!!

I think Rich was absolutely right in his belief that you should LIVE what you believe rather than just speak what you believe... circumstances have taught me over the last 5 years that your life is what people really pay attention to.
The stronger my faith in God has become and the more instances where I can see He has worked in my life specifically, the happier I've become & the more trusting of Him I've become... I don't need Him to prove Himself to me any more. He's done that in such awesome (and genuinely unexpected) ways.

What genuinely breaks my heart is seeing sooo many people all around me who are missing this joy and confidence because they can't bring themselves to believe. My heart is heavy this month; evidence is all around, but they have their eyes so downcast they don't see it...

Hello all!!
Very sorry for being away so long. Many things going on here.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that I am extremely pleased with all the replies on this topic. I had no idea the responses I would get. I think though, that the most popular has to be that poetry is a way of venting, especially for those of us who don't confront in our lives. It's a way of letting it all out without the backlash.

I also have to add, that now I will be doing some cd shopping come payday. There are some really great suggestions in here.

Thanks all
Take care and stay safe

Hello Therasa, good to see you back. There truly are some interesting posts here on this topic! I've enjoyed reading them too.

I've said it before, but this is the best discussion board I've ever been on. More interesting people here than you can shake a stick at, as we'd say down south...

Music and Art make my soul stir more tha nanything. Especially music. I can get as caught up in music as I can with a good book.

I love to look at others' art, but I am more moved with my own.

Music stirs my soul even more than visual art does sometimes; to me they both come from the same place, from the same source of creativity, but they just take on different forms. From the same inspiration comes painting, singing, playing an instrument...

Music can change my mood so easily, I have to be careful what I listen to! Its amazing how different my own drawings look according to what kind of music I listened to while I was working on it. And if I am feeling particularly timid or hesitant about beginning a difficult piece, I always listen to Stevie Ray Vaughan whose fearlessness with his guitar could give courage to a turnip.

OOOps, I thought I had posted here.... I looked, and come to find out. I haven't.
So the question is what makes my soul stir.....a lot. here are a few things

Waking up to see that I am in the mountains again. Very little beats waking up to see the mountains, covered by mist of the early morning. Or to see the trilliums, covered with dew on an early morning hike.

The sound of a mid. d note harmonic matching pitch to the feed back in my amp, and feeling the pulse through the floor. You can hold that note FOREVER if you are close enough to the amp. And if you just close your eyes and bend away at the string, it's like being in space. ( and that is always my little hat tip to Mr. Ace Frehely)

Seeing my wife smile at me. One of the best feelings in the known world! She doesn't have to say a word, it's all in the eye and the smile.

Mozart. His insane genius will delight me to the end of my days.

Freshly turn soil. I know that sounds odd. But that is life. IT's start and it's end. My family had grown up on farms. I am the first generation to NOT live on a farm as a child. It calls to me. It's in my blood....

I must get back to work..... post more later...

Cheers Friends,

Ah, I know where you're coming from on this topic. My family grew up on a local farm too but I have never lived on one myself... but I think a love for it, and an appreciation of the land is perhaps in the blood.

When I visited England & Ireland, the first thing I noticed in the countryside was the astonishing richness of the soil: as black as could be, and with something growing everywhere a bit of soil could accumulate. All I could think was, my grandpa would flip for soil like this!! The red clay we have in Georgia is notoriously hard to grow anything in.

What makes your soul stir? For me, it's good music, really really good music, the sort that gives you goosebumps when you listen to it; awesome music that keeps playing in your head thru the day. I've had Donnie Munro's 'Irene' with me all morning. Magical song.