LAY DOWN YOUR BURDEN

August 30, 2024
In commemoration of the penning of the invocation Lay Down Your Burden 50 years ago this month, a reflection on making music with Garden.
Lay Down Your Burden, by Colleen Crangle (Williams)
This is an astounding moment to me really. I have never had such an interaction with a piece of music. And really I’ve never had an interaction with a group of musicians the likes of what I experienced in Garden. And it’s not that I didn’t appreciate it at the time. But I was so not ready for it. And I didn’t realize until later that it would become the embodiment of an ideal of sharing music from the heart in a more direct way than is common. Oh there’s heartfelt music, but the difference is that there are usually so many filters, poses, hiding behind some convention, maybe a style, or technical prowess, an instrument, whatever. Buffers against being that direct and vulnerable. Making things more comfortable maybe and for sure less powerful.
I have spent a lot of time and energy trying to find my own end-run around that direct connection, really trying to truly connect but always operating with the idea that certain conventions being satisfied, certain technical criteria being met, are necessary to justify the effort. Here I am 50 years later coming full circle. Only it’s more like a spiral. It comes around on another level. New. And it’s mine to be surprised again. Whatever musical skills I may have acquired I can see now could actually be part of the means to break barriers. But as Ed Dunn was fond of saying, you’ve got to learn them and then forget them and just play.
What really makes the effort worthwhile is something else. The heart song.
The 50th anniversary of Lay Down Your Burden was this month. The original hand written lyrics were headed "August 17, 1974. After singing with Susan at Leo's" (Leo's Lounge, in Vermillion SD). Colleen's words, music, and voice have left an indelible mark on my own music.
There are a lot of very important thanks to share here.
If it wasn’t for Melita’s persistent vision and determination to bring that to realization, there would be no living room with a grand piano in it here in southwest VA. Likely the finest piano in Patrick County. And that’s just one example of the manifestations of her visionary drive.
If it wasn’t for Pete Krumhardt’s patient pursuit of excellence, this beautiful little guitar would not be in my hands.
If it weren’t for some of the other amazing fellow musicians along the way I don’t know where the necessary encouragement would have come from to carry me this far. Jons Michael and Sympson, Ed, Fred, Owen, Mary, and so many more. Nobody does this on their own.
to Colleen for the song, the words, the music, and always especially for the inspiration that is still resonating.
A couple side notes:
The guitar is tuned to a non-standard tuning known as DADGAD, a tuning which Susan employed in her own guitar playing.
For this 50th anniversary rendition I have reinstated the additional verse that was part of the original but was omitted from the version Susan did with Paul Winter. But I have taken the liberty of modifying this verse in an effort to speak to the heart song and the voice it imparts to the musician.