A couple weeks ago, this Substack turned one year old. Thanks for checking it out and being part of it all! Ice-cream cake, all around.
My planned essay for this week was a commissioned piece for a local magazine; that publication is now postponed until October—so my own sharing of the essay will have to wait.
So I thought that instead, I’d mark MLNP’s first anniversary by going back to the beginning.
As noted in my first essay, this Substack was borne from a trip I took to a salon in Patmos, Greece, in July 2022. (I’ve been working on a longer follow-up to that first essay for a year now, lol.)
The salon was hosted and facilitated by Krista Tippett, Pádraig Ó’Tuama, Joe Henry, Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi.
Krista is the creator and host of On Being.
Pádraig is the co-creator (with Krista) and host of Poetry Unbound.
Joe is a songwriter, recording artist and record producer.
Rhiannon is a songwriter and performer, as is her partner, Francesco.
Each are deep thinkers and advocates, empathetic and incisive. Appropriately, the salon’s theme was Journey to the Common Good.
I’m a fan of each of these five individuals, but it’s my abiding affection for Joe Henry that first led me to the others, and indeed led me to travel halfway across the world to learn from this group.
I didn’t have grand expectations; it was just part of me figuring out how to make this later side of life as meaningful as possible.
If you’re interested in learning about the kinds of things we talked about at the salon, I’ve got two recommendations for reference points to listen to.
I suggest you listen to them early in the morning, probably outside, with a good cup of coffee, an inkpen and a journal or sketchbook, and your phone out of reach.
‘The Ghost in the Song: Songwriting As Discovery.’ Joe Henry at the Aspen Ideas Conference, 2018. This is a terrific presentation and Q&A, with, I think, Ann Powers and Greil Marcus in the audience.
On Being with Krista Tippett, with Joe Henry. This interview, which I have listened to every three or four months since its release, is sage to me. It also streams on all of your favorite podcast platforms.
If you enjoy thinking deeply about art and creativity, about relationships and inspiration, about expression and discovery, I’m confident you’ll find much to love in these recordings.
One additional note.
I first got to know Joe Henry’s music because Bucky Baxter played on Joe’s excellent album, Trampoline, released in 1996.
‘Most Likely No Problem’ is named after a phrase Bucky used to say to me.
When Bucky passed away in May 2020, Joe wrote this remembrance in American Songwriter.
If you’d rather read than listen, his short essay is really, really, really, really beautiful.
And accurate.
Joe—and Bucky—have, in their own ways, pushed me further out than I ever thought I’d go, too.
——
I’ll be back in a couple weeks with a new essay.
Please accept my sincere gratitude for taking the time to read MLNP, and for sharing your thoughts over this last year.
This has all been such a positive force in this chapter of my life.
– Matt
PS. A couple months ago, a friend met in Patmos and I went to see Joe Henry perform in Chicago. After the show, Joe told us that the group is planning to reconvene in summer 2024 to do it all over again.
Hit me up and I’ll get you the details.
Matt, congrats on a year! Grateful for your thoughts and writing, for the introduction to the forum, and for your dedicated friendship and readership. Keep this thing going for us all, please! I've certainly enjoyed following along.
The idea of songwriting as discovery I dread of expression is going to sit with me for a long time. Thank you for starting this and sharing so many beautiful posts with the world.