(Title) Follow the Sound (Sections) The Music, The Way I Play, Home Where the Highway Has No End
For background info about "Follow the Sound," see "1st Instalment, March 25, 2026 - How to Watch 'Follow the Sound'"
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In this instalment -
About song #19 from the "ALAICMI" collection, "A Stopover in a Forest"
Scroll down to find the link to the song video "A Stopover in a Forest"
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(Transcript)
About "A Stopover in a Forest"
I think it was the summer of 1974. I was living in La Mirada, California at the time.
I went on a very long hitchhiking trip. It took a month. Such a thing is impossible now.
I had a 40-pound backpack. I didn't have my guitar. But I did have a recorder flute.
On my way back I was in Oregon. I don't remember the exact location, but I think it was near Grant's Pass. I was picked up by two girls in a VW bug. They were on their way to some kind of hippy gathering at a place they said was called Harmony House. And a hippy gathering is really what it was.
That night, all the goofy hippy kids were dancing around a fire and beating bongo drums and eating raw beans. No drugs going on.
I went off by myself and sat down and pulled out my recorder flute. That's where I made up this melody. For years afterward up until I made this recording in 2022 I called the tune "Harmony House."
But since early on after I had made up this tune, instead of playing it on the recorder flute, I switched to playing it on my acoustic guitar, as a solo melody. And I liked it that way.
When I undertook to record this song in 2022, I wanted to recapture to some degree the circumstances of the song's origin. I knew of a place called Exploration Trail. Not nearly as lush as the Oregon terrain, but it was the best I could do.
It involved quite a bit of physical effort. I had my little dog, Corky, on a leash in one hand, my guitar on my back, a change of costumes and my camera gear on a cart that I laboriously pulled up the trail and then back down again, all in one day.
With the addition of keyboard sounds, the song is marvelously transformed.
In the video, an enigmatic story is told. It's intended to be interesting but it's not intended to make sense.
I'm very pleased with the way the song turned out. And once again (I'm not speaking about myself or my skills as a guitarist, but about the Yamaha FG-75 itself), it's a fabulous demonstration of the beautiful sound this guitar is capable of.
I hope you like this music video!
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(To watch the song video, click the link below)
Collection number 4, "ALAICMI,"
Song number 19 "A Stopover in a Forest"
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