Yeah .... now is the better time to talk about Rick's influence. There are several area's, but I think I will start with the one that is most important.

My dear friend Rick had a sneaky way of getting you to see things. Unlike me, he rarely came at it directly. Like all good teachers, he would use the tactic of using something unrelated to get you to think so you would arrive at "the bridge beyond the fog" by yourself. In the wake of his passing, I have been thinking about our conversations and it hits me that where he was steering me was back to a more thoughtful time in my Mudcat experience. Right ... this isn't about music, rather about Mudcat. I remember conversations in the car on the way to eat chinese or something else, and he would raise a question about this Mudcatter or that Mudcatter, and wait for a response. Those responses were varied. Then we would talk about something else, and later, he would make a comment about how nice that person was, or how the Mudcat (for some) was their only outlet to a larger community. And much later he would talk about my early postings to the Mudcat. As I sit in reflection, I know what he was telling me. He wanted me to lighten up. I think Rick knew that the last few years have been particularly intense for me, and they have altered my thinking and response. I have become much more attack oriented from being so constantly in the trenches. Thanks, buddy. If you wonder, in your passing, "Did he get it?", yeah... I did. I promise you that I will endeavor to make this place as you once described it, "the town I always wanted to live in". And to my friends here, and those who I have made enemies of, I am sorry. Let us do what we once did, and share good times. Let us make this the meeting place it once was, and let us honor our friend Rick in the doing so. Doesn't mean we can't debate, at times fiercely so, just that we do so without being so disagreeable in our dissent. I miss the days when Rick first came here, and will do my best to assist their return.

In the last conversation I had with Rick on this side of the veil (yes, I will be having more with him from the other side of the veil..hahaha), he told me that I have to quit playing it safe with my music. To put it in context, he indicated that I need to get out there, find the wonderful songs written by folks that most have never heard of, and that is what I need to perform and record. There was a whole conversation about wonderful songwriters that I needed to become familiar with(YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE) and perform that music. He wanted me (as my friend Paul Mills does) to hook up with writers and co write some music about my experiences. Good sauce. In short, the mantra he gave me was "Quit playing it safe". I know I can sing well known ballads as well as anyone, but it is time to move on to another place. Rick ... my friend ... I understand. I want you to know that this scares the hell out of me, but it is for that reason that I am going to do it. You are right, and ... for better or worse ... here I go.

Finally, he told me once when he saw me finger a three finger C, that I needed to use the four finger "bluegrass" C so "you don't look like an amateur". The real message, of course, was to quit using the "I am an amateur" crutch for my own laziness with regard to the instruments. I have always relied on my voice and personality. Time to make a committment to the instrument. Time to avail myself of the talents of those wonderful players that I have come to know, and make serious efforts to emulate them and yet develope a style of my own.So Jed, Bob Clayton, Paul, Glen, and others, you may count on being the ones that teaches me that damn run in "Pitman Blues". Marion gave me her version, and between the lot of you, I might just be able to get it.

Your influence, Rick? Well, old buddy, you have just managed to screw up the rest of my life as I attempt to do justice to the faith you have expressed in me. Thanks, my friend. Safe journey, well done on this leg, and I will talk to you soon.

With all the love of a brother,
Mick