OlafOlsen

Newcastle NSW, Australia

Ever since I can remember I have been affected by music. It has reached out to me and grabbed me and consumed me. As a kid growing up on a farm in Canada I was fortunate to have parents who forced piano lessons on me and shoved me into the church choir. They also had us stand around one of two upright pianos and usually sing from just one book; The Fireside Book of Folksongs published by Simon and Shuster in 1947. It had songs from around the globe with little stories explaining their origin. It was through that that I learned that songs have meaning, history, pathos, are truly global and truly varied. It was the singing and piano that allowed music to "find me" as Billy Joel once said ("you don't find music. Music finds you"). So there I was, comfortable singing at the top of my lungs and banging on the piano but far too short of an attention span to make any progress with classical piano. One day I heard this blue grass music drifting across the corn fiel