First songs, first albums
First album I bought was Bob Dylan’s greatest hits, with Blowin’ in the Wind and Mr. Tambourine Man. Blowin’ in the Wind was one of the first songs I learned to play on the guitar. “My Girl” was what they played at the end of the first high school dance I went to. A lot of the Motown music was popular at the end of high school. My song that I played the most later when I played the guitar and sang to my kids was This Little Light of Mine. I’ve sung that at care facilities with groups from schools where I taught. You are my Sunshine was one that got everybody singing. A song that I wrote that I still play more than any others is called “Little Child,” about a child watching the fountain down in Washington, IA—the mystery and the magic of it. Keeping that sense of wonder in your life. Lots of protest and folk songs, like Pete Seeger and the other folk singers from the ‘60s.