It was great day when I 1st heard you at Copper Mtn. years ago! Your music and performances have been so fun and have encouraged me to be challenged to try learning the guitar. You are such an inspiration with all the obstacles you have overcome with such dignity and humor as well as being such a nice person! I never tire of listening to you music!
You and Erin are remarkable people. I feel so lucky to have met you. Thanks for all that you give to your listeners.
I’ve wanted to thank this man for the longest time. I’ve tried to look him up but just can’t locate him; so I’m very glad to pay tribute to him here. Lou was the first guitar instructor I ever had. I was 14 years old when I started taking guitar lessons at Sam D’amico’s music center in South Philadelphia. I was very much into Don Mclean’s music at the time and Lou knew this. He also knew I had the summers off with nothing else to do but practice. So he loaded me up with work every week. Writing each new week’s lessons in my music staff book while I played the previous week’s homework for him. Finger exercises and pages of rythmn chord exercises complimented lessons from the Mel Bay instruction booklets. I specifically remember: he always had me play the exercises from the first fret all the up to the 12 or 13th on my acoustic guitar – much further up than anyone could conceivably play, without a cutaway. I never understood this at the time, but I do now. Not that I became any kind of great guitar player. But my interest in playing persisted through the years most likely because the extra work he gave me not only stretched me at the time, but engrained the exercises and even some of the rythmn chords into my memory so that I could continue to use them long after I stopped taking lessons from him. So thank you Lou – whereever you are – I am now taking another pass at becoming a more serious player and the ability that I have at this point I owe to you!
I attended the Rocky Grass Academy in CO in 1997 and Sandy was a great inspiration for my mandolin playing. On my way back to NM I was in a horrific car accident. Sandy was the one of the first people I thought of to want to Thank for all his wisdom and advice. He may not be famous or well known but he truly touched my heart and got me through a tough time with his kind words.
My mother particularly loved John and introduced me to his music at a very young age. He became my musical hero. As a young child I remember writing him letters and wishing there was some way I could get them to him. Years later I met and married one of Dik Darnell’s (a good friend of John’s) cousins. We went to one of Johns concerts where Dik had arranged for us to meet John. There were so many things I wanted to say but I was so nervous I only said hello and shook his hand. To this day I wish I could go back to that moment so I could tell John just how much he and his music had meant to me. My mother passed away from cancer at a young age just a year after John’s tragic death. Right now more than ever I find myself thinking about her and John and how his music affected our lives. I just wanted to say from my heart, thank you for sharing all of those years of great music with us. John had a gift, but not only that he stood up for all of things that I believe to be truth. He was a great man who taught me many things about life and I consider myself lucky to have lived in the time of John Denver. I will never again pass up the opportunity to tell someone how much they mean to me and for that I thank John. His music is timeless and may his memory live on in our hearts and minds forever.
Dear Steve,
Although you are not here in this life today I want to say thank you.
Over the last five years you helped me understand there is a different way to live. (Especially after you threatened to put your Texas size boot in my ass)! You gave me support and encouragement anytime I asked without fail!
So in honor of your birthday today I say thank you for your friendship. Love ya Cowboy!