Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Medicine for my COVID-19-Stuck-at-Home funk.

Home Remedy

Here’s a tune that I, along with my good friend Bob Thompson, recorded that I’d like to share this troubled Martin Luther King Day.

“We Shall Overcome” has been described as “a key anthem of the civil rights movement” and it’s all too relevant today. The injustices, fear, ignorance, and intolerance that have been laid bare for view of late state unequivocally how far we are from Martin Luther King’s dream; certainly, much farther than I wanted to believe.

Some years back I had the great honor of meeting Guy and Candie Carawan when they came to my Church, Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist, to perform this and other songs. They were leaders at the Highland Research and Education Center and instrumental in promoting “We Shall Overcome” in the context of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. I was running sound that morning; so, I can say that I actually got to work with them. Truth is that my part was essentially saying good morning and pointing them to the solitary microphone they used. They radiated grace and kindness that somehow juxtaposed perfectly with the power of their performance.

My path crossed that of the Carawan’s again. Notably, in 2009 they performed at the Instruments of Peace Service to rededicate the Sanctuary after the shooting in 2008, a service at which I also performed. Much later I had the sad honor of playing at Guy’s memorial service.

More recently I was able to see Harmony featuring Bill Frisell, Petra Haden, Hank Roberts, and Luke Bergman. Now, I’m a big Frisell fan so I suppose I’m “in” from the start; but I can’t imagine how it could have been better – moving performances of tunes like “On the Street Where You Live” and “Hard Times Come Again No More”. When they closed the set that afternoon with “We Shall Overcome” I had a hard time holding back the tears; I’m tearing up writing this now.

So, having been fortunate enough to be inspired by truly great performers, let me humbly add my voice to the chorus. “Deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome some day”.

Bill Dabbs