I have found that the older you get, the harder it is to find new friends. I’m not talking about casual friendships where you meet up every now and then over a drink or a coffee, I’m talking about the kind of friendships where you can talk about everything, even your most private thoughts and feelings. I have also found that as an artist, finding musicians that will instantly get you and your music is very rare. A combination of the two is almost an impossible person to find. Yet, I found that with Tim.
I only knew Tim for about 4 years, but I feel like we knew each other a life time. He played on many of my recent recordings. He came with us on tours all over the U.S, and to Germany to record my album Paws of a Bear. Just two months ago we said good bye at the airport in Houston as he was flying home to L.A. We were supposed to do a 2 week tour together in Texas but all shows but three were canceled. It was the last time I saw him.
A few weeks later Tim wrote on Facebook that he thought he had contracted Covid 19. He messaged me and in a light tone wrote that he felt he’d pull through. The next day I got on a plane to Europe, and he went to the hospital. When I landed he was gone. It wasn’t Covid 19, but a heart attack that he had endured for some 4 days before seeking medical assistance. 4 days is a long time to not treat a heart attack. In a way I feel that the virus was what killed him. Not because he was infected, but because he thought he was, and we are told to stay at home until it’s critical – which he did.
Many times I thought I ought to write him a song. But somehow I never knew what to write about. It wasn’t hard to find the words this time, the hard thing was to not keep writing. I am sad he won’t get to hear it. I think he would have liked it.
I don’t have things I wish that I would have told him but never did. This is not that kind of song. But I do wish I could talk to him again, about all the little things we would always talk about.
I am very lucky to have some of Tim’s best friends and fellow musicians play and sing on this song with me. Thank you Guillermo Guzman, David Plenn, Lisa Finnie, Corrina Carter, Cynthia Brando and Dylan Thomas for doing this, though I know that it was hard. And thank you to Brad Colerick for inviting me to play Wine & Song that time when I first met Tim.
This song is for Tim, and everyone who loved him, and for all of you who lost someone, directly or indirectly from Covid 19.