“Smokey Mountain Sabbath”
I hope that the children in my life have found me to be a good example and an encouraging presence in their lives. I know I have failed in this area at times, but – especially as I grow older – I have come to realize the impact that others have had on who I became and the husband, father, grandfather, friend and Christian witness I want to be. In 2006, on a music tour that started in St. Louis and wound through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia, I had the pleasure of visiting the Ashlock family on their farm near Franklin, NC. Carl Ashlock had been my teacher, faculty friend and a powerful example of Christian dad, husband and pastor 29 years earlier at Rio Lindo Academy in Healdsburg, CA. His daughter, Brenda, had been one of my closest friends during our years in school there on the banks of the Russian River. I remember many Friday night vespers and Saturday night social events that the Ashlocks hosted in their home on faculty hill. Carl was an exceptionally interested and intuitive faculty member, whose genuine interest in the lives of the students he came to know set him apart as a faculty leader who was trusted and respected by the student body. Because Brenda and I were buddies, I was privileged to spend more time around the Ashlock home than perhaps other students enjoyed, and so I got to know Carl and his wife, as well as their son “Bubby” pretty well. Aside from a brief encounter with Carl, Glenda and Brenda in Escondido, CA some years later, I hadn’t seen Carl, now in his early 70’s, since I’d graduated in Healdsburg in 1977. In May of 2006, after a scenic drive through and over the Smokey Mountains, I arrived at the Ashlock’s peaceful farm in Franklin, not knowing quite what I’d find in contrast to my adolescent memories. It took only moments and a warm greeting by Carl and his wonderful family to realize that all of the warmth, kindness and openness that I remembered from three decades before was still there in the hearts of this exceptional man and his family. As sunset fell, we shared music and memories and stories. The next morning, my old friend Brenda came from another part of the state and we all attended “Church in the Woods” (a Carolinas Camp Meeting pre-event held in the forest near Franklin) together. Bubby arrived a little later, Carl delivered the sermon, I shared the (then new) song “Shining Through” with the congregation, and we just had a truly wonderful Sabbath experience in the woods that day. As I was driving away from Franklin that afternoon, headed to see dear friends (and former faculty family) Janet and Wilmer Snyder in Jefferson, GA, I looked back to see the Asklock family waving from the porch of their beautiful country home, and was struck by the enduring nature of Carl’s influence on my life. I realized that, as I looked back on the male role models in my life, his was among the strongest and most important influences. I experienced a flood of nostalgic thoughts during my deeply affecting 24-hour visit to my friends in North Carolina, and I wrote “Smokey Mountain Sabbath” while driving out of Franklin that day. The song was nearly complete by the time I reached the Georgia border, and I stopped at a little roadside guitar and banjo shop (and ordered a banjo that day!) to work out the final chord progressions. About a year later, after completing the recording of the song for the “Parables & Promises” album, I sent the following letter and a pre-master studio CD of “Smokey Mountain Sabbath” to Carl Ashlock. I believe he wouldn’t mind my sharing this with you …
Dear Carl,
Next month it’ll be a year since my enjoyable visit to Ashlock Farm. Though that visit was brief, it proved to be a special experience for me, and I found that the brief time we had together afforded me a deeply-moving ‘reconnection’ to the warmth your family once extended to me, the powerful influence your personal concern and spiritual example have had on me, and the important part you and your family have played in my life choices and focuses.
I so enjoyed getting to know Glenda a bit, meeting your wonderful step kids and grandchildren, visiting and experiencing the beautiful patch of paradise that you’ve worked so hard to bring to its glory, and attending Sabbath services with ‘you’all’ and my old friends Brenda and Bubby. The fine food, fellowship, laughter, music, stories and moments we shared warmed that place in my heart that you and your family have held the exclusive key to for all of my adult life, and I left your place a grateful guy with a deep desire to stay connected and close to the precious folk who were waving from the porch of your beautiful home.
I think that our time together was made even more important and powerful for me because I came to the realization on Friday night – after we’d shared Sabbath dinner, sung together around the piano, and shared memories with your friends and family – that your example, as a father, husband, friend and spiritual leader has had a profound effect on the man the Lord has helped me become. Your many kindnesses to a ‘disconnected’ teenage boy some 30 years ago, including the sense of always feeling welcome in your God-governed home, your trust in me as a male friend of Brenda’s (which I took seriously and never betrayed), the easy, spirit-led manner in which you presented our faith and God’s promises and gifts, and your sensitive and proactive understanding of tender issues in my life at the time have stayed with me, Carl, and have helped me to be a better man, father, husband, friend and Christian. So often in life I think these important things never get said to those who make big differences in our lives, and I wanted to send this letter and music to share these thoughts clearly … and with the requisite admiration and gratitude I feel for you and your influence in my life. I am so fortunate to call you a spiritual mentor, my friend, and I want you to know that I hold you in this high regard. I know well that you have many more immediate friends than me, but it’s also true that I have few in my life whom I can credit with the example and powerful influence that you have shared with me, and I am deeply grateful that the God we both love brought us together.
As has been the case with a number of moving moments in my life, the Lord gave me a song as I was leaving your place last May. I hadn’t even made it to the freeway back in Franklin before the beginnings of the words and melody to “Smokey Mountain Sabbath” found me. On the drive into Georgia, this simple song came together. I even stopped at a country guitar shop near the state border and strummed the melody line to completion on a demo guitar there (also made up my mind to purchase a banjo while there; which I have enjoyed since). The song is particularly special to me because I find that playing/singing it reconnects me to that special Sabbath last May and to one of the happiest and most healing friendships of my lifetime. “Smokey Mountain Sabbath”, which I’ve just completed recording, is slated to be featured on my next full-length album, entitled “Parables & Promises”, but I wanted you to have the very first copy of the song … on this one-of-its-kind studio pre-master CD … as a reminder that you, your love and example are the inspiration for the song and an inspiration to me.
Thank you, Carl, for the person, friend and Christian you’ve chosen to be … to me and countless others. Never let yourself think that your faith and commitment aren’t making a difference, my friend. I hope you enjoy the song and the affirmation that I hope will come with it and this letter.
Your friend always,
Steve
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stevereeves
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stevereeves3
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stevereeves4
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stevereeves2
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stevereeves5
