Down the Road

Photographs and stories by Jim Grey

Since 2007

Tag: singing

  • An attitude of worship

    An attitude of worship

    I really don’t like the music at church. Really really. But at some point I have to choose to remember it’s not about me.

  • Losing my voice during the pandemic

    Since the pandemic began I’ve worked from home the vast majority of the time. I normally drive about 20,000 miles a year, but in the last two years I’ve put only about 3,000 miles on my car. I’m a car singer. When I’m driving, I’ve got my music on and I sing along. I can…

  • Driving and Singing: Paul McCartney, “Too Much Rain”

    Friday mornings of late I’ve been sharing songs I love to sing and telling stories about their place in my life. I love to sing! But as every song ends, so does this series, today.  2005 might well have been the hardest year of my life. My wife was divorcing me, I got to see my…

  • Driving and singing: Heart, “My Crazy Head”

    Every Friday for a while I’ll be sharing songs I love to sing and telling stories about their place in my life. Singing is cathartic for me. I can’t imagine not singing. I do most of my singing while driving, listening to my favorite songs on my car stereo. Kristen was my first girlfriend. We’d been friends…

  • Driving and singing: Paul Simon, “Peace Like a River”

    Every Friday for a while I’ll be sharing songs I love to sing and telling stories about their place in my life. Singing is cathartic for me. I can’t imagine not singing. I do most of my singing while driving, listening to my favorite songs on my car stereo. When I was a boy, even a teen,…

  • Driving and Singing: Megadeth, “Addicted to Chaos”

    Every Friday for a while I’ll be sharing songs I love to sing and telling stories about their place in my life. Singing is cathartic for me. I can’t imagine not singing. I do most of my singing while driving, listening to my favorite songs on my car stereo. I was a metalhead in the 80s. Even…

  • Driving and singing: Glen Campbell, “Wichita Lineman”

    Every Friday for a while I’ll be sharing songs I love to sing and telling stories about their place in my life. Singing is cathartic for me. I can’t imagine not singing. I do most of my singing while driving, listening to my favorite songs on my car stereo. Grandma and Grandpa retired to a small lake,…

  • Driving and singing: Rod Stewart, “Tomorrow Is A Long Time”

    Every Friday for a while I’ll be sharing songs I love to sing and telling stories about their place in my life. Singing is cathartic for me. I can’t imagine not singing. I do most of my singing while driving, listening to my favorite songs on my car stereo. I dated Alison the summer I turned 19.…

  • Driving and singing: Carpenters, “A Song For You”

    Every Friday for a while I’ll be sharing songs I love to sing and telling stories about their place in my life. Here I tell a story about the first celebrity death that hit me hard. I wrote this before the recent deaths of David Bowie and Alan Rickman, deaths that did not hit me particularly…

  • Driving and singing: Wings, “Daytime Nighttime Suffering”

    I sing. My goodness, do I love it. It’s a cathartic pleasure that lets me vent steam. Singing is key to my mental health! While I’ll never be a singing star, I’ve got a decent voice, I can carry a tune, and I can sing out. If you want to hear, just join me at church…

  • Singing to soothe my sons

    I have three sons — a stepson pushing 30 and two teens. I’ve been thinking back on their lives as one of my sons turns 18 today and is making transitions toward his adult life. I was there when the younger two boys entered the world. I did my best to be a good dad to…

  • At the foot of the stage

    I last stood in the wings of this stage when I was in the sixth grade in 1978. But I didn’t particularly want to be here. I would rather have been singing with the choir at the foot of the stage. As part of a concert, a few of us entered the stage from here…