When I first saw John Moreland’s clip from the Late Show, my mind first went to what the audience must have thought.  Perhaps some had come because he was performing, maybe a few others looked him up the morning of, but likely most were just happy to be there and along for the ride.  The ride that night brought them a big man who sings big songs.

There, in the partial darkness before he began, how did they think it was going to go?

On the flip side, I wondered what John Moreland must have thought.  If not that night, then the night he first began.  Most of us can hardly tell our closest friends about our most intimate experiences.   John adds music to them and sings it to a new group of strangers each night.

Imagine the guts it takes, presenting yourself and your greatest longings, worst failures, and deepest dreams, wondering how you’d be received.

In our own lives, we often let others keep us from far less.

Perhaps it wasn’t hard for him at all.  Maybe he just sits there and bleeds.  In this case, the crowd will erupt, but the real vindication came when he sat down to sing.

In nearly every Moreland song is at least one well-crafted line you wish you’d written because it is something you’ve experienced but hadn’t figured out how to say.   Mixed with the envy is gratitude that someone could say it at all.   A line that offers a real perspective on a real thing.

It isn’t as easy as it sounds.  We’ve stretched a canvas in front of what’s really real.  On it, we’ve created the reality we all agree to, on how we think things ought to be, or how we wished they were.  Things, others, and ourselves.

On the canvas, people are strong in all the ways we want them to be strong.  Behind it, folks are strength is found in the weak places.  On the canvas, the more you say, the more you know and the more significant.  Behind it, the more you say, the less it means.

Every now and then, folks break through:  Heros, anti-heros, the gal beind the counter, or singer-songwriters.  John Moreland did it in front of a crowd at the Late Show and on every album he’s put out.

Moreland will be in Iowa City on September 25th.