FIVE FOR FIGHTING

A couple years ago I found myself in Branson, Missouri where I was reviewing shows for a ticket website.

(100-plus shows. Many of them good. Some, not very. And a few, like Jim Stafford's, excellent).

It was a rainy day inside a coffeehouse owned by a very pretty girl, a talented musician and good friend. And I was feeling kinda lost and far from home. You know: blue.

So the girl joins her handsome and talented guitarist brother in a moving, '100 Years,' the timeless Five for Fighting song. And on that day, I felt the song for the very first time, and maybe felt love a little, too.

Now, whenever I hear that falsetto vocal, I stop and remember feeling kinda low and then immediately high. That's what music does to me.

Songs are my drug of choice.