September 20, 2009

• Kevin Skinner One Man One Guitar, Old and New DreamsAnd

  NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. - To Do So Will Really Mess With Your Karma.

  Kevin Skinner- One Man One Guitar Reawakens Dreams

  The values and kindnesses that Americans often associate with our small towns and rural areas are alive and well in Mayfield, Kentucky and the surrounding area. They have been present in the courtesy with which people have responded to my endless questions about a local boy, in offers of a place to stay were I ever to visit Mayfield, in suggestions of others to call, all of whom have been courteous and helpful.

  However, no matter how fine the people or how beautiful the countryside, western Kentucky is no simple paradise. In the words of a Mayfield resident, "You make a pact with yourself to stay here. There are few jobs and, unless you are a professional of some sort, you will always be poor. In exchange for giving up financial security, you get to stay near your kin and feel embraced by your community," And then she adds the final dollop of cream to the coffee, and as I listen to it float to the bottom of the mug, "You know, it's so small a town, it's like living in a teacup."

  In this rural area, I'm told, there are lots of young men, maybe women too, who play guitar, or bass or drums or sing and think of bigger places to play. They may make it to open mikes in Nashville, but no further and they are often discouraged, told to "get a real job," and do. There is something in Kevin Skinner that gave him the faith in himself and the faith that he deserved more than he was getting from chicken barns and gigs at Hill's Bar-b-que (scroll down to the forth picture to see Kevin playing at Hills Bar-b-que - http://mykevinskinner.com/gallery.html) that allowed him to file an application for America's Got Talent.. Despite the social pressures to conform, to not dream big dreams, he found the courage to break away from the pack.

  I won't speculate on what it was until I can talk to him about it.

  However, there is another story here. I'm told that seeing a Mayfield boy make good for the first time anyone remembers has been an inspiration, a reason for hope.

  Guys who dreamed of writing songs when they were young have searched out their old composition books, some brown with age, once again humming a tune and writing it down. Guitar players reach to the back of the closet, open their dusty instrument cases and pick up their guitars and strum, realizing they have to get new strings, even as their blistering fingers search for chords they only dimly remember.

  Kevin dared to go out into the larger world. The world he encountered had no choice but to focus not on his accent or former job, but on his openness, decency, humility and above all on his musical gift. Because of Kevin's dare, folks have hope, some for the first time ever, and are beginning to search once again for the dreams they had never dared dream or had stored away in a locked box under the bed.

  Postscript - The night Kevin won, I received a telephone call from a fellow from Kevin's area who had given up his music several years ago. "You know," he said, echoing what I had written in the first draft of this piece, "watching Kevin on his journey, traveling the world outside western Kentucky in search of his dream, that's given me new hope. I hadn't truly realized that when I stopped singing and writing songs, I gave up, not just music, but a part of my true soul. Kevin showed me that. I've just written the first song I've written in five years..."

  It's bigger than just musicians, this creation of hope, awakening of dreams. As Sharon Osborne pointed out in her interview after the finals, "Kevin is Everyman." His journey to the fulfillment of his dreams beckons us all.

  lily

  • 4:35 pm
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