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| Stevie Tombstone video for "Would You Die For Love" |
"This song
really means a lot to me because it symbolizes a point in my life where i needed
to hear those words. They have carried me all over the country and led me
to meet many more folks of a like mind. It was the Fall of 2010 and I was
leaving Austin for the last time, discouraged and basically overwhelmed with my
new responsibilities as a father and trying to make it in the entertainment
industry. My wife Melissa in her infinite wisdom suggested we go to the Ozarks
and get ourselves in a better spot and spend time with each other away from the
rat race and ingenuine climate of the hipster grind. We had an invitation from
some friends there and accepted, tying most of our belongings ( except our 2
year old) on the roof our car. We left Texas behind (which I still love dearly
and consider my other home) and headed for solace and higher ground. I
recall it being dubbed the "sour grapes of wrath era". Just
part of the journey.
One
of the
folks that invited us to stay was an old buddy and sometimes personal
shaman of
mine. Lets just call him Bill for anonymity's sake. I was in a bad
space after several small failures and feeling like life had dealt me a
raw
deal. I wouldn't listen to anyone... except Bill. This man had seen
life on all levels. He had lived through some hard times and come out on
top in
a metaphysical sense. A child of the Depression, the Vietnam War,
incarceration and
homelessness led him to trek on foot across the country to study under a
Zen
master and then to settle in the Ozark Mountains. Or so the story goes.
He had a way of making you see the truth in things and thus answering
your own questions. That was magic in my book.
We were
working together outside in the garden one day, speaking of parenthood,
personal failures and what a full life we'd both led up to this point.
Despite all, I was still in a negative fog of self defeat. He looked at
me from beneath his coolie hat under the Ozark sky and said one simple phrase
that knocked me off my feet and changed my whole perspective. Would you die for
Love?
My immediate
answer was yes, but the multitude of thoughts that ran through my mind took me
to the same answer on so many levels.Sometimes we just don't see the truth even when its right there in
plain view. It was a hazy moment
of self realization in the midday sunshine.
Self
sacrifice, honesty, and the inevitable peace of having it. Verbal Manna. That
phrase stuck in my head for quite a while and shaped my outlook for some time
to come,that we really can make a difference by putting others before
ourselves. Realizing that's the best thing we can do, and being honest about
whether we can or not is a great barometer at the very least.
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| Stevie Tombstone zoned out after the video shoot for "Would You Die For Love" |
I wrote this
tune about two months later. It was a country-blues narrative with an
Ozark beat. I wanted it to be reminiscent of early buck dancing and appalachian folk music fused
with Delta blues from our mutual childhood and parallel existence in the Deep South.
