Soul Music #214

Jonathan Edwards:

You know, I didn't understand anything about politics or religion or behavior obviously, but I understood music.

Lyle Divinsky:

Like every kid, you kind of rebel against your parents a little bit and so even if their things are really cool. So I thought I was going to be a basketball player and then realized not quite hitting the six foot mark and only being able to jump about three inches off the ground, it was definitely time to get away from that and find something new.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to Lovemain radio show number 214, Soul Music airing for the first time on Sunday, October 25, 2015. The main music scene is vibrant and evolving. From experienced musicians who have played on the world stage to hard working newcomers who are making their voices known, we have a front row seat to a wealth of talent. Today we speak with singer songwriters Jonathan Edwards and Lyle Davinsky who are each bringing their soul filled messages to the Maine community in unique ways. Thank you for joining us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

of Love Maine Radio realize, I'm constantly fascinated by the way in which life tends to wrap itself around and around and around itself. One of our very early guests was Dr. Stephen Goldstein. And as Dr. Goldstein, who happens to be an optometrist, he was leaving. He said, you know, you've got to get this guy Jonathan Edwards on. He's this amazing musician and I know how you can reach him. And four years later, here he is.

Jonathan Edwards:

Perseverance, I'm telling you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Exactly. And not through Dr. Goldstein, but he put the energy out there. We have Jonathan Edwards in the studio. I'm really quite thrilled. He's a singer songwriter who has been writing hit songs and playing for audiences all over the country. For closing out on five decades. He has done 18 albums and he's lived in 18 different zip codes. And he's a legend. And he's here.

Jonathan Edwards:

That's right. It's unbelievable.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, thanks for coming in today.

Jonathan Edwards:

My eye doctor and now me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Exactly, exactly. From one to the other. It was pretty funny to think about one of the songs that you're known for, Sunshine, which was done in 1971, that happens to be the year that I was born. So now everybody knows how old I am. But I remember this song. I remember the song. My parents actually would play it on their record player because that's what they had back then in the 70s. And, and it was such a, it was such an iconic song for the decade, and it somehow, the upbeat nature of it kind of was an interesting counterpoint to what was going on in the early 70s. Tell me a little bit about that.

Jonathan Edwards:

Well, the, the genesis of the song came from my experience in military school for my high school years. I know it's might be you don't know me at all, but it seems that I was deemed a behavioral problem in public school, my early years in public school. And so I found myself in military school. And so I got acquainted with the military and disenchanted with it at the same time. And my dad was an ex FBI agent and I had just narrowly survived a pre induction draft board physical where I tried to demonstrate how much I was ill suited to life in the service and a tour of Vietnam or Cambodia or wherever we were at the time. And so I sat down on the bed with all those things in my mind and I had this little folk melody running through my, my head. And those words just spilled out, you know, sunshine in the morning and don't, don't, you know, sunshine go away. I don't feel much like dancing. But very few people, you know, very few radio personalities, in fact, really understood that that was a, it was a war protest song. It was, I was, I was tired of the direction that our nation, our government, was taking on our behalf. And so I wrote this little cleverly disguised folk song that people saw the title and went, oh, let's play that. It's cheery. And it was a cheery little melody. But like the third verse is, you know, he says, in love and war all is fair but he's got cards he ain't showing. And here we are, some, I don't know how many, 40 something years later and still at it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, you know, as you're talking about this, I'm thinking about my family. My dad, he graduated from Medical School in 1971. He was in the military at the time. He has served through two different military conflicts. I've had three family members who went off to the Gulf War or went off to the Persian Gulf. And you're right, it's interesting that you're right. This is 44 years ago and we still still in the middle of it somehow. Yeah, maybe not Vietnam, but certainly we're still out there in the middle of conflict.

Jonathan Edwards:

Oh yeah. But you know, it's kind of a downer topic.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, it is. Although I would say that it seems as though we have more respect for people in the military now than I believe we once did. I wasn't really cognizant in the early 70s, but it seems as though we now are more supportive of the people who are trying to fight for freedom, keep our country safe and all that.

Lyle Divinsky:

Uh huh.

Jonathan Edwards:

Well, it's a volunteer force now and it wasn't at that time, it was conscription. You're gonna go do this when you're 18, whether you want to or not. Which is terrifying to think of. And that's the culture we lived in in the late 60s and early 70s.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, I can't imagine. I mean, I have a son who's 22. I can't imagine if somebody just said, he's gone overseas and he may not come back.

Jonathan Edwards:

Correct.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you're kind of an interesting guy in that you have this military school background and you grew up in Minnesota.

Jonathan Edwards:

I was born in Minnesota and I was adopted when I was 9 months old by a lovely couple that brought us to Virginia. So my dad could be in the government.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And yet you ended up back again in art school. So even though you have this FBI father in the FBI accountant, lawyer business. Exactly. But you went, you went to art school.

Jonathan Edwards:

Yeah, and that's, that's. The credit is due to my parents, my adoptive parents, who understood that I was not, you know, cut in the mold that they were made From. And that I was a creative soul and a bit of a free spirit, and that I should follow my dream. And that was, you know, was. Was to be creative and to. And to. And to be always thinking about how to express myself with. In creative ways instead of, you know, more demonstrative, perhaps ways.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

But you had the music kind of running through you describe at some point, beginning on a $29 guitar.

Jonathan Edwards:

Oh, yeah. And my. My adoptive mom was a preacher's daughter, and we were always involved with church, and always. She was always getting me to sing and, you know, and there was always a piano in the house. And I grew up on gospel music, all the way from gospel music to Harry Belafonte. And I was always. You know, I remember singing a solo in our huge church sanctuary when I was 8 years old. They brought me out of the children's choir to be in the adult choir for a Sunday. And I remember how my voice sounded to me in that reverberant room and the effect it had on me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, tell me about that. Tell me about that effect, the effect that it had on you. I mean, this is something that I'm really interested in. Having sung in church myself, having been a soloist in church myself, and having felt that interesting. Like there's just something that happens. There's some connectivity that occurs that I don't think I've ever been able to replicate in anything else that I've done. Tell me what that was like for you at the age of eight.

Jonathan Edwards:

Interesting. You're an interesting person as well.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, some people would say, but we're talking about you now.

Lyle Divinsky:

Okay, fine.

Jonathan Edwards:

You know, it was profound. It was a profound feeling to have to see visible effects of what I was singing in that church that morning. And as a child, there was a lot that I didn't understand about life as most children, but I think I was really late in understanding a lot of life's concepts all the way from understanding that winter came in February every year. Oh, wow. I learned that late in life. I didn't understand anything about politics or religion or behavior, obviously, but I understood music that touched me, and I understood that. I understood it. And so I kind of loved that experience. And I was always in minstrel shows and always trying to get on stage and taking part in that level of performance and creativity.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So as someone who went to college and studied art, how did the. I guess the educational experience regarding creativity, that sort of creativity, how did that influence your songwriting and your performance?

Jonathan Edwards:

Well, I started writing songs in military school, and my roommate, coincidentally Just came to my show. My military school roommate just came to the show and I did in Oregon a week and a half ago or so and, and it was great to see him again after, after many years. And we used to write poetry together and, you know, trade words. We were wordsmiths. And still, he still writes and obviously so do I. You know, for me, like I said, I picked up the guitar in military school and if anything, if so many things didn't make sense in my life, all of a sudden something made sense. And I joke about it in my bio, you know, the clouds parted the angels saying. But that's really what it was like. I mean, it really was, wow. This guy showed me a couple things to play on the guitar and I was, it made total sense. Something I could do with no other help, with no other, you know, rules except to make something that sounded good. And so I started writing songs right off the bat. But my parents and I really realized that there wasn't a living to be made at that in 61, so I better pick some other, you know, endeavor, artistic endeavor to try. And so art became the natural fallback. And so they sent me to the art school of Ohio University, which at the time was a, was a really highly rated art school. And this is all to say that all that creativity comes to bear on my, on my songwriting and on my art. I mean, I did the record, I do the record covers of my records lately and it's, you know, it's all of a piece. I tell people it's part of the process. I know it doesn't seem like gardening is part of the process, but it is. And so is making compost and so is digging in the dirt and planting things. And it's all, you know, being in the woods and being in nature is all part of my recipe for, for putting stuff down on, in the studio and on paper.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So what does that look like as far as your living in Maine? Because you've been, you've been all over the place. You've been in Austin, Texas, you've been up in Nova Scotia. Obviously you were born in Minnesota, you lived in Virginia, you've traveled, you've worked for the last closing in on five decades. But what does that mean as far as the main connection for you?

Jonathan Edwards:

Well, I've always resonated with the Maine experience. Hard working people, real people. I mean, I've lived in Connecticut, you know, lived in Texas, and I just love the people in Maine and I love the summer here and the fall and the spring too. Mud season, all of it. And I love the coastline. And I just recently got rid of my boat, which is really hurting me this summer, but I had no time. There's no time with my schedule and what I've embarked upon promoting this new album to be in. In any boat, never mind my own, so. But I've always loved the people here and the fans and the. And the. The venues and. And I hope to get a chance to live here in Maine, and I made it happen.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I'm impressed by the fact that you are. I'm allowed to say your age, right?

Jonathan Edwards:

Sure.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That you're 69. It happens to be the age that my father is, and my dad just retired from seeing patients, but he loves family medicine so much that he continues to teach with the residency program at Maine Medical Center. You're 69. You love what you do so much that you continue to write songs, perform, tour, promote your albums. That's saying a lot, because there are a lot of people who are waiting just to get to your stage of life so that they can finally, quote, retire and then start living. But you're living. You are living the life that you want to live.

Jonathan Edwards:

Yeah, I mean, I'm. I wake up every morning grateful and happy that I can do that and have the ability to do that. And I think it's owing in great measure to the fact that I take good care of my audiences all these years. I make sure that I give it all up every night that I can on stage, and audiences respond to that, and that encourages me to even go deeper. And on it goes. And even now, I mean, I'm learning so much. Every show I do, I'm learning so much about how to do it and what resonates with people and what energizes me and incentivizes me and, of course, inspires me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You've performed at the Stone Mountain Arts center, and you've performed at other venues around Maine and around the country. Do you have particular favorites? Are there places that you really enjoy being?

Jonathan Edwards:

Well, Stone Mountain is certainly one of them up in Brownfield. It's an amazing venue, and they take such good care of us and their audiences. And the, you know, the food is great.

[Unidentified voice]:

The.

Jonathan Edwards:

The barn is great. It's just a wonderful place, and very few people know about it. And I often. Vince Gill is a friend of mine. He's on my new album, and they played there. I don't know, I want to say a year and a half ago or so, I went up to see him and stuff, and I Imagine what their bus ride was like on the way up that hill. Imagine that the band was going, what in the world? Where are you taking us? On a dirt road. And, you know, this huge Silver Eagle bus, I imagine. I don't even know, but, you know, they had no idea what they were in for. And then, of course, ended up like the rest of us, just loving it. But that's a favorite venue. There are several all over the country. The Infinity Halls in Connecticut. There's two of them that are really, you know, really good for us to play in, and audiences love it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You also happen to be working with a classmate of mine or a schoolmate of mine. Tom Snow, who plays piano. Very talented. Used to play when I was singing way back when we went to the same church.

Jonathan Edwards:

I can't wait to talk.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Tom pretty well. Yeah, he's a very, very talented guy. And in addition to Tom, you've surrounded yourself with other very talented local musicians, but you've had the opportunity to play with or open for some pretty big names. B.B. king, the Allman Brothers you mentored, from what I understand. Cheryl Wheeler, I mean, you really. You've touched some of the musical community in so many different ways. How does that happen? What's the progression?

Jonathan Edwards:

Just following your ears and following your heart and just trying to surround yourself with people that inspire you and make you better. Make me more aware and sensitive and powerful by knowing these people, like Tom and Joe Walsh and many other folks around here. And Cheryl that you mentioned. Yeah, it was wonderful opening and being on the bill with. With some of the great artists of my generation, and I take that inspiration with me wherever I go.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How has your songwriting changed over the years? I'm guessing that things from when you were in military school to now have probably shifted in your life. You're probably not exactly the same person that you once were as far as the songwriting goes. Has that. Has the subject matter changed? Has the way that you approach it changed?

Jonathan Edwards:

Yeah, the songwriting, I think, is getting much deeper and more personal, more meaningful. I used to write just anything that sounded good, let it go with that. And that has a lot of merit, too, to just let your soul and spirit fly and go ahead and commit to words that just sound good and melodies that just sound good and that seem to follow some natural progression that comes from the muse that I'm privileged enough to have, visit once in a while. So has it changed? I don't know. My subject matter is a little more. I don't know. I hesitate to say that anything has changed, really. People say, well, you've made, you know, 18 albums or whatever. And what's changed? Well, if I really examine it, not a whole lot. The instrumentation is the same. I'm learning to sing better, I think, than I ever have. And I'm listening far more accurately and more deeply and from a more emotional level than I ever did before. And so that may be the only thing that's changed. I'm still using banjos and mandolins and pianos and acoustic instruments and lots of harmony.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Jonathan, you're going to play the song Tomorrow's Child, which is the title track from your latest album, Tomorrow's Child, and it features a pretty well known singer songwriter. Tell me a little bit about this song and who you worked with on this.

Jonathan Edwards:

Well, the song was written by Marcus Humman, who is a Nashville songwriter that I have yet to meet, but I'm familiar with his work. And it was suggested to me to listen to and see if I could wrap my. My mind and my heart and my voice around his song Tomorrow's Child. And it fit perfectly into the other songs that we had selected for this album and, and songs that I had written for this album. And it I started calling up my friends that I'd never done before. I suddenly felt so good about this record that I started. I had the confidence to call up people like Jerry Douglas to play some dobro and Vince Gill to sing some harmony and Sean Colvin to come in and sing. And I thought, well, I'm on a roll. I might as well, you know, go for the holy grail of asking my distant friend Alison Krause to come in and sing. And she sings with me on this title cut, Tomorrow's Child.

[Unidentified voice]:

Days pass like a moving river always flips through then you think

Jonathan Edwards:

and just

[Unidentified voice]:

below the misty surface if you try and stop time, you will sink and so I only have you for a little while I run my fingers through your hair and you smile I may

[Unidentified voice]:

not be there when you get to

[Unidentified voice]:

where you're going I plan to see but may not see the tree don't

[Unidentified voice]:

know still as long as danza blue

[Unidentified voice]:

yonder and the yonder is forever wide I will always have faith in tomorrow's child. We all began as sons and daughters we all be calling me lovers and

[Unidentified voice]:

Some of us are raised to be mothers and fathers but we all become children in the end

[Unidentified voice]:

so I

[Unidentified voice]:

only have you for a little while I run my fingers through your hair, you smile I may not be there when you get to where you're going

[Unidentified voice]:

I plant the seed but may not

[Unidentified voice]:

see the tree don't grow

[Unidentified voice]:

still as long as there's a blue yonder and

[Unidentified voice]:

the under is forever wide I will always have faith in tomorrow's child. Don't you ever feel alone? You're always coming home.

[Unidentified voice]:

I may not be there when you

[Unidentified voice]:

get to where you're going I plant the seed but may not see the

[Unidentified voice]:

tree done growing still as long as there's a blue under and the under

[Unidentified voice]:

is full forever I will always have faith. I will always have faith in tomorrow's child.

[Unidentified voice]:

Tomorrow's child. Tomorrow.

[Unidentified voice]:

Days pass like a moving river

[Unidentified voice]:

Always

[Unidentified voice]:

faster than you think.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I feel very fortunate to have had the chance to talk with you about your music and to hear your song. And I encourage people to buy Tomorrow's Child or one of your other 17 albums or maybe see a performance that you will be doing locally. How can people find out more about the work that you do? What is your website?

Jonathan Edwards:

Jonathan Edwards.net has all the answers. They know more about my schedule than I do and these CDs come out of our house. You can buy them from our website and love for people to hear some of this new music.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, thank you. Thank you for not only being willing to share so much of yourself, your life, your music, your words over the last almost five decades, but also thank you for being willing to take the time to speak with me in such a deeply personal and heartfelt way.

Jonathan Edwards:

My pleasure, Lisa. Thank you so much.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We've been speaking with Jonathan Edwards, who is a singer, songwriter who has written hit songs and playing for audiences all over the country for five decades. To learn more about Jonathan, go to

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

the studio with me today we have Lyle Davinski who is a native of Portland by way of Sears, Mont. But in the past three years, Lyle has continued to prove that he owns any stage that he walks his bare feet onto. His contagious comfort breeds love and light to any crowd, bringing even the most sterile crowd to group sing alongs fueled by love. He has been featured on national television as one of FuseTV's artists to watch and was awarded the Songwriters hall of Fame Abe Ullman Scholarship, of which John legend received in 2002. And your bio goes on and on. It's pretty cool that you're this kid from Portland and you've worked with. I don't know. Here's some people on the list. We got Bobby McFerrin, we've got John Scofield, Rafael Siddiq, Joe Cocker. I mean, there's some names on that.

Lyle Divinsky:

I mean, a little, A little note is that those are the people that I work with, are people that worked with them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I see, I see.

Lyle Divinsky:

I'm working my way there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Okay, so we've got the degrees of separation. Degrees of separation.

Lyle Divinsky:

And you're eliminating degrees.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You're pulling them. Okay, that makes sense. So I'm interested. You call yourself an unsuspecting soul man. Is this because you didn't suspect you were a soul man or because other people would not suspect that you were a soul man?

Lyle Divinsky:

Well, I guess the general appearance of a kind of overly hairy flannel wearing man from Maine wearing bean boots, you don't necessarily think about, you know, singing songs that are kind of influenced by Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield and Al Green, Donny Hathaway and things like that. So kind of like, kind of like trying to get a little bit of a surprise in that sense.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Why did you become interested in that type of music?

Lyle Divinsky:

I grew up around it. My dad is an amazing singer and in my opinion, the best singer ever. And there's absolutely no bias in that statement. But so I grew up, I grew up listening to him sing. He would sing me to sleep with the guitar. And when I was a baby and was playing in bands as I was growing up, so I was always around it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

But you didn't come to singing yourself until somewhat later in your childhood.

Lyle Divinsky:

Right. Like every kid, you kind of rebel against your parents a little bit. And so even if their things are really cool. So I thought I was going to be a basketball player and then realized not quite hitting the six foot mark and only being able to jump about three inches off the ground, it was definitely time to get away from that and find something new.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And yet this is sort of how this all started. You were telling us before you came on the air that you one day you were joking with your coach about singing the national anthem, and he. And he actually called you on it, and you did. You sang the national anthem before a

Lyle Divinsky:

basketball game and fell in love with it right there. It was. It was pretty funny. Kind of a hilarious song to fall. Fall in love with, performance with. But, yeah, it really turned things around for me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How old were you then?

Lyle Divinsky:

I was 17, so junior.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Senior.

Lyle Divinsky:

Junior, yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So at that point, you still had some time to actually take advantage of, you know, being a high school kid and getting some musical. Musical education?

Lyle Divinsky:

Definitely, definitely. I didn't really. I didn't really get much on the academic education until I went to college, but I fell in love with it and I was friends with a lot of musicians around, so I kind of got experiential education pretty immediately, which I'm very lucky for.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So tell me about college. What did you decide to study?

Lyle Divinsky:

I went in. I took a year off in between high school and college. Traveled a little bit and played a little bit around town. And then when I got to college, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to keep music kind of the hobby or the, like, the side passion and not the business, just to kind of keep it pure and everything. But I quickly realized the more that I was trying to involve myself with other things, that the only thing I wanted to do was play music. So I ended up studying music and English literature. So it was a pretty expensive but very influential and wonderful way to play music and read books.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, tell me about the English literature piece of this. I mean, as a singer songwriter, I would guess that there. It actually wasn't that far off.

Lyle Divinsky:

Oh, it was amazing. It was really amazing. Getting a chance to work with incredible professors, reading incredible novels and poetry and being able to discuss it at such an intense level was a really, really wonderful experience. And being able to kind of fall in love even more with language and the way that you can say a lot with a little or how if you aren't paying attention, you can say a little with a lot. So. So it really got me. It made me fall in love even more with being a lyricist.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have a little bit of a wanderer thing going on with you. You were in Brooklyn and you actually earned a living. According to our audio producer and fellow musician Spencer Albee, you earned a living on the streets singing and playing.

Lyle Divinsky:

Yeah, yeah. Started in the. I worked a coffee shop for, like, Three days. And that was terrible. And so I went down, played in the subway and made like twice the money that I had made in the three days at the coffee shop. Just like hanging out in the subways and playing. I was like, ooh, this is kind of nice. And it was also, I mean, talk about people watching in discovery and like getting to talk to people that you would never ever run into. It was amazing. It was kind of a sociological study, a lot of senses. But so played down in the subway. And then kind of as the time went on, the above ground gigs started to kind of allow me to get out of the subway more and more. And so it was kind of a. It was fun because you, a lot of the places in New York you play for pass the hat until you can pack a club. And so I would play a bunch of gigs, but I'd have to basically pay to play in a lot of senses because I had a band and you know, they're all working musicians and got to make sure that they make their money. And so I go down in the subway and like make enough to pay the guys, you know, the couple days leading up. And then slowly but surely it got to the point where I could pay them and I didn't have to do the subway. And then it got to the point where I started making money and it was like, oh, wait, I don't think I have to do the subway anymore. This is cool. But I still did it every now and again. I got a little tired of it by the end, but it was a really incredible experience. It's an amazing community down there and a lot of talent, sometimes troubled talent and sometimes be world famous musicians that were just off tour for a couple months and wanted to make a little extra money during the day. So it was a really incredible community.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I would think that it would contribute to this sense of creative openness that you're describing, that you go down there, you have yourself and you play, you sing, but then you don't really know what's gonna happen. Some days you'll make some money, some days you won't. Some days you'll meet some fun people, some days you don't. And to do that for six or

Lyle Divinsky:

seven years, well, I did that for about two and a half, two and a half years. But yeah, I mean even that. I mean towards the end I definitely got burnt out on the. You never know what's gonna happen. Like the. Granted the music, the. Any, any. Any art as a profession. Consistency is not necessarily the, the word associated with It. But it kind of got to be a little too much down there where, you know, some days you go and you get the spot that you were hoping for right away and you make great money. And then the other day you go and you spend four hours looking for a spot and they're all taken. And then somebody says they're gonna hold it for you, and then they don't. And then you don't make any money, but you've been out for four, five hours or something like that and you walk home empty handed. And yeah, that was definitely a huge motivation as well to get more gigs and to find more ways of making. Making a living without having to compromise. But then the creativity aspect that you're talking about, I think it was huge for me because I think about the first time that I went down to the subway and I was. It took me about an hour to finally play because I was so nervous. I got down and I like stood at the place because I was like, okay, this is the place that I'm gonna play. I put my guitar case down and I'm about to undo it. And then I was like, this is weird. I don't know if I can do it. And then finally I brought my guitar out and then I strummed a chord and somebody looked up at me and I was like, oh, no, I don't know if I can do it. And finally did it, and it was awesome. And then slowly but surely, the nerves that I had about always wanting to be perfect when I sang and always wanting, like, never wanting to mess up and never wanting to do anything that wouldn't be top notch started to fade away because I realized that it was a safe place to try things. Because seven minutes after I sang this, right now the subways are going to come and clear out these people. It's almost like hitting the reset button or like, you know, you lose a life in a video game, but like, you get to hit, continue and get to try it again. And so then constantly get to learn. And like, I'm going to try this and this song. Oh, that didn't work well. I'll try it again. Okay, I guess it doesn't work. And then move on and try something else. So it was a really good learning experience and also kind of humbling in a sense of just like bringing me down to reality and being. It's okay to. It's okay to mess up because that's how you learn.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That's an interesting. That's an interesting thing that you're talking about. Because performance is, you know, it's kind of a conversation between yourself and the audience. And so you want. You want to be able to kind of put yourself forward as having the best possible conversation. But in order to get to that place, you actually have to have had prior conversations where you weren't really putting yourself forward in the best possible way. So you kind of need to have that. You need to have that. You need to have that practice space. But practicing by yourself doesn't give you what practicing in front of people gives you.

Lyle Divinsky:

Right. You have to be comfortable with vulnerability.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Right. And I think most people aren't.

Lyle Divinsky:

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. But I think that that's like. It's grown to be. It's grown to be an. Like, an imperative. Part of my live performance, I think, is the interaction within, and I'm not always there. And those are usually the ones that I'm The. The performances that I don't dig. But I think that that's the. I mean, just like any conversation, one on one, if. If you're not willing to open yourself up and you're closed off and you have your. You're set in your own ways, then how are you gonna grow from the experience? Because you're just gonna be right where you started at the beginning. So it's not necessarily gonna be a valuable experience for anybody.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

No, it's true. I think, you know, you're talking about something that I think a lot of people who have things that they would like to explore creatively, that's one of the kind of big mind blocks. That's one of the things that they actually have to move past in order to get to that exploration. And it seems like it's the type of thing that happens over and over and over again. It's not like, oh, I moved past. It's like, oh, I moved past, and now I'm back again. I'm gonna move past again. And now I'm back again. And that's kind of the nature of living. But then on the other side of it, you could choose something safe. You could go choose to do. You could choose to not be a singer, songwriter, not perform, not write. You could choose to go work in a coffee shop. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Lyle Divinsky:

No, it's all what works for everybody.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Right. But it's kind of interesting who decides to. And I've seen this in talking to musicians that it seems like there's a willingness. There's whatever it is about music that kind of keeps the spark going. There's a willingness to Kind of keep showing up and recreating and performing. And I wonder what that is about. I don't know. I don't want to say all musicians are the same, but I wonder what that is about. An artist's or a musician's personality.

Lyle Divinsky:

Yeah, I mean, thinking about it, I don't even know if it's necessarily a willingness. I think it's almost the need when it comes to it. You know, somebody. I mean, I think about this often what I would do if I wasn't a musician, if I didn't have the opportunity to perform. And I have no idea because at this point I've been doing it long enough. And it's the thing that I know and the thing that I love and I, I know that if I go for, you know, a month or more without performing, it's like, it's almost like a fix in a certain sense, which is so, so interesting to think about where it's like. And that, I mean, I guess that gets me thinking about the reasons for it, but I think that it's also, it's. I think what it boils down to is it's about having stimulating conversations and transference of energy. It's like if you didn't, if you were locked in a room for a month, you'd be going crazy. And granted I'm, you know, they're not saying that the only way to achieve that as a perform is performance, but it's something that I've grown attached to in a lot of senses and something that I, that I absolutely love and that I learned from. And that is, It's become a need, I think, which is really interesting to think about. It's like, oh,

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

well, and it's interesting too because you know, you're talking, there's a one on one conversation, but if you're talking about as a musician performing like the crowd energy is so different than just the. If just you and I having a conversation with microphones between us. So that it's almost like this specific group of people who got together on the specific day, specific time creates the specific creature that you're communicating with. And so to see how that changes over, over time.

Lyle Divinsky:

Absolutely.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That must be very interesting.

Lyle Divinsky:

Oh sure. I mean, that's, that's why there will never be a show that's the same as the other. You know, even, I mean, even if you have a super rehearsed show, even if there's some, you know, you're playing with a top level act that has every part of the, every piece of the show just down to a T. It's always gonna be the little things that come out. But, I mean, you think about a show that you play at a club, you go over to Portland House of Music and Events and play show for a couple hundred people. And then you go and you play an acoustic show for 20 people, you play a house show. Those are gonna be two very, very different experiences and two very different conversations and two very different. You're vulnerable in different ways. And, you know, when you have a bigger crowd with more and there's a more, there's more energy, but there's not as much of an articulated energy in a certain sense. Because then when you're playing a house show, you're looking the people right in the eye and you can see their reactions as you're singing. And so, like, you know, you talk about messing up a little bit if you hit, like, one little note. I think that's part of the reason why I close my eyes pretty much every time I play. I think there's. I'm still a little nervous about that, but it kind of. I don't know, but it's really interesting. Just the different environments and the different shows and numbers of people. And whether it's a theater or a basement club or a house or whatnot, or sitting around a campfire, it's a completely different thing. So the same song can mean so many different things and bring about a lot of different learning.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

In your latest album, Lyle Da Vinsky, Uneven Floors, you have a song called the Way, which we're going to play for the people who are listening. Tell us about that.

Lyle Divinsky:

It's. It's honoring a lot of the music that I. That I grew up with. A lot of the old soul, the kind of Motown, Al Green kind of stuff. But it's also a song that's all about love. And I think that when I listen to a lot of. To a lot of music, and I think about a lot of the music that I love, it's so easy to write, or so much easy. I'm not gonna say so easy, but. Because it's so hard. But it's so much easier to write when things are bad. Cause you have, like, this stuff that you gotta get out. You gotta shake it off. But then I feel like it's kind of difficult to write a song about love and about just cherishing somebody without it kind of going into cheesy. And I'm not even saying a love song like, you know, baby, Be Mine, just like, I don't know it was kind of my attempt at that, at writing a fun song that's all about love and all about being happy. And it's actually kind of funny because it stemmed from the day before I was kind of playing therapist to four different friends who are going through breakups. And so I think that it was actually, like, a need and desire to kind of, like, put some balance and equilibrium to the spectrum of happiness and sadness. So. Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, we're going to play this for people right now, and I'm sure that after having heard this, they're going to want to get your album Uneven Floors. So you're going to tell us afterwards how to do that.

Lyle Divinsky:

Sounds great.

[Unidentified voice]:

Let me take the time to say I can't believe you found a way to break down this wall That I had around me for months too long. It's as if you already kn. Already know just what to do. Will you pick me up now? I can't let go. And I'm gonna tell the world it's anywhere I know I fall as kind of love was only in my dreams. Cause starting with each new day it gets better than I can ever believe. O believe. Oh, I better wait until Love me I can't believe normally Wait until I meet. Cause there just ain't no better way Than waking up to your smiling face. Ain't no place that I'd rather be Than right here with you next to me, oh. Cause you don't have to worry at all. We've climbed to our forest to fall. So I pick you up and you know it's real. And I'm going to tell the world exactly how I feel. Now I know this kind of love me only in my dreams. Okay, darling. With each new day it gets better than I can ever believe. Oh, I can believe. Oh, I said I wait until. Love me I can no believe. Come on now. Wait, I can't hold no believe. Wait. I can no wait to love me. Cause we both know that we can carry on. We've been through rough time but never fall Ain't no turning back. Cause I'm learning that. That I need you in my life, baby. Cause there ain't nothing that can stand in the way. No way we gonna share it each and every day Just you and me and our family. I'm so thankful to say that I can't believe the way. Can you believe I'm faded to love me? I can't believe I said no no all along when did you love me? Say I got to have you Say I got to hug you say I got to got, got to, got to got to have you in my life forever oh, put used to you and me together and I can, Can you believe Way too loud I can't sometimes say oh my s. I got to say. It's, it, It's.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Where can people find uneven floors?

Lyle Divinsky:

Well, right now it's. The album is just released physically, and so it's not on, it's not digital until the beginning of November. So if you're local, you can get it at Bull Moose in Portland, South Portland or Scarborough. You can also, if you're outside of Maine, go to my website, lyldevinsky.com and you can order it and I'll send it to you. And I might even type up a little thank you note, too.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Do you have any fun performances coming up?

Lyle Divinsky:

Well, I'm playing every Monday with, with Model Airplane over at Portland House of Music and Events. I have a couple other weekly things that are just kind of ending right now. But then I'm having my New York City release in on November 6th, and then I'll be trying to get out on the road and, and playing for as many people as I can. But it's always if you go to lyledevinsky.com, then I'll have them all listed there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Will your dad ever come along?

Lyle Divinsky:

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I get him out every chance I get. He's a teacher over at Paths, so it's tough to get him to travel during the school year. But he's getting close to retirement, so I might be bringing him on the road when I can.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I encourage people who are listening to go to your website to find out more about your live performances, but also to buy your cd. I think that sometimes we forget how much effort goes into creating the music that we listen to. And when you actually have a CD in your hand, it causes you to remember again that this is. There's a lot of. There's a lot of soul in here. And it's probably worth the, I don't know, whatever it is. $15 for people to only 10. Oh, my goodness. So it's a bargain.

Lyle Divinsky:

Come on.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Exactly. We've been speaking with Lyle Davinski, who is a local singer, songwriter. More than local, I guess we'll say national New York. We'll give you Working Our Way, Working Our Way up to the international scene. I'm sure we will see you on the international scene. Thanks for coming in today and thanks for sharing your music.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have been listening to Love Maine radio show number 214, soul music. Our guests have included Jonathan Edwards and Lyle Davinski. Follow me on Twitter as DrLisa and see my running travel, food and wellness photos as bountiful1 on Instagram. We love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of Love Maine Radio. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here. We are privileged that they enable us to bring Love Maine Radio to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Bellio. I hope that you have enjoyed our Soul Music show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.