25 years ago I couln't remember the lyrics to a single song--at least not all of the lyrics to a song. Sure, the chorus may have been wandering around in the cobwebs of my mind, but the remaining lyrics had to be read from loose-leaf binders that continued to grow both in size and number. This kept me going until about 8 years ago, a point where I had 8 books that I lugged around to each job.

After swapping off the books for a laptop things began to change. For some strange reason the words to all those songs, plus some that I never regularly performed, mysteriously came to the front of my brain and I had no trouble remembering them. The chords, melody, style, tempo, etc.. were always floating around in my head. That's probably why I got into this business--the damned songs just woulnd't go away, and they still don't!

When audience members ask how I remember the words to all those songs, I smile and tell them I only play what the voices in my head tell me to play.

One of the neat things about keeping all this stuff on the laptop is you are only a mouse click away from the lyrics, and they're displayed in a font size that even onld guys like me can still read. You can bump them up to a larger size, set the computer to automatically scroll downt the page, lots of neat stuff. The best part is when you get to the point in a song where your memory hits a snag,(also known in the medical world as a brain fart), you can merely glance at the laptop and keep on truckin'.

One of the things I've noticed lately is that age tends to rob you of muscular strength. (What the hell, they had to eventually go bad along with the other body parts.) In order to slow this process a bit I've been working out on a weight bench and treadmill, both of which provide great exercises. Additionally, the treadmill will help keep your both your cardiovascular and pulmonary functions in better physical condition. The better you can breath, the better your vocal control. It works for me!

Cheers,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy