Pre-Festival Concert:Country-influenced Rock: Ralston

On the day that Terry Schiavo died after having her exit from this world dragged through family conflict, courts, media, talk radio shows, Congress, White House, and pulpits, Ralston’s “James Dean” was a much more salient perspective on the ordeal. A song of watching his own mother dying, drifting away from Alzheimer’s, there’s the hope of death coming quickly like how James Dean died in a flash in a crash. Tonight at the pre-festival concert at Schuler’s Books & Music in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Ralston added the line, “I’m glad Terry’s suffering ended.”

Sending us off into the drizzly evening praying that the song was only a metaphor (as he said he prays), Ralston’s bluesy “James Dean” punched the rhythm up with a nicely adapted solo acoustic version. Ralston had spoken of music growing from a community, and while he led us to that upbeat downbeat song to close our evening together, we closed the evening together, bound by the music in the place, encouraged by the prospect of music for the next two days at the Festival. Even as monks gather for the Order of Compline in the dark evening of the hour, the cold chapel echoing their plaintive acapella psalm tones, speaking of night’s dark hour, praying “Abide with Me,” even while facing the lonely separation in their cells. It’s the community which binds them and builds them to face the uncertainty in the shadows.

Perhaps not monks, we left for the evening. Perhaps not retiring to cells with hard beds (I at least retired to the comfortable surroundings of the Prince Conference Center). However, in my head, I sang Ralston’s own versions of “Abide with Me.”

He opened the show with “Grace,” a personification of grace as a woman giving you that undeserved kiss. Solo, the song is made to come alive with his bazouki. Ralston explains that the Greek instrument has often been used in Irish music, but “I just learned a few chords and play it the way I want to.” That’s an understatement, as Ralston is able to take the 8-string instrument, twang and strum it like a country guitar while conjuring up such dimensions that go well beyond any country air.

“Begging the Question” is a bluesy walk through the leaders of the world’s religions, challenging them to be sure of what they are teaching. As Ralston explained to me after the show, he’s calling the teachers to make sure they are presenting the teaching rather than just themselves. “Pastor, who feeds your sheep?” The answer seems like a simple Sunday School answer, “Jesus feeds the sheep.” Yet, how often have I and other religious teachers made it to be about me feeding the people rather than leading them to be fed by Jesus Himself?

Ralston kept prompting these good questions throughout the evening, and contrary to perhaps my review of the album last year, seeing Ralston live and speaking to him in person has helped me to realize just what a craft he has for breathing questions through his music, questions which have to be asked but we’re liable to tune them out, question-songs that keep the question floating in your head like a catchy tune.

The talk-sing song “I Love You,” an extended musing pulling apart the sentence, “I love you,” sounds like Peter Mulvey’s way of weaving spoken word and music together. A somewhat spontaneous story, he also paid tribute to openers PowNavarro and Chris Smit. “Stories” seemed to be the theme for the night, and Ralston reminded us of how everyone keeps telling the same story about love—looking for love, finding love, losing love, wondering just where love went.

For Ralston, behind the Country-influenced Rock, the singer/songwriter style, the folk singer growing beyond folk trappings, there’s the ability to build community, ask the questions, and send us out realizing that we’ve been searching, are still searching, and will continue to search for that love. Ignore that search, and you’ll never get this music. Ignore that search, and you’ll never get life.

Thanks to Ralston for his music and kind words.