Please listen to my song about Joe Mauer

Fit for a ballad, J.M.

Having a song recorded gives a rush that offsets the weather. I'm pleased to announce that my song "Ballad of Joe Mauer" is on YouTube. I actually wrote it a couple years ago and referred to Joe's career in the past tense. He hadn't retired yet, but I was writing about the Joe Mauer who played catcher and could win batting titles. So, the past tense seemed appropriate.
Still, it would not seem acceptable to have the song recorded and put online until he actually did retire. That has now happened. So, I put Mr. Frank Michels to work again at his wonderful studio in Nashville TN. Nashville is a wondrous place, full of musical joy. I visited there in the '80s and '90s with the Wohlers gang of Morris. I invite you to listen to "Ballad of Joe Mauer" with this YouTube link. Thanks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htJrPtbA0MI

 
The singer is David Ward. The song was put online by Gulsvig Productions of Starbuck MN. If you have media transfer work needing to be done, contact the Gulsvigs. They are in the "geek" universe. I just sit at the piano keyboard "plinking" keys to experiment with chords etc. My dad did this professionally. He never encouraged me to follow suit, he just wanted to take me hunting and fishing. I have no idea how he'd assess my work. But certainly our styles are different. The core skills are the same, regardless of what style you write.
I'm sure my father could have written something with pedal steel!
I have had people get back to me after listening to one of my baseball songs, eager to share some of the memories of growing up and attending Twins games. I have already gotten one very warm email in this category. I won't share the name because it was a private email. But I'm pleased to share the content. Just goes to show, baseball can be a real wellspring for memories.

Hi Brian,

You did Joe Mauer proud!! This is a great tribute to him! As a little girl, even though a girl, I liked baseball. The memory was that my Mom liked to watch the Twins!! She wouldn’t miss watching a game and seemed to know all the players' names and the positions that they played. She brought the boys down to a Twins game to see Tony Oliva, and Earl Battey. My brothers learned to like baseball too! We all played baseball many, many times at East Side Park, Wells Park and behind the elementary school. You remember trading baseball cards with my brothers I am sure. They would get so many baseball cards that they would share the gum that came with them with us girls. 
My Dad gave me a catcher’s glove just recently when he was moving things to their new home. He said he remembered me always wanting to play in the catcher spot, and this was the glove that I had used back then when playing catch with him. That was kind of neat to have this after all those years. Baseball is still one of my favorite sports. I don’t know all the players’ names and positions like my Mom did, however, it isn’t like the old days that one player played all season long in the same position. Now there are new players all the time it seems. 
There are definitely some favorites that we will never forget. I truly liked Kirby Puckett, as it seemed he could always hit the ball no matter what pitch he was given. Wish he hadn’t gotten hurt.

Thanks for sharing your new song with us!! You do a great job!

Addendum: The writer of this letter had a brother who did some work for the Morris Theater when in high school. Sometimes he'd put some school hallway gossip up on the marquee and then go back and take a picture of it!

Songwriting fills a void caused by departure of my family members to the next life. So I'm still in my mortal place and having to deal with the awful, gray typical March weather! Check the UMM music concert schedule and make a point to come out and enjoy.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com