Dip a Toe, You Gotta Risk to Know
Or, why everything that doesn't matter, still matters so very, very much
Andi and I said to one another, "Let's take our introverted selves and enter into Black Friday this year."
Well, enter in is too strong. Dip a toe in the proverbial murky waters is more accurate. We decided we had good reason to risk. We made a book together that many of you have said you value, even love. So we decided, “Let's remind our friends, and yet to be friends, that they might value, even love the book too. Maybe they will purchase it for a gift or for their very own grown-up Christmas and holiday lists?”
With that short intro, we respectfully remind you of the following, beginning with Why Everything That Doesn’t Matter, Matters So Much.
Kind words collection:
I’m very happy to commend my friends to you, knowing that you will be drawn into this story of a man and a woman who have lived at the complex and mysterious nexus of art and life, graced by their honesty, intrigued by the loves that have given meaning to the days of their lives, listening and learning over their shoulders, and through their hearts.”
—Steven Garber, author of The Seamless Life
"This profound and luminous book is the fruit of decades of inhabited truth, of practicing faith, art, community, and hospitality.
—Tish Harrison Warren, Anglican priest and author of Liturgy of the Ordinary and Prayer in the Night
"This book is exquisite—potent words and profound truths that keep opening up for me day after day."
—Sandra McCracken, GRAMMY-nominated and Dove Award-winning singer-songwriter and author
Best place to purchase?
Our friends, the Borgers at Hearts & Minds Books are offering a 20% discount. Thank you! Here’s the order page.
And, right now, Amazon has a get 3 for the price of 2 offer. Perfect for book groups and multiple gifts.
Nashvillians, don’t forget our local palace of literature, Parnassus. They keep the book stocked and we are grateful for the hometown support. And in Franklin, Tennessee there is Landmark Booksellers. Otherwise, available everywhere that fine books are sold!
Additionally, Parnassus will be hosting the book launch for Roots & Rhythm on February, 4th, 2025. Please mark your calendars for an evening of reading, Q&A, special guests, and signed books for all. Tickets will be avail on the Parnassus events website soon. Preorders are avail now everywhere. Click image, or go to Hearts and Minds again, where they are offering a whopping discount!
From Byron Borger:
By the way, I’ve got an advanced copy of Charlie’s fantastic forthcoming autobiography, Roots & Rhythm: A Life in Music coming out in a cool hardcover from Eerdmans February 4, 2025 — (Eerdmans; $32.99 / OUR PRE-ORDER SALE PRICE = $26.39.) It is well written and a blast! PRE-ORDER it today and get on the waiting list.
Kind words collection:
“From center stage to the cocoon of the studio, Charlie takes us into his world of creating music and curating a meaningful life as a whole. His invisible fingerprints as a gifted producer are made visible in this book, and his heart shines through.”
—Joy Williams, Grammy Award–winning recording artist (formerly of The Civil Wars), host of the Apple podcast Southern Craft Radio
“Charlie has a way of nurturing artists in their process and preserving the pure love and vulnerability of songwriting. Roots & Rhythm is a behind-the-scenes look at the legacy I had the pleasure of experiencing when I first started!”
—H.E.R., Oscar and Grammy Award–winning singer-songwriter and recording artist
“We musical improvisers have the power to break and enter into your soul. There’s no sense in resisting. And since we never, ever take, the question is: What will we deposit into your soul? With Roots & Rhythm, my fellow improviser Charlie Peacock is at it again—this time, depositing profoundly thoughtful, impactful words of beauty and insight into God’s big heart for music and justice. By all means read this book.”
—Kirk Whalum, Grammy Award–winning jazz saxophonist and composer
“Working with Charlie Peacock in the studio and on stage changed the artistic trajectory of my life. He never chose the obvious chord, riff, or melody. Instead, he coaxed novel creativity from everyone. His methods made me a better writer, singer and musician—perhaps even a better person, because it got closer to the soul of me than I was willing to explore on my own. I’m excited that he’s finally telling his story and know it will inspire others.”
—Michael Roe, singer-songwriter, cofounder of the rock band The 77s
“Roots and Rhythm is the play of youth with the wisdom of age merging into a beautiful fireworks show. We all desperately need the sorts of honest, sage stories Charlie tells about the artful life—to see, in ourselves, the merging of the girl in the woman, the boy in the man, simultaneously growing more playful, imaginative, and wise.”
—Sara Groves, recording artist and cofounder of Art House North, St. Paul, Minnesota
In Closing . . .
I remind you that the website arts and apparel page is open for business. Fine art prints, caps, Ts, hoodies, mugs and even lil sis’s jewelry! Avail yourselves of a gift or two at CHARLIEPEACOCK.COM.
Many thanks to Substacker, Alissa Wilkinson Commonplace Book for reprinting this prophetic poem from Mr. Berry for her Thanksgiving post (which I reprint below). Peace to all—practice resurrection.
First published in 1973, in Berry’s book The Country of Marriage. Fifty-one years ago. A prophet, indeed.
Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
By Wendell Berry
Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion – put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn’t go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.