Andrew McKnight

Like tens of millions across America, we watched and reveled at Hamilton yesterday. As a creative, I'm always spellbound by a really well done multimedia event like a musical. But to hear one of our origin stories recast by the present with such creativity and innovation was simply dazzling. It seemed a perfect kickoff for what surely is among the more reflective and tumultuous national birthdays of my life. 

I am always grateful for this day, for it set in motion my good fortune to have even the…

I needed today to lose myself in my thoughts. It is baldly a privilege that many others do not enjoy; to be able to retreat in these times of turmoil and civic unrest to work out my emotions and thoughts inside my head. We worked outside on a late spring day best described as spectacular and almost otherworldly in its peace and perfection. I marveled at history made in orbit far above my very busy head, accomplished by the talents of many diverse people working together towards a common purpose - a miracle…

My heart is so sick tonight. I will never understand how we ever came to judge our standing relative to other humans based on our God-given skin pigmentation. To my fellow humans in all your beautiful shades that make you uniquely and specially you, I see you. I understand all too well that I can't even imagine your experiences because I've never walked those miles in your shoes. There's so much that I take for granted because I will not have those experiences. I'm being mostly quiet because I'm listening…

On this Memorial Day I honor my ancestors who gave their last measure of devotion to save this country, and all those who served and never returned safe home to their families. My heart today is especially with all of those who lost loved ones to the unseen wounds of war that they brought home. #22aday #veteransuicide #MemorialDay2020

Thirteen years ago we left home for another prenatal checkup for this backwards and wrongside up baby we were expecting soon. We weren't planning on making a stay at the Birthing Inn, but that's what was decided that morning. No overnight bags or toothbrushes, house unlocked, cat without food, the whole nine yards. At the end of the day, this wee person was the reward. When I met her, and she heard my voice, she clutched my finger in her tiny little hands. Those same hands that dance across the fiddle now. 

I am son of Kathy, who is 
daughter of Hazel, 
daughter of Florence, 
daughter of Alice, 
daughter of Emma Jane, 
daughter of Parmelia, 
daughter of Pamelia, 
daughter of an unknown-to-me mother 
from a line of mothers that made 
me 
happen. 

#gratitude #happymothersday 
(Note: two of them did not reach their 30s.)

As we pass 40,000 American deaths from this plague (while South Korea has barely 200 and is coming out of the tunnel), I can't even keep track of families dear to us who've lost revered elders just in the last week - including my wife's family most of all. It shows no sign of being over anytime soon. There is a lot to digest here, but if you're chomping at the bit to resume your "normal" life and chafing that your local and state government is telling you to please stay the hell home, please do a couple of…

I imagine we've all reached a place beyond our imaginings now. A world of indefinite physical isolation while being virtually connected is not the future of flying cars and teleporters that I imagined. For a lot of us, our livelihoods and security are facing existential threats, while others are so busy there's no time to even process the cultural, societal and personal trauma we're experiencing. 

As an "independent" artist, I have always been subject to the winds of the greater world affecting the people…

All That I Have.

I am a singer/songwriter and a folk musician, which means I am acutely aware of my financial perils at most any time. I do not complain, it is the life that has chosen me. I practice gratitude all the time for my myriad riches far beyond a comfortable bank account - in love, in friendship, in community, in opportunity. I am living a life far beyond anything that Little Kid me could have imagined. 

Still, this time of plague brings home to me my privilege and good fortune. I am not being…

Talents and Abilities. 

Whether you attribute it to genetics, hard work, a divine hand or something else, each of us is blessed with an array of skills and abilities, from silly stuff like rolling our tongue to classical piano virtuosity or a knack for astrophysics. 

As I look out at this vast and uncertain empty space ahead, with concerts, festivals and tours cancelled for who knows how long, I find nonetheless some elements of this time are familiar. I have experienced several of these cycles of challenge…

Ancestors.

One can debate "nature versus nurture" about many of our human attributes and abilities, but the vast majority of what we are is the unique gift of life proportioned out from our ancestors through our parents. These days I'd think of things like my immune system, but there's much more to it. 

Of course my ancestors inspired/demanded my latest creative project over these last few years, so they have affected me in a very tangible and unusual way first and foremost. But learning of my own ancestry…

Spring.

I know it seems trite, but more than ever I appreciate the reminders of the natural world all around me. We have had but the faintest hint of winter, and the sun on snow that was largely absent was replaced by a lot more short gloomy days than normal. 

Of course, there's no escaping that these are dark times. The sense of fear, dread and yes, outrage, is nearly ubiquitous. These are not new events in human history. But the planet has been here much longer than we have, and its systems large and…

Community. 

This little village of ours has been around a long time by American standards. Which means that we still are fortunate enough to have connections to our past here in the present (some of which I wrote about at length in the book). Today I am grateful for both that past and present - for the winding gravel roads and rolling farms around the village preserved by many, which offer welcome relief and solace as well as exercise for many of us go out walking. 

And in the village proper, where our…

Technology.

The nearest thing to these times of plague within reasonable historical reach seems to be the flu pandemic of 1918. While there are actually many parallels between those times and ours, the one overriding thought I keep having is how grateful I am that we have widespread internet connectedness and video call/conference capability. Will our ability to stay spiritually and emotionally connected to our families and communities of choice ultimately make the Coronovirus pandemic of the 2020s less…

Just sharing a little personal practice here during this Time of Quarantine. 

Today I am grateful for our covered porch, for yet another new reason thanks to the "Great Sequestration". It is essentially another room to our house even though it's open air, and we eat dinner together out there as a family most nights for 6 months of the year. We can holler greetings to and fro with our neighbors walking by on our dead-end dirt road, and air out walking shoes of our own that need to be banished from the house…

A #StPatricksDay quite unlike any other in my life. The book arrived several days early, and in fact beat me home on my two day drive from Texas by a few hours. After unpacking, and a Guinness to wash down a lovely corned beef and cabbage here at home, finally I have a moment to take it all in. With #TreasuresinMyChest and a wee dram of Knappogue Castle, here's to all the very best of health to you and yours, and all the rest of us too for the uncharted lands that lie ahead. #gratitude

The maiden voyage of the new Odyssey is uneventfully and smoothly ended at home base - 1900 miles in five days to Florida and back. My last Odyssey retired a couple weeks ago with a perfect record; 255,000 miles and zero roadside strandings. With luck, this one will be the one that carries me over the million miles of touring threshold sometime in 2021 or 22. I am a lucky man to be blessed with this life, and tonight I am road weary and safe home.

Christmas in our little family tends to be more about the love and the thought than the size of the gift. I have to say Santa Michelle jammed an awesome gift down the chimney. 

I was a kid when the Washington Capitals franchise was born, and I decided I wanted to be a fan of a team from the very beginning. So thanks to the nighttime AM radio boost rules, sometimes I was able to twist my little shitty radio in the right direction to pick up their games through the static 350 miles away on WTOP.

On this Friday morning, in this hurting world, beautiful words spoken to this artist as if they were written directly to me. With gratitude to my friend Sienna for putting it under my nose when I most needed it. Enjoy. I will do my level best to be a hundred wild centuries today.

You are not fifteen, or twelve, or seventeen—
You are a hundred wild centuries

And fifteen, bringing with you
In every breath and in every step

Everyone who has come before you,
…

This is one of the items at the core of my massive Treasures in My Chest creative project. My cousin found this in her possessions over the winter, long ago bequeathed to her by our grandmother. She carefully brought it to my parents on a March visit, and they handed it over to the family historian when I came through on tour a month later. It answers a few questions, but mostly its contents are a direct touch and feel to my past. Hard to describe how much it means to have it, including the letter between…