More on Carter
Although Carter wasn’t my manager anymore, he remained a shamanistic presence. We enjoyed re-igniting via email these past few years. He begged me to start contributing more frequently to my website. Carter longed to hear my songs. He reminded me constantly that I am a writer. We picked up the threads of our dialogue, our friendship. He told me these songs (for “Ithaca”, as well as many others in the running) were some of the best of my career. He is a part of “Ithaca”. He was genuinely gleeful about it. My former drummer Jay Bellerose (now with Ray LaMontagne, Elton John/Leon Russell and almost anything by T Bone Burnett and Joe Henry for that matter) recently emailed me saying about Carter,
“…We had lunch together months ago and I think he had just seen you. His eyes filled with tears as he spoke of you and your gift. “she is writing her ass off! I just love her.”
Such was my songwriting champ and kind friend Carter. He told me to keep on coming with the acronyms on “P.R.E.N.U.P.”. So the coda there was a last-minute overdub; another good idea by Carter. Carter’s constant creative views are indeed part of me. When one speak’s on the phone with someone nearly every day for almost nine years, one’s mind, vocal cadence and humor become unified. You live on in me, Carter. And here I am living out loud under the microscope of the Internet.
