Whan That Aprill…

The tides of change come quickly in the land of Franklin, Tennessee.  As most of you know, I’ve been spending a large portion of my time these past few months deciding where to go to grad school.  I was offered a one-year scholarship to study Chinese at Indiana, and a two-year (full tuition) scholarship to study linguistics at the University of Georgia (UGA).  I recently accepted at UGA and plan to start there in early August.  I’ll be there for two years (until spring 2014) getting my M.A. in linguistics, with an emphasis on historical linguistics.  UGA is located in Athens, GA, which is about 1.5 hours from Atlanta, 2 from Augusta, and 5 from Nashville.  I had the chance to visit the campus a couple of weeks ago, and I was astounded at just how large the school is… the campus is far more expansive than Wake’s campus, and they have just about every major conceivable, including poultry science (that’s right–chickens).  I’m somewhat concerned about finding my place in such a large university, but I know the linguistics department will be relatively small, and hopefully more intimate.

These past few months, I’ve also enjoyed playing music with my band (Danny McClelland and the Sons of Erin).  We’ve been writing some Irish/Celtic music as well as learning some covers (e.g. The Eagles, Johnny Cash, Pink Floyd, Tom Petty, etc.).  Our lead singer has written most of the music, and it’s really quite good (in my humble opinion).  We’re still in the process of writing more songs, but we hope to have an album out by the end of the summer.

We’ve played two shows so far, both at a sports grill/bar called Detour.  Our first show was professionally recorded, and you can see a short mash-up of some of our songs here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R17u-7lVcbw

We also had a professional photographer do a photo shoot with us after the show.  It was rather amusing, since we were told to poses some of us felt were unnatural.  You can judge for yourself here: http://momentsbypaula.com/photo-blog/95-danny-mcclelland-and-the-sons-of-erin

And here’s a link to our website: http://dannymcclelland.com/. There’s not much on it yet, but I can’t pass up the opportunity to advertise for my band!

I should also make mention of the fact that I’m now dating our beautiful and talented fiddler, Becca Wolfe.  She’s a student at Lipscomb University, a small Christian university here in Nashville.  We met through a mutual friend who went to FCS and who now goes to Lipscomb as well.  You can bear witness to her angelic violin skills in the above video 🙂

So our band consists of four members: Danny (guitar), Drew (bass), Becca (fiddle), and I (keyboard).  I graduated from FCS with Danny and Drew, so we’ve been friends for a long time.  For our Irish songs, I’ve been playing accordion sounds on my keyboard (aka Sir Roland) until I can get my hands on a real accordion and learn how to play it.  We’re also still looking for a bodhrán player, so if you happen to know any, send him/her our way.

Just as the month of April saw the pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, so the month of April has brought much change here in Franklin and heralds our own imminent pilgrimage away from Tennessee.  Please remember to pray for my family as they prepare to move to Oklahoma, and pray also for me, that God might grant me wisdom in my graduate studies, in my relationships, and in my musical endeavors.  It’s easy to allow the cares of the world to weigh heavy on my heart when everything seems to be in flux, so pray that God would give me peace in the days to come.

Blessings,

James