Gary Lee Joyner's Blog (3)

GLJ returns to Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music, his home-away-from-home, in early April. These visits are always filled with electric energy and are enjoyed by all. For registration, call the school (773.728.6000), or go to the website—www.oldtownschool.org. Contact Gary directly if you want to set up a private session while he’s in Chicago—info@garyleejoyner.com. Here are the details: Friday, April 3 A private workshop for Old Town School teachers only. Looking forward to connecting w… Continue

Michael Yonkers is widely known for his electric guitar work (e.g. his 2003 SubPop CD, Microminiature Love), but he did record several acoustic-based LPs in the ‘70s. In 2007 deStijl, in cooperation with SubPop, decided to re-release Grimwood, one of those early albums. I was asked to write the liner notes for the CD because Michael and I have been friends for over 35 years. We’ve done theater work and musical performance together in that time, as well as a lot of partying and a great deal of ta… Continue

Creativity. We value it and aspire to it when we pick up our guitar, but what is it? How does one pursue creativity? This is a key issue in my teaching, in my own music making and other artistic pursuits, and in daily life in general. I spend a lot of time reading about it, thinking about it, developing ideas and collecting schemes. Many of us think of creativity, if we actually stop to think about it at all, as an ephemeral, vague quality—a gift of the gods that comes, or not, of its own volit… Continue