Learn to Love Again
Dear Friends,
It has been 12 years since I last released a non-children’s or "grownups" album (Greyhound Bus Tour, 2013). During that time I have gotten engaged and married, become a home owner, went through a divorce, fell in love again, and had another significant relationship that has since ended.
I have lost several important musical and life mentors, including Jamie Rusling and Gilbert “Farmer Jack” Potter. This album is dedicated to both of them.
I have grieved, listened, healed, and transformed a great deal of suffering from these losses and from old wounds. Childhood, adolescent, and ancestral wounds. I am learning how to love myself and others in more deep and authentic ways, and how to see myself as a continuation of the love I have received from my mentors, teachers, parents, and ancestors.
The practice of mindfulness on the spiritual path of love and understanding has grown in me, and continues to be one of my lifelines to meaningful connections and sanity. Music, friendship, and community are also lifelines, and for me these things are not separate.
We have lived through a global pandemic, are living through multiple humanitarian and ecological crises, and are experiencing a second more severe version of a governmental regime operating under the abusive doctrines of colonization and white supremacy.
During these last dozen years I have also earned my master of social work degree, become a licensed social worker, and been ordained as a Dharma teacher in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. I have co-founded a spiritual practice community, the Building Beloved Community Sangha, and have adopted my dog Caillou, who has also adopted me (Caillou also helped to produce this album by the way).
I have been blessed to join musical and spiritual forces with incredible musicians who have collaborated, traveled, performed, and recorded with me as The Community Gardeners. I have released two children's albums!
All of this lived experience has become spiritual compost through the practice of stopping, looking deeply, and cooperating with my Higher Power in the mystery of healing and transformation. This compost has helped me be open to receiving and sharing these songs, and has allowed this new album to bloom.
Learn to Love Again contains both the joy and the pain of my life, seen through the eyes of spiritual practice, and it is my hope and aspiration that these songs will water seeds of healing, happiness, peace, and reconciliation within you. May this humble musical offering help you to continue to learn to love yourself, those around you, Mother Earth, and the gift of this life.
Learn to Love Again will be released on all streaming platforms on the Summer Solstice, June 20th, 2025.
The Community Gardeners and I will celebrate with a live album release concert on June 27th at The Ark in Ann Arbor. This special one-time event will include a guided meditation from Dharma teacher Barbara Newell, who has been a spiritual mentor of mine for many years and who led us in guided meditations during the recording process. Also featured will be my friend and fellow singer songwriter Elisabeth Pixley-Fink, who recently celebrated the release of her album Heartskin. Come ready to sing, breathe, and celebrate our deep interconnections!
May we learn to love again in healing and restorative ways, that we may one day be wise and generous ancestors for those yet to come.
In gratitude for the gifts of music, mindfulness, and community,
Joe
