FUELED BY MUSIC, PASSION AND LOVE

The conversation concerning what to paint on the side of my father's tour bus continues! Now, don't get me wrong. Dill Records is a recording studio, the purpose of which is to record music here in my father's special little corner of southeast Georgia. But there's more to Dill Records than recording equipment and headphones. My father's gospel band, Crimson Rose tours every spring and summer, and as I mentioned in an earlier post, utilizes my father's 44-foot MCI bus for that purpose. Last Sunday, that bus received a major springtime scrubbing and is now parked like a gleaming, bus-shaped lighthouse outside the studio. But even though cleanliness supposedly holds a sacred spot next to the concept of godliness, there's a lot to be said for artistic aspirations as well. In other words, I'm trying desperately to convince my father to paint a mural on the side of his beloved MCI bus. See, my father is not just a pedal steel player who happens to own a recording studio. He's also an artist who has painted many, many seascapes and woodland scenes, but who, for reasons unknown to me or anyone else, is loathe to add so much as one tiny speck of paint to the side of his bus. He has entertained the thought of painting a red rose on the side, in honor of the name of his band (the aforementioned Crimson Rose), but anything more than that...well, you might as well be talking to a wall.

  Speaking of which, the above ocean scene, which my father painted last year, adorns the north wall of the studio, as well as the covers of some of the CDs recorded here. Maybe it's just me, but I think it would look pretty fetching on the side of the ol' tour bus. Oh, well. The stand-off rages on. And so does this blog, which this time next week, should also include some new music from "He'll Split The Eastern Sky", the new original gospel CD from Jeanette Dill (recorded and produced at Dill Records, of course), as well as something from yours truly, Cathy Greta Dill (aka Greta Valentine). I hope you'll check back and see what's here. Because we're just getting started on this bus ride. And whatever my father ends up painting on the side of it, one thing is for certain: the only fuel this particular vehicle requires is music and the only scheduled stops are in front of microphones. Hope we'll see you in the passenger seats!