Looking for the Constants in 2014...

“A change is gonna’ come…” 

In 2005, Taylor Hicks sang those prophetic words before the American Idol judges in Las Vegas. 

And it surely did.

“Change can be good.  Change can be bad.  But change is always one thing…inevitable.” 

I heard those words last week as I made a major change in my workplace after 16 years in the same room, same environment. People around me came and left.  I was comfortably established. 

I don’t like change… I look for ways to mitigate it.  I clung to the green plants that had grown in my room for most of those 16 years and moved them carefully.  I took all of my familiars into an unfamiliar place.  I believe we all cling to what we know.    

And I felt the frustration last week as I read the feed from music blogger, Bob Lefsetz. 

“So, I don’t know if it’s a day of change or not. Because I’m bad with change, I’m afraid of loss in the process.”

But Sunday morning I woke up in a different mood.  I had found the constants that I could hold on to. 

Reading the Taylor Hicks twitter feed the evening before, I welcomed a long-time constant. 

“@nebrinkley: I forgot how much I loved Taylor Hicks’ ‘Just To Feel That Way.’ Such a good song.” ebrinkleyemains.

 different beat, or the cityy tion,  American Idol judges in Las Vegas. ous soul, blues, and funk albums.  w

In 2007, a dear friend came to visit to attend Taylor Hicks concerts in Phoenix and Las Vegas.  We were shopping in the grocery store and suddenly heard a familiar voice—Taylor Hicks singing “Just to Feel That Way!” 

In the kick off of 2014 concerts, Taylor appeared at the Clearwater River Casino in Lewiston, Idaho, Saturday night.  He said in a prior interview with Inland360.com his plans for 2014 included “a long list of gigs, including tours around the country, the finale of his Paris Las Vegas residency and a new country album, which Hicks, 37, said should be released in spring.”

“ ‘The common thread will be my voice and the instrumentation,’ Hicks said of the Nashville recorded album, which features more country music than his previous soul, blues, and funk albums.” 

“common thread” –that’s what I was looking for.  Whatever the new roles, new venues, new endeavors, there is always…

The music. 

In the Inland360 interview, Taylor assured the Clearwater River Casino audience that they "could look forward to hearing… ‘Just some really great live music.’”   

That’s the constant we can all look forward to, and these are the words from Taylor that I have kept going back to for a long time:

“For me, you can take it all.  But leave me with the music.”

As surely as there is change, just as surely, there is the constant.    

The room may change, the road wind in a different direction, the drums kick out a different beat, or the new place lie over the horizon.  The voice and the music remain.

Leave me with the music. 

The Taylor Hicks constant—it’s such a good song. 

~~~

 So, I took out the shiny CD and slid it into my computer and listened.  It's such a good song. 

It always comes back to the music.

~~~

All the very best of happiness and success to Taylor Hicks in 2014!  

Wherever the song takes him...

...and us. 

~~~

For all the latest, follow @TaylorHicks on Twitter. 

Photo: Taylor Hicks and Cody Farris at Harrah's New Orleans, December, 2013; courtesy of CaseyPup via Twitter.  

Sources: “Hicks goes Hollywood:  American Idol winner performs at Clearwater River Casino” inland360.com