song Hayward penned with The Moody Blues
during a dark time in the his life. The banter
was mostly light, but he pointed out how certain songs came to be and what they meant to
him now, all these years later.
After playing a few songs by himself, he
was joined by 25 year old guitar virtuoso Mike
Dawes. This guy is an unreal talent. Dawes was
also the opening act and played mostly original
instrumentals and a unique cover of Gotye’s
“Somebody That I Used To Know.” He added
a percussive element to these quiet yet powerful rearrangements that allowed for Hayward
to experiment and bounce around a little bit.
This onstage outfit was rounded out with third
member Julie Ragin, who provided keyboard,
tambourine and backing vocals. Someone who
is used to seeing The Moody Blues many times
would no doubt be refreshed and maybe surprised that this trio effectively filled in the
sound with minimal tools at their disposal.
Hayward has a recently released folk and
country-western tinged solo record called Spirits of the Western Sky, which he played selections from from, including "What You Resist
Persists", "One Day, Someday", and "The Western Sky". One song off that album I had not
heard yet called "The Eastern Sun" blew me
away. With a wispy, crisp and delicate finger
picking style, Hayward delivered what was
at that point the highlight of the evening. His
voice was clear and direct and as beautiful and
sincere as anything he has written.
Not thinking “The Eastern Sun” could be
topped, he strummed the opening notes to one
of my all-time favorite Moody’s songs, "Never Comes the Day." This single from their
fourth and sometimes overlooked album On
Winter • 2015
the Threshold of a Dream was the definitive
highlight for me. It starts off soft but gradually builds to a powerful and soul-baring decree
about “giving a little bit more and taking a little bit less” from one another as humans. H