Inspired by Dara

Is our tour really starting on Friday?!?! Dara and I have been planning for months – emailing each other and our hosts, talking on the phone, filling our schedule, planning promo materials, stage décor and set lists. Tomorrow Dara will pack up her extended cab truck with three boys and a keyboard and everything they’ll need for the next two and a half weeks in Regina. Dara’s mom will take care of the boys on the first two weekends, her dad will keep them on the last weekend, and we intend to be home most every night after our concerts. I’m in awe of Dara that she’s even willing to try this!

I think “in awe” is a good way to describe my general feelings about Dara. She is tall and graceful, immensely talented. Yet she’s earthy, homespun, and approachable. She sings about ordinary themes of family history, marital love, and interpersonal healing.

Dara’s husband Josh is one of my brother Jeffrey’s best friends. They try to go on a North Saskatchewan canoeing trip every summer. Josh is an RCMP officer stationed in Pelican Narrows, SK for the past year and Dara is homeschooling the oldest of their three small boys. She has been really entering into the community and culture – even learning worship songs in Cree! Even before moving to Pelican Narrows, Dara had a real heart for First Nations people, which you can hear in her song “Legacy.” Proceeds from her “Live at Hudson Bay” CD are going to two Pelican Narrows girls who are taking helpful initiaives in their community.

Last summer I led some songwriting workshops for teens at Arlington Beach Camp. The small group met in my cabin, next door to the Hallett cabin. For one exercise I had the teens write new words to familiar tunes. Then we ran next door and had Dara write new music for the new words without knowing the original tune. The results shocked and delighted the teens. Dara took the first set of lyrics and said, “Oh this looks like a slow worshipful song,” and as she played the girls giggled behind her because the original tune was “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”! Here’s the final result: You’re My Best Friend Jesus Christ. The next set of lyrics were for the original slow, worshipful tune of “How Great is Our God” but we ended up with a cheerful little song for kids: Muddy Shoes! So that gives you some idea of Dara’s creativity.

When OptionS Pregnancy Centre asked me to sing at their November banquet, I immediately felt that I should write a song. But my ideas didn’t flow and I felt the need for a co-writer, but wondered who to approach. The very next Sunday, Dara and Josh were in church in Strasbourg (a very rare occurrence considering their geography). They were going to be in the area for a couple of weeks, so we made plans to get together at Arlington Beach, were serendipitously joined by my cousin’s wife Lisa Cornish, and we made a good start on “Child of My Heart”, which Lisa and I later finished then sang at the banquet.

That was late September (I think) and Dara asked if I would be interested in doing a tour together in the new year. Weather-wise, we might have preferred March (maybe!), but it’s not a good time to get away from the newspaper, so we settled on January and the name "Minus 40 Tour." Hopefully the name is not prophetic!!!

Our schedule is as full as we want it to be, but I have a feeling we might be wanting just a bit more when it’s done. But there’s a rule, “quit while it’s still fun,” so I guess we’ll reluctantly say so long at the end of January. But on Thursday we will say “hello!”