PK Notes for Back Room Trax Vol 13:

1) Life Is Good : Words by Jason Garcia / music by PK
Ten years ago, my friend Jason Garcia who is a guitarist and pastor and I worked on his collection of songs. We made a deal-
I would produce an album of songs for him and in return he gave me a his used Toyota that I gave to my daughter Olivia, as she was in need of a car. This song was a perfect fit for me vocally and we had Kyle Jones come and play percussion. I used my Hofner bass and it has that amazing sound. This song reminds us all to be thankful for God’s blessings!

2) Heaven Is Home: The first song I ever wrote as a Christian in 1970 (the original demo from 1970 concludes this collection as track 19) I did a slower version here in 2007 and rephrased some of the words. This song was never officially released on any of my albums, except for a snippet of it at the end of the Time 2 Collection.

3) Shelter Me: Over the last two years, I’ve been working with my friend and songwriter Jim Scaparotti of Cleveland, Ohio, playing guitar for his current recording project that is now near completion. For information about Jim's upcoming releases check out linktr.ee/Jim_Scaparotti
Jim approached me about co-writing a song in Nov 2021. He sent the title - Shelter Me - and some verses. I finished it up and wrote the music that you have here. I like how it turned out a lot.
I played the ending solo just yesterday on my old Les Paul and glad to say that my mobility is coming back to my shoulder and arm since my rotator cuff surgery.
There are so many devastating disasters in our world and life is fragile but we need to hold on to the promises that God our Father is ultimately our security and shelter. In the world there is suffering and tribulations but our times are in His hands.

4) Tune For Townes: Townes is our first grandson, and I wrote this for him when he was a year and a half. This version is more filled out and my friend Joshua Keen played the drums. Children are a gift from the Lord and grandkids are a whole new dimension. We have three now and it’s such a special time in our lives to experience these grandkids. God bless them!

5) Admiration: Music by Dave Bainbridge and PK. This is the 4th piece Dave and I collaborated on. The other pieces are here on the Garage as well –titled as: Across The Sea, Tribute and Thus Far. Dave who is an amazing musician and composer founded the British group Iona. I’ve always enjoyed these pieces—just to float my melodies over his lush chords. Check out his website: www.davebainbridgemusic.com

6) Mason Jar: My amazing Uncle Duke just celebrated his 96th birthday and he is in very good health! He’s a true inspiration! As many of you know he and I collaborated on an album called the Uncle Duke project around 2000-2001. He wrote all the lyrics and I composed the music. This poem that I put to music must have been inspired by the Swiss Kagi chocolate wafer bars I sent to him after our trip to Switzerland in 2013. What an imagination that fellow has!

7) Perfect Painter: Words by Brian Brookheart / music by PK. In Nov 2020, my friend Brian sent me this poem. It illustrates beautifully our Lord as a Painter and His triumph over evil and death! I’ve recorded a number of poems by Brian.

8) God Bless America: I believe I recorded this sometime after 9/11. I don’t recall it was recorded for any purpose but I just wanted to play that song! May God bless and heal our land!

9) Still Alive: Words by David Hirsch / music by PK. David is a pastor and a fine songwriter! We worked together on his “Key Of David” CD called “A Different Dream”. He is so quick to pen powerful and relevant lyrics that apply to our walk of faith in this world. “…until that Day I’ll sing the song of all the ages!” Thank you brother for your gift and ministry! Check out David’s website:
info@fullarmormusic.com

10) Rubious: Matthew Burgess plays percussion on this piece we composed together. I played the bass and guitars. It’s a quicky and fun tune. Matthew is a fine musician and we did a Christmas Tour some years back with Michael Card.

11) I Will Wait For You: words by Nina Astrom / music by PK. I have known and appreciated the talent and heart of Nina for many years. Buddy Miller back in the early 90s invited me to play on one of her early albums. Since that time, we’ve remained good friends and I’ve been blessed to have played on several of her albums. Nina lives in Finland and has an international ministry. We’ve written a couple of songs over all this distance and this is one of them. My good friend Rex Paul Schnelle produced and mixed this recording…which is why it sounds so nice. Rex also plays drums, keys, bass, BGVs and sweetening with other instruments. This was one of the songs I had hoped would be released on an official album release, but at this time that isn’t happening, so instead of hiding it under a bushel, I am sharing this sweet song here on BRT 13. Be sure to check out both Nina’s and Rex’s websites: www.ninastrom.com and rexpaulschnelle.com

12) Give You A Song: I wrote this tune before my Live At Kegworth project was done. I included it as a bonus track.
This is an alternate mix. I wanted to include it on here because I like the message—to encourage all my friends that God really wants to inspire us to sing and proclaim the Good News as well as express what’s in our hearts!

13) It’s A Holiday: Words and Music by Ken Veltz. I’ve know Kenny Veltz and his wife Jeannie since the 70s. They are both fine songwriters. Recently, before last Christmas, Kenny sent me a recording of this song-he playing the guitars and singing the tune. He wondered if I might sing it. I said “I’ll give it a go” but thought his vocal was very good and unique. I wanted to share this song with you all because it speaks of a new day coming—a true Holiday and real Celebration! Check out Ken and Jeannie’s website: @TheAdventuresOfKenAndJeannieVeltz · Musician/band

14) Blackbird: Here's an instrumental version of Paul McCartney's beautiful classic "Blackbird" that I did back in 2020 with my old friend Anthony Sallee, who used to play bass with Whiteheart back in the 90s. He played a fretless bass. It was mixed by Jonathan Crone. I really like how this turned out and I'm considering doing more classic songs this style.

15) He Puts The Song Into Our Hearts: Words by Mary Ellen Smith / music by PK. My precious niece wrote many poems. I’ve recorded some and this is one of them. She, her sisters and brothers were my best friends when I was a kid. She passed last year right before Christmas. She is so loved and missed. She is now seeing all that she dreamed of and so much more. She was a light in this world and still is shining!

16) Ezzy: Our 2nd grandson Ezra was born in March of 2021. He’s Townes’ little brother. They are very close. This song really describes this little fellow and he is a true delight to us. I wish to thank Matt Nelson for his beautiful playing on my brother Dave’s hand made cello. Brother Dave, who taught me my first chords on the guitar just passed this last March. He was such an inspiration!

Matt Nelson is a composer and he with Dan Hazelton have scored music for the Chosen series as well as many other fine works of music!. Check out his website: zenspacemusic.com

17) Choose To Be Happy: Here’s another Uncle Duke poem. We all need to be reminded to “Rejoice Always” Glass half full-not half empty…Leonard Cohen had an expression- he’d say “At the end of the day, it all comes down to mood - good mood, good day—bad mood, bad day”. Makes sense to me!

18) Voice Of God Call Out: In 1970, my friend Wendy Wilson Messina penned this poem and I’ve always loved it. It was originally recorded in the Spring of 1970 and then again for the Glass Harp album Hourglass in 2002. I did a remix with my brother Mike’s voice a bit louder so he could be understood more clearly. He visited us a few times before he passed away about 7 years ago. On this mix, he is reminiscing about the old days in Hubbard Ohio around the time he graduated from high school in the mid 50s. I miss dear brother Mike very much as I miss all my siblings who have passed on to Heaven. There were 10 of us Keaggy kids; now there are 4 of us left. Anyway, this happens to be one of my favorite songs over all these 52 years and wanted to highlight it again. Thank you Wendy for your contribution and inspiration for this song. Oh by the way, the girl laughing toward the end is my daughter Olivia.

19) Heaven Is Home: This is the “sound on sound” recording of my first song about my faith written around March 1970. Track 2 of this collection is a more recent version. With my mother’s passing in Feb 1970 and my decision to follow Christ following her passing, I discovered that I had a greater purpose with my music and that was to proclaim the Good News of Jesus. This song and soon after that my song The Answer was written. Simple songs but with a lot of joy, I found out what my calling was to be~ a musician for the Master Musician. Praise Jesus!

Phil Keaggy
Aug 16th, 2022