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This may sound odd. But I was not always a yoga teacher; although I have identified with that role for over 40 years. Students often express interest when they hear that I was previously a professional musician. After years of playing in a variety of bands and venues, I helped form a band, Grow Your Own, where I wrote songs and played flute and percussion. With enough interest and coaxing from students, the songs and sentiments from Grow Your Own's album Inside Your Dreams are being shared here. Embedded in these songs are glimpses of the deep sense of the interconnectedness and synergy that allowed a collection of individual musicians to become a band. I hope that resonates within you, the listener.
There were moments that made the journey timeless. We were fond of terms like "cosmic" and "celestial." The trick for any pop band, now and then, was how to market a musical ticket to "the soft folds of oblivion" or the "brim of a cup of gladness." Over half a decade, GYO punched that ticket around Washington, DC in dozens of clubs, concert halls, and parks. There was a packed Kennedy Center Concert Hall and a jammed Georgetown University Campus (you could here GYO ten blocks away). There were devoted fans, some sad and strange, and the owner of the Psychedelly Club who asked one rousing night, "why aren't you guys famous?"
The best moments were in the music itself. Always original and challenging to listeners, we often contradicted ourselves. There was the soaring, driving, unbridled talent of Bob Bradley that often kissed the sky and got the blood pumping. At the same time, there were voyages to cozy places and lyrical hymns to love that conjured up warm afternoons lying in the grass under rustling trees.
This was a journey that had "miles to go." There are glimpse of potential paths to be taken in these recordings. The memorable WGTB live broadcast, just months before we went our separate ways in 1976, still produces goosebumps. By then we all had busy lives and other priorities. The journey remained unfinished.
Thanks to M.R. Duvall for so lovingly saving and improving these moments, and to the rest of GYO for the years of friendship that consistently stirred creative juices. We hope that listeners will here some of that energy and appreciate our collective efforts offered to friends and family with love and affection. ~ Burt Kummerow