Craig-It's been said that you have written some of your songs while you were in Arizona. Why Arizona and what were some of your inspirations? Are there any memories there that are special to you? Julie Taylor

Hi Julie-That's true that Arizona has inspired some of my music! Partly because all the Four Corners states have fascinated me ever since I was a little kid camping, backpacking, riding horses, rafting some of the rivers, and exploring the lakes and mesas there with a little acoustic guitar.

I think that there has always been something intriguing about the timeless, natural beauty, the wisdom and sometimes mysterious history of the vanished peoples who lived there and came before us, the wisdom and magic suggested by so much of that ancient culture that seems to live in harmony with the environment, the spirit, and now evidence of some pretty advanced science and medicine! I'm not surprised it still inspires many imaginations and creations!

Besides enjoying books by some of my favorite authors who live and write about the area, enjoying the paintings, photographs, and crafts of many of my favorite artists who are also inspired by the region, and listening to other musicians I have sometimes even had the privilege of performing with like Douglas Spotted Eagle and the awesome band from Arizona, Turning Point ...besides all that, and playing really fun concerts all over Arizona (like Sedona!...woo-hoo!) there has just been a big inspiration that comes from spending time there and meeting other people who live there and are drawn to it's beauty too, and sometimes drawn to my music! The Arizona area always being a big part of all that for me and a source of inspiration! Not to mention you gotta LOVE the heat, and the peppers!

Arizona Daybreak was a song from my Four Corners CD that comes to mind, but even before that, we did a little private concert put on by the award winning Smooth Jazz radio station KYOT. It was outdoors during sunset at a lush Botanical Garden near Phoenix.

Among the desert flowers, friendly saguaros and agaves, and the long purple shadows of the late afternoon that stretched across the desert, we played for the KYOT grand opening party patrons. As well as a few birds of prey high in the sky and several little reptiles that skittered among the rocks!...and OMG!...the way that afternoon gave way to the gathering night in a gigantic florescent embrace between the two, started to inspire the writing of the song Navajo Stars later that same evening!

So we took a little stroll a bit deeper into the warm desert after the show. During that turquoise twilight that seems to vibrate and buzz as the first stars materialized in a fuzzy, velvety looking sky, more ideas for Navajo Stars started to materialize too.

By the time we returned, the whole Milky Way was spilling from horizon to horizon and the sky was exploding with stars that seemed to spread out forever, from the very heart of eternity, and all over us, as if sprinkled by the desert wind. I think most of the song was written that night under that immense dome of stars in that cathedral of nature...and in the afterglow of our KYOT show, and another idea for a song title was born in Arizona too, Turquoise Moon.

Besides those songs, the song title, Afterglow, was inspired by the way the heat waves sometimes dance off the hood of the car parked along a desert road...well that's part of it anyway.

The song, We Rode the Wind, has a kind of a romantic Louis L'Amour western vibe to me. Return of the Eagle was inspired by friends who can sometimes still be seen in the sky over Arizona! And besides many songs of mine that also have sort of a Spanish guitar or Latin/Hispanic vibe, Sacred Ground definitely has a Native American influence! ...as obviously does Gathering of the Tribes...heh heh heh

So you can maybe see why Arizona has always been such an inspiration to my music, my band mates, and me...but mostly it's because I know LIL AND HER MOM AND SISTERS LIVE THERE!

Thanks again for the letter! Hope to see you again soon! Many smiles to you till then! Peace, Craig

Craig-Just wondered what happened to the hair that you cut off when you decided to go short. Did you by any chance donate it to charity, or is it hanging in a hall of fame somewhere? Michelle Befus

HA HA! Hi Michelle! Well, tour bus rule #1, don't go to sleep on the bus if the band is still wide awake and somebody has a pair of scissors! Where was travel security when I needed it? JK! My band didn't cut my hair. I just did it on a whim, and I wasn't sure how much I was going to cut. It just seemed to keep getting shorter and shorter as I went, so I didn't even consider any possibilities for charity ...or posterity for that matter!

Those would have been rather remote possibilities anyway me thinks? But thanks for the question, Michelle! Hope to see you again soon! Many smiles to you till then! Peace, Craig