I am preparing to send a copy of my new book, The Blue Rock, to friends and fans when it comes out next month.

If you have changed your address since the last time I sent you free CDs, sheet music or my books, please reply with your new address.

If you’ve had no occasion to share your mailing address with me until now, please send it to me so that I can send you the book. Free.

If you are a friend I see at church or school I’ll give you your copy in person.

What is The Blue Rock about?

Here is “Advance praise” for the book by my friend Pat Marriott, a writer and classical music radio broadcaster in Wilmington, NC, who kindly helped me get the book into shape by editing the manuscript and suggesting many improvements. To date, he is the only person who has read it. Pat kindly says:

“Drawing from the practically-unique literary genre of James Norman Hall's Dr. Dogbody's Leg, storyteller Rick Sowash spins a web of tall tales, none like any other, all explaining how a mysterious rock found its way into the deep woods near his boyhood home. In the best tradition of tall tales, the author of Ripsnorting Whoppers lures us into each explanation with common truths, then obscure truths, then credible fictions, and finally to preposterous but always satisfying conclusions.

The joy of reading this enchanting work, at least for those who are willing to suspend belief, is in being intellectually hornswoggled. In each tale, the moment of truth will be different for each of us. Each of us will feel a different degree of delight or annoyance when we discover we've been 'had.' Each of us will smile at each tale's credible conclusion. And all will move on to the next tale smiling in anticipation.

Along the way, we learn a great deal from the author's rich knowledge of Ohio history and the fine arts.

How does the tale end in real life? Rick Sowash, at whose home in Cincinnati the Blue Rock safely rests, cheerfully admits that he has no idea.”

Again, please make sure I have your current mailing address.

The music I’d like to share today is my setting of the famous Biblical text beginning “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills.” It’s a sweet, short piece and I have little to say about it except that I hope you will enjoy discovering it. Those of you who direct choirs may print it, pass it out to your choristers and lead them in the singing of it. As with all of my music, there is no charge and no need to ask permission.

Though scored for a two-part chorus, it can also be sung by a four-part choir, with sopranos and tenors singing one part and altos and basses singing the other.

To hear it sung by the women of the Harvard University Choir under the direction of Carson Cooman, click on the link above.

To see a PDF of the score, click on the link above.