Keaggy Miscellany

The Story Behind The Master and the Musician

The original 1978 release of Phil's first instrumental album, The Master and the Musician included a story written by Stuart Scadron-Wattles, inspired by Phil's compositions and intended to complement them. The story was not published with the CD re-release in 1989, however.

Keaggy fan Steve Busey, an active participant in the keaggy-l email discussion group, took it upon himself to find out more about the origin of the story and about it's author, and managed to locate Stuart online. Stuart has graciously agreed to have the text archived here at Way Back Home. To read Stuart's recollection of the composition of the story, and the story itself, visit The Story Behind The Master and the Musician. Many thanks to Stuart and to Steve for making this resource available, and to Richard Fay for providing the text in electronic form.

Keaggy Meets McCartney

[Keaggy and his Olson] Among Phil's arsenal of guitars is one of his favorite acoustics, a James A. Olson custom SJ cutaway. Phil was the first professional player of national renown to perform with Jim's guitars. Phil commissioned and helped design his cedar-topped SJ cutaway model back in the early 80s, and it has since become Jim's most-requested model.

Like Phil, Jim is a Paul McCartney fan. When Jim heard that Phil would be playing for the wedding of Paul's sister-in-law, he quickly finished a left-handed SJ cutaway he happened to be building for another customer, and with that customer's blessing, gave the guitar to Phil to deliver to Paul in person as a gift from Jim. Happily, someone had the wisdom to take photos of Phil's meeting with Paul, which appear here thanks to Jim Olson and his graphics designer, Ken Martin.

[McCartney and his Olson]

[PK and PM] [PK and PM]
"I said, hey thanks for all the years of great music..." - PK, Feb 1991

Phil described the meeting in the February 1991 issue of the old Phil Keaggy Newsletter (Volume 1, Number 1), under the title "Paul Meets Phil...," as follows:
Recently, I played and sang at the wedding of my friends Don Malcolm and Laura McCartney [I think he meant Laura Eastman?]. Laura is the sister of Linda McCartney. It seemed a sure thing that at least Linda would be at the wedding. As it turned out, husband Paul was one of the groomsmen and his wife and children were bridesmaids.

I enjoyed doing my part in this lovely wedding. I sang, "Two of You," "Here and Now," and "What a Wonder." I played on the guitar, "I Love You Lord."

Yes, I was a bit nervous, Paul standing only a few feet away listening and watching attentively. After the first shaky line of "Here and Now" I focused upon Bernadette, then of course on the bride and groom. Smooth sailing from then on...

We all met the night before at the rehearsal dinner. There was a good deal of God's presence throughout. Many believers were there from the United States as well as from Europe, although the attendance was no greater than 50 people. Paul and Linda and their children were quite friendly. Paul said "Now tomorrow, just have fun and be of good voice."

After the wedding Paul said, "You did a fine job" to me. He also said, "you sound a lot like James Taylor!" I better start listening to James Taylor again I suppose.

For a brief moment upstairs in the Eastman's house, Paul and I had a bit of a jam with acoustic guitars. He was very obliging and generous with his time.

As you know, I've been a "Mac" fan for some time... at least 28 years now! I wish him and his family all the best. It seems to me that they are nice folks and God loves them very much.

Laura and Don are two of the finest Christian people I've met and very dedicated to sharing Christ with people everywhere they go. They now live in Italy and have a ministry together there.

"Thank you!" from Phil Keaggy...

Phil celebrated his 45th birthday on March 23, 1996. In honor of the occassion, Phil's 'net fans sent him over 200 birthday messages, including many recollections of Phil's influence on the lives of friends and acquaintences. Phil was deeply moved by the gift, and offers here a thank you note to the many folks who contributed.



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Tom Loredo / loredo@spacenet.tn.cornell.edu