I'm beginning my blog journey with an entry on Wichita Lineman by Glen Campbell. I'll confess upfront Spotify fed me this recommendation through a Country Classics playlist. It's not like I've stumbled on some gem. I know it's popular. But I did want to record my thoughts on initially hearing it.
Glen Campbell's voice sweeps over you while he sings Wichita Lineman, filling the air with a longing croon. The song makes the work of a lineman dutiful and even romantic. The Lineman serves his community, traversing the endless country highways of the middle US, ensuring that his neighbors and countrymen have power. And yet, standing atop a powerline, he is occupied only with the thoughts of his love and he yearns for them. But he must continue his lonely work.
Sometimes, when I hear a new song, I latch onto it for days. I was experiencing that this past week, as I gathered with family for my 94 year-old grandmother's funeral in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. After flying into Atlanta, my brother and sister-in-law picked me up and we made our way to the western part of the state. The song was a fitting backdrop as we drove through the state's pineforests, rolling baby mountains, and pop up towns.
Campbell, I learned, was an expert country-style guitar player, backing Roy Clark on the Hee Haw variety show and rubbing elbows with the country stars of his time. My dad told me Jimmy Webb wrote the song for Campbell and recommended I watch Ken Burn's country music documentary. So, I'm adding that to the list. Campbell's guitar riffs provide the cool, honorable work factor to the song. It's like the Lineman doesn't need to speak to that part of his job. The music can do the talking. His mind wanders to his lover, he even hears their voice in the line. The work of the day is just the thing that happens and what he must do. I like how that is communicated through the instrumentation and not the voice.
So in this song we have the layering of music: sweeping strings in the background that paint a picture of the highways, the Kansas day, the long views and plains the Lineman oversees. Campbell sings about love. And the guitar and drums do the Lineman's work.
The song has an interesting story that you can read about in this wikipedia article. I read that after writing most of this post. It captures most of the themes I was talking about and explains how the strings and whines you hear musically in the song emulate the sounds powerlines make when a lineman is working on them. I especially like Jimmy Webb's quote later in the article. He says something about we all feel these big feelings sometimes. This song definitely makes room for that. I guess it resonates with me in this moment when I need to welcome and not fear big feelings.
On a separate note - and maybe this deserves a longer post later on - I'm finding that (and this is going to sound dumb) developing hobbies, skills, etc, is just going to require a little extra discipline. It's not just going to happen. I have to set my mind on a daily goal for something. Writing 500 words daily for instance. Reading 10 pages. Playing the guitar for 30 minutes. I can start small. It's also important to give myself room to not be critical; that's how I get in the way of myself. I've taken a much-needed break from drinking since Dec. 6, 2025, which I think has helped reinforce my ability to be disciplined. I knew I wanted to use my time more wisely. Not drinking has opened up those doors. For me, drinking has compounding time-wasting effects. The next morning I'm not fully awake until much later in the day. I have to take time to recover and reset. My leisure time is not used properly. Now, I have more time to use leisurely and thus better time to be productive. I think being bored in the right way, once your cup is filled, makes room for more discipline. Or not. I could be wrong. But I'm hoping to carry this energy forward.