michael fagrey, r.i.p.

immediately after sending my cd off to be mass-produced, i recorded two more songs (doh!). one of them has perfectly wonderful lap steel guitar throughout, played by michael fagrey.

i was listening to the song the other day (‘the guy in room 7’, about a permanent resident at a sleep clinic in switzerland), and decided that too much time had passed since michael and i had connected. i googled him to see what he was up to, and was stunned to find out that he had died of cancer. i had no idea so much time had passed.

michael was responsible for launching my career as a bass player, selling me my first bass rig and then talking me into replacing him at leo’s music while he went on tour with david lindley as david’s guitar tech.

michael returned from that tour with a pedal steel guitar he had acquired while on the road with lindley. i traded him an 8-meg simm for the steel (back when 8-meg simms cost $300 and 8 megs actually made a difference). another friend told me to take the guitar to some guy named tom bradshaw, who would fix it up and who i would “end up meeting anyway.” tom turned out to be the obi wan kenobe of pedal steel, and we have become very close friends.

michael was a phenomenal musician and sound man. he worked with al stewart (‘the year of the cat’), and tried to get me to go out on tour with al… as a duo! he also worked with dave koz for a number of years.

i owe a lot to michael, including my sincere apology for letting so much time pass without checking in… too much time, as it turns out.

although michael’s family and friends have had a little more time to get used to the fact that he’s gone, the shock of his loss is still reverberating for me. he is missed.