#85 Roddy Barnes, blues and jazz pianist, composer, and consummate entertainer

Roddy Barnes grew up on a farm but knew he wanted to play the piano when he was only three years old. He ended up taking lessons a few years later and got his college degree in classical performance on piano. But he always loved Black church music and called it "that good music," and now plays blues, jazz, and gospel. He says, music is a "thing that we need," and healing the psyche is what we are here for. "It feels like we have gotten away from [music, but] people need it for their health," Roddy says. He has some good advice: "When I need inspiration, when I am writing, I go to the garden. I say listen to nature a lot. But even better, find good music, sit down with a glass of wine if you like, have no distractions, no phones, no anything, and listen, get inside the music, close your eyes and just go inside and listen to all that's happening and let it affect you, really absorb it."