Pure Joy 20 Years Later

I was a couple of years into my discovery of new music and my escape from the pop I was listening to...Mariah Carey, Color Me Badd, Whitney Houston, En Vogue, Madonna, and 80s hair bands. I had been introduced to "alternative" music by a former boyfriend and dove in with all of the passion I had. "So THIS is what good music sounds like!" I thought. Alanis, Pearl Jam, Live, Nirvana, Dada, Poe, Tracy Bonham, Loud Lucy, Stone Temple Pilots, Matthew Sweet, Silverchair, Soundgarden, Black Lab, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, Dave Matthews, Collective Soul...I could go on and on and on... And there were the local favs, like Wanderlust, The Caulfields, Isle of Q, The Outcry, The Authority...
And with my new found passion came the weekends filled with live music & bands that covered the music I now adored. One night while watching one of my favorites, Release, I heard a really cool version of Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes. I thought my friends were so clever and creative! Then I came to learn that this was Jeffrey Gaines' version of the song. Jeffrey who? Oh really? He's got a great cd out? Ok...I'll check it out. Well...it was one of 'those' albums that...well...moves you beyond any adequate words to describe the way it makes you feel. Jeff's voice infiltrated my heart, soul & mind. I listened over and over and over and over. Memorized the songs and tried to sing them with the same depth and vocal ability with which Jeff did. You see, when I heard his voice, I felt it in my chest...really felt it...and this inspired me. His songs brought me immeasurable joy. It had a profound effect on me.
So last night when Yolanda and I went to The Tin Angel to watch Jeff celebrate the 20th anniversary of this album's release and perform it in its entirety, I felt myself catapulted into that same place of inspiration, love, and pure, pure joy. His voice, melodies and words still resonate in my chest...and heart. And although the realization that it was 20 years later and I was that much older came uninvited (yeah, I'm that old), I felt myself grinning ear to ear, moved to tears, and full of as much pure joy as I had been when I first heard it. These are life's precious moments for me. Thank you Jeff...