Not that long after Dave Carter died, I had a vivid dream in which Tracy Grammer approached me to teach me a song Dave had written, called Oh My Little Cracker Girl. At the time of the dream I’m not sure if I had even gotten back to songwriting, and I certainly hadn’t developed the songwriters’ habit of keeping a notebook by the side of my bed, or persuaded myself of the usefulness of always getting up to write down a song snippet from a dream, so I don’t remember that “song.” Instead when I awoke I marveled at the difference between the songs (like Gentle Arms of Eden) Dave created in his dreams and the ridiculousness of the one the muses had delivered to me. Usually on the anniversary of both Dave’s death and his birth I spend the day playing all the songs of his I know and remembering his music and how important it has been for me. Instead I’m up early to get to the airport and spend the day flying to Utah. But there is no way I would be going to Utah today if it hadn’t been for Dave. Discovering his music a couple years before he died re-energized my love of folk music and my dedication to it. I started going to folk festivals again (most importantly, Falcon Ridge). After Dave died, playing at memorial events got me back into playing in public. And somehow, eventually, it all led me to start songwriting again. And not to be afraid to write wordy, intellectual, quirky songs. Those songs are taking me to Utah. I got a little bit angry at Andrew Calhoun earlier this month at New Bedford Summerfest. Before playing a song he wrote for Dave he chastised those people who talk about Dave dying too soon and mourn for the songs Dave didn’t write. I do think Dave died too soon (although even at the time I knew it felt different that he died from a heart attack than it would have if he’d been killed in a car crash) and I do miss the songs I know he would have written. But I agree that the most important thing to do is to celebrate the many songs he did write, and the beauty of the music he created. So today on my travels, and when meeting up with the friend I’m meeting in Salt Lake City who I would never have known if not for Dave, and at the night-before gathering of musicians coming into town for the festival, I will honor Dave and play his music. And then ten years and a day after he died I’ll continue the process of reminding the world that he lived.