Search - Mindy Jostyn :: Blue Stories

Photos by Tony Nagelmann Click on for larger versionBlue Stories is a collection of songs about people and their plights. Different characters struggle with circumstance. 15 sad but human melodramas. Says Mindy, "I've tried to treat these people compassionately. I'd prefer that listening to the CD not be an experience in darkness -- rather, one in a semi-pale shade of blue. Twilight blue, say, with a smattering of stars." Mindy describes a bit about the audio samples available on this site: Sam's Back With Sadie -- two women talking in a quickstop, in a small town where they've lived too long, overheard by a third woman, me. Neo-celtic. Don't Turn Away -- a ballad in the woman-who-loves-too-much vein. She tries to soothe a walking-wounded boy. Empathetic Woman -- set in a honky-tonk piano bar. It's getting late. Honky-tonk. A downtrodden man's response to a woman's complaints about her hard life. Rock City Road -- final title of the "name this song about a road" contest. (Congratulations, Herm Templeman). It turns out there's a Rock City Road in two nearby towns (to me) -- Red Hook and Woodstock, NY. There's even an antiques shop called "Rock City Relics" -- a line from the song. Can we hope that in years to come people will describe themselves with this metaphor? Asked "how are you?", folks will reply: "I'm on Rock City Road, man" or "In a Rock City frame of mind". (Even now, if performed within 30 miles of where I live, the hook "Rock City Road" will draw a titter, two small cheers, and isolated pockets of polite applause). My excuse to play train-style harmonica a la Blind Sonny Terry. That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be -- a despairing view of marriage, written by the guy I'm now married to. A Carly Simon hit in 1970, it is still frequently used for the first wedding dance by misunderstanding couples.