
2024 was quite a year. Here in Western NC, it will always be the year of Hurricane Helene, but there was so much more, and so much of it was wonderful. It does my heart good to remember. Like the very last thing that happened, for instance. I spent the last weekend of 2024 in New York City with Deanna and Mason. We went there primarily to see the Broadway production of Thornton Wilder’s classic play, Our Town. They did a beautiful job with it, and, amazingly, they used an Abraham Jam song that I co-wrote in the play. Even if I were not connected with the play, it would have moved me deeply, but it was extraordinary to hear my own voice ring out across that theater.
The central message of the play is that it all matters — all these mundane moments and casual interactions are more precious and beautiful than we could ever comprehend. The poets and the saints, the play’s central character says, get some of it, but no one sees it all. That is sticking with me and influencing my perception in ways that I am deeply grateful for. It colors my thoughts about the year that is past, and also the year that is coming.
It does me good to look back over a year. All that has been difficult, and all that has been beautiful. There is perspective there to be gained. So many of the ‘main events’ are things I could not have begun to predict on January 1. As the play reminded me, it’s not really about the main events, anyway, but they are the easiest to point to, so I’ll share my recollection with you, in case you find some value in it.
The three biggest career highlights of 2024 were delivering a TEDx Talk in Asheville and watching it go viral, the Our Town adventure on Broadway, and being booked as a keynote speaker at the opening plenary of the 2025 Rotary International Convention next summer in Canada, where I will speak from a stage with roughly 30,000 people in front of it.
But there’s so much more. Here’s a quick recap (with apologies for all the wonderful events and folks who hosted me that aren’t named specifically — that would be a long list!):
In January, two professors at Pennsylvania’s Westminster College taught a college course on my 2023 book, You Are Changing the World Whether You Like It Or Not. The class was made up of half students and half community

members, and included some practicum — designing and doing some work in their own community. January also brought the first rehearsal for TEDx 2024. That was such a rich experience. Also in January, Dawud, Billy, and I (Abraham Jam) crafted some thoughts to share on the ongoing horror in Gaza, from the vantage point of a trio that represents the three Abrahamic faiths.
February started off playing in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a great time to head south, and live oaks and Spanish moss always calm my soul. Then I came home to encourage Mason as he started Driver’s Ed (gulp).

In March, the calendar picked up, as it is wont to do. I spoke at the Porch Gathering, an incredible gathering of souls hosted by my friends Gareth Higgins and Brian Ammons. Then came one of the biggest events of the year for me — the TEDx event at the Wortham Center, led by the amazing Barrie Barton. I traveled to speak and play in Pennsylvania, and did some concerts here in North Carolina. Fellowship Magazine, published by Fellowship of Reconciliation, published a beautiful review of You Are Changing the World, and Back Catalogue Listening Party did an episode on my old album, Change. And we dropped the music video for my song, The Way It’s Done, with the inimitable Beth Wood featured.
In April, the calendar for the year kicked up a notch, with gigs in Ohio, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee, as well as my old home town of Roanoke, Virginia. Mason traveled with me to that last gig, a trip on which I received my very first senior discount. I also caught the eclipse with friends while I was in Ohio in April. Good fun. I was invited to play a Get Out the Vote event organized by my friend Annie Wenz, and met a new friend there, Megan Cockman, who later became my publicist. I also began working with my new booking agent, Karen Davis, in April. I am so lucky to have these two on my team, along with Nikki Robinson and Susan Propst, and Louise Baker and the good folks at Rockwood Booking, keeping me in the road and on the road. It takes a village.

May kicked off with a big benefit dinner to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Senderos, the non-profit Deanna and I founded to support arts and education projects in Guatemala. I got to play at the LEAF festival once again, where I saw the Northern Lights from North Carolina for the first time, and got to bang a gun into a garden tool on an anvil with my friends from Raw Tools. I did some local events in the middle of the month, then headed to Ring Lake Ranch in Wyoming to co-lead a week-long retreat with my good friend Gareth Higgins. I also learned in May that TED had chosen my talk as an Editor’s Pick, though I wasn’t allowed to talk about that yet.

In June I ran over to Chapel Hill for a concert, did a book talk with my long-time friend Bruce Reyes-Chow at Citizen Vinyl in Asheville, then flew to Texas to work with CORE (Committee On Racial Equity) activists in McKinney, keynoting an organizing summit there. It was humbling to be trusted in that space, and a beautiful experience. Before heading home, I did a concert in McKinney, celebrated Juneteenth, and played music for a community event on sustainable agriculture. June also brought my twentieth anniversary of marriage to the amazing Deanna LaMotte, but things were a little too crazy, so we postponed the celebration (more on that below).

Then in the middle of the month, Mason and I took off for a run of shows in the mid-Atlantic. It was a blast to be on the road with my favorite roadie, this time helping with the driving. There were a lot of highlights on that trip, but the standout was getting to spend some conversation time with US Congressman Jamie Raskin, organized by my dear friend Cheryl Kagan, who is a Maryland State Senator. I really enjoyed connecting with Jamie, and subsequently reading his book, Unthinkable, and I loved processing that time with Mason in the car the next day. Jamie is the real thing, and I love introducing Mason to people like that. We missed the last show of the tour due to car trouble, but it was a great trip all the same, and our friends at Massanetta took great care of us when we were stranded.

July kicked off with a visit from Dawud Wharnsby, my dear friend and bandmate in Abraham Jam, along with Billy Jonas, the third musketeer (or first, by chronology of faith). We had a great visit and worked some on a new co-write. Also, a great team convened, led by Diana McCall, to strategize about the launch of my TEDx talk. They did beautiful work.

I got to offer some music at a benefit raising money for an accessible hiking trail in Montreat, and sang with my old friend Mo Smith there. Then I headed south to Guatemala to co-lead a trip there (I’m doing another trip to Guatemala this summer, if you want to come with me). My nephew, Mike, and his wife, Stephanie, came on that trip, as did Mason, and it was really special to have that time with them.

July ended with the launch of my TEDx talk, which hit 25,000 views within 24 hours. It was amazing. The online launch event included attendees from 23 of the 50 states, as well as Australia, Guatemala, and the UK. Since then, the talk has been used as a sermon in quite a few churches, shown in college classes, and racked up over 56,000 views. I am tremendously happy about how it has been received, and I hope it continues to spur intentional, positive change, and encourage those who are making it.

In August, the TEDx Talk continued to move out into the world, helped by lots of folks sharing it, including people like Hank Green, who put it in a newsletter. I played a member’s only concert at the White Horse. Mason and I road-tripped to a Doobie Brothers concert in northern Virginia, and the family took some downtime before the summer escaped entirely. We also had a Senderos Board retreat in Virginia and moved some good things forward for our work in Guatemala. I gathered with a bunch of amazing drummers at LEAF Global Arts to envision World Drum Day. LEAF chose “World Changers” as their theme for the year in 2024, inspired by my book, and I was honored to work with them on developing the theme. In a year where we lost so many luminaries, August brought the heaviest loss for me, Tom Prasada-Rao, who co-produced my album The Other Way Around, and played and sang on my records as far back as hard Earned Smile (1997). Tom was an exquisite songwriter and musician, and an even better human. So many of us are still reeling. Do yourself a favor and check out some of his music on the streaming platform of your choice.

September began with my second Florida trip of the year, to speak and play at Peace Presbyterian Church. It was good to catch up with some friends from my old home town, then to events in Northfield, Minnesota, then the delightful Martha Bassett Show in Elkin, NC. I got to marry off some sweet friends (something I only do in unusual circumstances and with close friends, but I was grateful to do twice this year), then back to Texas for a series of events there. While I was still in Texas, Hurricane Helene came to Western North Carolina for what would become the worst natural disaster in the history of the state. I was able to gather some funds and supplies in Texas, and the Delta agent declined to charge me for the extra bag on the way home, given that it was for disaster relief.
The damage from Helene would unfold for weeks and months, and is still unfolding now, but I continue to be deeply moved by the extraordinary kindness and self-sacrifice of my neighbors, and of the many government agencies and non-profits that have showed up to help. I made this video for my song Here For You to try to capture what I saw, shot with my phone in the first few days after I got home.

For much of October, my family was without electrical power, cell service, water, etc., and we spent a lot of time looking out for each other in my community. We all spent some time volunteering and taking care of each other, and that was the heart of our story. My long-planned Roots & Branches retreat in Montreat was cancelled (though it is now rescheduled for October 2025!), as was the LEAF Festival, and our big 20th anniversary fundraiser celebration for Senderos. I was able to fly back to Texas at the end of the month for the 75th anniversary of the founding of Mo-Ranch, and the kind people there donated money for me to bring back to Western NC for our community. Then I spent a couple of days engaging with students at Mars Hill University, which was strangely untouched by Helene. The benefit concert I did there raised over $10,000 for hurricane relief, thanks to the beautiful generosity of the folks who attended, and Rotary, which matched the funds raised.

In November, I made my third trip for the year to Florida, where I taught and sang at First Pres. Fernandina. My family has history with that church that touches on my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents’ generations, and it was a treat to be there. Then I ducked over to Knoxville, TN for a weekend of events there, winding my way through the back roads, since I-40 was washed out by the storm. I spent some time in Charleston, SC, looking out for my parents, now in their nineties, who were evacuated there while we waited for potable water to be restored to their home. Then I played in Chapel Hill, NC, headed back to South Carolina for a concert and talk as part of a Presbytery event at Morris College, a historically Black college, then flew out to Michigan for a show and a talk. After that, I flew home to celebrate Deanna’s 50th birthday with her, finishing out the month with Thanksgiving with my family back in Charleston, followed by David Wilcox’s annual Homecoming concert, where he invited to me to share a song.
November also brought the five-year anniversary of my Patreon community, which continues to be a rich part of my life and work and art. If you’re curious about it, I made a little video to explain what it is. And if you would like to join us, you are most welcome!

There was also an election in November. ‘Nuff said (at least for now, and here).
December is traditionally a slow month for me, and I like it that way. I started the month off with a one-on-one Zoom call with a favorite writer of mine, Parker Palmer. A board member of his organization, the Center for Courage and Renewal, had sent him my TEDx Talk, and he kindly made himself available for a conversation. That was a real privilege for me, as a long-time fan of his work. December also brought a Helene benefit with David Wilcox, Zachari Cahn, and storyteller Ray Christian, and then I spent the rest of the month with my family.

We had our traditional viewing of Muppets Christmas Carol with our friends Gareth and Brian, decorated the tree, and decompressed a bit from what was quite a year. I said goodbye to my friend Anne Welsh at her memorial service and sent her on with a song. And Deanna and I caught cheap flights to Key West for a weekend to celebrate our twentieth anniversary, a few months late, and her fiftieth birthday, a couple of weeks late. I also signed the contract to appear in Calgary at the Rotary International Convention next summer, and we spent the last weekend of the year road-tripping to NYC for Our Town, which could not have been more wonderful. So the year ended on a high note.

And in between those highlights, there were a thousand beautiful conversations, a dozen new songs, 24 zoom hangouts with my Patreon crew, many miles driven and flown, concerts in 12 states (and several of those multiple times — three trips to Texas, three to Florida, and two to Pennsylvania), a ton of laughter, quite a few tears, and a million moments that I didn’t even notice, every one of them sacred.

2025 is starting with horrific wildfires in California, and a change in leadership in the United States. There will be many hard things to deal with this year, some of which we don’t see coming. And there are some amazing things on the calendar — the huge Rotary event in Calgary, leading my first trip to Scotland, another trip to Guatemala, and a Roots & Branches retreat in Montreat in the fall, along with a ton of other talks and concerts. And there will be other wonderful things we don’t see coming, too. It can stretch a heart pretty thin, holding all of that grief and all of that joy at the same time. That’s my goal, though, not looking away from any of it.
If I have a resolution, it’s not to think big. If anything, it is to think small. To notice. Thornton Wilder had it right in Our Town. Traveling back from the graveyard for one last look at her life, one of the main characters, Emily, has this to say:
“I can’t. I can’t go on. It goes so fast. We don’t have time to look at one another. I didn’t realize. So all that was going on and we never noticed. Take me back — up the hill — to my grave…But first: Wait! One more look. Good-bye , Good-bye world. Good-bye, Grover’s Corners….Mama and Papa. Good-bye to clocks ticking….and Mama’s sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new ironed dresses and hot baths….and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you are too wonderful for anybody to realize you. Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it–every, every minute?
Stage Manager: No. (pause) The saints and poets, maybe they do some.”
May we notice, friends. While we do the real work of listening, healing, speaking truth, and showing up for each other, let’s notice all that is worthy of celebrating.
Or at least “some.”
Blessings on your next trip around the sun.
David

Beautiful!
Especially watching that “Here For You” video again with all the Hurricane Helene mobilization footage. Wow. Just. Wow.
What a year!
Thank you for the privilege to travel through 2024 with you, both in this recall, in zoom gatherings as well as in personal face ro face times. Perhaps the greatest gift Is being together in spirit as we go into the unknown territoryof 2025.