Monday, Feb. 5, 2023 at 7 PM
Called the “Voice of Folk Music” in Michigan for his over 40 years of support of the genre on WDET Public Radio, and as host of “Folks Like Us,” “Folk Alley,” and now “Folk with Matt Watroba,” on WKAR Public Radio, Songwriter Matt Watroba heads into his beautiful song, “Could You Love Me?” on this episode of the Wild Rose Moon Radio Hour:
“I wrote this song when I realized half my FaceBook friends had unfriended the other half. We all need to buckle down and remember we have more in common than we have to fight about.” And so ensues his beautiful ballad, in which he asks, essentially, four questions as the song ensues: “Could you love me – if I don’t look like you? – if I don’t think like you? – if I don’t pray like you? – if I don’t love like you?” Near the end of the song, Matt follows one of his questions with these beautiful words:
This moment is a miracle
So why not find a way,
To be here and be grateful,
That we can share another day.
That spirit of gratefulness continues as Libby Glover and David Tamulevich of the Ann Arbor performing group, Mustard’s Retreat, take the stage and sing acapella, “Gather the Family,” a song written by David and his performing partner, Michael Hough.
Gather the family, here we belong,
And welcome good stranger come in,
Our voices together all singing one song,
And it’s here that the future begins.
At the song’s conclusion, they sing:
And so like the forest, our roots hold the past,
While our branches reach out to the sky,
Let out gifts to our children be family that lasts,
And a future to which they can fly.
During the show, Glover addresses the first meeting David in a restaurant where she was working to audition musicians to play the venue. “I mean, he auditioned, and the manager asked what I thought, and I said, just look at him, he’s so cute! Then he started relieving me at the bar so I could sing harmony with him.”
After the break, and in keeping with the program’s theme, Osceola born Marty Miles performs a beautiful version of his song, Remember the Future.
Rise our eyes to the sky,
And give ears to the wind,
Remember the future,
And let the healing begin.
The spirited game show, “Shoot the Moon,” follows Marty's song with contestants Cindy Norman, a retired teacher from Elkhart, and Jerry Lapp, a clay-artist and potter from Goshen.
Following the game show, David Tamulevich and Matt Watroba discuss their involvement with the “Yellow Room Gang,” a long-running songwriting group meeting regularly in David’s living room. During the unfoldment, Matt quips, “If you make us mad, we will write a song about you.” Changing the tone, he follows with a tender song he wrote reflecting on a personal awakening at his grandmother’s funeral. “I looked out at everyone at the funeral and realized her love was alive in every single one of them.” The song, “How will I leave this earth?” recognizes the importance of caring for those around us, and that life is a journey towards the wholeness of this understanding – that life’s purpose is to carry love forward into time.
The musical folk group, Peter, Paul, and Mary, become part of the discussion that follows as Matt Watroba recalls an invitation to a concert in Detroit by Paul Stookey, and Libby recounts attending an early concert with her sister, remarking “And now I get to sing harmony on stage with Peter at the Ark! It’s all come full circle.” (The Ark is a long-running performance venue in Ann Arbor, Michigan)
The show comes full circle with Libby, David, and Matt joining in on David’s song, “Simple Faith.”
Ours is a simple faith,
Life is a short embrace,
Heaven is in this place,
Everyday.
Hope is the ground we till,
Make each day what you will,
Thankful for dreams fulfilled,
Everyday.