DOUG MOCK

My career in science occupied nearly all of the next few decades, such that I did not play music in public from August, 1977 (at an Irish pub in Washington, DC) to February, 2018 (another Irish pub, this time in Richmond, VA).  For much of that 40-year interval, I did not touch my instruments and lost the basic skill set (not to mention fingertip calluses!).  But as retirement from academia loomed, I began to practice again, enduring a couple months of pain and chagrin before muscle memory restored my chops.

During my extra-long Rip Van Winkle nap, several facets of the acoustic music scene had changed.  The internet made it much easier to learn new songs (one can just download lyrics instead of speedwriting them while listening the LP!).  And ‘acoustic’ guitar had become electrified with nifty internal mic/pickup systems instead of awkward mic set-ups.  Finally, much to my amazement, the art of fingerpicking had almost gone extinct.

These days, I play for fun (at various “open mic” events) and for pay (at restaurants, farmers’ markets, parties, etc.).  For the past few years, I played every Friday evening at The Wooden Spoon Café in Richmond.

My repertoire consists of 200-300 covers drawn from various genres, notably folk music, acoustic blues, early rock, Americana, country, and pop.  During the pandemic, I have been live-streaming hourlong programs on Facebook Live (70+ of these to date) for friends scattered around the world, with regular listeners tuning in from much of the US, plus Canada, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Turkey, and Uganda.

Finally, I am writing songs for the first time since college.  Back then, I wrote about 50 original songs, all of which sucked and deserved the immolation they received.  But now that I’ve had considerably more experience observing life, it feels right: I have more to say and am creating songs worth sharing.