From Contributing Editor Clay Riness
Editor In Chief, The Weary Wolf Journal
Somewhere around 2001 my old friend Paul Kogut informed the world he was getting married and a date had been set for a big, outdoor wedding, right on the trout stream, at his place in Spring Coulee. He asked me if I would sing something during the ceremony. I don't make a practice of playing weddings, so I did what I always do when a friend asks me to bring my voice to a wedding. I told him I would do it if he trusted me to choose the music...non-negotiable.
He agreed, smiling. Of course, I was going to write a song for their wedding, and that would be my gift. It was something they would never expect.
Paul is a passionate lover of military history, an active Civil War re-enactor, and most everyone who knows him knows that about him. My take on a love song for him and his bride was to frame it in the setting of a civil war soldier returning home to his beautiful, waiting wife. That's how Spring Valley Rose was penned.
The wedding experience was awesome. Before I sang the song I told the congregation that anyone who really knew Paul knew that he loved two things: the woman he was standing with...and Civil War Re-enactment. Cracked them all up. The song was a huge success. Everyone told me I hit the nail square on the head with my unique and unusual little gift.
The next year, I came out of retirement and began performing concerts again, and I performed Spring Valley Rose for a full house at an intimate concert for the Rustic Valley Concert Series. Paul and Kim were in house and actually danced to their wedding song. I stumbled across the recording of that concert a few days ago, footage never before released. I hadn't even heard it since it was recorded in 2002. It was good to hear.
Listen to Spring Valley Rose:
Beautiful... I love the old time feel to it...
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