Todd Butler
God does not die on the day we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illuminated by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason.
Dag Hammarskjöld
Playing the banjo to the Painted Desert, Arizona, 2022
In 2017 I was on Hornby Island BC, struggling to stay alive as I battled cirrhosis and its terrible symptoms. Writing and recording music helped me to feel alive and gave me immense hope and much joy. When I didn't die I went back and listened to these songs again with a healthy ear and felt a tad embarrassed at the shaky quality of much of the singing and guitar work etc... despite that, I have decided to post these songs anyway. They represent an incredibly tenuous and uncertain time in my life. I was on the edge of the great precipice we all must face, yet still managed to create songs of joy and love and forgiveness as I stared into that abyss. I remember feeling like I was singing to and with Angels and that The Great Imagination was with me on every note. I no longer fear death or singing off key a little. I love these songs in all their imperfection.
This video is from the first concert I did after my transplant (four months) at the Deep Cove Folk Club on Vancouver Island.