9/5/26: “The Only Thing That Matters,” by Gordon Wright
Gordon Wright is a Chicago-area musician who will be sharing music on the 5th day of the month all year long. Long ago, he fronted an East Coast pop/rock band called Fooled By April. These days you can find him singing jazz in the Chicago Jazz Dads.
This is another song from the musical I wrote with my dad, author Lawrence Wright, and the blues legend Marcia Ball: Mr. Texas.
This song came late in the writing process. In fact we thought we were done with the musical. But we held a reading and it was clear that the musical was missing a sort of epiphany moment. The moment when our protagonist, Sonny, would pause and tell the audience, and the other characters—and himself—what actually mattered.
In a novel this would be done subtly and artfully and perhaps over the course of multiple chapters. In a play it might be contained in a single line, or simply implied through a dramatic turn in the plot. But in a musical, well, it has to be a song.
This version of the tune was produced again by my friend Aric Jacover. And that pedal steel you hear was actually played by none other than the legendary Lloyd Maines.