The harmonica was my first musical love. I started playing at
age 15, before I began to sing or write songs or play any other
instruments. And several decades later, I still love playin' harp.
My friend Paul St. Clair, an excellent harp player, often refers
to the harmonica as The King Of Instruments. I'd add that it's
probably the most mysterious of instruments. You can't show
people how to play it -- on a guitar or a piano or a saxaphone or
a fiddle, you can show people where to put their fingers -- but
the harmonica is all about hearing sounds, and then trying to
figure out how to make those sounds. To me, it's the closest
thing to singing. As for the photo above, I'm not sure where
or when it was taken; judging by the fact that my hair wasn't
completely white yet, I'd guess that it was in the late '90s.