So I was sitting at a stop light this evening with my lovely pregnant wife in the car with me.  We were on the way home from sharing dinner with friends who had also bequeathed lots of great baby gear to us.  We were feeling great, having a little car snuggle and thinking about our baby on the way.

Suddenly I spot a large white SUV, possibly a GMC Yukon, laden with what appeared to be college-aged young women (not uncommon in Ann Arbor, a college town).  They were turning left from a main road onto the road where we were first in line to turn left onto the main road.  If you can picture that particular vehicular arrangement (USA driving rules, for my British and former British readers), you’ll realize that Sorority Yukon passed mere inches from my front driver’s-side bumper .

As the truckload of ladies navigated the turn and started to accelerate past I heard two words .

NICE BEEEEEEARD!!!

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My wife and I looked at each other.  What just happened?  It was like a bomb went off or something.  Were they serious?  Was it all in jest?  Who could tell from such a instantaneous interaction?

“Damn right it’s a nice beard,” I replied to my wife.

“It’s my beard,” she replied as she kissed me on the cheek.

My mind is currently filled with two main thoughts on the matter.  Number one, could those girls really have respected a good beard?  I saw a music video today (which rarely happens now that I’m in my thirties) with some hip-hop guy rapping on some rooftop and another guy singing an emotional refrain and banging on a piano.  Pretty standard stuff except for the fact that Piano Guy had a great beard!  Maybe beards are okay to younger people now.  Maybe my beard really was respected.

My second thought is… damn I hope my new daughter doesn’t end up riding around in some gargantuan truck with some other hot chicks (probably drunk on a Wednesday at 8 p.m.) disrespecting the robust beards of grown-ass men enjoying a car snuggle with their pregnant wives!  I’ll have to give her a talk about that in about 18 years…

Welcome to the first in what I plan to be a continuing series of posts on Beard Music.  What is Beard Music, you ask?  It’s hard to define, much like love or truth, ever changing its form – yet always remaining pleasing.  It slices across numerous traditional genres like a furry blade of greatness.

I’ve never written music reviews before, so I’m pretty lost as to how to describe an album to you.  Although I’m a musician, I find it hard to speak about “production values” and “lyricism.”  Instead, I’ll try to write a little vignette that gives what I think is roughly the same feeling as the album.  If all else fails, you can certainly listen to the samples below or even buy the album on my recommendation!

I’m kicking off the series with what might be my favorite album by one of my all time favorite artists.

Our Endless Numbered Days by Iron and Wine

Dark night out in the country where no streetlights mar the inky sky.  Crickets chirp loudly trying to crowd out the squealing cicadas to dominate this evening’s soundtrack.  Fireflies wink seductively from the soft grassy yard trying to coax you out of your nylon-strapped aluminum folding chair on the mossy brick patio behind the old farmhouse.  The veil of thick warm air is broken as you feel something cool and smooth tap your bare arm.  Look left to find your uncle passing you the nearly empty bottle of Jim Beam.  Take a swig and pass it on to Granddad to finish up.  Through the whiskey blur the three of you contemplate the cause of the fierce orange glow just past the tree line a couple hundred yards away.

Morning finds the white hand-stitched curtains waving good morning, aloft on the clean, grassy air of a new summer day.  Comforting warmth of your wife’s arm seeps into yours, and you can’t help but notice the way the quilt mounds up and over her belly.  Your hand ventures through the sheets to steal a rub of the taut skin surrounding that beautiful roundness, but the roughness of your calluses is enough to bring your love into the day with you.  Bleary eye contact and well-aimed kiss celebrate another day together.