There’s one thing that they can’t properly prepare you for in the music business. The loss of a friend, a colleague, is something you just aren’t ready for, regardless of the circumstances.
I don’t spend a lot of time on Facebook from a personal standpoint. Oh sure, I get onto the Now Hear This page on there on a very regular basis. But, since I’m often heard talking about the importance of time management, getting caught up surfing through the Facebook homepage (news feed) would run very counter to that.
However, for some reason it was meant to be last Monday morning for me to click onto that very page. It was then and there that I read that songwriter/singer CJ Watson had passed away in his sleep, some hours earlier. I immediately let out a “WHAT?!” And then what I alluded to at the beginning of this blog happened. I was speechless and really didn’t know what to do next.
Over this past week there have been countless posts that I can’t help but bump into now on Facebook, which is a tribute to how many lives CJ touched. I wanted to be among those posting too, but (a) couldn’t find the right words that he deserved, (b) didn’t want to limit it to just a few lines, and (c) knew that this wasn’t something that you just post off the top of your head.
Now it’s one week later and I still can’t believe that I’m writing a blog about CJ Watson because he’s gone, as opposed to writing in a present tense about all his good works, advice, help, lessons, and so forth.
You’ll notice that while you’re used to reading singer/songwriter, above I reversed it in reference to CJ because while people did get such joy out of seeing him perform, we’re talking about a man who wrote approximately seven THOUSAND songs. And I haven’t even mentioned his guitar prowess.
But CJ was also just a great person. He was all about helping people yet did so without having his hand out. He was always so excited at the idea of young songwriters eager to pursue that vocation. And they found him easy to work with because he was a teddy bear. He had a sense of humor that I loved as much as his songs about living in “Coupe de Ville” or “My Dog Jesus,” not to mention a classic that he used to get requests for and do quite an acting job on, with regards to meeting up with the devil. Then there was his touching ballad, “Not Like This.” How that song never ended up on the radio is beyond me.
How do we know that CJ left an impression on people? Never mind that he wrote a fantastic book about songwriting, and yes, you can look up all the tributes to him being posted on Facebook, but again, he wasn’t in it for the glory and the fame. He hoped that the songs that he wrote (or co-wrote) would move people. When I talked to him way back on Episode 41 of my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast he told a story of an audience member coming up to him and telling him how he – well, his music – saved her life! (Give it a listen. It doesn’t get much more impactful than that.)
CJ was probably one of the first three people I met when I first attended what was then the 2nd Pensacola Beach Songwriters Festival back in 2010 and he was probably the first one to (during that same event) invite me to Nashville. Of the times that I did go see him when I was in Music City he even made lunch at his house for me more than once. I would’ve expected to see him two months from now at the tenth anniversary edition of that same songwriters festival. Instead, I’ll look up to heaven and know that he is no doubt entertaining many others who also have, in the words of Michael Jackson, gone too soon.
Did you know CJ? Talk about your memories of him in our Facebook group.