The Open Road
On September 26, 2007, I turned 40.

For some, 40 is not a big deal. . .for some, it is 30 that causes crisis.  30 came and went without much thought on my part
(largely because I had other things on my mind).  My 30’s never presented much stress to me, because when I was
growing up. . .or even in my late teens, early 20’s, we KNEW people who were in their 30’s who were cool. . .you know,
who were a lot more like US. . youthful and cool. . .maybe parenting young children, but for the most part, pretty much
thinking along the same wavelength. . . just older, not OLD.
But 40. . .man. . .40 was always the age in which, while I didn’t think of it as OLD, I thought of it as “grown up”. . .these
were people who were ADULTS. . .These were people who had ARRIVED into adult life. . .not still on the way.

As my 40th birthday approached, I began to realize what a fallacy, what an illusion, all of this was. I began to see that
the journey is ongoing.  I began to understand that all of those mentors, teachers, elders, whatever who appeared to
have reached some sort of plateau, had actually just reached another point in their journey.

This is the theme of The Open Road.  Just like a road trip, where frequently you have backstreets, city traffic,
suburban thoroughfares to navigate before you actually get to the highway, it seems that my early adult life was helping
to get to a place. . .not of settling, not of arriving, but to a place of departure.  

The transition into mid-life is not one that a lot of people talk about.  Our culture, which idolizes youth, obsesses with
all things young—it remains fixated on preserving the illusion of youth.  .and rather than helping people find healthy ways
to transition into mid life, we are taught to deny it, ignore it, fear it, or surrender meekly to it.  I reject all of these models. . .
finding that I am actually becoming MORE of a person, since the preoccupations of my 20’s and 30’s are gone.

The songs on The Open Road are all about the transition into mid-life and the issues that are involved with this part
of the journey.  Learning to make sense out of past choices, coping with the loss of parents, understanding changing
relationships with mentors, hoping to give children all they need for the journey to adulthood, and the desire to continue
to make life meaningful while growing old.  I hope that as I have wrestled with these questions, I can help others to
address them as well. . .maybe not to give answers, but at least to ask the questions that no one else in our culture seems
to want to ask.  Now that I am 40. . .what now?

Thomas J. Wilson
Austell, GA
December 23, 2007
All songs:  Words and Music by Thomas J. Wilson, except “Not a Wasted Day”: Lyrics by Thomas J. Wilson and J.
Matthew Wilson

All songs Produced by Thomas J. Wilson and J R Mounts.

Thomas J. Wilson:  lead and background vocals, fretted and fretless basses, piano, keyboards and programming,
acoustic guitars, electric guitars.

J R Mounts:  electric lead and rhythm guitars.

Elbert Zimmerman (E.Z.):  drums and percussion

The Thomas J. Daddy Day Care All Girl Chorus (Olivia Wilson, Sofia Wilson, and Zybria Barber):  Intro vocals
on “Stars”.

J R Mounts would like to add:    I  dedicate my contribution to my incredible wife, Erica, without whom I'd still be a lonely
frog in a pond. She is my Cinderella, my Mary Jane Watson, my better 99%. This project has been yet another test of
mental, melodic and physical skill to which I've enjoyed trying to meet the challenges it offered. Whether or not I was as
successful as I'd hoped doesn't diminish the great amount of pleasure I was given by simply trying. As always, Thomas
gave me vast landscpaes to build and endless canvasses to paint. Yet again, I am proud of the results and pleasantly
surprised that some experiments paid off. What a great way to mark the end of 2007. Thanks always to my friends, my
family and my family circle.

J.R. Mounts
December, 31, 2007

Special thanks to:  the Ex church of Christ discussion board, who helped to flesh out many of the lyric ideas for these
songs, Pam Newton White, Kahla, Toni and the kids, Jo Ann Sanchez-Cotto, David Gayler, Dave Costas, Dave
Gann and most of all J R Mounts who has, through our collaborations, helped me to realize this dream of making music
without playing the game. . .we certainly have become Stars in our own sky.

Extra Special thanks to the mentors who have become friends that inspired “The Bitter End”:  David Keller, Tony
Mowrer, Doug Edwards, H. Harvey Rhodes, and Steve Johnson.

This album is dedicated to my wonderful wife and my beautiful family: Kimberly, Drew, Sam, Olivia, Sofia, and Cousin
Matthew.  I could not ask for a better bunch of people to be out on the open road with.
The Open Road   5:07  (Wilson)
Not a Wasted Day   4:52  (Music by Thomas J. Wilson, Lyrics by Thomas J. Wilson and J. Matthew Wilson)
Orphaned   5:30 (Wilson)  
Winter Garden  4:57 (Wilson)
Flying Blind   4:57  (Wilson)
Cool     4:48   (Wilson)
Will You Remember   5:24  (Wilson)
All the Things   5:39  (Wilson)
The Bitter End   4:51  (Wilson)
Stars   6:55  (Wilson)
Life IS indeed a Journey. . .understanding that there IS no arrival point. .. that we are ALL “works in progress” is
essential to continuing to grow and develop as a person.  Moving into middle age IS a transition, however. . .
understanding that there are “point’s of no return” so to speak.  As I move into this phase of my journey, I do so boldly
and gladly. . .embracing where I am and who I am.
A conversation with an old friend who had looked me up after 20 years or so revealed to me that she had indeed gone
through many trials and tribulations thru her late teens and early 20’s.  She said, that the biggest trial for her, as she was
moving into middle age, was all of the “wasted time” during her years as a “hellraiser”.  I made the point to her that it seems
inadvisable to regret those years, as they have helped her to become the person she is now.  I can say the same about
myself, as my life now is SO different than the life I was working to build in my 20’s and the beginning of my 30’s.    I have
a hard time regretting any of those times.  In the same way, it makes me realize how important, how precious each moment
that I have now is.  I make every effort to commit to making the MOST of each moment. . . to indeed make sure that
there will not be any days wasted.
Losing our parents is something that nearly all of us will have to deal with in our adult life. . .strange that none of us are
ever truly prepared for it.  Just as Dylan Thomas grieved for his dying father, adult children desperately beg for one
more day.
As I move into my later years, my wish is to remain a source of life and hope for those around me.    The years may wear
me out physically, but as a winter garden is a place of warmth and life in even the coldest of winters, I hope to be a source
of solace for those around me.
As I was starting to do research for lyrics on this album, I was shocked at the scarcity of information related to a
relatively uncomplicated transition into middle age.  There is a wealth of research about how to manage obstacles in
adolescence and early adulthood.  Likewise, there are volumes written regarding the issues of later life.  Middle age,
however, seems to still be unchartered territory for so many of us.  This song is about that lack of information, which has
become increasingly more prevalent with the disintegration of nuclear families and the breakdown of more traditional
forms of mentoring.
Our culture is seemingly run by the consuming demands of the teens and the twenty-somethings.  The  definition of
what is “cool” or “desirable” or “normal” is all done by peers, for peers, without guidance or even understanding.  Like
lemmings, without reason or insight, a significant portion of our culture follows like sheep. . .Thinking that the latest style,
the latest haircut, the latest possession will make them something or someone.  The bottom line, though, is that if a
person is relying on someone ELSE for their definitions, they are still a slave.
I am reminded that my time in this life is finite.  My most precious ones, my children, rely on ME for guidance. . .to learn
what kind of people they can become.  Will they remember all the lessons I have taught them>  Will they carry with them all
of the gifts I have tried to give?
The things that I used to value when I was a younger man, now all seem kind of trite and silly to me.  I am finding that the
things that I value NOW, home, family, friends, etc all have taken a vastly different flavor than I ever thought the would.
I was very fortunate, in the absence of a father, that in my young adulthood I had a number of very caring, very
supportive mentors.  I am even more fortunate that some of these mentors remain in my life, even peripherally.  I hope that
these fine and caring men know that they have my love and gratitude, and that while I am not the scared young man I was
once upon a time, they are still loved and valued.
What makes a person “great”?  How do we define success?  I believe that each of us has the ability to create our own
world. . . to find a place for ourselves where that success is defined, not by public accolades, but by the admiration and
trust of those around us.