Guitar Man

Timm was a guitar man from way back. It's another one of our brotherly, possibly twin-affinities -- I played guitar for years, although I stopped playing it seriously around the age of 30.

I'm not sure when Timm started playing guitar -- sometime in college, I think -- in our zigzagging history together, I just remember him showing up with a guitar. We might have jammed together on our guitars once or twice. Timm and I were not competitive the way our older brother Will and I were, separated by more years; but I do remember feeling a little smug about the fact that Timm played guitar, in the manner that an older brother might feel more accomplished than the "younger generation." Whether I didn't deign to play with him, or we simply didn't have many opportunities to do so, I regret deeply now having missed that chance to hear how our sounds came together.

My guitar flame burnt out, but Timm kept playing his, down to his last day. Timm was earnest about playing his guitar, loved guitar music -- Michael Hedges and Pat Matheny were some of his faves. He may have been more timid about playing with others than I because of the deafness in one ear from his auto accident. Hard to tell where the music was coming from, I guess. He didn't seem to have great aspirations with it, but he kept on playing. He was in for the duration with it.



Timm lugged his guitar along in his long travels like a companion, worrying about it in the baggage compartment of flights, affixing stickers to the case, cramming the gold plush interior of the guitar case with strings and pics and pages of music and lyrics to songs he was working on. A guitar case is a ferryboat of songs, in a sense, the tough outer shell which keeps the music aloft. I'm sure Timm's guitar case took a beating in its travels, road-weary, tough like Timm's own body which carried his song.

Timm performed at my first wedding, playing a song he had written for the occasion. (He even shaved for the event, as you can tell ... ) That's my first wife and I in the background, and my father, who performed the wedding ceremony.

We were in my aunt and uncle's back yard in Orlando, Jan. 1988. Timm would be about 24 here -- about the age I was when I was playing my loud, loud guitar.

It was a long song -- many verses -- and I recall being impatient. I cut Timm's song off around the third or fourth verse. He just quietly packed his guitar away and that was that. I never asked Timm to finish playing the song for us at another time, nor asked for the lyrics. Something I am now profoundly sorry for.

I don't know if there is a recording anywhere of Timm playing his guitar. I hope we will come across one some time. I've asked his pastor at Trinity Covenant Church if there are any recordings which Timm might be on, either as a guitar player or singer in the choir. I'd love to also hear his voice singing ...


As I said before, the Pat Matheny/Lyle Mays tune "September 15" was one of the last songs Timm listened to on his laptop iTunes. There a folder titled "Timm's music" on his laptop, and in it are lyric sheets and guitar ligatures to songs. Guess what I found in there too.


After his death, Timm's guitar went to his best friend Ken, who gave it to his wife Dana who also plays guitar. What we have as Timm the guitar player is so fragmentary, such a small part of the music he loved. But the music plays on ...