
Dave Marsh | 1950-2026
"We connected so much that afternoon. He told me he thought I had a musical in me. He said I should write an album of songs inspired by Shakespeare. He dared me to do it."
Sober at 45 and a mom at 50, I’m a Nashville songwriter and poet trading the "fame game" for the plain-spoken business of being a human. A menopausal boss with no "f’s" left to give and a debut collection, The Cardinals, arriving this fall.
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"We connected so much that afternoon. He told me he thought I had a musical in me. He said I should write an album of songs inspired by Shakespeare. He dared me to do it."

"Someone this week asked me how I was. I answered “Actually, pretty wonderful right now.”"

"I am a folk singer, but I have never been a good political folk singer nor do I want to be. If I’m honest, I really don’t like political folk songs. I don’t like being told what to do or how to feel.

"The other hand was raised out to God as if I was Hallelujahing. I haven’t felt this moved by a band since I saw Tom Petty’s last show here in Nashville."

"What songs of our own do we play and what stories do we tell and which do we NOT tell. How important is absolute fact. Can there be wiggle room in truth for entertainment?"

"It would be the last time I ever played tennis with my father. And it was the last tennis match my father would ever play. It was the last Wimbledon he’d ever watch and it was historic."

"Suffice it to say, the 3rd best blastocyte became our beloved Huckleberry and I think of July 5th as a holy day in our family. When he became my blood and my body."

"Laura said to me, ‘I’ll be your best friend.’ And that was that. And here we are, now both 58."

"I very acutely missed my father. When he was alive, it was a complicated relationship, but now that he’s passed, it’s very simple."

"I talked about Aaron Parsley’s piece and how I could not get past the image of a mother, his sister, holding onto a tree with one child in one arm and the other in the other arm."

"My debut book of poetry, The Cardinals is coming out in September. You can pre-order it now. And I have copies of The Galleys and I can’t believe I can write that – ‘the galleys – here."

"They say pain is the doorway to spiritual awakening. If that’s the case, then Kerrville Folk Festival holds my spiritual doorway."

"The trouble is that the false myth cut close to the human behind the song and she was recognizable. She heard the song and was hurt by it. I’ve never had this happen."

"I said to Scott, over coffee, “fuck God.” And he smiled kindly and said, “Yes. Fuck God. And that’s when God shows up.”

"Suddenly, I really didn’t give a fuck. And the songs spilled out, and the poetry started and the blogging started."

My New Substack on Art, Performance, Motherhood, Feminism, Sobriety and More.

or a living amends to my old spinning self

or processing grief and confusion through words and silence

on the looking back and forward

true, deep joy for the first time in I don't remember...