CREATE- The Folk Musical Life
No matter where I travel, I can be portable and integrate my words, music, and style. My wife, Jill, started Music Mountain Instruments for Travel and Camping. Here we live, work, and are in community, and we extend that wherever we travel. As we do, I work with authors as a singer-songwriter and guitarist. As a writer, producer, and host of radio shows, and as the curator of the Sound Century Academy of Recording Arts and Broadcasting, I talk to a lot of writers, singers, and communicators. Through it all — and my 56 years as a media professional — I have learned that when I stopped looking for a job, I found my soul work, and it had been with me and in me for a lifetime. It is also how you can see the history of when we went from an Agrarian Lifestyle to an Industrialized nation, with a loss of a sense of home. And in the long run, how our ancestors went from the land to the city.
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Being There
(Thankful for You) Being There — Music and Lyrics by Richard Arnold Beattie
Preparing soil, planting seeds, planning the future for all their children's needs.
Caring through toils, pulling the weeds, pruning the rumors found on the street
In the orchards of the good fruit we leave.
I am thankful for you being there.
Songs for the journey, poems that we share,
Orchards of plenty, tilled with love and with care,
Orchards of good fruit found everywhere — they planted, grew it to share.
I am thankful for you being there.
Rows of produce all lined in place; the farm hand now lays track, the land goes to waste.
They follow the river to the tracks that they laid, and wait for the hour that they will get paid.
Rights of Man.
Songs for the journey, poems that we share,
Orchards of plenty, tilled with love and with care,
Orchards of good fruit found everywhere — they planted, grew it to share.
I am thankful for you being there.
Bridge:
And it ain't too late to come home,
Pray for the rain and soldiers unknown,
And the soul of the sojourner's poem,
When we return like prodigals of the earth.
We will prepare the soil, tear up the tracks,
Plant good seeds, bring the orchards back,
Plan for tomorrow and burn the weeds —
There will be orchards of good fruit to leave.
Eat and drink, taste and share — I am thankful for you being there.
Richard Arnold Beattie
Music Mountain Instruments
Westcliffe, Colorado
July 16, 2026
As I continue to lead a Musical Life of Integrity — meaning that I create, perform, produce, and share stories and songs that are authentic and communicated at home, through my work, and in the communities that I serve — I am taking an ancient tradition and paying it forward. I pay it forward by practicing integrity and investing in my schedule, skills, and stewardship, curating music and recordings that can be passed to the next generation. Instead of the industry, we distribute the dimensions of Spirit, Soul, and Love, and instead of manufacturing, we share it with you.
As we continue to watch, in this era of dryland, the artificial economy, consumerism, and bad actors masquerading as public servants, I am reminded that legacy is not what I am looking for in my creative practice. I am looking to be used through my creative schedule, to be productive with my skills, and to share in my stewardship of creation. It is a different look at "Being There" than Chauncey the Gardener in the Peter Sellers film. It is what Richard Rodgers told me on Labor Day, 1972 — "Be a good songwriter, Richard, because the world needs great songs." And that is my orchard.
To plant your orchard and grow where you are planted email RichardBeattie809@gmail.com.