Look up the word "crazy" in the dictionary and you might just find an asterisk beside the definition that says "Listen to the Subiquitous Podcast" featuring Sue Dubb, and you'll find out what "crazy" means. Sue's travelogue journey of unfiltered stories, impossible miracles, and faith-filled fun will be revisited right here. So buckle up and let's get going with this humorous travelogue of an unfiltered saint, Subiquitous. There's no doubt music is a soulless when it comes to the most inexpressible of human emotions, and that is called grief. And one of my recent reads, going back maybe just a few months ago, I found it online again and read it from my phone, a book called "Room for Doubt" by Wendy Lesser, and she has a quote in this book that's worth repeating today for this episode. The springs of our reaction to music lies deeper than thought, and part of what music allows me is the freedom to drift off into a reverie of my own, stimulated but not constrained by the inventions of the composer. Now here's the good part. She says, "Part of what I love about music is the way it relaxes the usual need to understand, and sometimes the pleasure of an artwork comes from not knowing, not understanding, and not recognizing." In other words, you don't have to figure the music out all the time. And Jeff and I have experienced this in the last several years of knowing what music does to a grieving saint, what music does to someone who we've loved, who loves a particular genre of music. But I'll tell you, we were all befuddled in the music industry in the last two weeks with the passing of the kneelands of Jason and Amber and Kelly Nealon, and leaving behind Autumn to basically live her life in ministry for the rest of her life without her mom and her dad and her sister. But Jeff, we look back and we see and we've heard so many wonderful stories online. We have friends that have sent us texts and phone calls, and everybody seems to have the same ongoing theme that in the beginning, as Dave Clark said, there were no words. We had no words. And here he is a great, great songwriter, and he didn't even have any words. But there was something about music. And Bill Gather said it during the funeral just a few days ago for the kneelands, that there's just something about music that is salve for the soul. So let's go back a few years, Jeff. Let's talk about Kelly for a minute. The very first time we met her many years ago, she was very young. We were not very much older. I remember correctly, she was just beginning to sing with what was known as the Lefevirs. Her dad, Rex Kneelen, was in the Lefevirs group, was the bass singer, and had been for years, and she was just starting to travel with them just a little bit. Yeah, she was so pretty. I remember that beautiful black hair, and you know what? We connected immediately because she was an alto. She had a deeper voice, and of course, you know, me, I've always sung of the basement. So it was kind of nice to talk about we weren't the typical soprano lead singer type, but we loved harmony, and we talked about that too. And the one experience that Jeff and I had with Rex Kneelen that stands out to me is that concert we did in Pennsylvania, and I think it was at a high school. Yeah, it was Boyer Town, Pennsylvania, and they were there, and they were going through the transition. The original members of the group, the Lefevir family, mom and dad, Lefevir and Uncle Alphys, which I always thought was an interesting name. They were retiring, they were leaving the road, and Rex had taken it over and brought Kelly on board, and let's see, I think if not at that time very shortly after Janet Paskel joined them. That's right. And others, they were going with, you know, with a new look and a younger look. Well, they were really at that point, you know, the music back then in the 70s, especially in gospel music, we didn't call it southern gospel back then. No. It was just gospel. And a lot of it was mainly quartets. And so obviously Rex Kneelen coming from a quartet and then starting his own with his family with Todd his son and also Kelly, it was one of the first really prominent family groups besides the Goodman's maybe, and maybe the Sego brothers in Naomi, and the Spears that had the mixed group. And they had to forge some new territory there. Yeah, we did a concert with them in Boyertown. And I think there was another group on the program that night, but I'm not in memory phase. We're going back to the mid 70s here and after that concert, Rex came up to us and wanted to hire you and I wanted you to sing with Kelly and wanted me to play the piano keyboards, of course. And I'm not sure if we didn't turn them down because we didn't like them. We liked them a lot. I liked Rex a lot and we liked Kelly, you know, just it just wasn't timing. And I think more and more we laugh about it. But it is the truth. I think finally, after a while, the reputation of us saying no so many times. Oh, yeah. It gets around. They don't ask the Duffield to do anything like that because they'll say no. But I think, you know, we had a, we had a couple of things that were in our mind that we wanted to do was more in a ministry side, not saying that they weren't. That surely is not what I'm saying. But again, maybe, you know, there's always that question. I think out of all of the groups, believe it or not, and I don't know if I've ever said this to you, you had invitations going way back since you were young teenagers to play for very prominent groups. I had maybe two or three invites. But the one that really I had to think about was Rex Neland. I remember driving home that night thinking, did we do the right thing by saying no? And we don't know, there's no way of knowing, but you know, when you look back in your life and you say, could that have been so much so that I remember seeing and talking to Kelly just a year or so ago, we were at the same studio at the same time. And she arrived, her and Jason and I was already there. And she, we were laughing about it because neither one of us looked like anything. You know, Kelly always looked amazing and she was always beautiful. And so no makeup on her hair pulled back in a ponytail and I just came out of taking all of my TV makeup off and so got in the car with her because it started to rain. And I sat in the backseat. And she said, get in the back, let's talk for a few minutes. And the one thing we talked about was, well, two things we talked about was Sammy Hall. And then we talked about grandkids. And she said, you know, Sue, she said, we just thought as teenagers that you guys were just rock stars with Sammy Hall singer. She said, that was our, that was our go to group. And she said, there were so many times as an 11 year old, a 10 year old sitting on the front row at a Sammy Hall crusade. She said, I'd sit there and I think, Oh, just one day, if I could have been a Sammy Hall singer and you know, we go back. You told her, well, no, it was correct. It wasn't all. I did tell her, we made $99 a week. I did tell her that she probably did better work. Yeah. She said, I think my dad would have done a little bit better by you. But the one thing too that stood out in my mind, just for that brief time that we had together, this is just a year or so ago. She looked right at me and she said, Oh, but you have something that I don't have. And I said, what? She says, grandchildren, I said, Oh, I know. She says, I love on Facebook, just watching and seeing you and Jeff interact with your grandkids. And she says, I can't wait to be a grandmother. Now, what I didn't know is that Amber had been trying so hard and her kids were younger than ours too. But yeah, and she of course, Kelly was younger than us, but yeah, it would have come. It would have happened. Then of course now Amber, or I should say autumn is pregnant and ready. But one day, you know, she she's going to see him. So it doesn't matter either way or how in this earthly realm that we live, it's so easy to get so caught up in what we see now. But I laugh because I remember a couple of texts or not texts, but Facebook experiences going back and forth with you and Kelly together. We had this running joke with direct message. And I still to this day, I don't know how it started. I wonder. I imagine I could probably on messenger, right? That's where we yeah, that's where we message back and forth and direct messaging there. And I should go look, but we had this ongoing joke about riding a bicycle. I think it came from pictures several years ago of us riding the Harley. And I think yeah, I think she sent a message to me one day about, can you put a basket on the front of the bike? I think that's working. But anyway, we would have it was an ongoing thing that every once in a while she would do something or I would do something or, you know, and then here I'd get this direct message from her about something about, are you going to be able to put stuff in your basket and ride, you know, and then I would do the same thing back there was kind of a running joke. They were good people. We got to know Jason years later. And he was a really good guy just there, you know, and a talented guy as well. And had his hands in a lot of different things, which I respect and admire and was a hard working guy as well. And they had a great group together and the last time I really had chance to talk to them was at the award show in Nashville a couple of years ago. And Jeff Stice was another pianist in gospel music who tragically passed away too soon. And he had played a lot for them toured with them and played for them. And they were quite close friends. And at that award show it was it happened just a few months after Jeff passed away. And so they asked me like with 30 minutes notice if you would if I would go out and play something as a tribute to Jeff, that's right. And I said, okay, you know, comes at you blindly, there's things always do. So I went out and played, I think I played, he looked me on my fault and saw my need. I think so. And it is on YouTube by the way, if anybody wants to look that up if they. And they were there. I did not know they were there that night then when I went up to play it, I wasn't aware that Kelly and Jason were there. Okay. But it was right after the program ended, I was up there packing up my keyboard and they both came rushing up to tell me how much they appreciated it. I think that was the last lengthy conversation I had with either one of them in person. But they were good people. They were. And well respected. That was the last picture we had taken to, we did, it was in Franklin at the Franklin Theater. And that's when Kelly said to me, she says, well, I'd steal your Jeff. If you didn't have your Jeff, because we needed Jeff on the piano. I didn't know that. Yeah. And we talked about, she says, why are all the good piano players in the world named Jeff? I said, I don't know. I said, you better not tell Nick Bruno, that one. Yeah, really. But anyway, this, obviously, there are so many people much more qualified in the relationship aspect. But it just shows you the trickle down effect of what Southern gospel music has meant to us over the years. And then the history that we have with all of these people for more than 50 years, really even going back almost close to 60 years, we were just so grateful that we know that they know Jesus and they're not just singing songs because they're popular and it makes them money. But they really are singing about their savior. If I can throw out a plug here too for another podcast, I love to tell the story by Dave Clark and Dusty Wells, and you need to check that one out. Their most recent episode talks even more detail about what the knee lens meant to them personally. So all that to say, Jeff, I think when we go back in our life, I don't have regrets. I don't have regrets. I know God always paves the way for us. He opens doors that no man can lock and of course locks those doors. But that has always been one question that I had in my mind, more than any other opportunities that we were offered. I often wondered, did we really hear from God and turning down Rex Neeland? That was the tough one. The other ones, you know, we've had a lot of stuff recently, even the last several years, that we know that we know that we know we made the right decision. But don't keep, you know, whoever may be listening to this, don't stop calling. No. You never know when the right, the right opportunity. No, I know. You may have the right offer that we just, you know, we just may take you up on. That's right. Well, that's all right. Well, we all know, and in closing, I just got to tell you, listening to music doesn't sound much like of a coping skill, but it surely does. And the knee lens music is going to linger forever and ever. They haven't even had their latest album come out yet. The single has been released, but it's pretty amazing. But you know what, music is a wonderful thing when it's applied at the proper time and at the right place at the right time. In fact, I wrote a post back years ago on a blog talking about the playlists that I would put together for radio and how I would create what I would call a hot hour, which would mean a 60 minute window of music, weather and news and maybe like a little bit of an interactive time with my audience and we would create what we call a hot hour. Well, in this scenario, that radio experience also helped me in putting together programs that I do today. So the thing is, I always know that we're tackling a pretty big scenario when we talk about the brain and we talk about grief and we talk about music, but you and I both know that there's nothing like gospel music that helps you through your grief. One of the things that I also want to bring up to is that music is connected to the pleasure center of our brain. I also produce a podcast called aging angst and alloluias with Mary and Oglesby southerly. You need to check that one out if you haven't. We talk about how music is the core center of reaching dementia patients and how it really does affect the attitude for the day. Putting on music at that veranda every day is just amazing what the atmosphere is sent. It also, for some reason, it's a great coping tool that's not an excuse, but it's as good as Ben and Jerry's ice cream when you need it. It does some similar things to that. It can cause pleasure in improving your mood. There's also research that shows that different kinds of music and Jeff and I've talked about this before about what it does when you have maybe instrumental music playing or classical music, how it really does open up the memory and the concentration of a young person's brain. I used to throw on classical music when my kids were doing their homework. They didn't like it necessarily, but it just kind of put a nice piece and a joy in the room and it helped open up their brains. But grieving is another thing. Grieving sometimes people don't want to listen Jeff to the music because it brings back the memories. Sometimes, yeah, you know, I have a suggestion as we close today, we'll put maybe a little excerpt of something from the Neillons. We could do that. As opposed to your typical theme song that we could wow with. Okay. We'll end with that. I would like that. Just hit me. That's probably a good idea. Yeah. It's almost impossible sometimes to kind of grasp the thought that they are not with us anymore, but there are researchers in the world that are a lot smarter than you and I that says, you know, our mood is definitely improved when we allow the cascade of music to affect every part of our brains and then of course we know what happens in our hearts. It's also good too for the physiological aspect. It can be healing not just in the emotions, but in your entire body releasing those endorphins that help yourselves to be healthy again. So happy music may not be something that you're thinking about right now. If you're grieving over a loved one who is past or especially with the whole music industry and the whole music business that we know of called Southern gospel music right now who has greatly grieved. It may not be something that we want to say is is happy, but you know what I loved watching the funeral, Jeff? I love the fact, especially when Karen Peck got up and told her funny stories about Kelly, she said they would want us to carry on the message. They would want us to be happy and they would want us to not be this neutral face of sadness, but to really to know the difference that Jesus is Lord and that we can walk. And that doesn't mean that we're, you know, putting things in the past and we're not dealing with grief because we all know that there are definite steps of grief that are very important for all of us to go through. But sometimes that happy song is going to make all the difference in the world, especially in your grief. Well, and they're more alive today. You know, as the famous theologian said, you know, when you hear my passing, don't think that I'm not alive anymore. I'm more alive now than I've ever been, just in a different location and we will see them again. Yeah. But I will say this, that when it comes to stress and anxiety of any kind, or you know, there's nothing like the amazing uplifting message of a Christ centered song that will help get you from one place to the other. And that's what we're hoping as I'm more than any aware, even today, we're on location today. We're at America's Keswick. We've been here most all summer, we'll be back again for young at heart week at the end of August and also the Labor Day celebration. And we've had an opportunity to see many different kinds of people from all walks of life. And we've talked about how does an atmosphere in a room, how can it be so different when you're singing the same song one week and then the next week, it feel completely different. Well, it has everything to do with the dynamic of the room. So my question to you today is, where are you listening to this episode today? Where are your ears? Where is your heart? Where is your mind? Where is your soul? I pray right now in Jesus' name, wherever you are, that you will be uplifted, that you will be inspired and that the Holy Spirit will speak to you through this song by the Neelens. We love you. We'll see you next week. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]
