Don’t Stand Still is a love story. Every song on this collection gives honor to those who’ve touched my life. Some give condolences for loved ones lost, others to that enduring spirit of survival. Some pay tribute to those who’ve sacrificed for the freedoms we enjoy. Some recall a sweet remembrance of that first kiss, others give strength to keeping that flame alive. Some honor that tree of life; a maple sapling planted by a father and his son fifty years ago, which now stands 60 foot tall. Some are the fulfillment of promises kept, others to a pair of boots. Yet through it all the tie that binds this collection together is love. Love of family, love of friends; love of life and to that love beyond the limits of time. I’m grateful to have been on this earth for nearly 60 years. No other place I’d rather be. Not everyone makes it this far. Most assuredly each of us are the fulfillment our parents, ancestors dreams. We don’t get a choice on what songs are sung before we’re here nor which songs will be sung after we’ve gone. But we do have a choice which songs we sing now. These songs are mine and may they somehow inspire you to go on. To not stand still but to keep creating a better future for the generations to come. The children are watching . . . --------- Called "a true American Troubadour" by author Studs Terkel, Larry Long has made his life work the celebration of American stories and heroes. In a curriculum called Elders’ Wisdom, Children’s Song,™ he has brought these heroes to the classroom to share their oral history with our younger generation. The children then go on to create songs and lyrical work that celebrate the history and triumphs of their own communities and learn in the process to honor the struggles of different cultures. Larry Long’s hundreds of ballads readily capture the American history of our time, while embracing our common humanity with stories about history makers, known and unknown. He has worked in urban communities combining Latin, Somalian, African-American, and Scandinavian students. He has worked in southern rural communities combining black, white, Native American and Latin stories. In the mid-1980s he assembled the first hometown tribute to Woody Guthrie in Okemah, Oklahoma, which today has evolved into a large, free festival with an array of established and upcoming artists.