Take my hand, we're gonna go where we can shine

Crystal is the traditional gift for a 15th wedding anniversary. It is supposed to represent the clear and sparkling love between partners. The modern gift is glass or a watch, which is thought by many to be a symbol of the time you've had—and the hope that that there are many more good times to come. But these gifts do not work in my relationship. We break too many glasses for those to make a good gift and my wife has good timing. Meanwhile I received a watch from her in 1997, and as a result, I am on-time (most of the time). The bottom line, is that I need to think of something else to commemorate our special date.

As my 15th wedding anniversary approaches, I find myself thinking about the strength of people working together, which in music, are duets. We have heard them on records for a long time, and maybe even performed one or two on karaoke night. According to Study.com the earliest vocal duets, as we think of them today, began with opera in the early 1600s, music fans then moved on to “Captain” Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille singing: "I will be there to share forever / Love will keep us together" and they now live on today in the form of a duet that features two of my favorite musicians: Bruce Hornsby and Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) singing the song “Cast-Off”.

So now that I have crystal and duets on my mind a unique duet that I recently learned about is that of Crystal Gayle & Tom Waits. In 1982, Gayle collaborated with Waits on the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's film "One from the Heart". However, to me there is nothing particularly sentimental about the year 1982 or this film. This led me to more brainstorming and asking myself what duets were we listening to in 2004 - the year that we were married. Well at a recent BBQ hosted by my friends John & Toni D., I was educated that Crystal Gayle is the younger sister of country superstar Loretta Lynn.

Produced and released in 2004 is the Loretta Lynn and Jack White album "Van Lear Rose", which I am now listening to on vinyl as I type this. Although my wife and I do not connect to any of the songs from this album, it reminds me that just like a good tandem bicycle frame is more than just two solo frames stuck together, so is a musical duet.

The past 15 years have produced so many good times in my life as well as other notable duets and although it would be fun to say that our jam in 2004 was "My Boo" by Usher and Alicia Keys, I am more interested in a different style of duets when a couple is building each other up for success.

I believe the gold standard for this type of duet is husband and wife Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi. I could go on and on about their level of collaboration, but what really drives it home is the way that they look at each other when either Tedeschi is singing or Trucks is playing the guitar. For me it is all summed up on their rendition of Harry Nilsson’s “Everybody’s Talkin’”: “I won't let you leave my love behind / No, I won't let you leave / I won't let you leave my love behind.”

Thanks for reading.