Faerie Tales, Transformations and Music: Part One

Alright everyone,
Gather around the fire, friends for a faerie tale...





I refer to Heather Alexander…

…and James Alexander Adams.

Two wonderful musicians with something very much in common. Once upon a time, ( all good faerie tales start this way, right?)...

In the very early 90's, I spotted a CD in a store in the mall. The store was a Natural Wonders chain store, and back in their new age music selection was this CD that had a great painting of a redheaded girl strolling along a cliff with a fiddle and a back pack; the CD was called Wanderlust, and the singer/songwriter was Heather Alexander. On the strength of the CD art alone I bought this unheard and took it home. I was stunned by how good she was. Glorious contralto voice, fantastic guitar, bodhron, and fiddle, Celtic music themes and innovative original songwriting along fantasy and mythological lines...WOW!



I was an instant fan and stayed glued to her progress. She quickly became one of if not my favorite musician. She is virtually unknown out of her area which is west coast, San Francisco, and Oregon area The years passed...and the CD's kept coming. "Life's Flame", "Festival Wind", "A Gypsies Home", "Midsummer" and on and on. She kept getting better and I stayed enchanted with her music. My life underwent changes. My marriage broke up, I came Out, I endured one more break up, then met Dreamweaver (pausing momentarily for a heartfelt prayer of thanks for that one!) and Heather's music remained the background tapestry of my life's journey.

Two years ago, checking in at a convention at a dealers table for the latest on Heather's music, I heard the news that stopped me in my tracks...Heather had passed her musical legacy to another person who was taking over the website, the music and the concerts - named James Alexander Adams.

Say what?

Then the news went further... Heather had transitioned as a Female To Male transgender to BECOME Alex! Say WHAT!?!?

Needless to say, my jaw dropped. I have to admit, I didn't know whether to cheer his courage or mourn her voice! How was the music going to survive? (it did settle one thing for me...the few pictures I had seen of Heather - which had a slight resemblance to me. the red hair of course, and the Scots descent and pay attention to this, we'll return to this in a minute - had twigged my gaydar, and Gender Identity Disorder will show up, fuzzily, and confuse my gaydar. Evidently even across fuzzy 2D photography, the hint of the transgender was there.)

So there I stood, totally shocked and wondering what had happened and how the music was to survive...and more, how was Alex surviving the change?

And thus ends part one...yes it's a cliff hanger. There WILL be a part two or more coming up.