“Leaving Us to Say Goodbye” (words & music by Robert Sterling) The unexpected death of a friend lands like a body blow. It leaves you stunned, even speechless. You receive the bad news and go numb. Hearing of Luke Garrett’s [...]

I’ve often said that if I were to compare myself to an animal it would be a bear. A Grizzly, to be more specific. Grizzlies eat half the year and sleep the remaining half. And they spend a lot of time in a cave. They are okay being alone. [...]

Forgive me, readers, for it has been eight months since my last confession…I mean Blog Post. Where has that time gone? And more importantly, what was I doing with that time? Well, among other things, I was completing the writing of an [...]

“Love Is the Better Way” from SOUNDS CRAZY.  Several of the songs on Sounds Crazy go back a way. “Love Is the Better Way” reaches back further than most. I wrote its first iteration in the early 1990s. The reason I remember this is because it [...]

There is much talk these days about getting back to normal. And the Buzz Word of the Day is the “new normal,” though nobody seems to know what that will be or when it will happen. Maybe there will be an announcement: “And this [...]

As  kids returning to school in the fall, most of us knew that at some point in the first week of class we’d have to write a “What I Did on My Summer Vacation” essay. If you were like me, you made stuff up, seeing as how I [...]

“Outta Here,” “The Trio,” and “Riverside” from SOUNDS CRAZY.  Who doesn’t like a story with a surprise ending? (Answer: nobody) The Bible is full of stories that don’t end up where you think they will. On my CD, SOUNDS CRAZY, I included three [...]

When I was young and foolishly sure of myself, my song lyrics too often had the tendency to focus on what the listener should do to get his or her life right. I call these kinds of songs “You songs,” because they say things like, “You need to do [...]

Last week I attended my first day of school. Let me clarify. “Professor” Sterling (sounds weird, right?) met with a small group of students on Saturday morning (yikes!) for the first of fourteen weekly 3-hour classes (double yikes) that will [...]

Here’s another behind-the-scenes look at a recent choral anthem… One for traditional choirs: CHRIST THE WORD For those who compose music for the Church, perhaps the most crucial element in our work – even more so than the music – is [...]