On Wednesday, March 9, Randall Dighton presents an evening of music and spiritual exploration. He will share not only ballads of faith, humor, and love from his repertoire (Scottish/Irish, folk, musical theater) but speak of his deep and abiding love of music for his inspiration, meditation, and spiritual growth through improvisation.
Randall discovered a gift of composing music to fit the moment in his teens when he was asked to create a song based on Khalil Gibran’s poetry at a wedding. From an inward source of creativity, there flowed a melody which, joined with the beautiful lyrics, meshed with the spirit of the occasion. Today he now serves as musician for his Masonic Lodge with improvised music on guitar, lute, or Native American flute.
Music is Randall’s source of peace in life. Through reading poetry, spiritual/mystical passages, or other introspective thought, this facility is activated. (His muse seems to work the graveyard shift—entire songs with lyrics and melody come to him at 3 a.m.)
Raised as a Christian but with friends of many faiths, Randall became a Baha’i in 1970. He also served as assistant cantor of a Jewish congregation for most of the 1980s. He has been a student of the Yi King (I Ching) since 1963, and has an interest in other oracular and divinatory traditions.
Randall has been married to his soulmate and best friend, Linda, since 1997. She sings with him on occasion, and helps lead a choral group in SaddleBrooke, the Catalina Chorale.
Randall’s music career began as a strolling singer in Southern California in his mid-teens, performing the ballads of the British Isles, as well as standards and show tunes, at four-star restaurants, as well as Celtic and international events on the West Coast, performing both on stage and as a strolling troubadour.
Randall was a fixture at Scottish games, Renaissance fairs and other festivals from the 1960s, accompanied on either guitar or lute. He was the United Kingdom Pavilion’s troubadour (and official scribe) at EPCOT Centre for most of the 1980s. After singing and working in California and Oregon, he and Linda moved back to Northern California in 2015, where he served as the director, arranger, and accompanist for the Mountain Ridge Singers (a community chorus) in Paradise, Calif., for four years, as well as directing and performing with the Jolly Beggars, a Scottish band. After fleeing the Camp Fire that destroyed the town of Paradise in November 2018, they settled in SaddleBrooke, Ariz. He now performs at various events, including festivals, retirement homes, and other venues as requested.
Randall has studied the art of calligraphy since his early teens, and began to create annual works of scribal art in 1974. Many of these are displayed throughout the world. He worked as a professional scribe and graphic designer for over 40 years. Randall can be contacted at [email protected] or 520-825-3090.
Note to members: We will be holding our annual general voting meeting at this time and ask that all members who have paid their annual dues either vote via email or on this night in person.