I had the pleasure of seeing Myles Kennedy perform with Slash and The Conspirators during which the band played songs from their new album 4. I love Kennedy’s soulful voice and some mornings his songs pop into my head before my feet hit the bedroom floor.

I read an interview where Kennedy talked about the impact his biological father’s death had on his family when he was a young child, and how this has influenced his music. The interview discussed Kennedy’s first solo album Year of the Tiger (released in 2018) and the significance of the title-track.

Here’s the story: The song “Year of the Tiger”started out as a melody with just a few lyrics that Kennedy says he scratched on a piece of paper and then forgot about. Then one day he was doing chores around the house and the words ‘the year of the tiger’ just popped into his head. He didn’t even know what the phrase meant, but he liked the sound of it.

When he started pulling the album together, he decided to research the term, which stems from the Chinese zodiac. Chinese mythology dictates that each calendar year is related to a specific animal and the cycle of the animal repeats every 12 years. Some of the years of the tiger are 2022, 2010, 1998, 1986, 1974, 1962…and so on.

Here’s the spooky bit: Myles Kennedy’s father passed away during the year of the tiger. And to quote Kennedy, “It was almost like the universe was telling me, ‘This is what you are going to write about with this.'” This whisper from the universe helped him shape the theme of the album.

I agree with Kennedy that the universe was speaking to him, but it’s my belief that his father was also guiding him. I lost my mother to cancer several years ago, but this hasn’t stopped her from influencing my current life. For example, I’ll encounter a store clerk who uses an uncommon phrase that my mother used to utter, and this helps me know that my mom is around me. Or, I’ll be lost when driving and then I’ll see a street sign with a word that I associate with my mother, and taking this street leads me to the highway I was desperately trying to find. Lastly, I was cutting through the Tenderloin district of San Francisco shortly before dusk when a man walked up beside me at the crosswalk and asked if I needed any help. At first, I was baffled because I didn’t think that I looked like someone who needed help. I knew where I was and where I was going, and I also knew to walk quickly through the area and to pay attention to my surroundings. On closer inspection, I saw that the man was donning a reflective vest that is worn by the community members who are trained to keep the neighborhood safer. I told him that I was a local and was almost to my destination of the nearby parking garage. He had a Southern accent and being a Southerner, I asked where he was from. He replied, “Near Jackson, Mississippi.” My breath caught in my throat. My mother was born and raised in a small town near Jackson, Mississippi.

Coincidence? I think not.

Momma (as I called her) sent that man to make sure that I made it safely through one of the most treacherous neighborhoods in the Bay Area.

Start paying attention to the signs around you and the significance they hold because this is the universe’s (and perhaps a deceased loved one’s) way of trying to point you in the right direction. And how fortunate we are that Myles Kennedy understands the importance of listening to the whispers of the universe.