"Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands." - Job 4:3

Focal dystonia: a painless hand condition in which the fingers either curl into the palm or extend outward without control.

 Billy McLaughlin was a big concert draw at my college frequently in the early 90's. I went to see his shows whenever I could, invariably transfixed by the otherworldly sounds that were wafting from the stage. It was almost comical at times to watch how his head would move while laying down the rhythms, which never failed to emote the highest sorrows and the quietest hope in flawless, tear-jerking intensity. There are "entertainers" who are in it for the paycheck and the attention; and then there's McLaughlin, whose sound is almost a symbiotic extension of himself...you immediately sense one completes the other.
 I had never heard of finger-style acoustic guitar playing until the first night I saw him spilling out the notes in what he refers to as a "hammering style". It never failed to put a lump in my throat. To this day I have the two cd's he autographed for me. After moving to Sioux Falls, I was only able to see him once or twice more before he suddenly faded from the scene. It wasn't until recently that I found out why.
 Focal dystonia had taken from his right hand the ability to hammer out the notes. In 2002, the music died. But not for long...because Billy had something in him that refused to die: the eternal flame he carried for his craft and its fruit. The video below says it better than I ever could: