Friend a Day – Rachael Salisbury

Photo by Peter Verrant

Rachael and I go back a long way.  She and my brother we good friends during High School.  We got along and hung out at that time but she didn’t really become a major part of my life until she joined The Dregs a few years ago.

She was such an important addition to the band for so many reasons.

This may come as a shock to most people who know the members of my band, but we can frequently get a little distracted at rehearsal.  Rachael is the person who will most likely get us back on track.  I’m not going to say she cracks the whip because that isn’t the right way to put it.

Rather, she pushes us back on the road.

Another thing that might surprise you about a group of Type A personalities is every now and again things can get pretty tense. When that happens, Rachael is frequently the person I’ll call just to calm myself down.  She listens and calmly explains to me why I shouldn’t be freaking out.

So I stop freaking out and deal with the problem rationally.

Rachael is a committed singer who performs with other vocal groups in addition to The Dregs.  She really enjoys singing and I’m glad I get to share her enjoyment.

When I think about my friends, I often think about the kind of conversations I have with them.  With Rachael, our conversations are thoughtful and frequently focused on stuff that we want to do and how to get it done.  I’m not going to say that everything gets done but I like that Rachael is focused on achieving goals.

If there is a member of The Dregs who is not trying to grab attention, it is Rachael.  That’s great because it means there are only five of us trying to steal focus instead of all six.  When she does decide to grab focus, I think she can be more effective simply because of the fact that she hangs back to wait for her moment.

It’s a lesson the rest of us should learn.  At the very least, I should.

I love performing with Rachael and I’m really glad that she has rotated back into my life.  She’s a whole lot of fun.