Perry Robertson was my bestest friend. He was like a brother from another mother. He was so helpful to us at Refreshing Hope in getting our music ministry started. Perry knew it all when it came to music and was always willing to help. 

When we started streaming our live church services on the Internet, we wanted to be able to play music. But after some research, we found there was so much red tape involved in copyrights and legal drama. Basically, if you play someone else’s song in front of an audience, you owe them money. Keeping track of each song played, how many people saw it, and who you had to pay for it was ridiculous. 

I was ready to give up, but while praying about it, a new song came to me, so I wrote it down. Then it occurred to me that if we write our own songs, we can do anything we want with them, so let’s do that!

Faithful as always, the Lord had already put Perry in place to help me. It was a divine appointment — for such a time as this. I needed help, and the Lord sent Perry. I played one of my songs during a service, and Perry liked it and texted me. I told him I would like to record it, but I was a bass player and could barely play guitar. He simply said, “I can.” Well, that was the understatement of the year.

The first song we recorded together was one I wrote called “Set Me Free.” I did a crude recording of it using my keyboard for drums and sent it off to Perry. He sang a harmony track over it and added rhythm and lead guitar parts to it, using his Phat Strat, as he called it. Then he mixed it and sent it back. The first time I heard it, my mouth dropped open. I could hardly believe that was my song! Good Lord, that man could play a smoking guitar track, and he was a great singer.

After that, I would write a song and send it off to Perry, and he would layer in guitar and harmony tracks, mix and master it, then send it back to me polished. 

   

We would both play in front of a green screen, and my wife Sylvia would combine it into a video, so we were playing together even though we were 1,100 miles apart and had never met in person. 

We worked on a number of songs and videos together, and we still have several projects in the works we will finish one day. We had such a great time working together and often talked or texted every day about some tech issue or a new idea that had come to us. 

(Proverbs 27:17 ESV)  Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Perry and I talked a lot about the Lord, shared Audio Bibles we liked to listen to, and discussed things we had learned. Perry knew Jesus, and I look forward to playing music together again one day with him and a band of angels. Can you imagine what that is going to sound like? 

Our time together was too short, but 100 years would have been too. Perry was someone who touched my life in a special way, as I have few friends, but he was my best one, and I will never forget him. Some day we will play together again. 

Some of the songs we recorded together were: