Transcript for the Piece Audio version of J Walter Hawkes

I was such a horrible trombone player.

Yeah, so, I never felt that I had what it took to make a living in music ? much less see any success. I was definitely never given the encouragement from my peers, nor my professors, to really go out there and do it - because there were so many other guys who were just so much better than me.

When I graduated, I was planning on working on cruise ships for a while ? having a good time (smile) sowing my oats, as such. Here I was, I was going to work on a ship and go to all these places all over the world - and you know ? and all I have to do is play my horn (laugh), it was going to be a blast ? and it was ? you know, I was having a great time?

And then saving my money for graduate school where I would get my master?s degree in computer science.

?until the accident that sorta changed everything.

That day we docked in Cabo San Lucas and me and me and a bunch of the guys with the day off decided we would ride four wheelers around. Somehow I ended on my own, and next thing I know, I?m staring down the throat of this impossibly high cliff, ready to fall over.

(Music from Norah Jones? new CD Not Too Late. Walter plays trombone in this song, Sinkin' Soon.

And I?m just staring down the edge of this cliff ? about to go and I?m just thinking, ?Give me a freaking break, like I?m going to go over a cliff?? You know, I was 22 years old, I was immortal.

Then I hit. Uh, I hit rocks. The bike was under me and the bike flew one way and I flew another. And I rolled ? rolled against rocks. Very fast. And it was, very, very there were a lot of impacts. You know, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. This kind of thing. Just couldn?t stop. And, I?m hitting my head really hard. Impossibly hard.

I had lost part of my elbow. I cracked my skull uhm, and then of course my leg was in horrendous shape.

I realized I was going to do music after I made it home to Mississippi and had been in a wheelchair 8 months. ?Cause the second I had the physical strength to hold up my horn, I started playing. So, that being the case, I would have been a fool to not just pursue it, because I was lucky enough to know what it was ? to know that I did have something that I could do that would bring me joy.

And then, I saw this recovery as an opportunity because I didn?t have to go to work. I had no choice. I was stuck. So therefore I came up with all these schemes ? to practice. Our church allowed me to use their choir room during the day as my practice room which had two pianos? I mean, I practiced a lot. When I had all this time to myself, I learned what was out there that I really liked - where I actually learned what I wanted to practice.

J.J. Johnson?s version of What Is This Thing Called Love? that he did with Nat Adderley. I probably played that song everyday for at least two months. Probably was a little obsessive. I wanted it. I wanted to know the secrets ? and I learned the secrets. When I finished it, I knew it. And I really felt like I was making progress.

I moved to Biloxi ? played in the casinos - played Dixieland with the old guys. And then just being a jazz guy, you always hear about New York ? and I?d never been to New York.

I ended up getting in this completely nutty band called Uncle Hoy and a couple of the guys in the band were doing music for this brand new kids? show on TV - a show called Blue?s Clues. They asked me on board as associate composer and that was my entry into the world of composing for television.

I write music for cartoons now - which is something I never, ever, ever would?ve thought I would?ve ended up doing. But I mean it makes perfect sense ? especially with animation because it?s so wacky and you know ? it just comes to me kind of naturally. (laugh)

Life will throw you a bunch of crap, but uh, you know, you just deal and make the best of it as you can. (a silence because he?s crying) Sorry. (breath) There?s a lot of philosophies in the world about what a happens afterwards ? you don?t know if you get another chance ? you don?t know ? there?s no way you can know ? you can believe all you want to believe, but until you give me proof ? until you can tell me that there?s something to look forward to after this life is over ? until that day, I?m living life like it?s the only one I got.

Both my parents and my in-laws are going to freak out if they think I don?t believe in heaven. (laugh)