I wrote this awhile ago..but this is for the Veterans of which I am one. I had it pretty easy compared to what some of my friends and family went through. Mucho Respect and Thanks for your service veterans. The veteran at the bar by Charlie Roth ‘Wagon Wheel’ played at least twice on the jukebox while we were setting up for Saturday night at Red’s Irish Pub. I looked around and quite a few people including Kelly the bartender were singing along with it. I would imagine that most of the bands that play there would have had the common sense to learn it. I actually like that song and am quite happy to play it if it means getting people to sing along, dance, or what ever they decide to do as we pass our time together in this just another of God only knows how many barroom situations I have found myself in, at least it aint ‘Red Solo Cup’. Red’s is in Swanville a town of about 400. Except for ‘Raise up your Glass McGregor’ my song I wrote with Timmy Haus and Steve Earle’s ‘Galway Girl’, Irish music is not what would go over there. Even the young people there seem to be more into classic country music of the outlaw variety than a lot of other towns I have encountered. The Honkytonk Healers, my duo with Kurt ‘Lightning’ Rodman is a good fit. We had a great night. The tills rang out good enough, “respectable” is what Bryan the owner said, and securing our jobs at Red’s will be solid. “Another day in the life another night in a bar” I had fun and so did a lot of other folks. I even played some of my original songs that are more suited to that scene. Bryan is a good guy, we get along well, he has hired us to play there every Sunday in April so for once I did not have to tear down and load my gear. I sometimes can’t sleep after a gig where I get mojo working; I was still up at 4:30 am. The end of my sleep cycle came only 4 hours later and my head hurt, as I looked out the window at another blizzard moving in from out west. This is the winter that just won’t go away. There has been no sunshine here in our part of Minnesota in weeks. Everyone is grumpy. I made it back to Red’s on very icy roads. Kurt and I agreed that it might be a slow afternoon as we launched into our set of Waylon, Cash, Haggard, and the like. I love these old songs and especially when he is on guitar. I have never heard anyone make a telecaster sound like a pedal steel guitar like he does with his slide bar in standard tuning. He is by far the best country picker I have ever worked with. I would go so far as to say he is the best in Minnesota and would love to see anyone challenge that remark. My head felt just slightly better (generic Excedrin) but I was not firing on all cylinders like I had been the night before. The slim crowd was talking among themselves and at the end of songs there might be a smattering of applause but for the most part we were being ignored, it mattered not. On the break I walked up to a table and started a conversation with a guy with a long grey ponytail and an army jacket. He had on a ball cap with a VFW number posted over the brim. The guy requested John Prine, which made me like him right off the bat. After awhile he asked me if I knew of a musician from the St. Cloud area with the last name of Roth. I said “you’re looking at him” and his mouth dropped. In 2005 my brother John was in the US Army stationed in Iraq. I wrote him a letter in the form of a song. It is basically a prayer for his safe return and advice to keep his eyes open, his rifle close, and his friends around him at all times. It is sometimes perceived as an anti-war song but I think of it as more of pro-love/anti-hate song. The swearword in its title comes from the vantage of a Vietnam combat veteran who has more of a reason and right than anyone to hate war. ‘The Goddamn War’ was record for an album called ‘The Rogues of St. Germain” in 2006, I call it a swear-prayer. I sent it to John as an mp3 attached to an email and he wrote me back and said the guys in his unit really liked the song and especially his first Sargent who said I sounded like John Prine. I would guess most of the other guys would not even know who that was. A dedication went out from the stage to Sargent Craig Giddings. There was not a dry eye in that bar when I finished playing ‘The Goddamn War’. After I played it my new friend Craig came up to the stage and said I had made his day. I then asked for a round of applause to thank him for his service. The whole bar obliged this request. From that moment on I had their rapt attention and suddenly Red’s Irish Pub became a concert venue. I also ended up selling a few CDs, another great day in the life that I have chosen. youtu.be/O4une37kgS8
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 01:23:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015