June 2014: Jedd Hughes, Will Kimbrough, Donivan Cowart and I were on the road 26 days out of 30, a trip that took us from Bloomington, Illinois to Willits, California. Along the way, Austin, Conroe, Dallas, St Louis, Phoenix (perhaps the sweetest), Portland, Seattle and West Hollywood were particularly memorable. Other than the stops along the way rendered more vivid by how well (I thought) we played, or by the folks in the audience, there were two experiences that I will never forget. First was the eight-hour drive down from Grants Pass, Oregon to the Kate Wolf Folk Festival in Mendocino County, California, during which the majestic and primordial beauty of the Redwood Forests held us in thrall. 2,000 year-old trees will do that. Second and, in some ways even more unforgettable was Emmylou and me opening for Merle Haggard at Chateau St Michelle Winery. Just getting back onstage with Emmy and Glory Band after a nine-month lag would’ve easily made the months “best of.” However, adding the opportunity to interact with an artist whom we both so deeply admire and to watch him and his excellent band perform for two hours is the stuff that religious experiences are made of. I literally cried for the beauty of this man and what his music has meant to me for close to fifty years. I’m on record as saying that Merle ranks alongside Hank Williams and Johnny Cash and George Jones and Willie Nelson as one of the greatest country, singer/songwriters of all time. On stage he was as sweet and cantankerous as ever, his voice growing warmer and more resonant as the show went on. He sang “TB Blues” for God’s sake, a Jimmie Rodgers song that most of today’s alt-country hipsters have never even heard of. And “Today I Started Loving You Again.” Bloody Hell! I once spent a long night following Merle in one of those songwriter-in-the-round that are so prevalent these days in Nashville. When it was over Merle turned to me and said, “that was trial by fire for you tonight and you held up pretty good.” Maybe I did. If so, it was most likely because I’d spent so many hours studying how he put his songs together. How he sang them? Well that’s something I will continue to study for the rest of my life. Rodney C
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 18:11:42 +0000