🎧 Two Old Cats Like Us • When Something is Good Why Does it Change
So I’ve written several times about how I started playing guitar in 1988, but officially, it started a little bit before that. It was around ’83, probably. I was like 9 years old.
My friend DJ had a drum set and an electric guitar, and that summer we thought we were rockstars. He brought the beats, and I came up with the riffs and lyrics. We wrote our own songs back then. 😄
Those days are long gone. DJ is a pilot today for Delta Airlines, and me? I’m flying high too. 🎸 🥁 🛬
Here’s a great duet with Ray Charles and Hank from around that same time and When Something Is Good, Why Does It Change?
Hope yall have a great weekend, and thanks for listening.
I once knew an old man… he was a total jerk… so mean and hateful and bitter. His words were like vomit.
The first time I was alone with him, I tried to reach out with a kind conversation. To break the silence, I said, “It sure is a beautiful day.”
Then, for about ten seconds… you could hear paint drying.
As he slowly turned and looked at me in utter disgust, he said, “You’re Captain F#ckin’ Obvious, aren’t ya?”
Honestly, I wasn’t offended. Instead, I let go of the biggest smile.
Over time, he and I became friends. We wore each other down… haha.
The more I was around him, the more he slowly got better. I did things for him like running errands, doing his shopping, and helping him with different things. And whenever he was a dick to me… which was often… I just fired off smile after smile like bullets at him.
As things got lighter, I began to witness another side of him. The walls started to come down. He opened up some. He would sometimes share words of wisdom with me.
Turns out he was well-read, had been to college, had earned degrees, and loved great literature and writing.
He once told me, “If you have a foot in yesterday and a foot in tomorrow, then you’re pissing all over today.”
He died alone… no wife… no family and very few friends… I’m determined to get better the older I get… not stay the same or get worse… the thought of ending like that scares the hell out of me.
And what are great words really? If not applicable.
…
…
I have two great songs for you today… I’m Just a Man and The Blues Medley featuring John Lee Hooker and Ray Charles along with Hank. The three of them together on this Delta blues number is something special.
And I’m Just a Man is kind of the mood I’m in today… because some things make me feel sad. I feel like I could cry… but feeling you next to me? Ahh… that makes me feel alright.
🎧 The Girl On The Front Row At Fort Worth • Come And Go Blues
Hey yall…
So I was thinking… the coldest place on the planet is the inside of a pimp’s heart. And these days, you’ve got about a 50/50 chance of running into one… so keep your head on a swivel and your heart toasty. 👀 Oh, and a polar bear’s toenails are a close second.
Alright, enough of that. Back to the music.
🎧 The Girl On The Front Row At Fort Worth 1983
🎧 Come And Go Blues 1979 Originally written and recorded by Gregg Allman and The Allman Brothers Band. It first hit the shelves in August of 1973… a month before I was born.
One thing I noticed growing up as a Hank fan — and still notice today — is that he’s known by a handful of songs that went full mainstream.. and people grabbed onto them… ones like… All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight.. Family Tradition.. A Country Boy Can Survive… and a few others.
He kind of got labeled by those songs — like that’s all he’s about. But man… nothing could be further from the truth.
Once you dig in.. you find so much more — beautiful love songs… raw.. well-written.. poetic ones… many are deep… magnificent… also his voice is amazing on so many… in a way you don’t really hear on his more popular ones… real depth that never got the same spotlight.
Today’s picks…
🎶 “Montana Café” • Title track of the album Montana Cafe • Released: 1986
🎶 “Whiskey on Ice” • from the album High Notes • Released: 1982
Hope you enjoy this little dive into the deeper cuts…
In 1975.. Hank Williams Jr.. fell more than five hundred feet down a mountain in Montana — an accident that nearly took his life and forever changed his voice.. his sound.. and his direction…
Out of that fall came a new Hank Jr — no longer living in anyone’s shadow… finally becoming his own man…
Years later.. the scars turned into songs… here’s two of them…
🎵 “I’m for Love” — 1985 🎵 “Queen of My Heart” — 1987
He didn’t just survive the fall — he came back sounding like himself for the first time…
I hope yall enjoy… thank you for stopping by… have a great weekend…
Hey yall… if you check my blog out at all… you already know how much music means to me…
Being a musician and a singer… I love all kinds of sound… I’ve got influences everywhere — punk… rock… outlaw country… even rap… Christian music.. of course… and more… Throw it all in a blender and you pretty much get me… my sound…
But if I’m being real… it all started for me with outlaw country… with Hank Williams Jr… aka Bocephus…
Most people know him… but they usually only know three or four of the big songs… What a lot of folks don’t realize is — he has hundreds of songs that go even deeper than the famous ones…
To me… his music is pure art… straight poetry…
And here’s the part that surprises people — for a guy known for that raw… hard sound… Hank Jr. wrote some of the best love songs I’ve ever heard…
I learned to play guitar from his music… I learned to sing from his music… I honestly know every single one 😁😎…
So… I’m starting something new…
Every Friday… I’m going to feature one Hank Jr. song — a weekly spotlight — to help introduce people to the side of him most never get to hear…
When I really think about it… he’s probably had more influence on me than any other artist…
His music is special… and to most of the world… it’s still a secret…
Heart of Loia `'.,°~ 