I made it out to the park on Saturday and caught a lot of good music, including my new favorite (first introduced to me at HSB in 2004) the Dry Branch Fire Squad (if not for his stories as much as his music), a stellar performance by my buddies the Barbary Coast Cloggers...
...and I got to chat briefly with an old friend from Nashville, Verlon Thompson, who was part of the songwriter's circle before he did a set alone with Guy Clark. Verlon didn't sing much in his and Guy's set, which was a shame.
During the soungwriter's round robin, Verlon sang a couple of songs. His voice is very distinctive, and soufully resounding. I used to go with Jennifer or Patsy to the Douglas Corner Cafe to hear them play about once a week "back in the day"-- back when they were Suzi Ragsdale and Verlon Thompson with Darrell Scott and Jelly Roll Johnson. Looking back, closet issues notwithstanding, those evenings at Douglas Corner were some of the happiest moments in my life. Hearing his voice again, I started to tear up. The memories of that summer with Jennifer, and the evenings in the round with Suzi, Verlon, Darrell, and Jelly-- along with Patsy Reed and Mary Jo Freeman (now Johnson)-- the memories were so thick I had to brush them from my face to see the stage. I did get to speak to Verlon briefly between sets. And it was an odd sensation of stepping one foot in the past, but being careful not to put any weight on it lest I lose my balance.
Of course, we've all moved on in our own ways-- for all his timber tones Verlon is not a recording singer but a significant songwriter, Suzi is now with Darrell (and I don't know how amiable the separation went), Jelly and Mary Jo still send me intricate Christmas cards from the NYC MOMA and I understand Jelly is still getting gold/platinum records for his session work. And Jennifer, "the girl I would have happily married if it weren't for the gay thing," is still in Nashville, but married now with twin boys and a baby girl.
But for a moment on Saturday afternoon, I was back in Nashville, young and anxious, finding adventure with a beautiful woman on my arm, discovering music that would change me forever, and feeling every second uncertain of the future, but knowing too it held nothing but promise.
Eleven years later, I don't have an answer. Has that promise been fulfilled?
2 comments:
Great entry. Even if I didn't want to be reminded that I missed it. I know Jennifer, don't I? She was the one who drove to STL with us?
That's her.
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