Country Music Stray |
by C. Carson Parks |
Late 60s, I grew to know a duo in the folk music era, who
played “the road”. They were from Gadsden, Alabama, did a guitar/banjo brand of
southern Appalachian old folk tunes, cut a couple nice albums for Capital
Records, under their names of Richard and Jim. Jim Connor wrote a kind of Tone
Poem/Symphonette, (for want of a better phrase), which he performed with some
symphony (Atlanta, Birmingham(?)) It was a little strange for my ears, but very
Appalachian and highly acclaimed. I’ve lost track of him, pretty much, but we’ll
connect again. Last I heard, he was somewhere in Stone Mountain, GA. On the
other hand, Richard Lockmiller and I have remained close for many years, mostly
by phone. I live in the last place in Southeast Georgia you can go, without
swimming. Richard remained in Los Angeles for a few years after he and Jim
called it quits, doing movies, stage plays, commercials, etc. One quiet Sunday
morning, he made coffee, let the dog out, went out and walked around the pool,
just sucking in one of those rare, beautiful blue sky Valley mornings that we
grow to love, and suddenly some neighbor’s boom-box comes on that shatters the
peace! He said “I’m outta here!”
He has an old (maybe ‘58) Chevy panel truck - faded to sky blue, with a bumper
sticker that says something like: “Caution! Stay back! Driver Ahead Chews
Tobacco!” Hell, if you’d just pull a little left, before you pass, you would
have known that by the evidence on the driver’s side of the truck! Even his big
hound in the back knew enough to just put his head out the right hand window!
So, Richard gave it up in L.A., packed it up with wife Ann & young son and moved
as far north as it’s possible without encroaching Canada, to Duval, Washington,
where they now live in the woods. He cuts his firewood, drives mail around
Christmas time, and they eke out a humble existence. Too much “boonies” for me!
- - Perhaps I’m too urbanized for that, or too lazy. So, this is just one of the
few tunes I’ve written with any particular person in mind. Maybe I had a little
Waylon in mind, also, and the whole “touring” ordeal, that we all went through
in those days..
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