(In the interest of privacy, I will not reveal his/her name, but it rhymes with Schmatty Prose.)
He/she is actually a really good driver– careful, conscientious, responsible, and focused. Displays consistently good judgement. No texting, answering a cell phone or driving around with a carload of teenagers. We are very proud of him/her.
However.
According to every parent I talk to, apparently there is a rite of passage that is just about inevitable with a relatively new driver that is known as Their First Wreck. Thankfully, our child’s initiation into the world of fender benders did not involve another driver. Actually, it involved the side of the garage which luckily for all concerned does not happen to have legal representation or a penchant for litigation. Our poor child was just horrified, but as Russ later pointed out in a text he sent to him/her, “I forgot to warn you when you’re backing out, those sneaky garages can jump right in front of you!” Also, he/she was not remotely injured– thank you sweet Jesus. I cannot emphasize enough how grateful I am for that, I am not even kidding.
However.
It was my car. *sigh*
And in related news: anybody know a good, reasonably priced paint and body shop in the Nashville area? We’ve decided to bypass the insurance company on this one…
I would love to hear some ‘first accident’ stories from you guys– inevitability loves company, you know!
I have had a soft spot in my heart for singer/songwriter types ever since I was a teenage girl and fell hoplessly in love with James Taylor. *sigh* (James: CALL ME.) Something about that combination of a scruffy, slightly-nerdy-but-kinda-dangerous exterior coupled with a poet’s heart and a really good vocabulary… Well, I married one, if that tells you anything.
One of my favorite things about living in Nashville is that you can’t swing a cat around here without hitting a singer/songwriter — and because this is Music City, almost every night of the week you can usually find some of the best in the country performing at local bars, clubs or concert venues. The famous Bluebird Cafe is my favorite listening room, and I have spent countless hours down through the years sitting spellbound at a tiny table ringing the tiny stage as famous or soon-to-be-famous writers performed some of the best music I’ve ever heard. Their Songwriters in the Round format has been copied all over the world, but the Bluebird did it first and they still do it best.
Some writers are very talented vocalists with the kind of good looks that get the attention of the industry and often results in them getting signed as recording artists. But most of them are normal looking people with average voices who just happen to have an extraordinary ability to tell stories and paint pictures with their words. One of my favorite writers is a guy named Don Henry. Russ and I have been going to see him since the early 90’s when my brother Matt told us that he had just heard the definitive songwriter’s songwriter, a complete original. Matt is very knowledgeable about music and not generally given to superlatives, so the next time Don Henry played the Bluebird we made it a point to be there. We loved him! His songs were so quirky and unforgettable that I couldn’t picture anyone else but Don ever singing them. I figured that sadly, since Nashville can be a bit of a cookie-cutter town, his uniqueness would probably keep him from ever being really commercially successful. I forgot the fact that record company A and R people, publishing company reps, song pluggers and recording artists themselves haunt the Bluebird and other clubs around town looking for that Next Great Song. And one night country singer Kathy Mattea heard Don perform, and fell in love with his songs. Then her husband Jon Vezner, a brilliant tunesmith himself, collaborated with Don and they wrote a poignant song based on the true life love story of Jon’s grandparents. It was called “Where’ve You Been” and became a Top 10 country hit and won a Grammy Award. So apparently Don Henry was not destined to be a hugely talented but obscure songwriter after all!
Do you remember that song? Here’s a clip of Kathy singing it:
It’s been a while since I’ve made it out to a club to listen to good music–becoming a mother and having a husband who travels kind of cramped by nightlife style. Of course now that Madi’s 18, I can actually fulfill one of my favorite cool mom fantasies and take her to the Bluebird with me. How fun will it be to share that definitive Nashville experience with my music-loving girl?!
Well, I got a little sneak preview of what that’s gonna be like this week when once again my brother Matt invited me out to hear Don Henry– this time for a private party at Matt’s own house. About once a year or so, he and Carol host a group of out-of-town colleagues for a dinner party at their home. They like to give them a taste of local flavor, so they occasionally bring in some fabulous singer/songwriter for a casual living room performance. Last time it was our long-time family friend, the incomparable Marshall Chapman. And this time, it was Don Henry.
It’s been years since I’ve heard him, and I was especially excited because Russ was going to be in town and Madi wanted to go, too. When we got there the party was already underway, and we appeared to have arrived in the middle of some sort of presentation. Matt semi-retired this year, and his guests had planned a little tribute to thank him for all of the years he has dedicated to the cause of early childhood intervention. Actually it was less like a ‘tribute’ and more like a roast! It featured a full power point presentation, as well as a whole lot of stories they thoroughly enjoyed telling about my music loving, so-very-dignified-on-the-outside, so-very-wild-and-crazy-on-the-inside brother. (I only had to put my hands over Madi’s ears once.) It ended with a choreographed song and dance, a la “Y-M-C-A”, rewritten as “M-A-T-T.”
You kinda had to be there. Here’s a picture:
Carol prepared a fabulous Tex-Mex buffet with a whole bunch of ingredients that you’re supposed to layer right on top of each other. Our family calls this kind of supper a ‘Mexican Pile-up,’ but in case the out-of-towners weren’t familiar with that, Matt thoughtfully provided a visual aid to make sure those highly intelligent, uber-academic party guests could grasp the concept:
Doesn’t this look GOOD?
Russ was really happy to see Don and his beautiful wife again, and they had a great time catching up. (Mr. “Not a Fan of Parties” Taff doesn’t seem to be having any trouble making conversation, does he?!)
After dinner, Don regaled us with almost two hours of incredible music. He teaches songwriting classes and seminars all over the country, and in between giving us a little history of each song he also spoke eloquently about the art and craft of marrying words to music– it was a fascinating insight into the heart and mind of a world-class writer.
Towards the end of the evening Don talked about a Q and A session during a songwriting class when one of his fellow writers was asked why Southern geographical references were used in songs so often. The writer said that he guessed it was because words like Memphis, Birmingham and Mississippi just sounded more lyrical and mysterious, not to mention they sang better– he jokingly added, “Nobody wants to hear a song about Schenectady!”
Naturally Don took that as a personal challenge, and during the next year he collaborated with one of the other writers there and came up with an absolutely gorgeous song entitled, of course, “Schenectady.” It was Matt’s only request of the night.
(By the way, you should know that almost all of Don Henry’s songs make you smile, and most of them make you laugh out loud but since I unilaterally declared this Soulful Sad Song Saturday, I decided to just share some of the more lump-in-your-throat-y ones. I may or may not be a little hormonal.)
Here’s a 2009 video of Don singing Matt’s favorite in the round at the Bluebird. You kind of get a sense of the respect for songwriters in this town by listening to how quiet the audience is, and by looking at the expressions on the faces of the other writers, don’t you?
See why we love him? I’m so glad that Madi got to experience that incredible night at Matt and Carol’s with us.
Thank you so much, Don– it was magical.
I’ll leave you with one of my favorites, a song that Don says was written as “a tribute to one of my greatest heroes, written from what I remember of my young point of view.” It’s been covered by many artists, including Kathy Mattea. I heard Don sing it for the first time years ago at the Bluebird on Martin Luther King Day. It’s called “Beautiful Fool.”
(And for all of you lyric buffs like me:)
“Beautiful Fool” by Don Henry
Martin Luther
Who did you think that you were?
Appointed by some higher up
Merely mortal
Your plans were unaffordable
No one wants to pay for love
Oh you beautiful fool
Swimmin’ upstream, kickin’ up waves
Dreams weren’t meant to come true
That’s why they call ‘em dreams
Oh you beautiful fool
Walter Cronkite
Pre-empted Disney one night
And all us kids were so upset
We thought that you were
A trouble instigator
Marching through our TV set
Oh you beautiful fool
Swimmin’ upstream, kickin’ up waves
Dreams weren’t meant to come true
That’s why they call ‘em dreams
Oh you beautiful fool
To fight a fight without a fist
All human instinct puzzles this
How dare you threaten our existence
Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus Christ
History repeats itself so nice
Consistently we are resistant
To love
I saw you on the black & white with
Blacks and whites applauding you
I saw you on another time
Without a sign of life in you
Oh you beautiful fool
Swimmin’ upstream, kickin’ up waves
Dreams weren’t meant to come true
That’s why they call ‘em dreams
Oh you beautiful fool
Oh you beautiful fool
