We are losing a lot of the great ones….
UPDATE: a great tribute from Wisconsin’s Kirk Hogan, MD, scientist, patent lawyer (!) elk hunter, gourmand, and neo- beat, whose letters often read like poems…
Great “Kern River”.
My top pick:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aILGaYsv_bc
Didn’t even make the list of Merle’s top 35!
A day hasn’t gone by for decades I’m not singing 2-3.
No one, not Johnny Cash, not even Hank W., could write,
play, sing, immerse in and master American music like him.
Beloved by Garcia and Parsons.
Tanya Tucker said it best:
A simple man with an immense genius.
Listened to Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong
… always within arm’s reach.One time in a bar in Livingston In February on break from Crow
to hear Christopher Parkening . . .
Sad for us, not sad for him.
He and Harrison were beyond deserving of rest.
I'm wearing black today. My speech, particularly my West River speech, owes a hell of a lot more to Nashville than it does to what passes for contemporary poetry. I'll miss Merle, the finest rhymer in country music.
the hag was one of a few who showed us Vietnam vets some support, back in the day. his music turned the burner up. he was injecting some balance into the American fabric. wars are bad one way or the other, but not supporting those who serve is worse.
1. Well said, Anonymous April 9.
2. I love this heartbreaking song.
Jim Cornelius
http://www.frontierpartisans.com