From: Jack Saunders
To:
James Reams/Tina Aridas
Subj: Troubled Times/Rollin' On
Thanks for the refund. I meant the extra $3 as lagniappe, to fight the good fight,
there.
I'll cash it and fight the fight from here.
I enjoyed the
CD Troubled Times and the documentary on DVD, Rollin' On, very much.
My DVD had some blank spots where there was no audio. Was that intentional?
I made a tape of the CD to listen to in my car.
I liked the footage on the
DVD of the jamboree and workshops, where pickers of greater skill level were helping
out beginners. I remembered Owen and Balder, growing up, sitting in at jam sessions,
at bluegrass festivals, and learning (1) how to play, and (2) jam session etiquette,
or, as Owen put it, how loud to play.
Do you know of Hazel Schlueter, Hazel
and the Delta Ramblers? She does an old-time country and bluegrass music show on
WWOZ in New Orleans, Sunday morning.
She might give the album a spin and
say something about its availability, if you send her one. Hazel Schlueter, 1120
Bordeaux, New Orleans, Lousiana 70115.
Thanks for the kind word about Dread
Clampitt and Root Doctor. Dread Clampitt just played Telluride. They were
in the band contest, and made the finals, but lost to a local group, who played more
traditional music.
Good exposure, though. Around here they play MagnoliaFest
and SpringFest at Live Oak, twice a year. We call it HippieFest, because of the people
who go to it year after year, friends of ours since the boys were kids. Owen has
played fiddle at Live Oak with Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver.
Troubled
Times reminded me of James King's "30 Years of Farming," about losing
the family farm. Owen played with James King, too.
We lost the house in Panama
City the boys grew up in to the bank. Moved into a trailer behind Uncle Wayne and
Granny Brown. Got a fresh start.
I was ashamed to declare bankruptcy, but
was $38,000 in debt, with no job, couldn't make the monthly mortgage payment, and
figured if they can take my house I can welsh on my debts. Actually, it was Sears
calling every night at suppertime that pushed me over the edge.
If I could
have found a job I would have kept paying.
I did keep paying until the very
end.
I borrowed $8,000 from my mother, to make the mortgage payment with,
in case I got a job.
So I can identify with Troubled Times.
I quote James in the book I am writing, OLD FOLKS AT HOME, in the entry "Snelling
and Snelling."
You say that Root Doctor is impenetrable,
in a good, James Joyce sort of way.
Once you're in, you can't get out. It's
like wrestling a tarbaby. You might as well relax and learn from the experience.
Resistance is futile. It uses your own energy against you, like ju jitsu.
Larry Schlueter said, "I forgot I was reading and thought I was talking to myself."
Root Doctor has been a good seller for us. Mainly because Balder sells them at
gigs.
I dream of playing the swinette on stage, at Americana music festivals, selling my books at the record table afterwards. A swinette, you stretch two horsehairs across a hog's ass and pick it with your teeth. Brew mounts the steps, walks across the stage with great dignity, takes a stuffed Miss Piggy doll out from under his robes, lifts her skirt, presses her butt to his face, and squeals like a stuck pig. Great cry and little wool, as the Devil said when he sheared the hogs.
I just drove over to Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, as part of the research
I'm doing for OLD FOLKS AT HOME. I wish I'd had a tape of Troubled Times to
listen to, en route.
All best,
Jack Saunders
p.s., Owen is playing with Country Man Dan on Wednesday night, June 29, at Superfun, in the Brooklyn Heights/Dumbo area, betweem J and Price, (718) 243-9005. Jeannie and Ella will be there, too.