By Grant McGee
“Was
it really years ago, seems like only yesterday.”
So goes
the opening line of the Waylon Jennings song “Old Friend.” Yeah, it’s like it was only yesterday that I
drove to see Waylon in concert.
It was
a hot spring day about 17 years ago that I grabbed my lawn chair, tossed it in
my two-door sedan and trundled out of New Mexico on down to Lubbock, Texas to
see Waylon at an outdoor concert.
It was
a pretty good little package show…Marty Stuart opened things up and kicked ass
on stage. If you haven’t listened to any
Marty Stuart you ought to. He kicks ass.
Then
Connie Smith took to the stage. She with
her big booming country voice was on the Country “Hit Parade” back in the 1960’s
then she took time off for family stuff, raising kids and all that. Then she married Marty Stuart. I reckon that’s why they were on the tour
together. You want to hear a good Connie
Smith song check out “Cincinnati, Ohio” or “Once a Day” from about 1964 or so.
Then
they wheeled Waylon out on stage.
He was
in a wheelchair, his signature guitar in his lap. Two folks wheeled him out to the front of the
stage.
The
crowd went wild.
“You
have to pardon me folks,” said Waylon. “I
had an operation a couple of weeks ago in Phoenix.”
He
paused. He looked to the left then to
the right.
“Yep,”
he said, “Couple of them Arizona nurses got to see ‘The Twins.’”
The
crowd went wild.
Waylon
picked up his guitar and strummed it a bit.
“Well
here I am in Lubbock,” he said.
He
paused, he looked to the left and to the right.
“I used to live here.”
He
paused again.
“I
still owe people money here.”
He
paused.
“Tough
shit,” he said.
The
crowd went wild.
Then it
was time for The Man, The Legend, The Outlaw Waylon Jennings to play his songs…and
he did not disappoint.
The sun was blasting us in that
open field. I sat in my lawn chair pondering
the sunburn I was going to have unless I found some shade.
There in
the center of the field was the sound man’s tall stand. It was casting a nice shadow. I picked up my lawn chair, moseyed on over
and planted myself in the shade.
Soon I
was joined by a few other concert-goers.
Then there was a face I recognized from New Mexico. We smiled, shook hands, chatted a bit.
“Are
you from New Mexico?” asked another person in the shade. “Because I am too.”
“Me
too,” said yet another concert-goer.
Soon we
came to realize that all of us in the shade were from eastern New Mexico.
It was
a good concert. I’m glad I went. It wasn’t long after that that Waylon left
this earthly plane and went "on to Glory."
Like Tom T. Hall wrote in the song "The Year Clayton Delaney Died," "...it could be that the Good Lord likes a little pickin' too..."
But I
remember us New Mexicans taking advantage of the shade and all those Texans in
the sun.
I don’t
know what that says about New Mexicans and Texans, but then maybe there’s
nothing to say.
I like
to keep my writing friendly-like.
