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Big River

     Hey, everyone. As I've mentioned before, I am a bit of an entertainment glutton. I read a lot, play a lot of I-Pad games, watch movies and television etc. Tonight I was scrounging through the satellite channels and ran across an old video I enjoyed. It was from the 1994 Montreux Jazz Festival. In my ignorance, I assumed that it was from Montreal , but I found that this festival is held in Switzerland every year, during July, and is the second biggest such gathering in the world behind one held in Montreal, Canada.
    Anyway, this particular video was of Johnny Cash and it was obviously in the latter stage of his life. I got a big kick out of it, because I love the "Man in Black". He had enough wind left to do a good job, even played harmonica a bit. It was nice to see his son, John Carter Cash, on stage with him, picking a guitar. Gee, wonder who taught him to play? June Carter Cash came out and did a few songs as well. Jackson, of course. When she sang Will the Circle Be Unbroken? with her husband and son, it gave me cold chills, knowing that she and Johnny had since went to join that great circle of family members who have gone to a better place.
      I liked hearing that big guitar in Ghost Riders In the Sky, the favorite of pickers everywhere. I am playing it on keyboard the last few weeks, wishing I could play it on guitar. Sigh...
     Johnny actually did several songs I had not heard, which freaked me out a bit. Oh, yeah, about the title of this post. Cash did his song, Big River, which I really like. I like the music a lot. It is about a guy with one of those wild, free-spirited women and their travels on an old time riverboat.
    As I sat and watched the elderly singer, I thought back to the time in the 1980's when Carley and I saw Johnny at the Kansas State Fair. I prefer to think of him the way I remember him from that day. His voice was so deep and strong. He was tall, dark and ruggedly handsome in that black suit, black shirt, and picking way up on the neck of that big, black guitar. Absolutely at home with all the Kansas folks because he was just like them; just country. It was a great place to see his show. We were sitting on an old wooden grandstand. It felt like maybe there had been horse-races there at one time, I don't know. Cash was very close to us. He seemed to linger and play, just because he liked it. Folks behind the stands were having dinner on the ground and I suspect he would have liked a piece of that fried chicken.
     I thought about this guy a bit. I thought about Lennon and McCartney digging his music and people like Elvis and Dylan who took some of their rebel vibes from his deck of cards. I remember how the critics tore at him, calling him One-note Johnny Cash and all that. He played concerts in prison. He wrote songs that resonated with common people, which is a cardinal sin in any artistic endeavor. My goodness, we forget what a songwriter he was!
    Not long ago, we went to Nashville and toured the Grand Ole Opry. Mr. Cash was one of the people that crossed my mind when I stood on that stage. I had to chuckle a few months ago when I was reading about how one of the Rolling Stones loved to play Johnny's tunes on guitar. Heck, most of the modern country music sounds like Rock from the 1960's. Whatever. Music is similar to books for me. As long as it's good, I don't care what label you hang on it.
     It was sad to see big John so old-looking. Unfortunately, time is like that Big River and it just keeps rolling.
    I'm CE Wills. 

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