Today, I'll leave my pile of bones to be picked by the birds.
Some of you might know the singer/songwriter/guitarist Jason Isbell. I met him in 2006 while he was playing with one of my all-time favorite bands, Drive-By Truckers. They were playing at The Bluebird nightclub in Bloomington, Indiana. I was eighteen years old. Now, I'd been in "The Bird" several times already, however, I'd been there as a part of the night's entertainment. I discovered as a teenager, for better or worse, if you're in a band, you're usually assumed to be over the age of twenty-one. By this point, I'd played in just about every club with a stage in a 50 mile radius. I'd also played in most of the dingy, hole-in-the-wall establishments nestled in neighboring shady towns and four way stops. Being "21" had became pretty boring before I became a legal adult. Nevertheless, I knew getting into The Bluebird through the front door, not the load-in door, was going to be a challenge.
I figured "DBT" would be arriving early in the day, as their tour schedule had them in Tennessee the night before. After my 9am class, I walked from campus to Walnut St. and found the band's bus sitting under the marquee. As luck would have it, the guys were heading out for an early lunch as I walked up. I met Patterson Hood, talked to him briefly about Indian food, and gave him directions to Siam House. John Neff, the band's pedal steel player, stayed behind and chatted with me for a bit. I explained my birthday dilemma with him. He was a sweet guy and suggested I come back at 4pm for load-in. So, I made my afternoon classes, ran back to "The Bird", and immediately began lugging speaker cabinets and road cases with the road crew. I kept a low profile for the rest of the evening, but when I needed to look the part, I just pretended to be busy doing something around the stage as if I was supposed to be there. The show was great, but I'm embarrassed to admit I bailed on loading out through the wee morning hours.
I did stick around just long enough to meet the guys from the band again. I can easily remember Patterson Hood shaking my hand with a big smile, yelling, "You made it in!" As I was leaving, I crossed paths with Jason Isbell, who I mentioned earlier. I thanked him for the great show and told him about the lengths I'd gone to see the band play that evening. He let me have a swig from the band's jug, thanked me over and over for being there, and treated me with a whole lot of Southern hospitality many miles from his home.
I've met Jason a couple more times since then and he's always treated me with the same love and character. And the Drive-By Truckers, I've seen at least six more times Four of those shows were at The Bluebird, two with the help of my legal driver's license and two with the help of a blue felt-tip pen and my ability to draw the little bluebird handstamp that is given for readmittance. Jason isn't with DBT anymore, but I'm still a big fan. His new album, "The Nashville Sound", is outstanding. Drive-By Truckers are still at it too....their latest album, "American Band", is controversial, pertinent, and per their usual, brutally honest. You know, after all of these years, music is one of the few things that has remained constant in my life. But, I suppose everyone from these times probably feels the same to some degree. I hope so, at least. Kurt Vonnegut regularly pleaded with his audiences, "If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: The only proof he needed for the existence of God was music.” So, I plead with you, for God's sake, if you haven't found music yet, let it find you now.
Hey CBS, sorry about the jokes. Check out this video of Jason performing "If We Were Vampires". It's a bit of tearjerker really, but man, oh man is it a good song. His wife is on the fiddle, in case it's not obvious. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFcw7S0BqgE
And here's to another 40 years...I hope you're all in love.
