Walking Around With A Ton of Bricks

I decided years ago one of my main jobs would be to gather news, report it, find it, produce it, and deliver the results on TV and radio. It has always been fascinating seeing the world and telling people what you see.

9/11 was an on-air radio continuous broadcast day, and one I will never forget. But here we are in a Groundhog Day event with every day a repeat of the day before. Since St Patrick’s Day, when everything really started going crazy, it has been the strangest time of our lifetimes.

We’re scared to go out to a store or even to pump gas in fear you might touch something or breathe something. We’re trapped in our homes thinking about things like toilet paper purchasing.

On top of that, the Nashville music scene has been dealing with deep losses, John Prine most recently, but also Joe Diffie, Jan Howard and Kenny Rogers. All the while, every day we’re hearing about the virus curve, endless presidential news conferences, social distancing and no sports, with no end in sight. We’re also dealing with furloughs and layoffs, and advertising drying up for broadcasters. How can we all not be a little depressed?

I’m taking the approach, after saying all that, that maybe the glass is half full. What good has come out of this?

For me, I am a late convert to the world of John Prine. Don’t ask me how. I don’t know. He’s been under my nose for 30 years. My new favorite song is “The Lonesome Friends of Science” from his most current album, “The Tree of Forgiveness.”

John sings and writes about Vulcan, Roman god of fire. I worked on Alabama’s Red Mountain right next door to Vulcan for years. He stands watch over Birmingham with his rear end facing the city of Homewood. He was created for the 1904 World’s Fair, and is the world’s largest cast iron statue.

Prine must have stared at the statue and read some about it too. He was such a word painter. It’s easy to see why funnyman Bill Murray loved John’s sense of humor and music. It’s subtle and dry.

“The Vulcan lives in Birmingham
Sometimes he just don’t give a damn
His head is full of bumblebees
His pride hangs down below his knees
Venus left him long ago
For a guy named Mars from Idaho
The Vulcan sent a wedding gift
Three-legged stool and a wheelchair lift”

Country Music Hall of Famers Bobby Braddock and Tom T. Hall, as well as Shel Silverstein, are poet masters too, like Harlan Howard and only a few others who made it to their lofty 16th Ave. seats. John Prine sure did. He was respected, admired, and he amazed.

George Strait’s “I Just Want to Dance With You” was Strait’s 34th #1. Prine and Roger Cook wrote the feel-good song. And what about “You Never Even Called Me By My Name,” a Steve Goodman co-write and another gem? (Go look up Goodman’s music for a treat—another special writer.)

Prine has left Music Row, but he left behind a bank vault of music that will be mined forever. It will only get better with time, and a new generation will discover him. Add me to the new fan club recruits. I may be late to the party, but how cool is it to have all this Prine music to now discover?

This isolation has forced us to learn how to Zoom and multi-person Facetime just for starters. The music folks are getting really good at these at home videos. Whole shows like the CMT’s Kenny Rogers salute and CBS’ “ACM Presents: Our Country” were created using them. Both specials demonstrated a huge growth curve in how to use family members and great postproduction editors to create inexpensive entertainment. Who knew? Who would have ever tried before this?

Brad Paisley is running with the football during this time. Keith Urban has been very active online. Miranda Lambert looked so beautiful in her selfie video of “Bluebird” for the ACM show. We are seeing the stars like never before.

This world has changed already. Only God knows what we will be doing one year from today! In the meantime, stay home, Zoom with your family and friends. It’s not all bad, but these times are a bit scary.