Where Is This Leading?

Me with Shark Attack, 1990

The first thing I wanted to be as a kid was a cowboy- a singing cowboy. I remember putting on shows for the family with my little guitar, dressed in my cowboy outfit and hat, and cap-pistols on my side. One of my heroes was Fred Kirby, a semi- famous singing cowboy who made a few movies in Hollywood in the 40’s and then moved to Shelby, NC and had a Sunday morning show on local TV. He actually dated my grandmother once or twice before she married my grandfather and I met Fred Kirby many times at county fairs and promotional appearances in the area.

My other heroes were Buck Owens, from the TV show “Hee-Haw” (I wanted a red, white, a blue guitar just like his so bad when I was a kid that I could smell it) and Elvis Presley. I studied my heroes as best I could and combined the essence of all three into a character I called “Tommy the Kid”. I remember family and friends of family rolling on the floor in uncontrollable fits of laughter and surprise as I slipped into character and came alive in my own little shows filled with made up songs and skits.

Another of my heroes was my Uncle Rusty. He and my Aunt Janis, who were only in their very early 20’s then, lived and worked on his father’s farm, which was run as a family business. There were horses, cows, chickens, pigs, tractors, plows, trucks and hay bales to play with as well as acre upon acre to roam on the weekends I used to visit and stay over. There was plenty of music around as well, everything from country & western to rock n roll. I loved being on the farm whenever I could. I dreamed big, young- boy dreams staring out over those cotton and cornfields and knew the cowboy life and the farm life was the life for me.

When I was around 10 years old I found some old 45’s in my parents closet and discovered The Beatles- and that pretty much ended my aspirations for the cowboy life. Now granted this was 1976- I knew by then I was born way to late and should really be in my 20’s by my taste in music. Right around this time Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings came on the scene with the “Outlaw” sound. The crap that had been passing as “Country Music” fell by the side for me and I found a strange, surreal love of both 60’s “hippie” music and culture as well as the “Outlaw” sound. Little did I know it but Willie Nelson had brought together both the hippies and the cowboys in Austin, Texas a few years earlier before becoming a superstar in the 70’s.

I now wanted to be an Outlaw (what every mother wishes for their son)! It took me a few more years, several guitars, a chance meeting with an Allman Brother, my parent’s divorce, the discovery of Heavy Metal music and the accumulation of three feet of hair on my head before that happened, but it happened…and for a brief spell, I was an outlaw with a smokin' band and a road hoggin' tour bus.

Yes, I hate to admit it, but while most of my peers were furthering their education at prestigious colleges and universities, graduating and landing prominent positions in the workforce, I contributed to the further decline of Western Civilization by spending countless nights in revelry, wreaking havoc in towns and cities across the USA. It was fun. Sex, drugs and rock n roll. What more could a young man ask for?

Where’s all this leading you may ask? Hell, I haven't a clue, I’m just writing…but I think I may know where I’m going with it. It all fits in with belief in Divine Order, so catch me tomorrow for the end of this story.