We were cruising in the Hill Country this past weekend, out to Luckenbach under the live oaks for a Paul Thorn concert. We drove back under a canopy of stars with the moon roof open, even seeing the Milky Way, with no ambient light from the city to compete with it. There were lots of towers, mostly for cell phones with lights flashing atop. I was reminded of growing up, how I quickened looking at the radio towers, blinking magically, beacons of mass communication. I loved radio. I loved sitting behind the mic in the evening hours, with the ability to play music and touch lives, talk to callers. To just be so centered in what you are doing that all else falls away. I remember many times having some persnickety cold or headache when I walked in, that would magically vanish when I got into the work flow.
There was an engineer I worked with for years, who came in for the overnight shift when I was working at WHN in New York. Every time he worked the same hours as me, he would slide the control room door open just a sliver, and smile seductively with his eyes half closed. He would announce that he was "The Buzzard." He would go on to tell me, "Now you understand that The Buzzard don't kill nothing...but if he should find something on the ground, he would make sure to pick the bones clean." Tantalizing! The same performance every night, like a mantra! And then he would close the door and hang out in the shop the rest of the night.
I think he would have loved the Stone River Boys. A bit of theater, a bit of rock and roll, and some stone country from Bakersfield in the mix. We recorded this tune a month ago during the Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill's. "Lovers Prison" comes from their Love On The Dial CD. Oh, I might just have to go see them tonight or next Wednesday at the Continental Club in Austin. And then lookout Europe, here they come!
- Jessie Scott
