"ROTTEN CANDY," "CROSSES" &C.

I had a song recorded by Polly Hager! You can hear her rendition of “Rotten Candy” at http://www.soundclick.com/share?songID=8163332. She has a lovely Ronstadt-esque singing voice that was perfect for this song. Larry Hazelbaker in Nashville plays guitar and mandolin on this, and did the recording. No, it’s not the sort of thing that has any money in it—Polly’s an independent writer, like me (though a whole lot prettier)—but with a voice like that, she’s going places. It’d be nice to provide her a vehicle to go there with.

Nine days till the “Rocktoberfest” gig, and I still have not found a lead player. (I mentioned it in my weekly column for the paper, too.) We will have, I think, one chance to practice before the gig, between John’s and Chris’s work and my round of job interviews (two this week, and one Monday that’ll take me out of town for three days). Of the two lead guitarists I contacted, one didn’t want to commit (that seems to be a standard feature of lead players) and the other told me we were too good and he was paranoid about doing it (I think that was a compliment).

I posted “Crosses by the Roadside” online as a dedication to Sharma (I am not ready to call her “the late” Sharma, and may not be for a long time). It has gotten some good response, and is a song that probably needs to get played more, despite its having been panned by a Nashville music publisher. It is reminiscent of Sharma: relentlessly upbeat without really trying to be. (And that contrast, between pretty sad lyrics and pretty danceable music, is one of the things I like about the song.) It was written for—and from the viewpoint of—the person left behind when somebody dies; they’ve got the harder job, because they’re still around. And that seemed appropriate in this case, too.

(And the reason the publisher wasn’t interested in the song? Because Randy Travis (I think it was him) had a song about crosses a couple of years ago, and is now presumed to have a corner of sorts on the crosses-song market, and any song by anybody else with crosses in it is going to be considered derivative. I don’t think that’s a reasonable attitude, but I’m not the one in the music-publishing business (at least not yet). At my end, I haven’t had a single person who’s heard “Crosses by the Roadside” mention Randy Travis—and besides, I think my song’s better’n his. I will continue playing it.)

Sharma’s family is having a memorial service for her this coming Sunday, 4 October, in Longview, WA—and I can’t be there; I’ll be headed for southern Oregon, probably 400 miles from there, for a job interview the next day. I’ll plan on playing the song at the Wild Goose Sunday night.

Settled things with insurance following the car accident; the old Thunderbird—16 years old—was a total loss. I will get enough out of the settlement to buy a small (and nowheres near as pretty) truck I’ve had my eye on (country boys should be driving trucks anyway, not Thunderbirds).

The process went rather smoothly, in part because I gave the guy who crashed into me one of my CDs as a business card; he called me just a couple of days later to tell me how much he liked it. (I have yet to find anybody who doesn’t like the CD.) The lesson: if you’re ever in a car wreck, hand out CDs. You’ll be glad you did.

I hadn’t heard from the Insomnia Coffee Co. in Hillsboro about whether they want me to play Oct. 10 or 24, so I stopped by on my way back from today’s job interview, and left them a CD. The owner wasn’t there, but I expect I’ll hear from him now. Nice place, with a cute little stage that might just barely hold two people (and would be ideal for one), and maybe good acoustics.

Joe