Oh yum. Being out in California recently was just delicious. The air, the low humidity, the colors of sky and flowers, the towering mountains. It is all overwhelming to the senses. I have that awareness every time I visit, that it simply is the promised land, well, the way it looks anyway. A friend from California asked me a few days ago ‘what I am doing in the desert’ it gave me pause for a moment as I reflected on the lush California landscape, and compared that to the drought and convection oven heat we are dealing with day after day. Yes, Texas is that hot. It feels biblical here.
Elliot Randall & The Deadmen "Getting My Nerve Up"
My Grandmother lived a long life, from 1900 to 1999. What changes she saw in society in that almost century. She raised my Mother and Uncle by herself, as my Grandfather died young. She lived long enough to bury all nine of her brothers and most of her friends. Through the Depression, the Great World Wars, The Cold War, Viet Nam, she remained steely with determination and discipline for her whole life. She worked until just a couple of years before she passed. Sometimes, she would tell me on the phone that she was "blue." I could see how the overwhelming weight of event could stop her in her tracks. But from somewhere, she summoned the energy to marshall on.
Jason Eady "Paid My Dues"
Can I say...that I don’t care who you are, I don’t care what you been. This is starting off like the Memphis Slim blues tune “Mother Earth,” which is required listening, by the way. I like Eric Burdon and War’s version of it too. The truth of it is for as long as you live, there are checks and balances. There is always something new to learn, and there are always reasons to be humble. And if you forget this, or somehow think you can rise above it, trust me, something will make you remember you are no better than the next. Or as Bob Dylan wisely wrote, “To live outside the law you must be honest.” We are all in this together, this life, and you never get done paying your dues, for as long as we all shall live.
Today’s tune is from Jason Eady. He has neo-classic pipes, All-American good looks, and an amazing facility for songwriting. He has just come off a West Coast run opening for Cody Canada & The Departed. Boy oh boy, I’ll bet that they had a great time. Jason came to visit us during our sessions at The MusicFest in Steamboat Springs, from our makeshift studio in The Steamboat Grand. He played us some brand new tunes, this being one of them. “Paying My Dues,” is a co-write with Micky Braun, and you can expect it to be on Jason’s forthcoming CD AM Country Heaven, which we hear now has a release date of January, 2012. Meanwhile, Music Fog brings you our version of it. Always paying our dues.
- Jessie Scott
