It's so bizarre return to a place where you used to live, a place that was so familiar you didn't really didn’t see it anymore. The DC Metro is a beautiful construction, with an efficiency not found in many cities. I took a ride today at rush hour, with an international array of folks. One lady had a NASA bag, the kind that signified she really worked there. A couple of policy wonks had reams of documents under their arm. Asians, Indians, Africans (like from Ethiopia), and African Americans, Spanish and Whites; people of every description speaking other languages, as well as English, with the cadence of their home far away.
It was great being back, seeing all this again, as I have moved on and left DC behind. There are eras in our lives, some geographically significant (for those of us who keep moving!) For others the years play tricks on us, people come and go, jobs change, and eras come to be marked as they morph. We are all along for the ride. Wear it well, embrace the days. As Slaid Cleaves reminds us, they are all “Temporary.”
We recorded Slaid at the Cherokee Creek Music Festival last month outside of Llano, Texas. I can’t get enough of his music, it nails life. This song comes from the dourly titled CD, Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away. Slaid not only writes songs with elegant simplicity, the prose for his blog is really special too, clean and informative. Slaid is slated to appear in the documentary Troubadour Blues set for release this summer, along with Peter Case, Mary Gauthier, Chris Smither, Dave Alvin, Amy Speace, Garrison Starr, Mark Erelli, Gurf Morlix, Tracy Grammer, Sam Baker, Anne McCue, Troy Campbell, Karl Mullen, Jeff Talmadge, Billy Matheny, RB Morris and Eve Goodman. Here is the Kickstarter page about it, and the good news is they have made their goal. And it is always good news when we can bring you some Slaid Cleaves. Here is “Temporary.”
-- Jessie Scott
