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[MUSIC - GUY CLARK, "LA FREEWAY"]

[singing] Pack up all your dishes.

Make note of all good wishes.

And say goodbye to the landlord for me.

That son of bitch has always bored me.

Throw out them LA papers and that moldy

box of vanilla wafers.

Adios to all this concrete.

Gonna get me some dirt road back street.

I can just get off of this LA freeway

without getting killed or caught.

I been down a road in a cloud of smoke to some land,

I ain't bought, bought, bought.

And here's to you, old skinny Dennis,

only one I think I will miss.

I can hear the old bass singing sweet and low

like a gift you're bringing.

Play it for me one more time now.

Got to give it all we can now.

I believe everything you're saying.

Just you keep on, keep on playing.

I can just get off of this LA freeway

without getting killed or caught.

I been down a road in a cloud of smoke to some land I

ain't bought, bought, bought.

If I can just get off of this LA freeway without getting

killed or caught.

I been down a road in a cloud of smoke to some land I

ain't bought.

[guitar playing]

Yeah.

A little loose.

[harmonica plays]

Give me some for [inaudible] as soon as you get ready.

All right.

[side conversation]

Seems like-- seems like the tempo of the [inaudible]..

I'm going to be doing it in A.

Once you wrote it down.

We can overdub some harp.

Studio 4.

Bunch of opportunity is getting thicker.

[inaudible]

Don't know.

Look the [inaudible]

Oh yeah?

All ready to pick, boys?

I'll see what I've got.

Larry, what's the song title?

LARRY: Ohoopee River bottom.

All right.

Sometimes, my tunes bare little explanation.

So-- but there's enough on the front for--

MAN: I mean, you think there are some people that don't know--

[laughter]

I wonder if there's anybody in the world who doesn't know

where the Ohoopee River is.

You can jump across it.

Hello, Larry.

It's a Georgia gator hole.

Check the tuning on the guitars.

That one.

LARRY: Sounds like an A.

OK, sounds good.

It's really just a three pattern to start.

PRODUCER: What's your intro?

11, 11, 11, 11?

-

Yeah, yeah.

11, 11.

[inaudible] No, the intro was going to be--

5, 5, 4, 11.

I don't know.

I think we really ought to wing it along once,

run it and see what we got.

Let's do "your taste is so tasty" anyway.

Do something like that one.

Mhm.

It's about a little river in south Georgia,

where my family's been for a couple

hundred years, making generations

and sipping whiskey, I guess.

Yeah.

And we'll do the 4-5 twice, the 5-4 here.

(SINGING): Met a few people and this friend of mine.

Mostly Utah has been unkind.

Salt Lake City can do without me.

There's some folks in George that care a little about me.

I'm leaving for home as soon as I can, Lord,

to the Ohoopee River bottom.

Down to a five, back to the one.

Five, I'm going to vamp out here into one.

[humming]

We'd have to really count that up.

That's fine.

Something like--

[music playing]

Drop me down in the phones a little bit.

MAN 1: Same here, on bass.

LARRY JOHN WILSON: Being in a group thing,

if you ever need licks to--

[inaudible] but I'm not a maker of licks.

The song's not a--

it's not a lick song anyway.

It's a groove.

It's a groove, and it got a little better.

It's like hitting first, second, third, fourth gears.

Bass kicks in with a full [inaudible] instead of--

of one every four.

Then when you jump in, and then when the drum goes--

that's second and third, then you can become high gear.

Doing-- y'all want to run one?

This is going-- this is the hooker right here.

One, two, one, two, three, four.

[music playing]

(SINGING) This low rent land has turned to sand, and I done

stood by it all I can.

I'm leaving, I'm leaving.

That one really hurts me, uh.

OK.

Less guitar.

Hold on a second.

It was good.

I think that's where the groove belongs.

We still rolling?

Yeah, we can-- hold on a second.

We're adjusting a few mics around here.

LARRY JOHN WILSON: OK.

[music playing]

It's a lightning lick.

I know it.

(SINGING) Oh, something wrong.

Something wrong, lightning.

I know it just can't be all them good things I've done.

That's all right.

I want you to remember, I'm my mom's seventh son.

Get the lonesomest sound.

Yeah. As a matter of fact--

So we can do the lonesome campfire thing.

Yeah. Yeah.

Because he's on a highway by himself,

trying to get 2,800 miles.

OK.

OK, in the studio can--

is it possible to just give me a little bit

more echo send, the last verse.

Make it sound a little further away?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's good.

BRENT: Y'all say when, then.

Yeah, go ahead and roll it, Brent.

BRENT: All right.

You sit tight.

That sounds good, doesn't it?

One, two, one, two, three, four.

[MUSIC - LARRY JON WILSON, "OHOOPEE RIVER BOTTOMLAND"]

(SINGING) This low rent land has turned to sand, and I done

stood by it all I can.

I'm leaving.

I'm leaving.

Papa, he said, good luck son, try

to remember there's always one you

can turn to when you need to.

Mama fixed the boys some ham and ho' cakes, and dry your eyes

cause you knew one day he'd make his own way.

Quick as he can, Lord, from the Ohoopee River Bottomland.

Mm-hmm.

The farm house's leaning and the barn

is rottin', and my back is bent from choppin' cotton in Macon.

I'm achin'.

Box and pine and croppin' tobacco, a wore out mule,

and a no-count tractor quit now.

This is it now.

This land has brought me pain and sorrow.

The Trailways coming through tomorrow.

I'm leaving, from here, just as soon as I can,

Lord, from the Ohoopee River Bottomland.

Mm-hmm.

Two years gone, I been on my own.

My belly told me the money's gone in Reno, in Reno.

The bright, rich town with the city sound, everybody tellin'

tell me to lay your money down, boy, get your bet down boy.

Is them that's got is them that's getting, and them that

wins is them that's bettin'.

I'm leaving for a little closer to home

again, Lord, back toward Ohoopee River Bottomland.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

A hot dry highway, a Utah byway, a semi

stopped and he was heading my way.

Thank you.

Oh, thank you.

Driver said, son I just had to ask,

did you find yourself a greener pasture?

I said, no sir.

I said, no sir.

Met a few people that's friends of mine, most of Utah's

been unkind.

Salt Lake City can do without me.

There's some folks in Georgia that care a little 'bout me.

I'm leaving for home as soon as I can, Lord, to the Ohoopee

River Bottomland.

To the Ohoopee River Bottomland.

Ohoopee River Bottomland.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, hell yeah.

[cb radio crackling]

Breaker, how about a westbound?

You got an eastbound looking.

[cb radio crackling]

Breaker, one nine.

CB RADIO: Yeah, go ahead breaker.

Yeah, this is the Rhinestone Cowboy.

I'm looking for a front door.

I'm eastbound on this 40.

I'm up here by this old chicken coup.

Going to Nashville, Tennessee.

Can I get me a front door up there somewhere?

CB RADIO: 10-4, David.

This is the [inaudible] Music City.

You got a clean bill of health all the way home, [inaudible]..

OK I sure appreciate it.

We're trying to get up there.

We gotta go play at the Tennessee state prison,

and I was supposed to be there at 3 o'clock

so I wanna try to hook it on up there.

CB RADIO: 10-4, Rhinestone.

You're looking good.

Take it home baby.

[inaudible] 10-4.

I had some people here from New York the other day--

two boys--

and he had his guitar and a harp.

And I went up there and got it out.

[inaudible] come here to play music.

And so far we got him a job.

Estelle got him going.

And he's doing pretty good now.

He's in the roofing business and he wanted to be in the music

business [inaudible].

Of course, people is looking for progress everyday,

but I believe that the old time flavor has really come out

of your country music and so on by moving

that show into a modern house.

Because in the grand-- in the old Grand

Ole Opry building up here, he was so country-fied in there.

You know, kind of like us old folk is.

We like to remember what we growed up with.

And the Grand Ole Opry growed up--

within itself, it growed up to be a country music place.

Now they've gone out there and got modern,

and it just don't seem right to me to see a--

on a Saturday night--

Saturday evening TV show.

It don't seem like the music's any good to me

at the new place.

I'd go up there, and Star would just come out in the back

and run in there and get them a beer,

get them whatever they wanted then before they

had to go back on air.

And [inaudible] kind of home folk.

Now it kind of seemed like they a little bit snobbish.

[inaudible] but they're little bit snobbish.

They get to fighting over the swimming pool.

They get to fighting each other and all that kind of stuff.

They didn't used to have that [inaudible] had Ole Opry House.

It's like Roy Acuff.

All he has now to live on is a name.

That's all he has to live on.

These fellows here that's coming up and they are given--

well, something like my grandchildren

is coming up in this world.

They are giving my grandchildren something like we

look back to Roy Acuff for.

We look back to him, and we look to Johnny

Cash and so on and so forth.

To my-- my opinion Johnny Cash is he's run out of his--

he's done shot his wad.

I believe that Johnny Cash has done already shot his wad.

I'd like to introduce myself.

I'm-- excuse me-- I'm Townes van Zandt, and this

is my dog Geraldine here.

Geraldine, come here.

Geraldine.

CINDY: Good dog.

Get back out here in the light.

Good dog.

CINDY: Oh, no.

Don't take her off.

Sure.

CINDY: Danny.

OK.

Now this is my girlfriend Cindy here.

Smile at the camera.

OK, now.

We gonna first walk around to the back yard.

Would you like a drink?

No, thank you.

I'll have one.

Would you hold the gun?

No.

Don't ever aim a gun at a caged animal.

Don't ever aim a gun at a caged animal.

OK, now--

[dog barking]

That dog was hurt, run over by a car.

[dog barking]

What is that?

You want me to throw a rock for you?

[inaudible]

TOWNES VAN ZANDT: Let's come on around here through the back.

This is one of the first oaks ever born on this whole lot.

It's 42 feet up to their.

I got an intercom up there.

I can order Cindy around until she unplugs me.

- God dammit, Townes. - Which is about--

it don't take too long usually.

[inaudible] you just missed a good shot with the dog looking

right at the chickens, man.

White dog.

No, he ran off by now, but he was sitting

right there looking at them.

The big black dog?

Yeah.

[inaudible].

Oh, little Smith and little Weston.

Say hello to the folks, Smith.

He's actually a champion white buf chicken.

White buf, B-U-F, like Buffalo.

[chickens cackling]

Now this was a-- a possum was trying to get them,

but that's all we got left.

The old dog [inaudible] just came up and just kind

of nipped him right off there.

It was either that or a midget, hungry midget.

I've raised these rabbits for about three years now.

I have, like, gotten--

made my motto the bigger, the bunnier.

It's pretty funny, but I tell you what's funnier, the better.

You see, the bigger, the better, right?

And I want you all to follow me over here,

and I'm going to show you one of these holes.

I call them holes.

Some people call them burrows.

They're just the entrance to the burrows.

Follow me over here. It's not very far.

Here's one.

CAMERAMAN: Phew.

I'm talking about some big rabbits.

[inaudible] they're like as big as a pig, easy as big as a pig.

This is there latest one.

They drink some.

Come over here and look at this one.

We had to close this one up because the state--

the state said close it up.

I don't blame them really.

[inaudible]

Now see, I'm serious.

They started barreling under here and--

get this off me.

Get this off me.

Something's got my leg.

It's got my leg.

It's [inaudible]

Then I also played with the Gully Jumpers, Paul

Warmack and his Gully Jumpers.

That's been back, oh, around '37 and '38.

You know, it's been, oh, many moons ago,

but I played with them.

It's been years ago.

Then I also played with old Uncle Dave from 1937

until 1941.

And we recorded, Uncle Dave and I, for Columbia Records.

We had to go to Charlotte, North Carolina from Nashville.

We had quite a time you know getting up there.

Uncle Dave, you know, he didn't want his toddy time.

He carried a little valise, you know,

where he carried his [inaudible]..

And I recall that's the first time that I ever

rode a Pullman train, you know, where

I had a berth to sleep in.

Why, I felt like I was in some kind of a big kingdom

or something, you know.

Because I lived in a lower end housing project.

And what did you do whenever [inaudible] he had

to have his little toddy time?

He said toddy time.

We all had toddy time.

And I recall, too, very distinctly--

you know, if he give you a drink out of his bottle

before toddy time, why, he'd expect

you the next day to repay that.

And you had you had to give him your toddy time drink,

you know, because he didn't want to be beat out of anything.

You better.

Like I say, I don't know.

Then I'll have you castrated.

[mumbling]

[inaudible]

This whore here ain't worth a damn, is he?

I tell you what we're going to do here, if you don't care.

Let's do them Doctor Blues on New Year's Day,

because, hey, you know something?

We both of us need a doctor today.

Both of us need one.

One of them Doctor Blues.

This is a lovely little song entitled,

"I'd Rather Be Sunburned On My Vacation Than Vaccinated On My

Weekend/" Now what did you say?

You said [inaudible].

I said The doctor Blues.

The Doctor's Blues.

That's it.

Well, here we go.

[MUSIC - BIG MACK MCGOWAN & GLENN STAGNER,

"THE DOCTOR'S BLUES"]

(SINGING) Now get up on this table, pull off that gown.

Raise up that right leg, let the left one down.

Pull off them stockings, the silk underwear.

The doctor's going to cut you, mama, Lord knows where.

Say, doc, what did you take out of me?

I feel mighty bad.

You lay real still, and I'll tell you just how many.

Now here's what the doctor took out of you.

Four monkey wrenches, a two-horse shay,

a pair of old britches, and a bale of hay.

Your ribs were kind of loose, son.

They moved about.

If I hadn't sewed you up, everything would fell out.

So I put in new tubes, tightened the exhaust.

[MUSIC - GUY CLARK, "THAT OLD TIME FEELING"]

GUY CLARK (SINGING): And that old time feeling

comes and goes in the rain.

Like an old man with his checkers, dyin' to find a game.

That old time feeling plays for beer in bars.

Like an old time blues picker who don't recall who you are.

And that old time feeling limps through the night on a crutch.

Like an old soldier wonderin' if he's paid too much.

And that old time feeling rocks and spits and cries.

Like an old lover rememberin' the girl with the clear blue

eyes.

[music playing]

[inaudible]

[music playing]

And that old time feeling goes sneakin' down the hall.

Like an old gray cat in winter, keepin' close to the wall.

[inaudible]

Yeah.

Yeah, somebody done give you [inaudible] find the money.

CINDY: Where's the money?

Well, I'm fixing to interview Uncle Seymour Washington.

Seymour Washington from Austin, Texas.

You had a birthday lately, right?

12th of July.

12th of July.

You were 36?

79.

Born 1896.

1896.

Horseshoe [inaudible].

Horseshoer and beginner blacksmith.

You were called the Walking Blacksmith.

That's what I was called, nicknamed Walking Blacksmith.

Because--

I didn't have any transportation.

I had to catch the bus and then wait

for people to pick me up on the ranch, carry me to the ranch.

Dripping Springs was my big headquarters.

Dripping Springs [inaudible] and [inaudible]..

TOWNES VAN ZANDT: But you lived here, right?

SEYMOUR WASHINGTON: Lived here, but I 'd

go out up on the bus to those towns,

and they'd carry me to the ranch.

I got a knack for handling stock, any kind of stock.

In other words, some men go up to a horse to shoe him,

and they go up there cursing him and kicking him in the side

and jacking him to make him stand still.

But you want to go up to a horse's head

first and pet him on the neck and scratch him.

And I don't care how bad and rough

he is, he'll soon understand that you want to be his friend.

And you go on and ease with him and handle him careful.

And once you get him shod, he'll always know what you want to do

when you start to work on him.

But if you put the shoe on correctly,

the outside of the hoof is where you put your nail.

It's just like cutting your fingernails.

If you cut your fingernail down too deep there,

you got to clip your sore finger.

If you stick a nail on the inside of his coronary band

and go into the quick and drive it in there,

you get [inaudible] and beside you

[inaudible] and then the horse is lame for a long time.

Probably may go into lockjaw.

So it's very technical.

I always keep doing something.

If it ain't much, do a little.

And don't ever forget to get down on your knees

and pray to God and thank Him for the time

that He'd given you on earth.

And from there, go on and talk to the Lord

just like you talk to us humans on earth.

Live careful and eat three times a day,

and eat common, plain food, soul food like beans,

turnip greens, and cornbread.

Drink the best of bourbon whiskey.

People condemn whiskey, but they have no right to.

Really?

Because when God created the heaven and earth,

he created all things.

He also created barley, rye, and if he

didn't think that was good for man,

he wouldn't let those things grow.

Really?

CAMERAMAN: Amen.

But he also created cattle of the fields

and birds of the air, and food for us to subsist on.

But he didn't mean for us to eat so much

of it until it was detrimental to us, would make us sick.

The same thing applies to drinking whiskey,

beer, or anything you drink.

You don't have to drink a bottle of whiskey

because you see a bottle sitting there.

Drink a little bit of it and stop, and ask God to give

you the knowledge to do that.

I've seen Unc drink until he had to be carried--

he had to be carried from the other side of his yard

and put into bed.

And it didn't take no barrel of whisky, either.

But now then on the other hand,

according to Mr. van Zandt's statement,

he have also seen me sit down where there's a lot of whiskey,

like we've got whiskey here now, but he

didn't see me drink all of it.

I would drink some and walk away from it.

And he's also felt kind of embarrassed because he's

offered me whiskey, and I didn't want it.

And he'd asked me, was I angry with him?

I wasn't angry.

I just didn't want no more whiskey.

[MUSIC - TOWNES VAN ZANDT, "WAITIN' AROUND TO DIE"]

TOWNES VAN ZANDT: This is the first song

I ever wrote [inaudible].

CINDY: Is it?

I had no idea.

(SINGING) Well, sometimes I don't know where

this dirty road is taking me.

Sometimes I can't even see the reason why.

I guess I keep a-gamblin', lots of booze and lots of ramblin'.

It's easier than just waitin' around to die.

The

Well, one time, friends, I had a ma.

I even had a pa.

He beat her with a belt once 'cause she cried.

She told him to take care of me.

She headed down to Tennessee.

Oh, it's easier than just a-waitin' around to die.

Well, I come of age and I found a girl in a Tuscaloosa bar.

And she cleaned me out and hit it on the sly.

I tried to kill the pain.

I bought some booze and hopped a train, seemed easier than just

a-waitin' around to die.

And a friend said he knew where some easy money was.

We robbed a man, and brother did we fly.

They told her to take care of me.

They drug me back to Tennessee, and it's two long years

of waiting around to die.

Oh, now I'm out of prison.

I got me a friend that lasts.

He don't drink or steal or cheat or lie.

Well his name's codeine.

He's the nicest thing I've seen.

And together, we're going to wait around and die.

Well, together we're going to wait around.

CINDY: That's beautiful.

[MUSIC - DAVID ALLAN COE, "I STILL SING THE OLD SONGS"]

DAVID ALLAN COE (SINGING): Grandpa,

I've been thinking bought you lately,

wondering if you'd found your peace of mind.

I guess you'd be proud to know your grandson never

crossed the Mason-Dixon line.

And I still sing the old songs that you taught me.

And I still pray to Jesus now and then.

Just like you, I wish that He would save me to see the day

the south will rise again.

Daddy wore his Purple Heart so proudly long

before I turned into a man.

Buried with our flag across his casket,

I was still too young to understand.

I still sing the old song that you taught me.

And I still pray to Jesus now and then.

Just like you, I wish that he would save me to see the day

the south will rise again.

Grandpa, I've been thinking about you lately.

[MUSIC - BAREFOOT JERRY, "TWO MILE PIKE"]

[MUSIC - RODNEY CROWELL, " BLUEBIRD WINE"]

SINGING) Well, baby says she'd really love a party.

We'll get some friends together, feeling fine.

Well any friend of mine is worth his habit, a belly

full of baby's Bluebird wine.

And it's all right, now.

I've just hit my stride.

Right off the bat, Lord, I'm drunk on Bluebird wine.

Yes it's all right now.

I've just hit my stride.

The party just started, Lord, and I'm drunk on Bluebird wine.

[music playing]

Well, baby showed me some different ways of thinking,

like how to spend my evening here

at home listening to that music on the radio,

drinkin' all the Bluebird we can hold.

And it's all right now.

I've just hit my stride.

Right off the bat, Lord, I'm drunk on Bluebird wine.

Yes, and I'm all right, now.

I've just hit my stride now.

The party just started, Lord, and I'm drunk on Bluebird wine.

Yes I'm all right, now.

I've just hit my stride now.

Right off the bat, Lord, I'm drunk on Bluebird wine.

[cb radio]

You got it.

Come on.

[inaudible]

It was in Dallas, Texas.

CB RADIO: Dallas, Texas?

Yeah, 10-4.

CB RADIO: [inaudible]

Yeah.

We was with Willie Nelson.

There was 8,000 people there.

CB RADIO: Oh, 10-4 on the big Willie.

[inaudible]

Yeah, it was pretty crazy.

[music playing]

STEVE YOUNG (SINGING): I'm riding

down by your old shack today.

Lord, I've worked all out in your cotton fields.

Lord, I've worked all out in your cotton fields.

Worked so hard, Lord, that I thought it was unreal.

Yeah, but I worked all out in your cotton fields.

Alabama highway, take me on to the moonlight, toward the day.

Turn supernatural, take me to the stars and let me play.

I wanna be free, Alabama highway.

Oh, well I've loved you.

I've loved you, Dixieland.

Yes, I've loved you.

I've loved you, Dixieland.

Wonder why you never give me a helping hand, cause I've

loved you.

Yeah, I've loved you, Dixieland.

Alabama highway, take me on, neath

the moonlight toward the day.

Turn supernatural, take me to the stars and let me play.

I wanna be free, Alabama highway.

Well, they've got grooves in them,

so I'll just go ahead and level the fingerboard.

MAN 2: OK.

You're the doctor.

You sure I never worked on his guitar?

You might have.

Man, that's exactly the way I fix shit.

You might have.

I bought it in Austin.

Who's was it?

[inaudible] had it.

You know [inaudible] string shop?

Yeah.

He had it.

I got all my stuff ripped off about last January,

and he sold me that.

He give me a real good deal on it.

It was one of his closet guitars.

Well it's a good guitar.

MAN 2: That's the only guitar I have

had for any length of time.

GUY CLARK: Now this is the part that's hard

it's hard to watch for the guitar owner.

[sawing]

That's one of the nice things about bone

is that good solid bone's like working ivory.

It's really consistent and you can judge it just right.

That's why people-- all the Chinese

and everybody carved ivory.

[sawing]

Bone's like not as good as ivory, obviously,

but better than wood.

Damn it, I've already cut this one too short.

OK.

[sawing]

You need water soluble glue so you can repair

it without tearing the wood up.

You just wet it, melts, and then you can repair stuff.

So one of the marks of really fine instruments is it's not

put together with some sort of insoluble glue,

because then you can't-- you can't take the fingerboard off

and straighten the neck, or do-- you know,

you wind up with something that doesn't do anything.

That's the only thing about guitars.

That's why I like them.

When you come to the subtleties of them,

you can't really count on any kind of mathematics--

or you count on mathematics as far as a scale's concerned.

But once it gets down to making it play right,

everyone's different.

You know, they're like [whistles]

really unique things.

So you wind up treating everyone different,

and then working on them, you don't get bored

which is one of my main aims. OK.

Now linchpins.

What'd I do with them?

There they are.

All right.

That looks just about right to me already.

Here you go.

All right.

Give me that string right there.

OK.

[guitar strings twanging]

Give me the next one.

[guitar strings twanging]

[MUSIC - GUY CLARK, "TEXAS COOKING"]

(SINGING) I'm going down to Austin, Texas.

I'm going down to save my soul.

Get that barbecue and chili, eat my fill then come back home.

I'm gonna take my baby with me.

We gonna have a high ol' time.

We gonna eat til we get silly, sho' do make a beer taste fine.

Whoa, my momma, ain't that Texas cookin something?

Whoa, my momma, it'll stop yo belly and backbone bumpin'.

Whoa, my momma, ain't that Texas cookin' good?

Whoa, my momma, eat it every day if I could.

[music playing]

I know a place that got fried okra, beat anything I ever saw.

I know a woman cook cabrito.

It must be against the law.

We gone get a big ole sausage, big ole'

plate of ranch style beans.

I could eat the heart of Texas.

We gonna need some brand new jeans.

Whoa, my momma, ain't that Texas cooking something?

Whoa, my momma, it'll stop your belly and backbone bumpin.

Whoa, my momma, ain't that Texas cooking good?

Whoa, my momma, eat it every day if I could.

Whoa, my momma, ain't that Texas cooking something?

Whoa, my momma, it'll stop your belly and backbone bumpin'.

Whoa, my momma, ain't that Texas cooking good?

Whoa, my momma, eat it every day if I could.

[applause and cheering]

Now nothing too exciting ever happened at Charlie's

except when Harvey came in.

Harvey was a prominent, devout, deeply committed, totally

involved, commode-huggin drunk.

He dealt mainly in small numbers.

He'd steal hubcaps off Peterbilt diesels

at the A&W root beer parking lot,

and fence them at the Western auto store.

He would dynamite catfish and copious commercial quantities

in the little Econlockhatchee River

and sell them in bulk to Howard Johnson's for scallops.

Cut them out with a copper tube.

But he was chiefly celebrated among the populace

of our community for having imported

into our thankful midst a young woman of sporting morality.

An unconscionable aesthete by the name of Marita,

who had been drummed out of high rolling society in Phoenix

City, Alabama, after her health card

had been punched so many times it disappeared into thin air.

[laughing]

And this Marita considered herself an interpreteress

of the modern dance.

And lo, whenever the dulcets and mellifluous tones of Miss Peggy

Lee were heard to resonate upon the Wurlitzer,

singing that grand old American standard,

"Fever", Marita would lose herself in an engaging series

of peregrinations, pirouettes, and bumps and grinds,

calculated to leave even the most diffident of observers

fraught with horn.

On this particular night, Harvey and Marita and a randy retinue

of red necks came stopping into Charlie's All the local good

old boys were bellied up the bar, snapping the suspenders

on their big dads, their left hands

upraised in that fervent type of monodigital articulation which

bespeaks an argument in progress about the relative merits

of post-hole digging attachment for John Deere

vis a vis International Harvester tractors.

They turn about and beheld the entry of Harvey and Marita,

and in a great man swarm gaggle of Arcadian under-achievers,

they slewed, crabwise, over the polished floor of that gaming

establishment, stoking the juke with legal tender

in such a manner that Peggy Lee's " Fever" played 92 times.

And Marita so lost herself in a transcendental evocation

of her timeless art, struggling gamely

as it were up the Olympiad of her sensibility,

that she shucked her duds right on Charlie's Terrazzo floor.

That's the second most exciting thing

that ever happened around a turkey farm

after the great massacre of '53.

I responded to this visual phenomenon

of unslaked carnality by instantly

proposing marriage to a one-eyed waitress who happened by.

I didn't want to get in anything heavy.

I just wanted to set up light house

keeping in a pup tent in the parking lot until closing time.

I was out there with my borrowed ball peen hammer

and my steel tent stakes, putting

that mother up in the asphalt.

Some fool run over my foot with a pickup truck,

emptied out his ash tray in my sleeping bag,

peed in my cook fire.

And the woman rejected me, so I had to go

home and write this damn song.

I just wanted you to know the true story so you'd understand

where art comes from.

On that night of nights, there were a mess

of us knocking around Charlie's, scarfing up huge quantities

of an Appalachian ambrosia concocted

by craven miscreant name Matlo, who

along with a hand-picked group with charcoal-filtered fellows

from Moore County, Tennessee, turns

this fire water out in what is rumored to be short supply.

Although armed with approximately $8

and the address of any whiskey store,

I've never yet failed to find at least

five shelves groaning under the weight

of these rare square bottles.

I'm not talking about Jim Beam.

I ain't talking about Ezra Brooks,

or JW Dent, or George Dickel.

I'm talking about Tennessee sour mash sipping whiskey.

I'm talking about Jack Daniels Tennessee

sour mash sippin' whiskey.

And this is the old black label blue.

[music playing]

(SINGING) A Cabaret on the highway.

You know the time is ten 'til two.

A pretty waitress at my table, a pretty waitress at my table.

She say, what can I do for you?

That's just what she said, now.

Oh, baby, I'm so lonely and my mind is ill at ease.

I need a woman to love me.

Mm.

But if you cannot love me, then Jack Daniels, if you please.

Whiskey and water, oh whiskey and water.

Here's to fear of pain and sorrow.

Jack Daniels, if you please.

Look out now.

[music playing]

Then I called on Miss Maggie Gentry.

You know, I fell way down upon my knees.

Now Maggie darlin', I need some lovin', oh, deep,

deep down in my dark ol' soul.

Won't you set my mind at ease?

Oh, baby, I believe I'm going to love you,

so lay your head down across my knees.

Thank you, darlin'.

I'm going to kiss you and I'll caress you.

Mm.

But honey, there's just one little thing

I'll ask you for first.

What's that, darlin'?

Jack Daniels, if you please.

She liked it too.

Whiskey and water, oh, whisky and water.

Here's to fear and pain and sorrow, Jack Daniels,

if you please.

With a black label on it.

It's so good to be playing for a bunch of juicers again.

[inaudible]

[inaudible] I'll tell you that right now.

Best foot in the whole house.

I'd like to introduce to you at this time [inaudible] Mr.

Mack McGowan and his lovely wife.

She always was a little bashful.

Hope you're enjoying yourself down here.

Bless your heart.

Good, good to have you down here.

All right, this is--

this Mr. Mac and his lovely wife.

To all these people, I want to tell you now,

my wife has just got in from her other job.

And-- and what it amounts to, her other job--

well, I wasn't there.

I don't know what it amounted to, but--

But I want to say this much.

It's good for all you people to be here with us

in this little old thing here.

Because this is where I make my day

and where I make my living for myself

and my five grandchildren and two daughters and--

who else's children I got, honey?

That's all, I hope.

Well, I got some more somewhere.

[laughing]

[applause]

We like do this little thing, a little song of my own now.

It's a little fast ditty.

[MUSIC - PEGGY BROOKS, " LET'S GO ALL THE WAY"]

(SINGING) When you love half way, someone has to pay.

I won't accept a part of you, so let's go all the way.

Love me day and night, then I'll know it's right.

Love me till I hear you say, oh, let's go all the way.

All the way means happiness, living side by side.

Halfway means a heartbreak if one of us should lie.

Just give me a kiss that you know I'll miss.

Hold me in your arms and say, oh, let's go all the way.

Let's you and I pretend our love will never end.

Tell me you'll be mine today.

Oh, let's go all the way.

All the way means happiness, living side by side.

Halfway means a heartbreak if one of us should lie.

Just give me a clue that you love me too.

Hold me in your arms and say, oh, let's go all the way.

Oh, let's go all the way.

[applause and cheering]

ANNOUNCER: [inaudible], Peggy.

[music playing]

Good to see you.

You're getting so tall [inaudible]..

Hi, Charlie.

Hey, babe.

How you been?

[inaudible]

Yeah, but I'm [inaudible] walk behind there.

That's about as far back as I'm gonna go.

It was nice meeting y'all.

I don't know if it's pheasant or peacocks

or something like that.

WOMAN: No, that's pheasant.

[inaudible]

Hey, how you doing?

Good to see you.

Merry Christmas to you.

[interposing voices] [inaudible]

Pretty good, if I can find me a chord here to tune up with.

[crowd chattering]

That's the flood.

It's not the special.

Where?

The one you're focusing right now.

[inaudible] That's not the drum special.

[inaudible]

OK.

[music playing]

[inaudible]

Yeah.

[inaudible] I got a strap right there.

[inaudible]

R?

What does this R stand for?

[inaudible]

Damn, may have to learn a new song.

If he learns a new song, he gets to be a star.

[inaudible]

Which one we gonna do, boss?

[inaudible]

Hello, Charlie.

Hey, Terry. How are you?

I'm good, man.

How you doing?

[inaudible]

[cheering]

Everybody just hang on here a second.

We gonna hook up a fiddle.

Here's one of our new tunes.

This is off the "Night Rider" and it's called "Texas."

[cheering]

[MUSIC - THE CHARLIE DANIELS BAND, "TEXAS"]

(SINGING) There's a place not too far away from here,

out with the cows and the Lone Star beer.

Where the livin' and lovin' is quite all right with me.

Well, they call it Texas.

It's a mighty fine place to be.

Runs from Texarkana to El Paso and Oklahoma out to old Mexico.

And there's Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antone.

People in Texas sure do make you feel at home.

[music playing]

They just want everybody to lave them

alone while they drink their whiskey and roll their own.

And they like their music with a little bit of southern sound.

They kick up their heels every evening when the sun goes down.

And you call them country and they don't care.

And if you don't like the way they wear their hair,

you can take your like and shove 'em on up the line.

People in Texas don't care if the sun don't shine.

[music playing]

Thank you!

[cheering]

That's terrible.

[laughing]

Back two years ago, we had kept the music going pretty strong,

and people were just sort of using my name.

And they-- a couple of inmates in there sent some songs to me,

and they were sent back to them and said

we couldn't use the songs or something like that.

And I guess they wrote a letter to the warden

and said that if I ever came back,

I knew they were gonna kill me.

So they borrowed me from there for--

and I was surprised when I found out that we were

going there today to do a show.

Supposed to be doing a concert here

at the Tennessee State Prison.

All right.

Here we go.

[inaudible],, what the head count is here?

MAN 3:10.

10.

Counting me?

10.

[crash]

The pink building's the wood shop,

and this here's the metal shop.

And they make almost all your state furniture in them

two places.

And that's the school right there.

The center's operations on the right is unit three.

On the left is unit two, and up the end

you'll see another building.

That's unit four.

That's unit one.

That's maximum security.

That's your death row and all your lock up.

They don't attend to anything [inaudible]..

[inaudible]

DAVID ALLAN COE: if you get in a position-- like,

I'm in a position to talk about something.

And I go out there and say, and well, the food's bad, and--

you know, then I'm just another jerk to them.

But if I can go out there and tell them,

you know, what I think-- that I think that they need more

psychologists, that you can't have 5,000 men and one

psychologist or psychiatrist in an institution

and to handle all these men's cases.

Because the only time you see him

is when you cause a problem, so he can't help you.

And when [inaudible] was--

had this prison here, and I came out here

and he asked me about this place here,

and I said, well I said I think your biggest problem is

that when you shut Brushy Mountain down,

you overcrowded your prison here.

And I think that you have to get something

to take the place of Brushy Mountain

if you can't open that back up.

But you have to have a separate place, you know,

for old timers.

Because old timers don't like to be around no young [inaudible]..

I mean, they-- motherfuckers in here

trying to pull time, that's what they're [inaudible]..

I just got my daddy out of prison.

I don't know whether you all-- last time I was here,

we was talking about that. He was--

- He was in prison? - Oh, life.

Yeah.

He did a life sentence, and me and my youngest brother

just got-- he's been out one year.

He came home for Christmas in his first airplane.

We met him at the airport, and he was--

he was scared to death.

You know, he-- he just--

he was just biting his nails and shit.

But I wasn't a criminal.

When I first went to the Boy's lndustrial school

in Lancaster was because my parents didn't want me,

you know?

So they went down and said, well, we don't want him.

You got to do something with him.

Well, they couldn't put me in a children's home

because I had parents, so they put me in star commonwealth

for boys in Albion, Michigan.

I was there for two weeks and ran away with two older boys.

They stole a car and we sat on each other's laps,

and one worked the pedal and one steered.

Got home and my parents called up and turned us in.

[music playing]

[vocalizing]

Woo.

Women loving outlaw, heard folks say.

And I'll be an outlaw till my dying day.

[applause and cheering]

You know.

I got a big Greyhound bus out here,

and there ain't nothing out there but Cadillacs.

These guards all drive Cadillacs.

That's the truth.

No, it really is.

It's the truth.

Now they told me that you all had a lot of drugs in here.

So now if they're driving Cadillacs

and you've got drugs in here, then

there must be a connection.

So I decided that I would call the FBI up and tell them

that there was drugs in the joint

and Cadillacs in the parking lot.

And I figured that the drugs and you ought

to be in the parking lot, and the Cadillacs

and them ought to be in here.

[applause]

Well, you know, I started sniffing this typewriter fluid.

You know-- you know how you sniff typewriter fluid [sniffs]

on the rag and everything?

And we got really, you know, pretty wasted.

Well, they got a truck that comes in

and brings guard's uniforms to the laundry, you know,

and they wash the guards clothes.

So this guy came in there with the truck,

and he parked it and got out.

And I says, hey, man--

I'd only been here about three weeks, you know--

I said, man, the guy--

the truck's still running.

The guy said, yeah man.

So I said, man, shit.

Let's get out of here, you know.

Let's take that truck and go on.

You ain't got nothing but an old fence.

So we jumped in his truck [vroom]

across the yard, 55 miles an hour, right into the gate,

nothing happened.

Nothing happened, man.

It didn't even move, you know?

So we jumped out the truck and we

got these little knives that we made, and we're saying,

mother fucker!

Open the gate!

He's standing with a machine gun, saying-- laughing.

Saying, are you guys crazy?

Man, you better open this gate!

With a little old knife, man.

This guy's got a gun.

So they took me to the hole and kicked my ass

and transferred me to Lewisburg Penitentiary.

Well, I got up there and I decided, well, man,

I'm gonna be cool, you know?

I'm not going to nothing wrong, so I

was walking in the dining hall.

And I was only 18 years old at the time, you know?

I still had one of those spit curls in my hair, you know?

Man, you know how when you walk in the dining hall,

it's just [blabbing].

You know, everything is going on.

Man, I walked in the dining hall.

I heard all this shit.

I got to the door, and I walked in and all of a sudden it was--

[shush] just total silence.

I looked around, everybody was looking at me, you know?

They was looking at me like I was Marilyn Monroe, you know?

So by the time I get to the table--

they got the seat-- you know, they

seat six people at a table.

Well, all the table is full over here,

and the guards stand here.

Some guy gets up and starts talking to the guard.

Hey, blah, blah, blah, blah.

By the time I get to the table there's

three dudes sitting there and another dude holding

my chair for me, you know?

So I sit down and put my tray down here, you know,

and they started firing them quick.

Where you from? What you doing?

What you in here for? Where you going?

How did blah, blah, blah-- firing them questions.

Do you want any cigarettes?

You need any-- I said, whoa, wait, man.

Shit, wait a minute, man, you know?

I stayed in my cell, you know, I was in--

you didn't have to go nowhere.

I didn't go nowhere.

I stayed in my cell for three weeks.

Didn't eat, didn't go to supper or nothing.

I was scared, you know?

I was 18 years old, scared.

So they come by and they had a pass.

They took me up to the warden's office.

And he says, what's wrong with you, boy?

I said, there ain't nothing wrong me, captain.

I just don't want to go out there with all them animals,

you know?

And he said, ah, them boys ain't going to hurt you.

I said, OK, man.

So they put me out there in the population, you know?

Well, the first day I was there, there

was two dudes standing over here washing their clothes in them--

in the mop buckets, you know?

And this other dude come up and says,

say, man, you got my bucket.

Dude said, man, it's a state bucket.

He said, man, that's my bucket, man.

Give me my bucket.

Man, get out of here, mother fucker.

I'm washing my-- man, give me that bucket.

The dude stabbed the dude to death

right there in front of me, man, over a state mop bucket, right?

They care that you do that?

I said, oh man.

Shit, I'm not staying here, you know?

Two days later I'm running across the yard, man.

You know, I'm out there and everybody's playing football.

And all of a sudden, some dude just runs right by me--

[shoop]

Another dude falls down.

[shoop] I look down and this dude's running with a baseball

bat knock this dude's head off.

Bam.

I wrote a letter to my mother.

I said, dear mom, man, you got to get me out of here.

I ain't never did nothing wrong in my life.

And whatever it is that they got me in here for,

I ain't never going to do it again.

Well, two days later, I was in the shower and this dude

come in and he said--

hey, mama.

And I said, say, man, you must have

me mixed up with somebody else.

He said, yeah, sure do, but not for long.

Well there was, you know, a mop bucket there,

and I said, look, man.

You know, you better leave me alone.

I was scared to death, you know?

So I eased back and I got this mop [inaudible],, you know?

So I said, bam.

I hit the dude in the head and he fell on the floor.

He said, man, I was just joking.

I said, mother fucker, ugh.

I found out right then that no matter how young

and skinny or pretty you are, you've

got the strength in your two arms

to kill a mother fucker if they fuck with you.

And ain't no one ever fucked with me since.

[MUSIC - DAVID ALLAN COE, "DEATH ROW"]

(SINGING) I want fresh teardrops from a newborn child in a cup

made in Timbuktu.

If you can't get that, try a stewed pole-cat

smothered with catfish brew.

I'll take the ears from a rat tail monkey

mixed with a spider's left eye.

And make me a salad of jungle roots from Africa

and I'll be ready to die.

Oh, warden.

Now you know just how I feel.

I'll be ready to die now just as soon as I eat my last meal.

[applause and cheering]

Thank you.

[applause and cheering]

[MUSIC - DAVID ALLAN COE, " RIVER"]

(SINGING) River, you heard my first cry as a baby.

And, like my mom, you sang me lullabies.

You knew my fishing pole when I was eight years old.

And, river, you never told me lies.

River, I can see you from my window.

Your muddy water makes me feel alone.

River, you you keep flowing like you

know just where you're going, but, River,

will you ever take me home?

River, I'm not proud of what I've done.

Somehow my fishing pole became a gun.

Through these prison bars, I see that you're still running free.

But, River, I've got no where to run.

River, I can see you from my window.

Your muddy water makes me feel alone.

River, you keep flowing like you know just where you're going,

but, River, will you ever take me home?

River, will you ever take me home?

Thank you very much.

[MUSIC - STEVE EARLE, "ELIJAH'S CHURCH"]

(SINGING) When I'm dead and I'm gone

won't you carry me home to that little white church

in my daddy's home town.

Lord knows I'm some kind of sinner.

But I've done come this far, and it's too late for changing.

When this race has been run take me back where I came from,

and let me return what I took from the ground.

When this body won't carry me no further,

take me home and lay me down.

[music playing]

All right.

[inaudible]

I'm out.

[inaudible]

This is the body.

Well, if you can't do that, then you can't do nothing.

I've heard it is, but [inaudible]..

I don't know.

- I don't know, either. - Listen to me.

John.

Check into a guy by the name of John [inaudible]..

He'll blow you away.

Try this.

ALL (SINGING): Silent night.

Holy night.

All is calm, all is bright.

Round yon virgin, mother and child.

Holy infant, so tender and mild.

Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night.

Shepard's quake in the night.

Round yon virgin, mother and child.

Holy infant, so tender and mild.

Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.

[inaudible]

[music playing]

[inaudible]

Oh, baby Jesus.

We coming to you.

[music playing]

(SINGING) Silent night, holy night.

Lord of all, all is bright.

Round yon virgin, mother and child.

Holy infant, so tender and mild.

Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.

Sleep in heavenly peace.

MAN 4: Does somebody have that on tape?