Kentucky Jam

Uncle Bubba has found himself back up in the hills and hollers of eastern Kentucky. When Uncle Bubba shows up to work, there is no problem building rapport among the local workers, but too often the days end for him alone in a hotel room. Well, on this trip Uncle Bubba started off on a different foot for two reasons, Sweet Pea was with him on this trip and while at work he struck up a conversation about music. This immediately struck a chord with one of the local fellas and they enjoyed a repartee about types and styles of music as well as the fun of playing music. For those of you that don't know, Uncle Bubba loves to strum a guitar and sing along. As the day drew to an end, his new acquaintance Jerry invited him to a jam session. So after work Bubbie got cleaned up and slicked down and had some dinner; a PB&J in his room. Then he grabbed his ol' flattop and he and Sweet Pea drove to meet his new buddy Jerry at a gas station. Bubbie pulled up to the side of the building and slipped the car into park. They watched the local Kentuckians roll in and out of the service station. This particular station had a full service island and a young man with a blonde crewcut and a company shirt stood at the pump and waited for cars to pull up for service. Four dudes with motorcycles stood near Bubbie's car chatting and checking out the girls driving by. Jerry pulled up shortly thereafter and walked over to Bubbie's car in his sleeveless t-shirt. He asked if they wanted to buy some drinks while they were there since he wasn't sure that there would be much where they were headed. Uncle Bubba took him up on the offer. Knox County is a dry county so they picked up some Mountain Dew for the road. Then it was back to their vehicles and Bubbie followed Jerry up the holler to the house. They pulled up into the drive and navigated between the pickup trucks and parked. There was a little white house tucked neatly into the trees and a detached garage up in front of where they had parked. Sweat Pea and Bubbie climbed out of their car and followed Jerry up the path and into the garage.

When they walked in Bubbie felt like a turd in the punch bowl. All eyes were on Sweet Pea and Bubbie, "Stranger alert!" But after a little while, like dogs allowing a new dog to join the pack, they warmed up to him and took to their instruments. Having Sweet Pea there no doubt helped cuz they liked that purty smellin' fancy lady. The homeowner's name was Ron and he was a good ol' boy. He was slender with slicked back silver hair and a rather bulbous proboscis. He had a welcoming, friendly personality and was never too far from a cigarette. Ron had an awesome man cave there in his garage that had a bar a big wooden table and chairs and his whole "band" set up at one end.

These boys were serious and had amps and a PA system! Uncle Bubba was there just to sit in but they immediately demanded that he play and sing something. Bubbie had to do a couple songs and then they seemed to be cool with that and accept him is an OK dude. As an aside, he noticed that he was the only feller in the place that had brown eyes. Every other person there was blue eyed. Bubbie has noticed a lot of these Kentuckians have blue eyes. They then proceeded to jam for 3 straight hours. There were 5 guitars a banjo player and a bass. They were real tight on singing 4 part harmonies, which something you don't hear much in popular music anymore; and that's a cryin' shame. Bubbie didn't know most of the songs they played but he was able to hang with them all night long. They kept looking for Jerry to sing some songs but like a bee to honey, he was much more intent on keeping Sweet Pea company. He finally got up and sang at the end of the night. By the time they quit it was handshakes all around and they told him to come back next week. To Bubbie that was the most awesome compliment. In Bubbie's view it was another reminder of how music has opened a lot of doors and added a richness to his life that he never could have imagined.