11.15.2005

Celtic Country

Well scrub my pot!  What a time C.W. and I had at the Rodeo Bar last night!  First we had run up past Carnegie Hall cuz Chicky Wicky was a hopin' to see how big  Trace Adkins really is, while I was hopin' to catch a glimpse of my idol, Little Jimmie Dickens. 
     Instead we found a very gussied up group of folks standing in line to be let in with nary a spangle or a sequin in sight.  We figgered the stars had all ready gone into the dressing room so we headed down to the Rodeo Bar, for some fine food and entertainment.
    As usual we were not disappointed--first up was a great country band backing Lane Turner, a newly signed Warner Bros. recording artist direct from West Texas . He sounds as good as he looks and his band was tight as a drum. Next came the infamous Jack Grace Band, the very Rodeo booker himself, and they graced us with all kinds of tunes from the Hag to Zep.  They showed folks you can live in the apple and still do it up country all right.
    Smack dab in the middle of the room was a great table of Irish folks who have come all the way to our fine shores just for the Country Music Awards.  They are the third group of Irish visitors we've been lucky enough to meet this week and they'll be the first to tell you about their love of country music.  ALL country music.
    We all agreed that it makes perfect sense.  After all if you think about it-most of us started out on the other side of the pond, often referred to by our forefathers as "the old country" with tales of how they had brought their old-timey songs and ways with us when we got a fresh start here in this big new land.
    Many of the Appalachian dwellers hailed originally from Ireland, Scotland and such parts.   Then the Carter Family drove through, heard all those old celtic tunes wafting down the trailside, sometimes with a fiddle or auto-harp playing along with it. They recorded it and called it American country music.
     Even our country clogging is just a less formal Riverdance.  That form of Irish dancing with their hands held tight behind their backs..  Where I come from if we get our feet a-going then we just have to get our hands a workin' out front to, else we might just spontaneously combust.
      It was so nice to chat with these Irish folk who were just as lovely and as enjoyable as you can imagine.  They wanted to take pictures with us so each took a turn at a photo with Lindy LOO lifting her hat and her skirt just for them, sharing a giggle or a wink.  All under the watchful eye of C.W.  of course.
    Talk about eat, drink and be Merry--all that and more! YEE Haw!  Scrub my POT!

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