COUNTRY MUSIC

In 1987, on one of our annual trips from England to Tenerife in the the Canary Islands, quite by accident one evening we wandered by an open air cafe fronting the seashore. A singer was entertaining diners. We leaned on the promenade rail a few yards distant and listened. I didn't recognise the songs, but I liked the atmosphere, and "the voice". He was obviously either English, American or Australian. His accent was London-ish, the songs were American, and his outfit was reminiscent of Crocodile Dundee ! We were intrigued.

This was the start of a new musical trend for me. Tom Keenan, a Londoner, "the voice", introduced me to country music that evening, and I became a fan of the music and a friend of "the voice".

The photograph, atop this blog entry shows Tom centre, with me and my late partner, sometime in the 1990s.

Songs of Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Don Williams... and countless others had me hooked. Classic, intelligent, emotional and sometimes witty lyrics do not deserve the derision they often get from music snobs. This was a whole new vista for me to explore. And I did.

We continued to visit Tenerife once or twice a year until 2000. Tom still sings on the island. He is "of a certain age", but from his energy and voice you'd never guess it. I took my husband on a brief trip to Tenerife before I emigrated to the US. I introduced him to Tom. Tommy sang all my favourites that night, including Merle Haggard's "Ramblin' Fever"

My hat don't hang on the same nail too long
My ears can't stand to hear the same old song
An' I don't leave the highway long enough
To bog down in the mud
'Cos I've got ramblin' fever in my blood
Caught this ramblin' fever long ago
When I first heard a lonesome whistle blow
If someone said I ever gave a damn,
Man, they damn sure told you wrong
I've had ramblin' fever all along


And Tommy sang a special song in memory of my late partner (his favourite song , written by Waylon Jennings)

Omaha you've been weighing heavy on my mind
I guess I never really left at all
I'm turning all those roads I've walked around the other way
And coming back to you, Omaha.

Omaha, Nebraska wasn't good enough for me
I always thought I was the roamin' kind
With a pocket full of dreams and my one shirt on my back
I left there looking for some things to find.........................

Now I live in Oklahoma, not far from the Texas border, country music is at home here, and so am I. I miss Tommy though!

I'm sad to have to add here that Tommy died on 28 January 2008, in hospital in Tenerife. Nobody who knew him, and his voice, will ever forget him. RIP old friend.

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My new circumstances have brought me into contact with yet another musical genre - jazz.