Song Stories- Jupiter Coyote- Tying Things Together. I wrote this song in Macon, GA around 1994. I was living on Jefferson Terrace in a small apartment. The night before, I had been in about a 12 hour jam session with one of the owners of a bar called O'Neally's in Macon. His name was Neal. If I recall correctly the band had just played there and I hung around after the gig, all night, and well into the morning in this jam session. It was Neal, me and Catfish. Neal was a pretty good guitar picker and we had been wanting to jam together. Every one else had long gone, loaded out and went home. I had recently been reading an article about Dicky Betts and The Allman Brothers, and Dicky was talking about these psychedelic parties and jam sessions they would have down in Rose Hill Cemetery back in the early 70's. Dicky was talking about doing psychoactive substances, and how he was curious to see if taking them would open up any new artistic and creative perspective in his playing. I don't recall his conclusion but it spawned my curiosity. That said, I thought I would try that experiment for myself that night after the O'Neally's show. One tab under the tongue. Nothing too heavy, just a test. All I will say is that you don't choose where you get off the train. It lets you off where it lets you off. I wanted to see, as did Dicky, if it opened up any new artistic insights, or an aspect of my guitar playing I was not aware I had. I do not recommend folks doing this. It is not for every one. Long- short, there were some amazing jams, we played for about 12 hours. My fingers hurt. I finally walked out of the bar. The sun was well up, mid morning. Packed my gear and went home.
When I got home, I sat down to reflect on where I had been and what I remembered, which was not much. I really tried to grasp any piece of that space I was in. Nothing would come back, nothing new, nothing ground breaking or any great revelation. For me, I simply got dumped off right where I got on. I remember feeling kind of disappointed, almost sad. It got me thinking bigger picture. I really felt like I had no idea what I was doing and where I was going and why I was even doing it. Just a young man trying to find his way, like we all do, in this world, with no road map. I was questioning everything. I picked up my acoustic guitar and I wrote this song in about 15 minutes. I was able to pull that melody out of the moment. I don't know if we jammed on it the night before or not, it just came out right there on the spot. I often say, I don't write songs, I kind of receive them.
So this song is what came out of that experience. When it says I'm still taking trips to understand my core, know what that means. Lyrically, I feel this is one of the most poignant songs I have ever written. Not regretful about this particular experience, but more profoundly sad about how my life seemed to be playing out. It's a painfully honest song. I sacrificed a lot of stuff along the way trying to get my music out there, and myself to some place I thought I was suppose to be. Some level of success, accomplishment, validation, whatever the prize or goal I had set for myself, realistic or not. My personal life stayed in shambles. I was gone all the time, aloof, distracted, self absorbed. I kept myself busy with the work of the band, kept as much noise as possible around me so I did not have to hear and face the painful truths lurking below the surface. I had created my own traveling prison, where I did not have to emotionally connect. So this song is really about taking a good look at yourself and coming to conclusion that there has to be a better way, and you need to try and find it, or you are going to end up old, bitter, and all alone. So, much like "Spiral" we looked at last week, this song is kind of more of that reflective, pondering self examination. I still grapple with this kind of stuff everyday. I think we all do. Many days I still feel like I'm just spinning my wheels, chasing my tail, tying things together that don't have any ends. At least now I am more able to just sit with it, accept it, let it go, and move on, hopefully with a glad heart.
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Tying Things Together
I just watched another year slowly pass me by
Time's winged chariot has surely made me wise
I'm still taking trips to understand my core
I ain't learned nothing yet I didn't know before
Tune carries my soul like the river carries silt
I'm living in some walls I could only build
Can you catch me when my race is run
Like Icarus I'll probably fly too close to the sun
Is this the way, I'm suppose to live
Can I see the signals that the keeper gives
Is this the way I'm suppose to live
Tying things together that don't have any ends
Now I wander down the road just looking for me
Most the time I find the things I don't want to see
You got to be careful when your living near the bone
That you don't end up growing old and dying all alone.
Song Stories- Jupiter Coyote- Spiral. I had put this one up before but I'm going to come back to it cause there is a lot in here I don't think folks understand completely. Yes, I wrote this song in Boulder, CO. We had just played The Bluebird Theater in Denver. That parking lot conversation mentioned in the first verse was really a back handed compliment from a fan, it started this whole song idea. But, the underlining motivation for writing this song was not totally inspired by a girl suffering from her own personal identity crisis, and so desperately wanting to be "In the know" (self attachment to something in an attempt to appear cool, usually driven by fear and insecurity) as I call it. The theme runs way deeper than that.
So what is it? Well, that conversation got me thinking about a topic I have thought about many times for many years. My wife was listening to author Christopher Ryan's "Civilized To Death" on audible last night and it occurred to me he was talking about Spiral. Not literally, but in premise. It made me think about this song again. Why are so many of us unhappy, stressed to the max, depressed, struggling, hopeless, have no idea who we are, and just plain unfulfilled. Many times I have felt like I don't like this box society, culture, and this man made economic institution of survival, it has crammed me in. There are so many demands placed on us everyday to survive in this system that it can be overwhelming, desperate, demoralizing. All driven by the need for having, or making money to exist in it. On top that, we are constantly bombarded with people, companies, and ads telling us we need more. We can't be happy til we have this, drive that, go there, do this, get that. It never stops. It has often made me feel very angry, unhappy, and ungrateful. So Spiral is kind of what Ryan is talking about. We have advanced, or civilized, our way into a downward spiral.
"On some downward turn
Of an evolutionary crash and burn"
The next lines clearly paint a bleak picture and its by our own doing. We made our bed.
"Falling straight from the sky
In a bed we sinned in."
Second verse is about my good Friend Keith Holaman. I met him in Colorado a long time ago when he was bouncing and working the door at a place we used to play in Breckenridge called Joshas. He was from Zephyr, TX and his family raised prized bulls for the rodeo circuit. Keith was woke as I say. Grounded, dialed in. He did not like the machine/system either. We worked like mules together for a few years for my dad in WNC on this kind of organic, cow pasture, 9 hole golf course he had going. The toting sand line is about us hauling sand in buckets to cover the greens when we were leveling them. Keith, or Keets as we called him, talked the talk, but he walked the walk. He was fearless, kind, smart, artistic, funny, and spiritual. He was off grid and I wanted to be like him, but I did not have the balls to drop all the baggage and creature comforts. I was afraid and had been throughly conditioned to chase the illusion.
When I was about 5, I would just go into the woods at Deerwoode and be by myself in nature and chill. There was one grove of very old, huge White Pines, some hundreds of years old in there. It was like a cathedral, majestic, tranquil. The wind would blow through the needles, hawks, deer, snakes, all kinds of animals. I found peace in those quiet times in there. I would just be still and sit quiet. I think it's my Indian blood and it runs very strong in nature, spirituality, and the metaphysical order of everything. Sensing that order and our relation in it, I have always felt something was fundamentally wrong with our method of living. I think it goes back about 8000 years starting with the collectivization of farming. We moved from hunters and gatherers, taking only what we needed, to primitive farmers and settlers, growing more than we needed and domesticating animals. There was a split, an opening of Pandora's box, with the first glimpse of what we call progress, and the insatiable chase for the golden age was on.
So we have bought into this system. Or rather we were born into it and forced to comply by a governing class and set of laws that often only benefit the ones making or influencing them. It's at every level of our society now, and the economic divide from it only widens every year. The history books don't really paint the whole picture of how the west was truly won. It's an ugly snap shot of manifest destiny. The Indians here clearly saw right through it and most wanted no part of it. The last verse is about being stuck in that box, that system. Wrapped up in a neat economic package and sent on down the assembly line. Gobbled up, ground to pieces, spit out, and used up, all while being shown the highlight reels of the better life, the shiny objects, and all the glitter. Spiral, in summation, is just a snippet of the realization that our progress, and the grass is always greener mentality, and the unattainable quest for more, may well be our undoing. We have been blinded, and the destination we seek, is an illusion at best, even if we could see it, it's not what we think. A sleight of hand, a trick, and it won't mean a thing at the end of the line. It's very intoxicating bait, as I still cannot seem to break free from going after it. I struggle everyday to find my way in it. I see no possible way to navigate these times with no spiritual center. At least for me. I'm certainly not speaking for anyone else.
"Now I wander down the road just looking for me
most the time I find the things I don't want to see."
That line will be in the next song story coming as we continue on this topic.
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Song Stories, Jupiter Coyote- Life Got In The Way
This is the first track on the new JC cd Life Got In The Way. I wrote this song with my good friend Scott Little from Milledgeville, GA. I have known Scott since probably 1991, we go back a long way and I have been a fan of his for many years. His style covers a lot of ground. He has written some killer songs and if you have not heard any of his stuff, take some time and check it out. He is a very good singer and picker, and clever, insightful writer. I'm frankly surprised he does not have a fat publishing deal out of Nashville, he should.
So Scott and his wife Julia came up to my house at Deerwoode in Brevard, NC a few years ago and stayed a day or two. We sat on the sunporch one afternoon, drank a few beers, and wrote this very autobiographical, reflective song about youthful dreams, life on the road in a rock n roll band, disappointment, getting older, and finally surrender, and acceptance. There is a saying that goes life is what happens while we are busy making plans to do other things. It just happens, it's right now, and thats all we really get. Tomorrow is not guaranteed.
That first verse is about my basketball ride to college. I was a high school All American, went to South Carolina on a full ride. Tore my patella tendon off my knee cap going into my freshman year. It was a tough rehab back. It was scary, You work your whole life to do something and in one injury it can vanish right before your eyes. I had surgery, it held together and I played three more years. After a run in with the NCAA, I went to Wofford. That is another story coming, oh my, wait til you hear all of that stuff. So, I could have gone to Europe after college to play bb but decided to play music instead. I would be a liar if I don't wonder about that decision sometimes. I love to play basketball, still do. My kids both play and I love going to the gym with them and playing pick up games at The Kroc Center. My wife says I get one more strike with injuries and and I have to stop playing. Hey, I got one left. LOL
Second verse is about starting the band. I bought an old Ford Econoline 150 van from a friend of mine in Brevard named John Hamilton. He played in a killer country band called Nuthin Fancy. It was their old band van. We started the band, at first called The Rockafellas, then JC in 1990, hit the road, played everywhere, had a pretty good run for about 18 years. Then 911 killed us. It was the beginning of that long break from touring. Life got in the way. We all got married, had a pile of kids and no one in the band wanted to shirk their responsibility of being a dad. We were gone all the time folks, 260 shows a year. You cannot be a dad, a husband, or anything and gone that much. So we put the brakes on. That break was suppose to be a year, it led to 3, to 5 to about 8 before we played together again. I think we were just burned out too. We had toured coast to coast for 20 years, played thousands of shows. Touring had become a drudgery. I would look around on stage and could tell that none of us really wanted to be there anymore. You can do it too much. So we took a much needed break. Kids are growing up now so we can get back out and play some shows, but it's cherry picking touring, no more 200 days a year on the road stuff, that is too much for old farts like us.
Third verse is simply about acceptance of what is, the present moment, and being ok with it. We took a long break, I did not think anyone out there would even care about us, but I tell you, the JC fans are still there and thank you guys for not forgetting about us. We are having more fun than ever playing right now. Band is more prolific than ever, it's fun and guys are enjoying it again, all of us. So take a listen to the song. It's pretty close to the bone for me. Much thanks to Scott and John Meyer too. If you like these stories, share them, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and by all means come see us live. That is how we survive. MBM
Life Got In The Way
I told them all goodbye
Standing in my drive
And my high school summer
faded into my four year ride
In no time I was on that pine
Sidelined with a busted knee
Wondering if I should have been
Chasing down a different dream
And all those might have beens
And grandiose plans
Hurt less and seem to fade
Life Gets in the way
Me and a couple my friends
We plied in an old Ford van
Running down the nights white lines
Burning candles at both ends
Testifying, stump preaching
Rolling from town to town
Tried hard to reach those stars
But we never left the ground
And all the twist and turns in life
I wouldn't change a one
Why worry about tomorrow
When today is not done
For a while I was present
But I wasn't really there
I went and checked out for awhile
I thought no one would care
And I know all about intentions
And the road that they pave
Just trying to be here now and
Grateful for another day
And I'm right where I need to be
He's watching over me
Tomorrows not guaranteed
Don't let life get in the way.
The Raptor Trail-All Is Forgiven. John Meyer and I wrote this song. This is one of my favorite RT songs. It's such a redemptive song. It's a song about looming change, loss, self atonement, disappointment, acceptance, and ultimately forgiveness. Simply surrendering to the moment of what is without giving up or losing hope. We all have trials and tribulations. We can experience fantastic views from above the chaos in one moment and struggle to see from below the next. It's part of the human condition. But there is a deep breathe of ease I get from this song. Give it a listen.
All Is Forgiven
Oh, I'm going to miss this place
On the edge of the wild
Trading the tallest Poplar groves
For an asphalt mile
Got to keep your faith
Your not the villain
All is forgiven.
Oh, I had the grandest plans
On the edge of the wild
All hearts were glad in the morning sun
But the dream never begun
So, wheres the silver lining
I know theres always one
So maybe I 'll just be here now
But not forget from where I come.....
Jupiter Coyote- Real Thing. I wrote this song on a sidewalk in Boone, really, in about 1992. The band had played in Huntsville, AL the night before and for some reason our sound man, Catfish, and I drove the band truck all night from AL to Boone. We arrived at the bar we were playing in that night very early. It was a place called Sollecitoes. It was an Italian restaurant on one side and a rock, band room on the other side. It was a fun place to play. We would pack that place with ASU students.
So Catfish and I were there early before load in, and about half cross eyed from the drive and other related activities. The doors to the club were locked so I pulled out that old black Takamine guitar and started fooling with that song. I made up most of the music and lyrics right there on the spot.
Mr S in the first verse was Mr. Sollecitoe. He was the old Italian man that owned the place and if it was your birthday he would come over to your table with a jam box on his shoulder and sing "Thats Amore" to you. He was actually a very good singer. He has long since passed away and the bar is no longer there.
Second verse is about my first ABB show in Atlanta. Warren Haynes had just joined the band and and they were absolutely killer that night. I was on the seventh row with some buds from Macon, Gene, Catfish, Big Dog, a Coors Light Party Ball we snuck in, and hog legs. It was a really fun night.
Third verse is about HHI and the Old Post Office. We used to play there all the time and usually when we got done and they threw everyone out, the band would sit at the bar and our friend Bubbie would make us Black and Tans, on tap, with Harp and Guinness. They were outstanding. Just a great memory, and a second to chill out after a show with a few beers and some friends. Now for the record, the I ain't drunk line comes from a song by blues great Albert Collins. Catfish used to play that cassette in the truck all the time. I just borrowed that line as it seemed to fit, and it was a tip of the hat to Albert as well.
The theme of this song is really about the party life style. It was everywhere in the rock n roll world. You can easily become trapped in it. You become everyone's good time. There comes a point in your career where you realize you need to hit the brakes or you are going to crash. That is what the tag line is all about. That crash is the real thing and you don't want to go there. We had a really good group of guys in the band, still do, and we were all pretty serious about the music, so we were able to keep that kind of wildness in check. We had our fun, we just did not carry it on stage. It's a weird thing being out on the road 250 days a year playing music, different town every night. All kinds of bad things can jump on you. I saw many that did not make it and simply could not handle it.
Several major country artist have considered cutting this song. One backed out in fear of being sued by Coke. Another afraid of the drug innuendo. JC, we were so under the radar no one cared. Sometimes it's good to not be heard on such a grand scale, although I don't think this would even be an issue today. Good lord some of the stuff I hear in the lyrics these days is pretty rough.
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I'm sitting on a sidewalk in Boone
Ain' got nothing better to do
Mr S sings a song or two
Thats Amore
Rolled and railed here a time or two
Probably end up downtown before were through
You got coke you got the real thing
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Chastain Atlanta GA
I went to see The Allman Brothers play
Didn't leave quite the same way
Cause I was smoking in a blaze of glory
Well they rolled up a number
And they sent it my way
I sure do love to hear the brothers play
You hear that you hear the real thing
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An island drunk is all I am
I been sitting at the bar mixing black and tans
Can't say nothing for the shape I'm in
I ain't drunk Im just drinking
You can ride so high on a plane load of fools
One day so you run out of fuel
When you hit ground, son thats the real thing.
Jupiter Coyote- Willow. I wrote this song when I was pretty young. Don't recall the exact year but probably around 1990. This song kind of shows my Doobie Brother influence. I had this bluesy piece of music and knew I wanted to write a kind of southern rock, epic song, that started off very slow and mellow and then broke into a gallop. This was it. We recored it on the first JC album in Decatur, AL and we had to splice two reels of tape together to record it as it was so long. Long songs are nothing now in the digital age but back when we were recording on two inch tape it was tricky.
Lyrically this song is about a young man, somewhat autobiographical, and the intoxicating lure of a traveling life and all its excitement, and loneliness that comes with it. It's really about the self realization that you don't want to just be floating around on the wind all your life. There comes a time to put down roots, to have a sense of home, and a meaningful connection to someone. It's a nod to our beloved south land. The Willow is just a symbol of the the sadness that comes from someone never letting anyone love them. But it ends on a happy note, as the drifter returns home, finds love, and happiness.
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Willow
A wise one once said to young Willow
Take to the earth not to the wind
Or you'll be lonely when your older
Yourself to blame for the fix your in
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Now Willow he could never listen
He had to know the reasons why
Too far gone to change his thinking
Never turned his head when he said goodbye
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Why is willow weeping
Longing for what he left behind
Does he feel like his life is creeping
On that place he'll never find
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For years he danced out on the wind
Never once would he lay his head
Never called out to his lover
What she did not hear, he never said
Soon the season started the yearning
Dug his roots in southern clay
Too numb to fire to feel that urning
Guess he found his resting place
CHO
Yester years were quite confusing
But today clear a a bell
Spend my time writing the readings
That will one day surely tell my tale
So lay your head back down on your pillow
Take a walk down on southern clay
I'll be there under that willow
Waiting for you baby when you awake
CHO
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Jupiter Coyote- Crazy Women. Well I had to get to this one. This song we wrote in Macon, GA in John Felty and Ned Grubb's house around 1988. We used to practice in a spare room there sometimes. Well, our drummer Matt Trevitt had come into rehearsal and was telling us this story about his then girlfriend pulling a gun on him and sticking it in his chest. It was a 22 pistol he had. We thought he was joking at first but when we realized he was not, it got kind of quiet, and I said "Crazy Women." Right then I just started noodling on my acoustic guitar and started playing that 4 chord melody, which was the silliest thing I could come up with as I was trying to lighten the room and make Trev laugh. I just started scat singing Crazy women over that melody. Trev and Felty joined in. Oddly Felty was playing bass as Ned was not there yet. I then started making up nonsense verses and it was so funny after about five minutes, we said you know what, everyone needs to pull out that one crazy they know and write a verse about her. So we did. I wrote Trev's verse and the first one. John wrote the second, and Ned the third. It did not have a chorus at the time. We ended up recording it on the first Rockafellas cd with no chorus.
After a name change for the band, we went to record with Johnny Sandlin in Decatur, AL. One night when Jim Bickerstaff was engineering, we decided on a whim to just cut Crazy Women again. We had no intention of putting it on that album. So we tracked it and Jim stopped us after it and said, man that is catchy, but it needs a chorus instead of the nah nah nahs. So Jim and I sat down and wrote the chorus right there. I went back in the vocal booth and sang it. It was such a fun, light song we decided to include it on the first JC album Cemeteries & Junkyards. Rest is history.
Funny how the silliest song you could ever write turns out to be the most popular. We still cannot figure out why girls like it. LOL
Last part of the story. We played O'Neallys in Macon one night early in our career. The place was a dive bar, scary, and we would just pack it with Mercer kids. Well, we got to the end of the show and we had played everything we knew, out of songs. Crowd was wild and wanted more. So Trevitt says let's play that Crazy Women song. I did not want to but on a whim, we did. Man it was bedlam, that place went nuts after about the third round of the chorus.
There you have it. It's a catchy little ditty and Darius Rucker and Jake Owen have both told me they wanted to cut it. I wish one of them would. The names of all involved crazies have intentionally been left out of this story. They are all famous now and they know who they are. If you like these stories, please share and take a few seconds to Like us on Facebook.
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Crazy Women
I knew a kittle girl not long ago
She took a liking to me
She opt to take a ride for a while
On a horse she thought she could tame so wild and free
She always had to have her way
Guess she liked it better that way
Wanted me ti build her a happy home
Now she's living all alone in Dallas, Texas
CHO
Crazy women
That's the only kind I know
Crazy women
Keep me running for the door
Crazy women
Well I guess they're all the same
Crazy women
Got my foolish heart to blame
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Well I knew a little girl not long
Innocent and sweet she seemed to be
Beauty and grace she wore
So preciously she aimed to please
But a suit of pride could not hide
A heart that was filled with insecurity
Truck load of dreams she missed
Rolled off in the streets of immaturity
Kickback Jerry
CHO
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Norvil knew a girl when he was young
She was so alive so high strung
Put on crack, quaaludes, and LSD
Had a plan for everything thought she knew what was best for him
He got tired of being told what he should be
Now he' he and she is she
As for happiness there is no lack
Norvil's never looking back
Over his shoulder on a sunny day
CHO
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She said she was leaving me
Walking in my front door yesterday
Since she's gone away
I haven't seen my place look -quite that way
One too many drinks I guess
She stick a pistol in my chest, damn girl
Life's too short to live like that
Think its time i get my hat
And my walking shoes..
CHO
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Rose Hill- I wrote this song in Macon, Ga around 1990. The band had been down in Rose Hill cemetery one day taking promo pictures and we were in the old section of the graveyard. We had been to the burial site of Duane Allman and Barry Oakley, and we were just milling around in there. I happen to notice in one section that there were wildflowers growing all over the place and all up through these old headstones. It was beautiful, in a strange way. I went home that night and wrote that song. I was renting an apartment on Jefferson Terrace and late, or really early the next morning, I kept hearing these birds singing outside my window. I thought it really odd for them to be singing in the pitch dark at such an odd hour, again, beautiful in a strange way. So Rose Hill is named after that cemetery in Macon, and the song is really a somewhat mystical song about youth, dreams, the cycles of life, and finding beauty in odd places and times. I was pretty young when I recorded this, my voice got a lot deeper after a few albums. Kind of funny to listen to this. Still as awesome jam live, love playing this song. If you like these stories, please take a second and like us on Facebook.
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Rose Hill
Rose Hull is a beautiful thing in a strange way
Like a graveyard covered in wild flowers
Song birds that only sing in that late hour
Slip into the night, let yourself feel
All of your dreams can be real, so real
Now beauty's in the eye of the beholder
Never growing up, just older
Winter's getting warmer not colder
I'm feeling the weight upon my shoulders
Running down the harbor drive, two lovers from a play
Making love on the dock beside the waterway
Rose Hill, Rose Hill
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Rose Hill is a beautiful thing in a strange way
Like a song that you sing for those that have gone
Spirits are dancing on the catacombs
Slip into the night, let your body feel
All of your dreams can be real, so so real...
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Song Stories, Jupiter Coyote- Man In Your Band
I wrote this song back in the summer of 1994 I think. This song is all true. There was a gal from Ga I had been dating at the time, and things did not work out for us. I was on the road for long stretches of time back in those days. It was tough to maintain any kind of relationship with anyone. No cell phones, no internet. It's much easier to keep in touch now.
Some folks think life on the road is a fun filled, party driven, revolving door, filled with groupies, and for some bands, maybe it was. But I can tell you for us, it was not. We loved playing music, and the camaraderie of a brotherhood dedicated to playing music. Sure we meet plenty of girls along the way, but it was not the kind of stuff you would hear about on an episode of VH1 behind the music. We had fun, we partied, but we picked our times, usually on nights off on the road. We tried really hard to not carry problems to the stage. I think it was our escape zone, and we realized early in our career that we were a much better band when we were not all messed up. We were recording live every night. Tapers were lined up at the sound board and as we used to say, "Tape Don't Lie."
So Man In Your Band is the true story of a failing relationship, as truthful as it could be written. The road is a hard place to maintain relationships. In those days you were at the mercy of a calling card and a pay phone. When we would stop to fill up for gas, guys would try to maintain and salvage their personal lives on a quick phone call. It was difficult. The sacrifices that were made on both ends of the relationship line were immense. It ain't easy being the significant other to a traveling musician. It's not. Temptation is everywhere, for girls at home and guys on the road. Loneliness, hurt feelings, resentment, anger, you name it. All the gamut of the human condition, it was all there. We all saw it on both sides.
I know this now. Pain is real. We all have it. I don't care where you are and how well you think you got it going on, there is a 600 pound turd waiting in your street. It's just a matter of time til you step in it. . And it's ok. It's a truly shared human condition. It will either draw you to your spiritual center, or you will be miserable.
As for the people this song is about, I won't get into name dropping, but they all know, and I still keep in touch with them. Great people, all of them. I was in Colorado when I wrote this song. Actually, I started writing it on the road in California, and I finished it in Colorado. The Rack N Roll was a bar in Colorado Springs. I really did meet my then girlfriend's ex there, of all places. It was kind of surreal. I have to add here, he is a great dude. We got a good laugh out of the whole debacle. Man In Your Band is a bittersweet tale, a true story, and again reminds me of all the things that got ground in the gears along the way, as a result of following one's dream. No shame, no guilt, no bad blood, just the way things played out.
The road is filled with all kinds of emotions. It can be exhilarating to walk on stage and play for people every night, and then it can be one of the most lonely, isolated places you could find yourself. The swinging of that pendulum was, and still is, more than many musicians can handle, and their lives fall into shambles. Alcohol and drug addition, divorce, all kinds of bad things can jump on you. You hit the road 250 days a year and you will find out real quick why you are doing what you are doing. We would have friends jump in the truck from time to time, and after about three days, they were ready to go home. Like how in the hell do you guys do this? 500 mile rides, 17 hour days, motels, house keeping, crap food, playing and traveling, being sick, it ain't no picnic. We were working musicians and it's how we made our living. It is how I still make mine.
Part of the reason JC has stood the test of time is the strength of our friendships, and the love of playing music together. I often say, it is one of the most congenial and down to earth group of rockers you will ever meet. On top of that, we have fantastic fans, so many have become close friends as we have all kind of grown up together.. If you like these stories, please share with your friends, and spread the music. And by all means come see us live.
Man In Your Band
Every time I go to Colorado
My life just falls apart
Another beginning has come to an end
Before it had a chance to start
And with every phone call I could feel us drifting
Further and further apart
Well I went off to fight cause I had to go
And you had to stay behind
Now there's another man asleep in your bed
Playing my Jody Grind
If this wrenching in my guts would ever go away
Then I guess I'd be just fine
Well I didn't have much, but what I had
I was giving it all to you
I'm sorry about the way things started off
I never, ever meant to hurt you
You evened up the score, even ran it up more
Than you ever had to do
CHO
And I'm playing second fiddle to the man in your band
I don't if he's better than me
But he's there and close at hand
And you sat there in my kitchen and I played you songs
wrote
This one I'm afraid you'll never know...
Well I'm standing on a corner in Boulder Colorado
And I wish I could go home
I was way too stubborn to give in
Now I'm busted up all alone
I reckon' Ive got the rest of my life
To figure out where I went wrong
But I ran into your old lover last night
Down at The Rack N Roll
I said it's funny I should see you here
There's something I want you to know
I just wish I could have been as cool as him
When it was time for letting you go
There's a mean ole dog follows me around
Breaking my peace of mind
And whatever it is I keep searching for
It's getting pretty hard to find
But there won't be a day goes by
You don't cross my mind
CHO