Singer-Songwriter Smackdown While in Limbo

We have semi-progress with the hitch, which is better than pseudo-progress and definitely better than a hitch in the hitch.

The hitch company in Michigan is servicing the crucial bearing part of the old hitch, and Tracy has ordered new parts from them, so with the old parts and the new parts, he’s going to rebuild the hitch and install it himself. We’ll be back on the road in April.

I have mixed feelings about this, seeing as how I hate that old hitch but I also appreciate that old hitch. Also, I am so tired of Texas and so ready to be back on the road. But, get this, I’m also getting the hang of Texas. See the photo up top? That’s Banjo in the Blue Bonnets. And, don’t roll your eyes at me, but I have yet another mom crush on a musician, this time on a Texan, Charlie Crockett.

I call it a mom crush because that’s what another mom-aged person called it when we were joking during a Billy Strings show eons ago. I think Billy was like 23 at the time, and this lady and I talked between songs about how we knew he’d be big, and we knew he’d have to face celebrityhood, and we wanted to make a flier to pass out at his shows (hoping he’d read it) all about how he should take care of himself on the road. We were such moms.

If you’ve spent five minutes with me over beers talking about music, I’ve shamelessly made you appreciate this photo of me and his Billyness in 2018. I was dazzled.

The same damned thing is happening to me now with this Texas singer/songwriter, is how I know I’ve been in Texas for too long. First, bluegrass music. Now country music. Lord help me. I’ve saved a reel of Charlie Crockett entering the Houston rodeo arena in a Cadillac.

I cannot make Tracy watch this reel, so I’m making you look at screencaps from it.

I did make Tracy have an absurd conversation about Charlie Crockett while we were having beers and sitting at a bar. See, I formulated the music-lovers‘ version of ‘Who would win, Thing v. Hulk,” in terms of “Let’s compare the trajectories of young stars: Billy Strings and Charlie Crockett with Bruce Springsteen.”

Tracy made me do the math, of course, and look at it logically. Although all three were absurdly hard-working, talented young men writing and playing and singing, turns out Bruce was just 26 years old when Born to Run came out. 26! And that was back when you needed a real record deal or tons of money to make an album. Let’s compare.

If you can’t read this tiny type, it’s each guy at 26 years old. A few serious caveats here.

#1 I’m no expert on any of these guys and may not have even done the math right. I read Bruce’s autobiography (I recommend it) and I have seen Billy Strings live a few times and I just started listening in earnest to Charlie Crockett. That’s it.

#2 Tracy’s the one who introduced me to both youngsters, although he’s not got any kind of crush and thinks I’m more than a little nuts about my hopes for Charlie Crockett. But get this, Charlie’s album that he just released last week is his first on a major label. And it’s very good. Times are turning for the Lonesome Traveler.

#3 There are probably a dozen young women out there working twice as hard as any of these guys and are just as talented, who didn’t make this smackdown. Or, maybe they couldn’t lead the kinds of early lives these guys did because it’s way too risky as a woman. I dunno, I’m just talking trash at the bar.

Can you tell we’re biding our time? I have started learning to sing Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain and to play it on the ukulele. I have walked the trail and said Hi to the rock, the tree, the hill several times a day.

We ordered a new tent but are at Amazon’s mercy on whether a new tent is actually available to us.

I sold the interim hitch to a guy on Facebook. When we met, we shook hands.

”Hi, I’m Shelly.

”My girlfriend’s name is Shelly!

”Wow! Is she a Michele, too?

Silence

”I don’t know! You’re a Michele, right? She’s probably a Michele, and I don’t even know that!”

Dude, he owes me twice as much as he paid for the hitch because I just saved his relationship. That is, if he can find out his girlfriend’s real name without asking her.

What else have I done? I have taken photos of my hair to see if my new purple shampoo made my gray hair look more silver. Has it?

I have lost the new purple shampoo somewhere between the showers and the trailer, which is a 30-second walk. That’s a new one for me. So, hold your vote, seeing as how I can’t replicate the results.

Actually, I can buy more shampoo with the money the guy owes me for relationship advice!

We need to get back on the road. Working on it.