Bug Zappers and Jerry Jeff

Late night drives + caffeine to stay awake = staying up long after I get to where I need to be. Tomorrow (errr, today) is going to be fun.

On the drive tonight, I was happily listening to some new music (Mumford and Sons and Avett Brothers) until my Ipod decided it was unhappy with its work hours and went on strike. I switched over to XM once I realized the Ipod had given up the ghost for the night. While channel surfing XM, I stumbled across a few Jerry Jeff Walker songs.

If you are from Texas, particularly the Austin area, you are probably somewhat familiar with Jerry Jeff's music. Similarly, if you've listened much to Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, you've probably heard Jerry Jeff. His main claim to fame is probably "Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother," although "Mr. Bojangles" is another good one. The last song I came across tonight was "Gettin' By." The only way I can really describe what his music means to me is to call it "comfort music" - sort of akin to comfort food.

My family has a cabin up in southern Missouri; it has been in the family for several generations. It is in a very rural part of Missouri, out in the middle of nowhere, down three miles of dirt and gravel roads and across two creeks that often flood. When I was growing up, we would make the four hour trip up to that cabin several times a year to visit my aunt, uncle, cousin, and grandmother. I can remember a time when the cabin itself did not have an indoor bathroom - you had to trek about 30 feet across the yard to a bathhouse when you needed a shower or when nature called. It was fine during the day, but not much fun when nature called in the middle of the night and it was pitch black outside.

I used to love making those trips, even if it meant several long hours in the car. The adults would relax, catch up with each other, and blow off steam, so we kiddos were left with little supervision and acres of woods as our playground. The days consisted of swimming and fishing in the river, running wild in the woods, making up all sorts of games, having bottle rocket wars (the grown ups either didn't know or didn't want to know about those little games), and feeling total freedom. During the evenings, my dad and uncle would barbecue while my mom and aunt would take care of the rest of dinner. After dinner, the adults would sit outside for hours talking and drinking, usually with Jerry Jeff, Willie, or Waylon as background music. The conversations and night noises were punctuated with the periodic ZZZZAAAP from the fluorescent purple bug zapper.

Those weekends are some of my favorite childhood memories. The songs from that time frame, particularly Jerry Jeff's, have a way of reminding me of those simple, free days, and the warm, comforting nights when the grown ups laughed at everything, bedtimes didn't matter, and my shoulders had yet to feel the weight of life's responsibility. It's always nice to take a trip back there, even if the trip only lasts the length of a song.