like a southbound train

"red"

date taken: september 28, 2008

photo by: me

subject: wheelbarrow at diane's house

day 06 - a song that reminds you of somewhere

aw yeah. how about that bluegrass. now i know this stuff isn't for everyone, and it's not something i listen to on the regular. but that doesn't mean i love it any less.

in buffalo, it snows for most of the year. can't go outside. eventually your wardrobe is drained of color and cuteness. you start twitching from drinking so much black coffee. i spent the bulk of law school buried underneath books and outlines. it's amazing my eyesight didn't start to go. my friends were all law students. my activities were all school-related.

so when spring break hit, i was SO out of there. where did i go? well, where else.

leroy, virginia was a farming town. took about 10 hours to drive there from buffalo. had to drive through amish country to get there. spent one beautiful week each year at an intentional community called twin oaks, where one of my soulmates moved after college. the point of it all was really to do some good manual labor, and get as far away from the rules of civil procedure as possible.

the hippies were lovely people. tolerant and quirky. and fairly artsy. during one outing off the commune, we went into "town", not sure what the name of the town was, to go and see a bluegrass band that eventually made good. old crow medicine show was my third bluegrass show, and my favorite. the music was countryish, and so my natural gag reflex was on standby. but these guys were so fresh and so raw. the fiddle. the harmonica. the banjo. it was love at first sight.

this song was the only one that sounded familiar, as the chorus was borrowed from a popular bob dylan soundcheck bootleg. OCMS lead singer ketch (who is actually from detroit of all places) wrote verses for the song, and it fit so well it took years for me to realize bob dylan didn't write the whole song.

i had a great time in virginia both times i went, and wish it were a little closer to home. but every time i hear it, it transports me back to leroy where life was simpler, filled with love and banjo.

old crow medicine show - wagon wheel