Coming up the road today I was listening to a book on CD, Shadow Catcher, by Marianne Wiggins, a really good story and I would recommend it.
And I had this other story on my mind, one I first heard of in a PBS documentary on the Carter Family, one of the original coutry music stars.
This trio was made up of A.P Carter, his wife Sara Dougherty Carter and his sister in law, Maybelle. Maybelle was the mother of June who was married to Johnny Cash.
Life with A.P. Carter was not easy, he stayed gone a lot collecting songs from people back in the hills and Sarah didn't really want a performing life, but living in Poor Valley, Virginia there was little else they could do. She in time came to find love with her husband's cousin, Coy Bayes. She left her children to live over the mountain with him, returning often to tend to them.
In time, A.P. pressured Coy's parents to leave the area and take Coy, much younger than Sara, with them so the two could not be together. Never the less Sara divorce him in 1939. They did however continue to perform together, even recording songs about their situation not unlike what Fleetwood Mac and Abba would do years later. I don;t know but I got the impression Sara felt powerless to do anything about her situation.
Then one night they were performing live on XERA radio in Villa Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico. It is the station ZZ Top sings about in their song "Heard it on the X". It was the most powerful station in the western hemisphere, its signal went all over north america. After performing a few numbers, Sara stepped to the microphone with her guitar and said: "I want to dedicate this next song to my friend Coy Bayes" and she sang:
'Twould been better for us both had we never
In this wide and wicked world had never met,
But the pleasure we both seemed to gather
I'm sure, love, I'll never forget
Oh, I'm thinking tonight of my blue eyes
Who is sailing far over the sea
I'm thinking tonight of my blue eyes
And I wonder if he ever thinks of me
Oh, you told me once, dear, that you loved me;
You vowed that we never would part
But a link in the chain has been broken
Leaving me with a sad and aching heart
When the cold, cold grave shall enclose me
Will you come near and shed just one tear?
Will you say to the strangers around you
A poor heart you have broken lies here?
Sitting in his parents living room in California Coy hear her sing and he turned to him Mamma and said: "I'm going after her".
His Mamma said: "I think you better."
When he caught up with the Carter family, Sara left with him and they were married. The three never performed together again.
Sometimes, there is justice.
Topic: Shakesthegrounds Rumblings (Read 2630252 times)