Swampland.com

The Road to Nashville: A Side Trip To Portland To See Lee Bogan

After a few delays I hit the road this morning for my drive to Nashville. I love Nashville. In fact, I love middle Tennessee.

The weather couldn’t have been better for the drive. That made it really palatable when I came upon the hour-and-ten-minute traffic stand still on I-40. But I’m getting ahead of my self.

I gassed up at Spinx, and while I was standing there, I noticed a young man in plaid Bermuda shorts and dreads strolling over to the car beside mine, where a twenty-something girl was filling up. The guy carried a spindle full of CDR’s. “Hey darlin,’” he said. “Do you like music? I have all the upcoming releases. The albums that haven’t even come out yet." That burned my butt. When I went inside to pay, I told the extreme redneck girl with the Molly Hatchet arm tattoo what he was doing. “Oh, he’s harmless,” she said. What? I went back out and pulled out my wallet ID card for my expired membership in the Grammy association. I flashed it and told him I was with the “Nation Recording Academy”  and did he know he could go to prison for eight to ten years? He was on his moped and out of there. My bluff worked.

I set my iPod on shuffle, and once again experienced the “psychic iPod syndrome.” The first song that played was by my buddy, Tennessee’s own Charlie Daniels, and it was his classic “traveling song,” “Uneasy Rider.” Of course, the psychic I pod randomly chose about ten songs (there are over 2000 songs on it) that I needed to hear this morning, like Marshall Tucker’s “Take The Highway,” and Todd Snyder’s “Nashville.” Amazing.

There were several traffic “slow downs” along the way, and one serious “stop,” just before Knoxville. It was one of those brain burners, where you creep along, traveling one mile in over an hour. Then when you get to the spot where the traffic is panning out, you look around, and there is absolutely no sign of what caused the traffic jam to start with! Argh!

I got on the other side of Knoxville and stopped at a rest area to walk. I was suffering from severe back pain. I don’t know. Chalk it up to getting older. I saw a young couple there who had a beautiful 3-year old baby girl. They reminded me of my own daughter and son in law, only Hannah and James'  baby Zoe is only 6-months. They had two Jack Russell terriers named Mitzi and Mimi. The girl told me they are sisters and they are less than one year old. I told her bout my Jacks. When I got back into the car, I thought back to Saturday. Could this be another example of Jack Russells taking over the planet? The miind boggles.

I was obviously going to miss one of my scheduled meetings, so I called to reschedule. Then I decided to reroute to Portland, just north of Nashville, to drop in on Lee Bogan.

Lee is an old friend who grew up in Union, SC, He is my age, and has enjoyed a great career in music, as a guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. Lee has played for a number of great artists, including Joe Diffie, with whom he penned the classic country hit “Honkytonk Attitude.” He also spent a few years with Ray Sawyer and Dr. Hook, and recorded with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Artimus Pyle on his latest CD. Lee is now back with country star Ronnie McDowell, who is set to release his new album on Curb Records. The album features several Bogan co-writes, and lots of his playing as well. We taped an interview in his great new recording studio, which will appear soon in GRITZ.

By the time I hit the hotel, I was famished. Still, I wanted to check e-mail, confirm appointments, and write my dispatch. I could sleep in a “little bit” in the morning, since my first appointment isn’t until noon.

More soon.
Keep it Real. Keep it Southern.
Buffalo

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