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Buffalo Roaming: Day Four, Cooper's Party

What a great weekend.

Sunday morning, I woke up and went downstairs for one of those great made to order omelets at the Hilton. The lady there is one helluva cook, and my grits were damn near perfect too. I sucked back four cups of coffee. It wasn’t Boxmasters coffee, but it was pretty darn good.

I checked out, and drove back over to Athens to visit Penne “the birthday girl” again, and sit by the river and blog. The Saturday blog was written on her sofa.

Soon it was time to form a convoy, as I followed Penne and Billy C. Farlow all the way to the Shoals, actually to Killen, to the home of our friend and party host Dick Cooper.

Cooper has a tradition of throwing parties filled with great live music, adult beverages and foot stuffs. This would be one of his biggest and best.

The place was hopping when we got there. Among the first folks I spoke to were Cooper himself, along with former Drive By Trucker turned solo star Jason Isbell. He’s a real sweet kid, with a load of skills.

The place was full of musicians, some of them dang near legendary, folks like Muscle Shoals Swamper David Hood, Kelvin Holly, N.C. Thurman- Lost Planet Airmen alumni Billy C. Farlow, The Sons of Roswell, the guys from Howler - many more.

Cooper had a cook fly in for the event, Tim Facok. Tim works front of house for many artists including Drive By Truckers, but he is also a hell of a chef. He created a spread that included some mighty tasty sausages, fish, chicken, all sorts of vegetables, deserts - a bit of everything.

It was great visiting with old friends like Kahuna, Slugger, Melissa, Sebrina, and other members of The Mighty Field of Vision.

The music started and didn’t really end until the wee hours of the next morning. Howler rocked out on some ZZ Top and blues covers. The three piece band sounded great, and were soon joined by myself and Billy C. Farlow. Billy C. did a couple of tunes singing and playing the harp, and I joined him on some improvised blues. The folks really loved Farlow/

The Sons of Roswell, a band Cooper is promoting,followed up their gig at this year’s Bonnaroo by playing Cooperpalooza. The band rocks, ladies and gentlemen. It ain’t Southern rock, but it is Southerners rocking!

Scott Boyer III, who’s dad is Scott Boyer of Cowboy fame, took the stage with Jason Isbell and his band, and just ripped it to shreds. Among the tunes they performed, an amazing rendition of “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.” There was jamming going on all night, and long time Gritz writer and friend Sonny Edwards joined in on guitar on a smoking “One Way Out.”

Earlier, Boyer and Isbell brought up a singer named Shawna P, and she burned the house down singing blues. Think Bonnie and Bekka Bramlett. Yep, she’s now my third favorite. She is amazing. Check out her MySpace and watch the video of her singing a Gladys Knight classic.

Later, the action moved inside, as several of us brought out acoustic guitars and played everything from “Something Heavy” to some Bob Dylan, Eagles, Beatles, and a gospel rave up on “Will The Circle Be Unbroken.” It was great fun, but after a while, the guitars were down and we were all telling Cat Tales and sharing laughs but not before Sonny Edwards and I played my mellow acoustic composition, “Dreaming Buffalo.”

The party was extra special, and so was the music.

Before leaving Bamalama, I dropped by Mill Kids Studios in Huntsville to visit my old buddy Billy Teichmiller, Man it was great to see him again. Billy is the drummer for The Crawlers, and played on and co-produced and engineered my last two albums, both recorded in his studio. He played me the final version of my song “A Change in the Weather” that I wrote about my friend and Crawlers guitarist Ray Brand. It is pretty darn good. Billy is a master. It was also one of the final recordings of my friend George McCorkle who died shortly after putting lead guitar on the song. He added backing vocals from a girl named Star - wow.

Billy is working on a memorial CD for Ray and I am writing the notes. Billy does a lot of work for Music Makers Foundation, and he plans to offer the album to them. I hope it works out.

I was on the road a total of twelve hours on Monday, which is why my blog was delayed. We’ll be getting back up to speed now. Stay tuned, because tomorrow I will be getting a whole pile of pictures from pro-photographer Dick Cooper and will post them.

Keep it Real. Keep it Southern.
Buffalo

PHOTO RETROSPECTIVE

All Photos by Buffalo, except the first one, shot by Dick Cooper!

David Hood promotes peace, Kelvin Holly and NC Thurman. Buff loiters in background.

 

Jason Isbell and Scott Boyer III.

 

Billy C. Farlow with Jay Jarnigan Howler.


Billy C. Farlow and Penne Elk (Laubenthal)

 David Hood and Melissa Michael.

Buff and Jason chillin.'


Howler's Larry Hartsfield.

 

Buff and Slugger.

Funky Donnie Fritts.


Jason Isbell with friends and band members.

Steve Turner.


Party People.


Singer Sebrina Davis.

THAT'S ALL, FOLKS!

THANKS DICK!!

(More photos from Cooper Here)

 

 

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Gritz,
River,
Muscle Shoals,
Atlanta,
Tennessee,
South Carolina,
Georgia,
Alabama,
Music,

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