Candace and I went to the Station Inn the other night, because we heard that Pat Flynn was playing with some other people. Pat is a masterful guitar player and he plays on Candace’s CD, so we didn’t want to miss it. When we got there, Pat was in the middle of an incredible mandolin improvisation and the band was really cooking. There was Dave Pomeroy on bass, Kenny Malone on percussion, a fabulous fiddle player, and a great dobro player, whose names I didn’t get, and a guy playing a really hot harmonica.
The harmonica player turned out to be Buddy Greene. I hadn’t heard of him, but Candace knew about him. He not only played great harmonica, he also turned out to be a great singer, a great song writer, and a very funny guy. The music was as good or better than anything I have heard since coming to Nashville, which is saying a lot, and the jokes were funnier too. They were having a great time, and so was I, and so was the audience. It was a full house.
The audience, while appreciative, was kinda quiet compared to me in my somewhat inebriated state. When I looked around, the people seemed a little straighter than the usual crowd at the Station Inn, but I didn’t really think about it. Gradually it became clear that Buddy Greene is a Christian, and this was a church crowd that had come to hear him. Now I am on record as loving Jesus, but I have always shared the liberal prejudice against church-going Christians, especially Southern Christians, especially born-again Southern Christians.
But now I’m gonna have to reconsider. Here I was right in the middle of a whole bunch of ’em, and they were not only really nice, well-behaved people, but they had better music and better jokes. Maybe they’re on to something.