Clinton, South Carolina, December 4, 2020, 11:17 a.m.

One never knows how an audience will respond. When I played music and told jokes at last night’s Christmas gathering of the Laurens County Cattlemen’s Association, I worried that I was overrehearsed. I spent so much time considering songs to play, then singing them to make sure I had the lyrics down, I thought my voice might be shot by the time I sang them.

John Irwin, the local Clemson extension agent, sent me a Facebook message, oh, I don’t know, maybe a month ago. I was worried that COVID-19 might get in the way. The virus cost me an engagement at a civic club in April.

Would I like to do it? Would I like to do it? I’m like a bucking horse waiting to get out of a stall to do it.

Back when I traveled the NASCAR circuit with a laptop and a scanner, I played little gigs at spots near a few tracks. A fish camp iin Michigan. A barbecue joint in Richmond. A restaurant in the Poconos. Post-race parties after night races. Taking the stage to play a few songs with friends around Daytona Beach. Before a NASCAR-themed play at a theater in Martinsville. A fan stage in Bristol.

When John first contacted me, it didn’t take me long to realize that playing in front of farm families was a near-perfect venue. I grew up around horses and cattle. My late father was an auctioneer. A lot of the old country songs I know were a result of listening to the Grand Ole Opry on radio with my old man, coming home late at night from an auction, a rodeo, a horse show or a trip to Tennessee or Virginia, delivering cattle to a buyer at one of Daddy’s sales.

I considered the surroundings – the Christmas dinner was in the fellowship hall of Laurens First United Methodist Church – while making my set list, which wasn’t in writing. I opened with Tom T. Hall’s “The Little Lady Preacher,” then shifted to Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Viva Luchenbach.” I sang two I penned, “Bills to Pay” and the closer, “Your Independence Day.”

I told humorous stories about a couple angry stallions running through the middle of Clinton with me, my brother and dad in pursuit, and about my family’s pet bull, Fred, and about the greatest athlete I have ever seen, not Bo Jackson or Willie Mays or LeBron James, but a Charolais bull that could leap over tall barbed-wire fences in a single bound.

I did brief imitations of Charley Pride, Marty Robbins, George Jones, Mel Tillis, Ray Price and Johnny Cash. I played Townes Van Zandt’s “Rex’s Blues.”

Of all the singers I covered, only Pride and Hall are still with us. When Walker died not long ago, it occurred to me that it’s natural for a young man to idolize someone about twice his age. “Scamp” Walker was 34 when I was 18. In addition to “Viva Luchenbach,” a somewhat obscure song Walker wrote, I also sang his “Nightrider’s Lament,” which was written by Michael Burton.

I didn’t get aaround to every song I wanted to sing. One song, Tillis’s “Heart Over Mind,” was completely off the top of my head during the medley of imitations.

I knew time would get away from me, so I asked for someone in the back of the room to hold up his index finger when I was out of time, and that led me to close to an inspirational tune of mine, “Your Independence Day,” which I thought offered a fitting conclusion in the Year of the Pandemic.”

When the sun comes up on that bright morn / In the quiet that follows every storm / When the demons have all died away / We’ll celebrate your independence day.

I’ve found my target audience. I need to get on the cattlemen’s dinner circuit.

I didn’t have enough sense to set up my camera and videotape the show. I should have, but reckon I just didn’t want to go to the trouble. The click link above is from the NASCAR years.

Take a look at my website, Laurens County Sports. It’s better now that Laurens County has actual sports again.

If you enjoy my insights about racing and other subjects, make a small pledge of support. Rewards are in place for pledges of $5 or more. If 1/10 of my followers and Facebook friends pledge $1 a month, I’ll be set. Read all about it here.

If you yearn for my writing in larger doses, I’ve written quite a few books. Most are available here.

Lightning in a Bottle, the first of my two motorsports novels, is now available in audio (Audible, Amazon, iTunes) with the extraordinary narration of Jay Harper.

My eighth novel, a political crime thriller, is called Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. It’s right up to date with the current political landscape in the country.