27. 4th of July

Shooter Jennings makes an appearance on the blog with a song that just screams summer. "4th of July" appears just in time for the 4th of July....hahaha.  If you are not familiar with him, Shooter is the son of country legend Waylon Jennings, but beyond that he is a damn good songwriter and musician. He is also a hell of a producer and has produced some great records, but today we get a perfect song for the season. Plus, you gotta give it to a guy that has the wit to take shots at Bro Country by naming an album "Put the O back in Country". You can figure out what that spells without the O. 

Guitars, catchy hook and feel good music. Nothing complicated, but just fun, which is what you need sometimes. No need to always be profound.  It starts with what sounds like the jangly guitar of a Tom Petty song or something that came out of Laurel Canyon in the 60s, and from there we get into a rocking song about the freedom of the open road with someone you love.  It reminds me of summer. 

I just recently got back from a fishing trip with my dad and few uncles and cousins. The group hasn't really spent much time together in that capacity since we were kids.  We have all kind of spread out across the state and country so get togethers are not that frequent. Oh sure, the occasional wedding or funeral has brought us together, but in those situations you don't truly get to visit like you do in a smaller group.

The time together got us reminiscing about when we were kids and lived closer and spent a lot of time together during the summer. We laughed about our terrible jam sessions in my cousin's basement. We would play covers and originals written about girls or our tremendously insightful Doors or Bob Dylan inspired adolescent views of the world. No greater songs have been written than "Ceremony of the Beast" or "Woman's Ways" Good times!!! Also, during that trip my cousin showed me some footage of a fireworks and show he put on a few years ago and that took me back....

Yeah it took me back to those youthful summers where we would fish, hang out, celebrate birthdays and just have fun. Perhaps the pinnacle of the summer fun was always the 4th of July. We would usually gather at my parent's house and have a barbecue. The families would pool their funds together and buy a shit ton of fireworks. The dads would concoct various ways of daisy chaining together various items to go off in a series of explosions and displays for the grand finale. As they built the displays the cousins would have bottle rocket wars and blow up toy tanks and trucks.  Sulphur hung heavy in the air for hours as we celebrated our freedom by blowing up and melting part of this great country.  Good times and great memories.

By now if you are listening and reading you may be thinking that aside from the title of the song my memories have nothing to do with the the song, but they really kind of do. This song is about freedom. The way Shooter crafted it makes me feel free to have fun and it feels like summer. It is about the 4th of July and freedom.... whatever you want that to be. 30 years ago it was blowing off fireworks and shooting bottle rockets at my cousins. Tonight I will be blasting this song sitting next to my pretty as can be wife drinking some cold ones by the firepit.  Hell, if I have enough I may even sing along.  Regardless, I will be there feeling love and feeling free while enjoying a beautiful summer night. I will also be thinking about the 4th of July while thankful for living in this country. Yeah, we have a whole hell of a lot of problems to work through, but who doesn't? The US is kind of like that crazy friend or relative that stumbles around a bit. You know that person that you always root for to get their shit together. Maybe one day we will! In all seriousness though there is no better place to live so thanks to those that have served and allowed us the freedoms we hold so dear.    Happy 4th of July!