Kingdom Harbor

It’s been a year since I took my classic country show around the metro. The song list was full of nostalgia for me, transporting me to my earliest childhood, songs found among the records my parents had spinning on the living room turntable in the early 80s. I still remember the way the afternoon sun warmed the carpet where I’d lie with my big head phones listening to old music.

My musical talent comes from my mom’s side of the family. Mom is rusty now, but was a fine piano player and would occasionally dazzle us with the accordion as well. But Dad had a couple guitars tucked away in a closet that we occasionally beg him to pull out. Whenever he brought the guitar out, Dad had just one go-to song he would, ahem, attempt to play. (Okay, I just remembered a second song he would play which I’ll reveal below, and just added to my set.)

Dad’s go-to song was fingering the little melody from “Wildwood Flower.” He would do the little jingle over and over again, but I don’t recall him ever actually playing the song. So, 40-some years later, I was ironically doing the opposite. I have yet to learn the little melody/refrain that goes between the verses, but I do my own croaky version of the rest of the song.

Maybe it’s time to bring Dad out of retirement to perform “Wildwood Flower” with me, and put the two parts together. Until then…below is my attempt at some finger-picking and an intentionally hokey, twangy vocal performance that I hesitate to put online, but I kind of like the homespun simplicity and rawness.

PS: Oh, and as for my only memories of Dad playing and singing actual songs on the guitar were “You Are My Sunshine” and this old country waltz, “Beautiful Brown Eyes” by Alton Delmore. It would have been sweeter if we weren’t all blue-eyed and if my mom had brown eyes… ; ) Here’s the song I almost posted exactly 1-year ago today: