The Rest of the Story (Part 2)

Jack received a letter in the mail shortly after his songs were official.

A 'record company' wanted to release his song, "When A Country Boy Comes to the City". The basic premise was thus:

-Jack would pay to have the song recorded by a professional team of musicians in a professional studio.

-The song would be included on a compilation CD

-Jack would be entitled to a percentage of all revenue and sales from the CD

However, to be included, Jack would have to pay many fees for recording, distribution, manufacturing, and the like...

He was simply glowing. It was his lifelong dream to have one of his original songs included on a real CD.

I told him about my uneasiness and skepticism. That the "professional team of musicians" was likely to be one guy in a basement, that the "professional studio" was likely to be the basement itself, and that the CD manufacturing facility was upstairs in the living room, if not also in the same basement.

Jack would not hear it. Or he heard it and respectfully disagreed. I can't remember. All I remember is getting the CD back. It was pretty clearly thrown together in about 5 minutes, likely with some brand of CASIO keyboard. The song was pretty much intact though, which was a testament to the strength of my charts, and the only redeeming factor of the whole incident.

The revenues from the CD sales never did pour in. The CD was entitled "AMERICA" or something like that and there was literally 30 or 40 other artists and songs on there. He said it was going to be sold in major retail outlets across America and the world but I've yet to see it anywhere.

Jack continued writing and I continued transcribing until one day he let me know that his request to transfer had been approved. Jack was moving to a similar facility, except this one was in Nashville! He figured this to be the perfect location for him and his songs.

I've never yet heard from Jack. I like to think he made it Nashville and is quite happy there.

Recently I've been trying to record as many of my own original songs as possible. I reconnected with a college buddy who was working for a studio in New York. We booked the time a couple months in advance. As the date approached, the other slated musicians had to cancel for various reasons. I did not want to kill the session, so I slugged onward to the big city alone. I figured a four hour fung-wah ride would be enough to brainstorm a gameplan...

So we recorded my own version of "When A Country Boy Comes to the City" real late at night and it's not Great, but it's real Good and more importantly Genuine, which is more than the other version can say.

Jack,

I hope you are well. Playing music. Enjoying Nashville. And keeping your demons at bay.

-Joe