Ozarks: Brief Little Rock Report

I've just returned from Little Rock and a wonderful time with my old friend Bruce Cochran and his wife Liz, who hails from San Antonio, Texas. Bruce is the wine expert whom I've sometimes written of in these blog entries. We were joined for dinner by the beer man, John Wells, and his wife. John will join us again with Bruce this evening at Bruce's farm not far from Salem.

All the way down to and returning from Little Rock, 150 miles each way, Sun-Ae and I listened to the unmarketed gospel recording that David Lynn Jones made in 1999. We were trying to learn the words but are yet working on that. I played it for Bruce, who knew Jones, of course, from his own music-playing days in the 1970s at Sturkie, Arkansas with Ricky Pitchford and others.

Bruce says that the best musical performance that he's ever observed was in Salem back in the late 70s, when Jones played with Pitchford and a guitarist from Wilie Nelson's band in an impromptu performance at a place behind the old high school gym at the base of the Salem Knob. I wish that I'd been there.

Anyway, we enjoyed a great meal cooked by Bruce himself and accompanied by several very fine wines. Tonight, John Wells will provided the exotic beers to accompany whatever excellent meal lies in store.

For now, however, I have to visit with family members, for my five brothers and I might not get together again for a long, long time.