Goats/NC "Silver and Black"/Old Acquaintances

The drive back to Mount Juliet from Greensboro was pretty uneventful which is the way I generally like a road trip to be when I’m just trying to get home from someplace. Buckle up and point it down the road. As the truckers say, you can make the best time if you keep that left door closed. When I got to about mile marker 158 on I40 going west I spotted a commotion on the other side of the freeway involving a couple North Carolina “Silver and Blacks” and a few people running around in the median. When I got closer I could see that the cops and civilians were chasing a small herd of goats. I immediately thought of retired NC Highway Patrol officer/Monroe-style mando player Terry Bullin.

Terry Bullin used to come to Merlefest while on duty dressed in his officer’s uniform and pull up to a jam session, get out and walk over close and stand in a sort of parade rest not saying anything, just smoking cigarettes and not smiling and wearing a pair of mirrored sunglasses. After a while everybody would get to wondering what a North Carolina state trooper was doing lurking around the jam looking like he was out of humor. Once I got to know Terry a little I could see that he was checking out (eg: enjoying) the jams and seeing who could play. It even became evident that he was smiling slightly because he was aware of folks getting a little nervous. Occasionally I’d give him as stout a handshake as I could and even though he’s a smallish man, he’d say, “Don’t make me have to hurt you”. I remember Terry telling me after he’d been moved to a desk job that he preferred it to patrolling the highways because he got tired of having his ass kicked by drunks in the middle of the night. So I never doubted that he could indeed hurt me if he felt he needed to.

The reason I thought of Terry when I saw the commotion was because he had told me about a particular section of the freeway where there was a man who raised goats and every so often they’d get calls to go out and round up goats in the road. He said that most of them usually made it back. I’m not sure what kept all of them from making it back, but I have some ideas. Anyway, since I had Terry on my mind I gave him a call to catch up a bit and see what he was up to. He said that he’s working a job driving elderly folks around and when he’s not doing that he’s working in his wood shop building oddball stuff or fixing tube type AM radios. I told him to be careful with all that sharp stuff in the shop, that he’d end his music career but he laughed and said he didn’t have one and hadn’t been bit by any machinery yet. I can’t say I know anyone who messes around with power tools who hasn’t been bit eventually. Terry used to come to the Monroe Mando Camps that started up in Owensboro, KY at the bluegrass museum. He’s a right fair Monroe style player and loves it mightily. I don’t know if he plays much anymore but I call him once a year or when I’m driving through his area and invite him to come to camp. Maybe he’ll show up one of these days.

The only other thing that happened on the way back was that I found probably the best Chinese restaurant in the Middle TN area in Knoxville called “Asian Kitchen”. It looks like the place all the Asians in Knoxville eat when they want Chinese. It was a welcome surprise and a fantastic meal. When you’re in the area, you know what to do.

Nothing else to report. We’re already into the week before Christmas and a lot of other stuff is happening. I’ve been transcribing Monroe songs/tunes for another installment of Peghead Nation coming up in January and still working on getting the Monroe project out, but so far no word from the lawyers about who owns what and when I can get some first use recording mechanical licenses so I can put this thing out. Joe Newberry and I have gone to work for a new agency and we’re working on figuring out what angle to take and get more focused. So we’ll see about that. It looks somewhat promising. Right now? It’s tea time and then a lesson and transcriptions of “Used to Be” and “Tall Timber” to get done. Then it’s time to start getting real familiar with the transcriptions. And on it goes…

Life is good. MC