Guy Clark Concert

On Friday afternoon, we drove a couple hours from home to a charming old lodge in the middle of nowheresville to hear singer/songwriter Guy Clark and his sidekick, Verlon Thompson, perform. Wildwood Springs Lodge is quaint and rustic...shared bathrooms, painted wood floors, concrete showers...but is surrounded by a screened in porch with lovely views, accessible from our room, and a feeling of old-time hospitality pervades the place. Check out their website and their lineup of musicians. It's pretty amazing.

Before the performance, we enjoyed a surprisingly elegant dinner of asparagus, sweet potatoes, brown rice, stuffed tilapia and crown roast pork with raspberry sauce. The highlight of the meal was , of course, the dessert! We had choices, but I made the right one and enjoyed the best bread pudding I've ever had...hands down. Though my intention upon ordering was to merely taste it, not one bite remained. Absolute perfection.

Guy & Verlon performed in the lodge's "lobby" standing in front of the giant fireplace with 80-90 chairs set up around the room. 2 old guys and their acoustic guitars...nothing more. The setting and acoustics were ideal for his rough, gravelly voice and his down-to-earth, storytelling songs. We sat in the third of about 8 rows. It was almost like having him in your home for a personal performance.

INTERMISSION: The Cardinals had a chance to clinch their division that night, so during intermission, those of us who cared, crowded around the single TV at the bar to watch the game. Apparently Shaf felt inclined to take a picture of me...watching the game...from behind. I'll refrain from telling you what the owner nicknamed him, but suffice it to say, they don't draw a lot of folks my age. I brought the average age waaay down...in fact, I may have been one of 5 or 6 who were under 50 (and 2 of them are in this photo with me!).

Mr. Clark is 68 years old, but looks and acts a great deal older. Not only did he forget his lyrics several times that night, he was in a great deal of pain and could barely walk. He's sort of a crotchety old fellow, as you can see from the photo below. My husband didn't tell me he was gonna grab the guy and take our picture together or I would've stopped him! You can see how thrilled he was to oblige. :-) Oh well...I look happy anyway. And I was. His music makes me smile.

The only "disappoinment" - and a very mild one - was that he performed 10 songs from his brand new album (released last week) which left less time for the old favorites. But the new ones were good enough to entice me to purchase the new album that night. I'm also gonna have to find some of Thompson's music. Check him out here.

We will make every effort to return to this place...with friends next time!