Double J and The Boys

     “This was the best one yet,” one of our house concert guests said last night.  It was, indeed, another one of those evenings to remember – ‘cowboy music’ with personal associations, even for those of us without hats and horses.  Plus there was an enthusiastic audience, great food, and lots of laughter.  What could be a better way to start off a new week and a new house concert season?
     As I sat listening to Double J and The Boys, I realized that a very great part of their appeal for me is the subject matter of their songs – especially those by Judy Eron.  For instance, the one about the free boots given to her husband that have never really fit but, for various reasons, he wears them anyway.  It was a story that most of us could relate to.  And the fact that Charlie was wearing those “sharp, snappy snake boots” last night made it even better.
     Or the song about Larry Freshley’s horse, Judy.  From an “Oysterville Memory” that I shared at Vespers a month or so ago, Judy (that’s Judy-the-gal, not Judy-the-horse) has written a song called “One Wrong Step.”  I did so wish that Larry could have been here to hear it.  It made me just a bit teary, in a nostalgic sort of way, and I wonder what his reaction will be.  Judy (the gal) is making a CD of it for him.
     And then there was the song about Judy’s desire to be a rodeo queen…  Again, it spoke to many of us, reminding us of our own starry-eyed dreams and of the way life has of tweaking their outcomes.  With pathos and humor and a good deal of irony, her lyrics are a gentle reminder that life is what we make of it.
     On top of all that, of course, was the amazing and diverse talent of each member of the group and the interplay among them – all the nuances that are easily noticed and appreciated at house concerts but are so often lost in larger venues or missed completely with the ‘magic’ of electronics.
     Thanks Judy and Charlie, Janet and Bill, and John!  And you were right!  I did wake up around two this morning with “sharp, snappy snake boots” playing in my head!  I have no doubt that other people did, too!