Stan Hitchcock-View From The Front Porch-May 2, 2013

Well today is a special day for me. Two of my old traveling road band musicians that played with me in the 60's, sharing adventures and music as we took our songs from town to town, are coming out for a reunion. Bruce Osbon and Vic Thomas, the finest guitarist and drummer I ever worked a show with, are coming to the old farm house to relive some of those wild and wooly days of country music, when we were young, and the fire was in our bellies, to just make music, no matter what we had to do to get there.

We haven't gotten together in many, many years and I can't wait to see them again. Our old compadre, bass player, band leader and harmony singer, Buck Evans, lives down in South Texas now, and he won't be able to make it, I'm sorry to say, cause we all love Buck. In fact, i named my good dog "Buck The Collie" after him. But, many a tale will be told about some of his shenanigans, cause he is a legendary musician, and there was nary a dull moment with ol' Buck in the band.

You other musicians out there know what I mean when I say that there is a special bond between brothers and sisters of the music life of the classic period of entertainment, 50's-through the 70's. There will never be another period to match it. We were all there, we were a part of it, and hard as they try, they cannot take that away from any of us.

So, today, some old guys will sit around and tell tales of how it was, in the day. And for awhile, we will go back to the good years, we will relive the excitement and the joy of just making music for the love of it...nothing more. We will laugh at the fun times, shake our heads at the rough spots and get quiet when we talk about friends that are no longer with us. Yes, brothers of the road are special to me, and that is why this is a special day.
 
The picture above, from a Hee Haw appearance, shows Bruce Osbon, Vic Thomas and Buck Evans, the best dang band I ever stood in front of to sing a song.   Stan