J.W. Burleson photo / Boquillas del Carmen, Coah.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

76 GMC Sierra Grande; 85 Custom Deluxe; Road Songs

I'm in Maine for a couple of weeks between The Netherlands and Colorado, and feeling a bit dislocated and unsettled. Most of the interesting machines in this part of the world are stored for the winter. We've had snowstorms, rainstorms, windstorms, and a-bit-of-everything storms during the last week, so I've not been doing a lot of scouting. I expect the trip to Colorado to turn up a bunch of trucks, some of which I will want to buy. But 2 trucks has to be enough, for now. If I do see any great machines for sale out there, I'll post them here, with as much contact information as I can find. After that, it's all up to you, and to Safe-Way Auto Transport, who have always been great about delivering old trucks & cars safely and honestly from here to there and everywhere; they are an Autoliterate-Approved® service provider. The first.
           Meanwhile, I'm counting the days until the roads are dry and clear in Maine, and missing my iron. Bought this here truck from Bee Pierce in Marfa TX three years ago and have had a lot of fun with it ever since. It's hibernating in a Maine barn for the winter. I'll turn it loose in April.


The other truck stays in Texas. Both trucks were nothing special: cheap, dusty old W Texas trucks. But they cleaned up pretty well. Hector Sanchez repainted the '85, and did a great job. Ricky Rojo did some excellent mechanical work, in his backyard: backyards are the best place to work on old trucks. These are not exactly fuel-efficient machines. On the other hand, we are recycling a heck of a lot of metal here. 

My favorite road songs? Well, no one asked, but I like the genre, so here are a few that come to mind. For me, a road song is about the distance between here and there; and how distance hurts; and also--and sometimes at the same time--how liberating and uplifting it can be. Road songs have special resonance when the player or listener is feeling far away from something, or someone, important. Road songs are about going away, or coming back, and how mixed-up, clearheaded, horny, lost, sad, happy or hopeful the experience of accumulating distance makes us humans feel.   
Guitar Town by Steve Earle. 
Fisherman's Blues by Mike Scott
Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers
Jackson by Lucinda Williams
Catskill Mountain Air  by Abby Newton
Shenandoah (traditional)
Boomer's Story (traditional)
Loving Spoonful Mississippi John Hurt



1 comment:

  1. Nice list, Peter. I especially like the Mississippi John Hurt song and the Rodney Crowell number. I won't take anything away from the list but `i would like to add a couple:
    Anything by Marshall Tucker Band (Take the Highway, This Ole Cowboy, 24 hours at a Time, etc etc).
    Anything by Allman Brothers (e.g., Melissa, Ain't Wastin' Time no More, One Way OUt etc etc).
    Also Van Morrison is great at night for some reason--not so much a daytime thing.
    Thanks for the ideas, Chris Mullen

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