Posted in Photos

Flowers in My Yard

Embrace the wild, that’s my motto. The rose of Sharon bushes are as old as the house which was built in the late fifties. The morning glory vine ? Who knows how long their tendrils have been wrapping around my bushes, shrubs, and other flowers. In Alabama, they usually are not intentionally planted unless on a arbor or trellis. The moon flower vine is in the same family as the morning glory. I planted mine from seeds and am sure my neigbor wishes I had not because they are taking over the shrubs on our propery line. I like wild; she likes manicured. The red Turks cap, I planted and have waited patiently for it to grow to this size. It dies down in the winter and comes back in the spring. If I had to pick a favorite flower, it would be zinnias. I plant them from seed in any area that is someone else tills are dug up by me. These are wildly growing in front of my house.

I capture the beauty because I am looking through a camera lens. When I look at the photographs, I see more clearly.

Moon flower vine, morning glory vine, rose of sharon, Turks Cap, and zinnias

Posted in Interviews and Videos, Muscle Shoals Music, Stephanie C Brown - Songwriter and Catalyst

“Let Me Slip Into Something That Feels Good”

The video is a song from 1971. Jimmy English and I wrote the song. Thirty-nine years ago.

Have you ever unexpectely found something from thirty-nine years in your past? Something that was a vague memory. If you are under forty-five, just imagine. Over the years I had not forgetten about the song, but I had forgotten the name of the band, the lyrics, the melody, even that great album cover. The song was an abum cut, never a radio song, so I would be surprised is many people remember it.

Last week while working on another post about some of my songs, I thought about the song. On an off-chance, I searched Googled for what I remembered, “white and something that feels good”. Finding old songs on the internet is not unusual, but finding one of my songs from so long ago on YouTube surprised me.

Little details of that time are now fresh. English and I were writers at the legendary Fame studios writing to please Rick Hall and Walt Aldridge. The song was on Mercury Records with Peter Lubin producing. I was writing about a woman changing into more comfortable clothes. I am not sure anyone thinks of clothes when listening. The band changed the title from “Let Me Slip Into Something More Comfortable”.

Rock ‘ Roll never dies.