A

Ronnie Dunn’s Voice

The dramatic pause on the rest before the chorus

Mandolin, like R.E.M. I love the 2nd verse so much. Ronnie Dunn’s baritone brings a huge smile to my face everytime I hear it

B

C

From the years of 1984 to 1988, my family lived in Clovis, New Mexico. I was 4 to 8 years old. Clovis is 8 miles from the western border of Texas, so in a way I feel as connected to West Texas as I do to New Mexico. That connection is very much more in the realm of imagination than of memory. Some people remember lots of things about their childhoods at this age, but I have no memories of my childhood in Clovis. I don’t remember my house, my room my teachers, friends, toys… nothing really.

My dad went to New Mexico, because there were no dermatoligists there.

He was made the bishop of the ward, which included several Laotian families.

Now I wonder were these Laotion refugees of the Vietnam War? Were they right wingers that the US helped immigrate and naturalize in return for cooperation with the covert war and bombings?

My dad had a kind of nervous breakdown (yucky feeling). He was overly stressed from both the medical work (running a business) and the religious work. He couldn’t reveal it publicly to the congegration because he was afraid of jeopardizing his medical licensure. He was afraid that the medical certification authorities would put him through a process that could ultimately find him unfit to practice. I think he may have been afraid of the prospect of therapy.

PTSD

He decided to join the Air Force (as a dermatologist). In joining the military, he would be liberated from the burdens of running a business. Also, the career change would require a move to Las Vegas, which would relieve him of his duties as leader of a Mormon ward without having to publically reveal his psychological difficulties.

I later learned that Clovis, NM played a not-insignificant role in the birth of rock n’ roll. Buddy Holly.

I returned to Clovis, when I was on tour with Low Skies. I suspect that one of the reasons we even went on that tour is that Chris Salveter had some romantic urges to visit the sprawling, desolate American South West, including a swing through the heart of “uncertain Texas.”

D

E