Stuff I like

Abandoned in Alabama

This is what scary looks like though a car window at 65 mph.

Jim Spruell playing with My6Pece. 

Pow Wow Family

A wonderful family moment at the Cherokee Mother's Day Pow Wow. 

I recently watched country music die. Like a relative that’s been suffering for a very long time, I wasn’t shocked when it shook violently with its final death rattle. But I was still sad to see it go.

And, unfortunately, the killing blow wasn’t something romantic. It wasn’t a single shot from a six-shooter. It wasn’t from a perfectly aimed tomahawk. It wasn’t even from falling off a stagecoach.

 No, it was a baseball cap that did it.

 I know that may sound odd but anyone who watched the recent Country Music Awards knows what I’m talking about. Act after act took the stage to perform or receive an award donning a goofy-looking baseball hat. Those who felt they needed the extra bit of street cred had it turned backward. Each male artist (and I use that word loosely) aimed his bleached-toothed grin straight to camera and looked like a rich frat boy trying to look hip. And it’s not just my opinion, folks. According to urbandictionary.com, a douchebag is actually described as “a male over the age of eight usually wearing a baseball cap, many times backwards.” Well, there ya go.

 Since when did country music accept baseball cap-wearing douchebags? Even worse, when did it start parading them around as something to be proud of? And don’t even get me started on the music. It was worse than the headgear.

 So, I sit and mourn country music’s death. And I curse the evil assailant. The monstrous chapeau. That killer. The stupid baseball cap.

Awesome dancers from the Mother's Day Pow Wow.

Crumbling beauty.

More amazing regalia from the Pow Wow.

Abandoned house on Highway 20.

Cigarette break at the pow wow.

An amazing 3-string banjo made by folk artist James Floyd. The body is made from a spring-loaded cake pan and has a pick-up in it. Sounds incredible.

Abandoned family home in Pickens County.

Sunset Ghost Horse in Cherokee.

Cindy Wilson of the B52's (dressed to kill at Halloween) with Jim Spruell on guitar.