Desert Rose Band

Troutay's comment yesterday about finding something frivolous and out-of-character to do--to feed the soul--really hit home for me. Thanks, troutay. Actually, starting a blog was out-of-character and frivolous for me, at the time. Now, blogging has become "in-character" for me, though its still frivolous, considering I could be doing something more useful like assembling a casserole or wiping dust particles from myriad surfaces in my house.

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In my case, the first frivolous and out-of-character activity that comes to mind is attending a rock concert. I could dig that right now. Let's see......I'm searching the memory bank here.....one summer in the early 1970's I went with my detasseling crew to see The Beach Boys at the then brand-new UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. Whoo-ee......we were excited about that! Good vibrations were experienced by all. The following summer the detasselers decided to go to the Chicago concert at the UNI-Dome, and would you believe I considered $15 to be too much to spend on a ticket, so I did not go along. Arghh.......I've been kicking myself ever since! I loved Chicago back then......how idiotic of me not to go see them in person...... and, of course, they've never returned to this area. Arghh.

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After 1986, when we had moved here to Husband's parents' farm and started milking on our own, I became familiar with the C & W singers and bands blaring from the barn radio. Slow, mushy country songs make me want to gag, but I can handle country-rock that has a fast beat. One of such bands I became enamored with out there in the barn was "The Desert Rose Band". So much so that I somehow talked Husband into going to their concert at the Fayette County Fair in West Union, Iowa, about 40 miles or so from where we live. It may have been in July of 1988, around the time of our tenth wedding anniversary. The concert was to start at 8 p.m., giving us time to finish milking and arrive there on time. The tickets were paid for and we had arranged a babysitter for the two kids we had then. Well, wouldn't you know.......there was a problem with the milker pump that night, and for awhile it appeared we would not even be able to go to the concert. Oh, my disappointment was so great that I was shedding tears at one point. Isn't that stupid. Thankfully, we did end up going, though we were late and missed a few songs. After that experience, I vowed to never again make advance plans to go somewhere special in the evening. It was just too stressful.

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I was thrilled to see the Desert Rose Band's talented musicians perform live right before my eyes. I was especially taken with John Jorgenson's guitar playing.....at one point he played a big double guitar which was really cool. I believe this first YouTube clip is a performance of "Hello Trouble", featuring Herb Pedersen on lead vocals. I like this song......oh, to be able to greet "trouble" cheerfully:

My memento of the evening........a Desert Rose Band tee-shirt, which I've worn perhaps once.

Lead singer Chris Hillman was a member of The Byrds, a 1960's rock group from California......they had hits such as "Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn, Turn, Turn", shown in this next clip:



Chris Hillman also was a Flying Burrito Brother at one time......a singing group I was not familiar with. Since his DRB days, Chris has been involved in a Gospel group, "Ever Call Ready" and other musical endeavors. I noticed Jerry Scheff of "Ever Call Ready" used to be in the band "Southern Pacific", another one of my faves from the barn radio airwaves in the 1980's. I'll have to do a post about them sometime, too.

The Desert Rose Band featured J.D. Maness on steel guitar. This next clip is of "Ashes of Love"......on Austin City Limits:

DRB occasionally collaborated with Emmylou Harris, as shown in the final clip below. Hmm....I think that might be Mark O'Connor playing fiddle in the background, too. Emmylou was not with the band at the concert we attended, however.

Did I include enough YouTube clips in this post, do ya think? Hey, the six-million-dollar question now is: What's the first frivoulous and out-of-character activity that comes to your mind......for you to indulge in to feed your soul??

Gosh, this was a fun post to do......I think it fed my soul a little bit. Thanks again, troutay.......although.....whoops......I just noticed that your Blogger profile says you DON'T care for Buck Owens' music, meaning you probably wouldn't be a fan of The Desert Rose Band, either. Dang.....I can't win 'em all.