Aww, Billy Byrd now

 As well as his column "Sean of the South" that arrives in my email every morning, Sean Dietrich is showing himself to be quite the artist - - sketching something whimsical to cap his daily column. This morning it's a red portable radio, an early one with carry handle and stretch out antenna, nostalgic to me. 

If someone tells me to take it down, I will, but it doesn't seem like cheating for me to copy and paste Sean's radio in my blogpost, because I've identified it to him and his column, which is often so touching. 

In today's column, Sean remembers his father again, it's quite clear how much Sean admired and loved his dad, and how much his dad loved him, this Time they went to see the Grand Old Opry and ended up meeting Ernest Tubb in the hotel lobby. As an Opry enthusiast my growing up years and into adulthood, I also remember Ernest Tubb and his Texas Troubadors, in fact, I'm pretty sure they were part of the show I went to in the old Gainesville High School auditorium on University Avenue when I was a junior or senior at Florida. Ernest Tubb singing with his deep voice, then taking a break as he intoned, "Aww, Billy Byrd now" or "Pick it out, Billy Byrd," and Billy Byrd would pick out an interlude on his electric guitar. After reading Sean's column this morning, I listened online via YouTube as that routine happened in "Walking the Floor Over You," a popular favorite in Ernest Tubb's repertoire.

Sean and I have some shared memories from life here in the same neighborhood of the Northwest Florida Gulf Coast, and our tastes in country music. It was "hillbilly music" when I was a boy. I'm always sad for Sean that his dad took his own life and left Sean bereft for a lifetime - - there's no way for a survivor to recover from the suicide of a beloved one. The thought will always linger that "he didn't love me enough to put up with his suffering just to stay in life with me." Sean is spending his whole life grieving for his dad. I hope that sharing his pain and memories with us is helpful to him, he seems like a really good person.

RSF&PTL

T