Chapter 8: I Remembered – Part 1

The Labor Day weekend was starting. The Club-Club was now a landmark destination for great live music and entertainment. Lynn had taken off to get the second band at the airport and Erin took Charlie and his band to the club and showed them where the green room was. I was standing on the stage checking the set up and getting concerned that Lynn and the other band had not showed up yet. I was about to call Lynn on the phone when I heard a familiar voice.

“Who the fuck let that old bald guy near a fuckin’ microphone?”

I turned around to one of the best things I had seen in a long time.

“Ryan Tucker!”

I could say that I was pleased to see my old friend, but the truth is I jumped off of the stage and straight into his arms.

“My God, it is good to see you. Are the rest of the guys here too?”

“Most of them. Your wife, um ... Lynn? Is helping them in. We have a new singer and a new keyboard player, but the singer skipped the trip.”

“Why?”

“He heard about your voice and didn’t want to compete. Sometimes he is a bit of a pussy primadona. He has a real strong voice, but still needs some work on his stage presence.”

“On this trip he could have learned from one of the best.”

“Oh, are you all that now?”

“No, I mean from Charlie.”

“Who?”

“Ryan, you don’t know who else is here this weekend?”

“Nope. It’s gonna scare me shitless ain’t it?”

“Ryan, please come with me to the Green Room.”

I led the way behind the stage and up the stairs and into the Green Room. I opened the door and stepped in.

“Ryan Tucker meet Mr. Charlie Daniels.”

“Motherfucker!”

“Ok!”

Charlie looked a little stunned.

“Oh shit! I’m sorry. Charlie Daniels. I think I’m gonna die.”

“That is my line! Charlie please excuse my uncouth friend. This is Ryan Tucker of Tucker’s Music in Houston.” I introduced the two men.

“Hey, I heard of you guys a few years ago on the Texas circuit. Had a real good singer and then y’all kind of disappeared.”

“Yeah, we had a great front man with the best voice I have ever heard and he up and moved to Boise Idaho.”

“He is here in town?”

“Charlie, he is here in this room.”

Ryan looked at me and smiled.

“Well son.”

Charlie looked at me and smiled.

“Charlie, I am nothing special, I’m just trying to not mess up.”

“Don’t listen to him. He will knock you off the stage when he really cuts loose.”

Ryan stood next to Charlie who now had his arms crossed over his chest.

“You was holding back and sandbagging this old boy back at the house huh?” Charlie said.

“No, I was just relaxed.” I answered.

“Charlie, this man walked out in the audience at one of our gigs and sang over the crowd and the band without a mic. You are gonna be amazed. You should have seen the guys from RUSH when they heard him.” Ryan bragged on me a bit.

“RUSH? I heard from Billy Gibbons that you could carry a tune, but nobody said anything about what y’all are talking about. I gotta hear this, when is the mic check?”

“Calm down, y’all. Tonight, I’ll be singing with The Savannah before Charlie comes out. By the time the night is over y’all will be sick of me.”

They all laughed at that one. Lynn gave me a hug and a kiss.

“Lover, I am heading back to the house. We will bring the gang back at 8.” Lynn told me.

“Are you bringing everyone?”

“Yup. Mom and dad and Dara and Trent and all of the kids. Ryan we will get you and the guys to the hotel after the show and then we will come and get you to the airport on Saturday. Charlie, I hope you enjoyed the BBQ today. We did that without Ryan and his guys because you, and your guys, are on a plane out at 9am tomorrow.”

“Ryan tonight we will introduce you to the entire Herd and then tomorrow we will have a BBQ for you and the gang and some of Paul’s local friends as well. Blossom can’t wait to see you again.”

“Me too, she was one special lady. So, can we get something to eat? We didn’t get breakfast this morning.”

“Sure, I’ll get the server on my way out. Obviously it is on the house. So eat up.” Lynn patted Ryan on the back and walked away.

Ryan and the guys ate and we talked until showtime. I asked them if they wanted to watch from up here or come to the floor. Charlie thought it best if he stayed out of sight. I guess a huge guy with an iconic white beard might be a distraction.

The band walked on and plugged in and started to play a groove beat. Everyone began to move to the front of the stage and were bouncing and bopping to the beat. I stepped on stage and the crowd went nuts, welcoming me back to the stage.

The band built to a crescendo and then cut to nothing. I stepped up to the mic and started.

_My my my. Baby you’re my cup of tea.

My my my, baby what you do to me._ The opening lines to ‘Start It Up’ by Robbin Ford. The band came back in and off we went. We tore through the opening set and had the place in a frenzy when we slid into ‘All Night Long’ the song was grooving along when Rod Strong stopped playing guitar during a really cool guitar riff.

Everybody was wondering what was going on because the riff kept playing as Ryan lifted his hands up and pointed to the side of the stage. Charlie walked out playing the same great riff. People don’t realize what a great picker Charlie Daniels is. They think of ‘Devil’ and “Country Boys’ and his fiddle playing. Charlie Daniels is a great guitar player. I walked up to the mic.

“Ladies and gentlemen, our first friend of the night. Mr. Charlie Daniels!” The place went nuts.

Charlie stepped to the mic and picked up on ‘All Night Long’ as his band came on and took my guys places piece by piece. He spent the rest of the set on a crazy guitar pickin’ spree. He did blue grass and country and Texas and Georgia boogie. Between songs he talked to the crowd. At the end of the set, Charlie spoke again.

“Thank you so much for your welcome. Our friend Paul O’Dell is so happy to be back with you and I am so happy to have the chance to play guitar. I usually have to do the fiddle a lot. But for my last song I really want to pull out the fiddle and ask Paul to come back out and join me onstage.”

I walked on and went to one of the other mics.

“My friends please thank Charlie Daniels.” The crowd went nuts.

I had looked earlier and we had almost a hundred people lined up outside. I was so happy that we had installed speakers out there so folks who wanted to get in could still hear the music. It didn’t matter if they didn’t pay for it. We were making money and I wanted to bring great music to Boise.

“Paul, would you please join me in a song that I love, and I never get to do live onstage?”

“I would love to, Charlie. What song would that be?”

Charlie Daniels dropped a bomb on me. He said four words that made shivers run up and down my spine. I also went cold with fear. I remembered Robert Goulet.

“The Star-Spangled Banner.”

His band started to play a soulful introduction, it was both inspiring and emotional. Charlie fiddled through the set up and then nodded to me. Now understand that the National Anthem is a hard song because of the range of notes it covers. I remember Robert Goulet forgetting the words on worldwide TV when he sang it at the opening of a Mohammed Ali fight. I sing along when it is played, but I have never sung it in public.

Charlie nodded to me when I was to come in and so I did. I started off in a very low register and was rolling right along when Charlie signaled to me to stop and the band went on to play an extended amount in the middle. Charlie walked over to me.

“Paul, come back in on “The rockets’ red glare” and take it out.”

I nodded.

I came back in and at the end of the “Land of the Free” I slid my voice up as high as I could reach and hit a note that was strong and clear before finishing with “The home of the brave.”

I looked at Charlie and he had tears in his eyes. I looked out over the audience and they were teared up as well and then they all went nuts. I really didn’t know what I had done, I was just happy that I had not forgotten the words.

“Paul O’Dell!!!!!” Charlie yelled into the mic.

“I remembered the words! I remembered!” I said to Charlie.

“Charlie Daniels!!!!!” I reciprocated when I got to the mic.

“Don’t go away, we will be right back with more friends and stuff. Please be kind to your servers and bartenders.”

I walked off the stage and went up the stairs to the Green Room to be greeted by three very weepy women.

“Lover, that was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard.” Lynn hugged me. “And Charlie, where did that come from?”

“Mrs. Lynn, it was a spur of the moment thing. I guessed at the key and it just went. The band has never played it like that. I wish to God that we could have recorded that. I don’t think that magic could ever be duplicated.”