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86 • ON COuNTry & WESTErN I dig the simplicity: white blues with banjos, boxcars from the rails of our burden. Everybody’s got something to ache for: love, or lack of, what we want & will never be privileged to. I heard Johnny Cash talk about doing shows behind bars. folsom, San Quentin, how all those men living caged might rest a little easier hearing him, feel a day or two slip off a 20-year bid. I wonder if there’s room for lap steel in rhythm & blues, 87 • harmonica like Hank instead of Stevie? If I sang country, would America buy a black man out of costume—pick fiddles over saxophones, spurs for walking shoes? What bars would break, souls heal? ...

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