Out in the backwoods along a curvy country road in rural Washington, Illinois, you'll find a cluttered machine shed loaded with old tools and debris from years of living on the same land. But don't let that fool you - in the back of the garage, crammed in between stacks of vintage amps, drums and guitars, you'll find a row of kitchen chairs and a row of players ready to pick and grin. You've come to the right place - Merkel's, where local country players gather every Wednesday and Friday night to play all night. I was introduced to this local hot spot last weekend when I visited my friend Bob, who is a regular at Merkel's, and the bass player in my college band. I, along with Rick, our guitarist, came out to sit, listen and hopefully join in. There's usually 9 or 10 folks playing at any given time, and I was told that on a particularly busy night, over 50 musicians showed up to jam, and they played until 4 AM. I asked our host, Delmar Merkel, if I could get an award for coming the farthest to play, and if I got any special deals on account of it was my birthday. He told me to grab a beer and get on up there and spell the drummer. I ended up playing two hours...if I couldn't be with my family, it was a great way to spend a birthday. Here's the boys (and one girl on drums) making their way through "Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road." That's Delmar in the middle in the green plaid shirt. Ya'll come back now, y'hear, and keep on rockin'!
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2 comments:
Them's my kind of people. And I'm amazed at how well your camera did -- the colors & focus are all fantastic & there's virtually no distortion on the sound despite the intimate setting.
Nice to revisit this great scene 3 years later, courtesy of you, the internets, and my willing suspension of disbelief that it's really been THREE years. Dude! At this rate we'll all be dead skunks in the middle of the road before we have a chance to blink.
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