It was back in the late 1970’s in San Francisco. I was playing bass with Mike Brown and Country Jam. Mike had a smooth rock steady country voice that could go all night, and he had the charm and the hustle to keep us working all over the Bay Area. Anyway, our drummer Ray got an itch and took off. He wasn’t any great shakes so no big loss, but there we were without a drummer. Mike placed one of those free ads in the Bay Area music weekly: “Pro drummer wanted for working country band.”
Maybe you’ve listened to some classic old country music and thought: “That sounds so simple. Anybody could play that stuff.” Or maybe not. But a lot of drummers think that way. And a bunch of them came calling to audition. Rock n’ rollers trying to play country simple. It’s not as easy as it sounds. You’ve got to lock into a groove and keep it very straight; no messing around with any fancy stuff. And rock drummers can’t resist. So guys came and went until this guy Don walked into our practice space. He wore a big easy smile and one of those brown suede jackets with the cowboy fringes. And he brought a resume of playing the true country sound in his home state of Tennessee. Two songs in and it was “Welcome to Mike Brown and Country Jam.”
That was the beginning of a precious partnership. Don’s drums and my bass in lockstep at the bottom of the band. There’s a sweet spot you can get to where the rhythm and the beat just kinda play themselves and you’re left with nothing but an inner smile. Don and I went there regularly and we became brothers. Travelling to gigs together; laughing and drinking and smoking in-between sets and after the gigs at the local twenty-four hour Denny’s. But mainly standing up on some stage all those nights listening to each other’s rhythm as we played the heart out of those beautiful songs… Sounds like true love, doesn’t it?
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Don and I had our day together. And then life moved on and we lost touch. I never saw him again. And now, far off and many years later, I still smile that inner smile every time I think of my brother Don.

So here’s my “Song for Don:”