Hi,

Kat asked about the early recordings. There are a couple of Merrick's old songs on the compilation CD at

http://www.musicoutfitter.com/store/item/025218991124/singingthenewtraditionsongssingersand.html

(Singing the New Tradition) where he's in the company of Osar Brand and Jean Ritchie. Not bad company.

Merrick had a lot of stories about good company. Like the night after a Mariposa show when Joan Baez tuned his guitar for him, because he just couldn't get it tuned himself. And the time he was asked by Ed McCurdy (in his kitchen) what he thought of this song he'd just written - "Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream". (Merrick didn't think too much of it. Oops.) And the night that the Weavers showed up at an open stage he was hosting one night, after their big gig in Toronto, and how awestruck he was. Merrick was quick with the self-deprecating story.

A couple of years ago, at the urging of a friend, Merrick recorded a new album of old cowboy songs. I had lots of people asking me to get them CDs, but Merrick would only sell the 50 or so he'd printed. The reason - he'd obtained the cover photo from the local newspaper on the condition that he would only make a few copies, and he was sticking to it no matter how many copies he COULD sell, just by making a new cover photo. He was satisified.

How many old folk and cowboy songs did we lose on Tuesday morning? I hate to think, and I hate to think that those of us who knew him just let it happen. A lesson there.

Thanks for listening,
Jack