And, Jim Carroll, thanks for hearing what I actually said.

What I stated is my "ideal" situation. In real time and space, as I aged and grew more infirm, I chose to stay closer to home in order to take care of Carol's and my lives better--and to cut costs driving and lodging. Then, mainly by chance, I locked into, and also fit nicely into, gigs playing on Mississippi River steamboats 60 miles west of our home place --- and, also, shows in schools in the winter months -- mostly 100 miles east of us in Chicago and suburbs. (22 years of doing those.)

The rub? For both of those I had to compromise a bit to fulfill the expectations of the ones who were paying me. (I also played at many festivals on weekends.) Always, there were songs not fit for a certain venue. On the river jobs, for 10 years, I rarely sang about the Titanic's fate. ;-) In schools that song was fine if presented on a historical level. Is that common sense, or is it a compromise?

Many times I would revert to jokes or tall tales to set up a song. (I learned well from watching the master, Utah Phillips, use humor to make an audience receptive to a heavy topic.) Possibly that was compromising too!? So be it. I always never compromised the song as I felt it -- and those I'd learned it from -- as well as the collectors that found it. All had to be respected. Those people were NOT exploiters!!! They were passionate mission-driven people working towards a grail of sorts.---

Sorry for going on here like this. It's just my point of view. In the end, I made a sparse living. And I enjoyed the hell out of the doing of it. If I did a request like "The Tennessee Stud" in order to sell a few records, well, there you have it. J. Cash wasn't the only guy who ever "walked a line" of some kind!

Real alchemy was done by us folksingers. We sang into the wind----and turned it into the rent. (And you can quote me!)

Ah, the rent!
Always the bottom line. ;-) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Art Thieme!