Rural Pathway

 Song 784: This week the playlist comes around to Country Road by James Taylor, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. In my freshman year at Northwestern University, which started in the fall of 1969, I got a subscription to Rolling Stone magazine to keep myself informed about the music that interested me, and I soon found out about this JT fellow. Shortly before the summer arrived and I headed back to my parents' upstate NY home, I bought a few LPs that I thought I'd like, including the new album by Mr. Taylor. I spent much of that summer break working as a counselor for a music and arts camp near Camptown, PA, and during my free time there, I often played my 33s on the turntable in my cabin. I quickly got to know all of the new record's songs, and this particular one inspired me to write a tune that I called Country Highway and which you can see and hear a lyric video of by clicking on the title. Back then, I sometimes thought I could hear a heavenly band full of angels that were coming to set me free, and while they never actually arrived, it did give me a good reason to walk on down, walk on down, walk on down a country road. I had introduced my camp colleagues to sweet baby james and they all really liked his music. Then, about a month after the summer camp ended, the airwaves started letting everyone else know about the Fire And Rain (Song 263).