7.21.10
The other night I was hanging out with one of my closest girlfriends at a local dive bar in Philly, a place I frequent a lot, sipping one of my favorite summer beverages. I think our conversation topic drifted towards relationships in life… or something that turned into a blur as my ears quickly focused on a melody coming from the jukebox behind us… it’s a familiar tune …I see my friend still talking but other faces replace hers…
T Bone Burnett, Robert Plant, Alison Krauss.
It’s funny how a song can magically take you somewhere else… this particular song took me back to the best summer of my life (this far)… when I, Sharon Little, was on tour playing with some of the artists that inspire me the most. My memories of that tour always feel like they are happening in a very fast slow motion…
I hear Jay Bellerose on drums like it’s in my heart, T Bone’s guitar in my fingertips, Alison’s voice in my chest, and Robert’s passion in my soul…
And with the drop of that quarter in the jukebox my thoughts are instantly transported from being in my favorite dive bar in Philly to sitting side stage at Madison Square Garden in NYC watching their performance with every bit of sight I was born with, knowing even then, that I will only have a memory to return to in the future.
My friend is still talking…
I am in my tour bus…
My heart beats fast as I am remembering the thrill of waking up in different cities, meeting rock stars, movie stars, feeling like one myself…
My friend is still talking… I’m nodding my head in agreement, but really I’m only agreeing to one of the sweetest drum beats I’ve ever heard that’s serenading the bar behind me…
I am trying to listen to her but the last 50 seconds of the song is playing and they are rocking out!
I have a tear I want to shed…
I refuse it. (after all no one else at the bar knows what I am thinking about… maybe they would assume I was crazy or maybe they’d assume this wasn’t my first Hoegaarden!)
The song ends…
I feel so lucky.
I was the only person in the bar (or in this entire city) to have had that experience…
I not only feel their songs… but I had the chance to travel and experience it with them…they were very sweet to me, and I am incredibly grateful for that experience. When they included my band and I along to their events… I felt invited. I felt like I was a part of something.
My friend is still talking…
The last chord sounds and I return to the conversation with full attention. My memories of that tour have and will continue to inspire my career as an artist, remembering how humble and sincere everyone was no matter what, or who they were, sticks out the most…
I am using these memories like keys, opening doors to the future. One night in Nashville, at the summit center, Robert Plant walked into my dressing room right before I went on stage… he took my hand, kissed my cheek, and said “Sharon I wish you the best of luck going from strand to strand in your career.”
I am at the beginning of my next strand…
-Sharon
