Rattlesnake Stew - Story Behind The Song

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I always introduce this song live with a little audience survey. The results are pretty much the same every time so I'm gonna assume that most of you know what happens when you mix a lot of different types of alcohol in one setting!

This song is the story of the time I quit drinking!

Those that know me know that I've never been a heavy drinker anyway….but…..I do like the taste of Jack Daniels and I am a card carrying Tennessee Squire.

My wife Cyndi, on special occasions, makes me this Jack Daniels Cake she invented that is AMAZING!!!!!! 

The only thing is, you have to be 21 to eat it! It has a real familiar "burn" going down.

So….we were preparing to play our annual show at the Yuma Prison Run and Cyndi and I decided it would be a good idea to bring a JD cake on the trip for the guys in the band. 

We get the bus all packed, spirits are high and Bart starts driving us towards Arizona. It's about 7AM and I decide to break out the cake for a little cake and coffee for breakfast.

I guess I must have had a bigger piece than the other guys and soon I'm feeling pretty good about  the trip and the weekend to come. Realizing that it's 5:00 somewhere, me and Steve decide to wash down the cake with a couple of Heinekens….which leads to a couple more Heinekens…..then a couple more……. and somewhere around 8:30 that morning I remembered that I had a brand new bottle of Makers Mark that needed to be christened.

Hey, we're a Rock and Roll War Machine on the road….that's what Rock Bands do…right?

Well, I must have taken a "little nap" cause the next thing I remember it was about noon, we were at the Yuma Fairgrounds and Bart was shaking me awake as a pool of vomit was drying on the front of my shirt and I remember thru a VERY cloudy haze Bart yelling at Steve "WHAT DID YOU DO!"

I'm here to admit, it was all my own fault. 

Unfortunately, I was unable to help the guys unload the trucks…set up the gear…or walk, for that matter. It was agreed that I should just "rest" a little while on the bus while they got everything ready.

When it was time for soundcheck, I felt like I'd been hit by the bus and I have no Idea how I got thru it. The guys got me back to the hotel before showtime and I remember being in the shower praying to God that if He would just get me thru the show I would never drink again……Wellllll…..

I got thru the show, by God's grace. I'm sure it was not my most shining performance, I truly don't even remember doing the show but the guys in the band covered for me and we pulled it off. 

I woke up the next morning with the most agonizing hangover …….and my esteemed colleagues …did they sympathize? 

Hell no, they laughed their asses off. 

I thought I was dying…surely no one could feel like I did and live…but after the guys had their fun, Steve-o came to me and imparted these words of wisdom…"Hair of the dog, Sambo, Hair of the dog" and handed me a beer.

In desperation I took it and it actually did help. Tho I still felt like crap, the show the next night went better.

All the way home the next day, the stupidity of what I had done really began to work on me. Not only had I let down the guys in the band, I had let down our fans and the guys that hired us to perform. I remembered my promise from the shower and decided that I would quit drinking at that moment….and did.

I still have a beer from time to time (usually with pizza) but my drinking days are OVER!

What I learned is this:

When you mix a lot of different booze together….it's poison! 

It WILL coil up …It WILL bite you ……Rattlesnake Stew!

Somebody's Daughter - Story Behind The Song

Somebody's Daughter

Available on iTunes

A couple of years ago, Cyndi and I took our first trip New York to celebrate our anniversary and see a Yankees game before they tore down the old stadium. We were absolute tourists and I'm surprised we weren't mugged! Everything was moving so fast and we were trying to take it all in. 

When we went to Times Square, we got caught in a sea of people as we were walking down the sidewalk. At one point , I noticed this young girl setting in the entrance to an alley. Now I'd seen several homeless people since we'd been in New York and usually, I'm ashamed now to admit, I would do my best to pretend not to see them. 

This girl was different. She wasn't asking for money…she wasn't promising that she would "work for food"…. she was sitting there crying, holding a cardboard sign that simply said, "I want to go home."
In the hustle and bustle of the moment, Cyndi didn't see her. The crowd of people around us quickly swept us away with them away and before I knew it we were blocks away. I never saw the girl again.
New York City is an amazing place but it can also be very scary. There were times when I felt very uncomfortable and couldn't wait to get back the the safety of our hotel room. I can not even imagine what it would be like to have no money and no place to go there. To have to sleep in the streets with no protection.

As the horror of what this girl must be going thru fully hit me, i felt numb. I was ashamed and disgusted with myself knowing that I could have easily put her on a bus and saved her from only God knows what, but I did nothing.

That's where this song came from.

God had taught me something. But by His grace, go I.
I will never be able to help the girl in New York but I pray for her often. I will never again "pretend" not to see someone in need.

The homeless are people, no different than myself, with fears, hurts and needs. My attitude used to be that they were there because they wanted to be…and I've since found out that it is true in some cases.
I've now been working with the homeless for a while and I'm finding that many of them are actually ex-military that can't find jobs for whatever reason are doing exacting what that were trained to do…survive.

Many are people that have lost their jobs, then their homes, then their pride and sanity.
Yes, I've also found many that are drug addicts, alcoholics, you name it, but at the end of the day they are still people that are in the worst kind of need.
God is the only answer for a problem this big. I'm humbled that He allows me to be a part.