Music is Free and Easy.
I always envisioned Larry’s youth as a very brief phase that may have never really happened, since he was so very old at 37. Looking back, I think Larry learned a few lessons that carried him through life.
Lesson #1: Everything must be done yourself. No one ever did anything for Larry. His dad disappeared, his stepfather appeared way later, and his mom – a strong woman with an equally strong will – simply ignored him until he figured out stuff on his own. Larry became independent at a very young age.
Lesson #2: Motorcycles are essential. They’re the cheapest vehicles to run and maintain. Larry grew up poor, and was married with a baby by 18, so he had to be frugal. As a bonus, Larry learned to fix motorcycles and found an entire culture based around motorcycles with a pool of instant friends at the ready wherever he went.
Lesson #3: Music is free and easy, and the chicks love it. Larry taught himself to play the guitar and then learned every song he liked. He made an album of cover songs, and opened once for Hank Williams, Jr. – the highlight of Larry’s musical career.
I enjoyed gawking at the photo of Young Larry on the album cover, taken when he was maybe 20 years old. I found it fascinating that Larry was once young; I needed to see it with my own eyes.
At 37, Larry had learned that the motorcycle lifestyle was insufficient to sustain me, since I hadn’t shown any interest in rebuilding the Triumph in the Floridian backyard, and I spent the biker parties hanging out under trailers and in trees.
So Larry – who knew these three things – put his focus on music, with me in mind.
Larry set up the living room with a faux stage, amps and a mic at the ready. He bought me an Applause guitar that would plug into the amps. And he often suggested that I play guitar with him when we were drinking at home. I didn’t have a lot of interest in improving my guitar skills – bar chords hurt my fingers – and I didn’t have a lot of interest in learning finger licks and new rhythms to play ancient country songs.
But I plodded along; it was something to do. I learned that his bar chords were just fancy versions of the same chords I’d learned in high school, and I realized that most songs only required three chords anyway. I still enjoyed just listening to him play, but I started to watch his fingers more than I had before.
One day when Larry came home from work, I was rocking out to Free Bird – blasting the music so loud he heard it from the street. Larry strode across the living room in his boots, smiling and grabbing both guitars from where they hung on the wall.
He put one boot on the table, Free Bird still blasting, and Larry started playing along with the song.
I couldn’t believe it. Larry knew how to play one of my songs! I picked up my guitar and tried to follow him. When the song ended, he continued teaching me – finally a song I cared about! We played Free Bird for about two hours until I could sing and play the slow beginning, and even knew how to play rhythm for the faster part.
I learned Free Bird. It required learning a semblance of bar chords, but it was worth it.
Not long after, I hopped up on stage with Larry’s band to play it. After that, I never wanted to leave.