I was asked during this Women's History Month to do a talk/concert on "Women in Rock and Blues" by The University of Southern Mississippi. The City of Hattiesburg, the African-American Military History Museum, and the Mississippi Arts Commission kicked in too. It would be at the Burger Center on East 6th Street in Hattiesburg. The Burger Center, I found out, is the old black USO center (and the only still-standing one in the U.S.) with great acoustics and a large stage where Louis Armstrong once played for the black soldiers' dances during WWII. I got a tour when I first got there and a brief tutorial on black soldiers and military history - The Buffalo Soldiers, The Tuskegee Airmen and Jesse Brown.

I was to give a talk on "Women in Rock and Blues." This gave me such consternation. What would I say? What do I know? Who am I? I'm old! Why would someone care what I think? BUT they were so sweet to think I had something to offer. Yes, I have played music; from sitting on my bed as a teenager, picking the arm up off the turntable and putting it back on the record again and again with a pen and pad and a guitar and trying to figure out what on earth the people on the record were doing to sharing the stage with some of my idols such as Koko Taylor, NRBQ, Lonnie Mack, and Ricky Nelson, and sort of achieving more than I ever dreamed of even if it doesn't sometimes seem like very much. But all that was long ago. Now I have acid reflux to burn my vocal cords and joint pain and a wild feral pig to take care of and sort of a grumpy thing going on. What do I have to offer? Well, it sort of slowly dawned on me that a lot of things I take for granted I learned from hard work and years toiling over those turntables and seeking out every bit of information I could about all those people who came before me who captured my attention (that I take for granted but not everyone else knows).

Most people love music and listen to it but are not obsessed and consumed by it, so maybe they need to occasionally listen to those of us who are.

I was nervous about it all, and my friend, Matthew, said "Hold your acoustic guitar." This was great advice. I always feel cool when I hold my guitar. I had picked out certain women I wanted to talk about. Let me say this right now (you'll know too if you're a woman) that the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, The Band, The Kinks, The Sex Pistols, Gram Parsons, Waylon, Jimmy Martin, etc. are all guys, and I learned from them, but I was always interested in what the cool women were doing. They spoke to me. They were my competition. They were my inspiration. They were like me. I bought their records and listened to them. If one of them was especially good, I thought, "Damn!" Then I tried to learn what they were doing. They say women watch other women. Hell, yeah! Inspire me!

I started with Billie Holiday then went back to Bessie Smith, then forward to Irma Thomas and Marianne Faithful, then forward to Janis and Aretha, then to Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou, and Bonnie Raitt, then back to Lorrie Collins and Wanda Jackson, then to Patti Smith, Chrissie Hynde, Sam Phillips, Louann Barton, and on and on - all the mighty mighty women. And I was worried about not having enough to say. I finally had to cut it off because of time, and we (David Sumrall - in a midnight blue dress and subdued soft auburn wig - no, not really) played two sets in this historic hall to a few steadfast people who seemed to care what I am most passionate about.

What a cool night!