Music Evokes Story

photo of man fishing

OR, The Power of Music to derail the day (!)

I’m not sure what post directed me to a song by Willie Nelson today. It has led to hours of me listening to a YouTube playlist based on Willie Nelson and a really touching song called “Last Leaf on the Tree.” My folks were country music fans, so I was NOT a country music fan. Willie Nelson, once his hair grew out, crossed that boundary for me. He started making music that was not strictly country. He hosted a wild party for his birthday in Austin every year. (Man, oh man! That was a wild time for sure… I got to attend a Willie Nelson picnic one time…)

While you play the song, I’ll give you a little personal backstory.

One of my earliest short stories of the fictional variety to be published is titled “Chumming for Sharks.” You’ll find it in my new collection, Trust Issues, (still available at a pre-order discount!). Click the link to the story to read a scanned version from the original publication. Consider it a teaser for the book!

Music evokes memories

Willie Nelson singing “Georgia,” from his 1978 Stardust album, composed of old standard tunes, takes me to a sport fishing boat in Florida. I crewed aboard that boat for a season, and the skipper had one tape that he played over and over, Stardust. He popped that baby into the 8-track every time we went out and he never changed it.

That sport fishing boat and that skipper provide the scaffolding on which I built my story. They make up the set and offer a preliminary sketch for characters in the story. Here’s a picture of me, shark, kid, and boat.

As in the story, we really did catch a big shark one day. This kid fought that shark for about three hours while two other men watched. They cheered him on and pointed me which way to steer based on which way the shark was going. I stood at the wheel for three hours too, and it was quite a fight. Me, the kid, and the shark. I can’t recall the real guy’s name, or even the name of the boat. I embellished a lot with many nefarious details that never happened!
Kim
Kimberly Davis spent a lot of years sailing. She is currently a writer, editor, and teacher. She also designs websites and is the director at Madville Publishing.