– Abilene –
I got my driver’s licence in 1966 when we lived in San Angelo Texas. Right after I got my licence, I got a call from a friend who wanted to know if I wanted to make $5. His dad owned a used car lot and he had bought 5 cars at a car auction in Abilene. “You mean I get to drive a car 90 miles all the way from Abilene and get paid $5 dollars too?… Count me in!” On Saturday 4 other kids and I rode up to Abilene and caravanned 5 used cars back to San Angelo. We had one mishap in the town of Ballinger when one of the car’s engines blew a gasket. Ballinger looked just like the town in the movie “Last Picture Show” so that was a bonus.
During that drive I heard the song “Abilene” on the car radio. Since then, that song has been a favourite of mine. So much so that I recorded a version of the song.
———————————-
– Quiet Surf –
When we lived in Pakistan, my brother Dan and I hung around a group of Airmen musicians. The leader was a guy named Armstead. The other guys were Bob Featherstone and Shorty (aka “Regular Shorty” to avoid confusion with another guy known as “Hurtin Shorty”). Armstead was tall and lanky with slicked back hair and a bad attitude. He played a Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar which had been in a fire and was badly burned and scorched. One of the songs they played was written by Armstead, called “Quiet Surf”. Dan and I really liked the song but Armstead wouldn’t show a couple of punk kids like us how to play the song. Just before Armstead rotated back to the states, he sold the Les Paul guitar to Bob Featherstone. Bob joined our band (The Cyclones) – the first thing Bob did was teach us “Quiet Surf”.
I had forgotten all about “Quite Surf” until I started playing an electric guitar again. What impressed me most was that it proved it is possible for anyone to write a song. And, it gave birth to a theory all of us Peek boys adhere to… musical instruments have songs in them and are just waiting for you to bring them to life.
———————————-
– La Frontera –
I was visiting my youngest brother David when he lived near Del Rio, Texas, close to the Mexican border town of Ciudad Acuña. The town had a reputation for being unsavoury. Always adventurers, we took a trip over the border to sample the delights of Ciudad Acuña. After sampling some great Mexican food we happened on a music store. While in the store I picked up some guitars and tried them out. The guitars were great but I realised how my playing skills had gone stale. One guitar in particular stood out as a keeper but since I was strapped for cash I travelled home empty handed. A couple of days later a UPS van pulled up and delivered a package. Wrapped in the package was a guitar. My brother David had crossed the border back into Mexico and purchased the La Española guitar that I had admired in the music store. The first time I picked that La Española guitar up a song flowed out like magic. I named the song “La Frontera”.
———————————-
– Reel Guitar –
My brother Dan and I started playing guitar together when we lived on a CIA base in Pakistan. Our Dad recorded us playing a version of the hit song Apache on a reel to reel tape recorder. We were proud of our musical prowess so we sent the tape to our Grandmother in Doe Run, Missouri. Some time later their farm was hit by a tornado. The house was destroyed. One item salvaged was a water soaked reel to reel tape. I retrieved what was left of our recording.