The Wall - Cotton Mouth River
369 views · Published 13 November 2015 · 4:47 · Indexed 25 October 2026
Channel: 29moons · 2015 · Music
OMG! This is amazing. My family and I took a trip out to Roanoke, Virginia to visit family and clean out a storage shed that had a lot of old of junk in it but was rumored to have family treasures that went back several generations. We spent a lot time just moving old mattresses, boxes of mildewed books and lots other stuff hoping to find the stray antique rifle from the civil war or an old guitar (or please please please a uke!) but didn't find much. That is until near the end of the day when we were losing light and getting ready to quit for dinner. I spied a box of old records in the corner near a beat up gramaphone record player. I scanned the box and spied an old 78 with a yellowed piece of paper attached by some cracked tape. I read the words and spied a familiar name, "Cruickshank" which is my Dad's foster father's name. I removed the disk from the box, it was heavy like they old 78's were and I nearly dropped it, surprised by the weight. I read the complete lable, "Duke 'The Uke' Cruickshank, 1921". What?! Duke the UKE? there was an old photo taped to it too. It was then that everyone had decided we had had enough and were now piling in the cars. I tucked the vinyl under my arm and headed back to my Uncle's house. During dinner I told my Uncle about the record and he was so excited that he asked to see it immediately. I showed it to him and he told that when he was a kid him and his brother and sister would listen to this on that old Gramaphone. He said that this was they're Uncle Duke, or as they called him, Funcle Duke because he was so much fun. Well, he told me that he was sort of legend around there because he was considered the greatest ukulele player as far as anyone had known. He had played his ukulele with some greatest musicians of the time and even spent a little time playing with some of the Grand 'Ol Opry players. We went up stairs just him and me and put that record on old turn table he had. When it started playing with all those buzzes and pops well, his grin just went from ear to ear. I swear I watched that man travel through time. It was such an old recording that it was hard to hear but what I could hear made me so sad because of the story but so happy to know that this was someone I was related to. Wow! Well hear it is... Duke 'The Uke' Cruickshank, performing The Wall. By the way - the above story is a work of fiction - This is actually 'The Wall/Cotton Mouth River' written by Harlan Howard and performed by Jim Croce on his 'Americana' album. This is my old timey version performed by me... 29moons.
