American Master?! He's Just a Singer/Songwriter!

Just want to interrupt our week-long salute to John Prine for one entry. Watched the Bob Dylan thingie last night. As much as it was devoted to appreciating and understanding Bob Dylan, the images that stick in my head are of Gene Vincent's guitar player, Johnny Meeks. Vincent sings a little, then Meeks tears through a solo, and as soon as he's done, puts his pick in his mouth and starts clapping like a man possessed. As Ronnie Hawkins demonstrated in The Last Waltz never underestimate the ability of a mad hillbilly to steal the show.

The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars...
— Jack Kerouac, On The Road