My Mom is 74 today... for all the stories about my adopted home up here in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, we're all from North Carolina originally. Mom (and Dad) grew up not far from the little place made sorta' famous by this James Taylor tune... come to think of it, I did too, though I remember very little of my Tarheel youth. Anyway, "Copperline" is near Chapel Hill, N.C.



Of course, there's Jimmy J. with that beautiful Alembic 5'r of his... playing exactly the right thing at exactly the right time. 

I lived in and around the Chapel Hill area for 17 years.  I remember Morgan Creek, which he mentions in the lyrics, but I can't recall Copperline.

Sometimes when introducing the tune he describes it as an old rock quarry of some kind.  But it could be imagined.

Jimmy J

My Dad and Grandfather both worked at a rock quarry near there... could it be the same one? I just assume (like the song suggests) the place, whatever it was, is long gone.

I'm listening sad today, wishing I could play another tune with this guy. He left this world three years ago this morning, and it just ain't been the same since. 

"St. Anne's Reel" was one of his signature tunes, and young flatpickin' gunslingers would always come around to jam this one with Tony.

So, I have Pandora set on my Lee Dorsey channel, and "99 1/2" by Wilson Picket comes on.  I know this song from the first Fever Tree album, but have never heard the Wicked version before - so, of course, I get & start dancing.

Shortly thereafter, I realize that I'm dancing carefully - to make sure the needle doesn't skip..........

Peter (Who really should dance more)

I remember going swimming at an old rock quarry a ways south of town towards Pittsboro, which could perhaps now be under Jordan Lake (the quarry, not the town).  Since they built that lake, a lot of stuff in that area is now gone, including an old barn I lived in for a while.

Relatively new band called CHVRCHES.

Yes, with a V instead of a U. The V is correct.
Cool stuff.

This documentary about James Gurley ;

George Porter Jr.
Jammin' in the van... made me smile.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=qMguyIwmswM

The George Porter Jr. was nice.  Thanks.

And a nice piece on James Gurley; thanks for that.

The Gurley thing was nice, indeed.  When I say that, of the SF '60s guitarists, Garcia, Weir, Kaukonen, Cipollina, Duncan, and Melton were better than James, it should be in no way construed to mean I think he was anything less than one of the all-time greats!

Peter (Who still gets chills over "Summetime")

So I ran across a deal for the DVD and CD soundtrack for 'That Thing You Do' on Amazon, and I jumped on it.  The DVD has Hanks' 'Director's Cut' that's about 45 minutes longer than the broadcast version.  I'm always dumbstruck at how RIGHT Hanks got it:  I always see some piece of gear or something that's not period-correct, and you just don't see any in this.  That the songs are all originals, not a cover in sight, and done so like music sounded back then just slays me.


I remember when bands looked and sounded like this (damn, I never got to play in a 'matching suits' band !), and it just makes me happy.  JW Recommended !!

Haven't see it in quite a while, but yeah, it was a good movie.  I especially liked .

I do that, too, Joey (with guns in Westerns, too) - for instance the Alembic several years early for the model in Jersey Boys - and you're right, they nailed it in That Thing You Do.  And the progression of the instruments as they get more money is right on for the time, too.   They really did take time to get it right;  I remember when it came out reading an interview with Hanks where he talked about how hard it was to get the young actors not to high-five.


Peter (Whose wife gets really tired of his anachronism-spotting OCD)