So far the Year of our Lord 2012 has been good to me. It actually began on Dec. 23, 2011. Robert Earl Reed (an associate of mine in the strings and lyrics department) called  and wanted me to join him and a few other delinquents at Chad Smith’s studio to record a song he’d written the week before.

The title of the ditty was “31st of December.” Ol’ Rev. laid a foundation track down and Chad emphasized it with keyboard. I just hummed along in the background. We sounded pretty rough, so we did it over a few times. After we’d consumed a round or two of “Harpole’s High Proof Fluid” it started to sound better (to us at least).

At some point things started loosening up. At first it was a few strings, but we finally caught the sweet spot (after a few stripped or stuck guitar and piano keys) and pulled it together. Strange people started just drifting in and adding to the mix (of the music, not the tuning fluid). After awhile the work was deemed worthy of a copyright.

That is a procedure that is too complicated to get into, but it got done, and before the 31st and WBLE played it that Saturday morning. By that time that thang had drums and bass guitars and background vocals and wound up being played on Shooter Jennings XXX radio show, world-wide only a week after it was recorded.

My head swole up and yours should too, because every part and player of that acknowledged masterpiece was homegrown in Panola County (with the possible exception of my part). We shot off celebrity fireworks while we listened to us and our heads got even bigger. That was a pretty good start on a New Year in my book, because most of my 56 preceding new years started with me either being grounded or in jail or in Mexico or married.

The next thing that happened was one of my beloved exes, who once threatened to have me hanged, drawn and quartered, turned up and cooked me fried chicken dinner (just like I like it) and didn’t put any arsenic in it. Then she told me she’d canceled that “hit” she’d put out on me several years ago. (I think she started going to church again) and that filled out the second week.

The third week, probably the best thing of all blessed me. That mix-breed puppy, that was a non-refusable gift from my grandchildren woke me up at 4:30 a.m. and indicated a desire to be outside instead of inside. Now How could you hope for a better January?

Dig in, winter ain’t over yet. Thanks to the musicians and crew who helped put the “31st of December” together: Rev. Robert Earl Reed, Chad Smith, Emily Darby, Jimbo Mathis, Erika Lipe,  Jessie Lipe and Zechariah Lloyd Tillotson.

And thanks to Red the Dawg who graduated into the ranks of the housebroken.

Enjoyin life,

Ricky Harpole
(Contact Harpole at www.facebook.com/harpolive or www.colespointrecords.com)