One of the joys of this project has been the opportunity to meet so many kind people who were friends of David's and/or admirers who never met him but feel a connection to him. Another joy is to listen to good music I might never would have heard otherwise.
Three people gave invaluable help on the research for Pluck. The first is Cade, and he lives in Cleburne, Texas. Like his buddy, the late Jim Bentley, Cade loves music. He's also an artist and creative in his own right. Cade helped me find a number of David's long-ago friends to interview from the early seventies like Nelda and Joe (who appear in Pluck) and Aaron Bentley, Jim's son. Cade led me to Jim Bentley who was a life-long close friend of David and Cade. In fact, Cade helped Jim a great deal when Jim was dying of cancer.
And then there's Loretta. Loretta Callens that is. Her music got me through many a stressful day when I struggled with technology issues, not my strong suit. Her soothing voice was just what I needed to snap me out of frustrating situations. And she was a great help in tracking people who knew David in his early years in Texas, and first connected me to Jim, his son Aaron, and to Cade.
Pluck outlines how Jim Bentley and David spent many a sunny weekend together in Jim's mother's house, writing lyrics to songs in the early seventies. David chose one one of those songs, "All the Good Texas Weather Has Gone to Mexico", for the demo record he later took to Nashville.
Cade called me recently to share a song he called "The Wind in the Pines." He came across while going through his extensive music collection. He wanted me to hear the lyrics because Jim Bentley wrote them. Jim was well-known in Cleburne, and counted many musicians among his friends. One of them put the lyrics to music and played it for Jim when he was in hospice. It's a gentle, very Texan tune.
And, of course, there are those interlocking Texas connections across time and big spaces. Loretta fills in some gaps: "Jim (Bentley) had named the song "Movin' On" for the line in it "As you move on know what to leave behind. Memories live on the future is blind". The title of the song "The Wind In The Pines" is actually copywritten under the title "Movin' On". Loretta wrote the melody, and Jim was the lyricist. Loretta adds, "Before Jim became ill, we were working at marrying his lyrics to my melodies. "Heartache Ahead" is the only other one we got to finish.
Musician (and Loretta's production engineer) Ryan Elmore sings Jim and Loretta's song on the cover that Cade first sent me:
Here is a link to "Movin' On" which was 1st released on Loretta's album Life Is Good and a second time on Say A Little Prayer For Texas. As you will hear, only the singer is different: "Movin' On". I don't mean to throw any shade Ryan's way, but Loretta's voice is part of the soundtrack of my life the last two years, and I will never listen to her music again without thinking of David Schnaufer and working late nights upstairs in the office.
Thanks to Cade for introducing me to the song, and to Loretta for graciously permitting me to reproduce her music here. If you'd like to listen to more of Loretta, visit her websites: https://lorettacallens.com/
"Movin' On" purchase link: https://lorettacallens.bandcamp.com/track/movin-on
Free streaming: https://soundcloud.com/loretta-callens
Ryan Elmore's music links.
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