Editor’s Note: The new Growing Up in Bandera book is now available! Visit the Bulletin office of call 830-796-3718 to purchase Growing Up in Bandera: Volume 2 for $25. Volume 1 and 2 are available as a package deal for $40.
Jeff Moseley had been telling me for quite some time that he had written a song that I just needed to hear. He kept telling me that he knew I would appreciate it. That made me become a little nervous thinking there might be a reference to some questionable activity that I might have been party to in my earlier more carefree or careless days in Bandera. Although there were only a very few of those occasions when I was caught in questionable situations I still maintain I was an innocent victim of circumstances.
Previously each time Jeff and I had a chance encounter the timing wasn't appropriate for the unveiling of this mystery song. On a recent Sunday while attending the Silver Sage Community Fest activities at the 11th Street Cowboy Bar the setting was perfect. As soon as I walked in I started meeting up with people from back in the day Bandera. Friends, entertainers and some genuine local outlaws who are for the most part like me, reformed due to old age. The mind is still willing but the body is a constant reminder of the consequences. As the activities started to get rolling Jeff motions me in close and we get our heads close enough to make a conversation possible over the music coming from the stage. He said it's time you heard the song I have been telling you about because it will fit your style of story telling. There's that nervous feeling again. Of course under the circumstances he couldn't sing it for me so he started reciting the lines.
Right away I got the meaning of it fitting my back in the day stories. The characters and places came to life in my mind as the song unfolded and the outside music was temporarily muted. The pictures he was painting with words were so real it was like I was watching a movie starring some Bandera natives from long ago. It created a bit of sadness and longing as I recalled those times and places but I was close to crying in laughter at the ending of his song. People around us were probably thinking we had consumed our limit and then some but with God as my witness I only had water which is my go to drink in public these days. That reformed due to old age thing again.
It is unfortunate but the only way to truly appreciate the song if you have a chance to hear it is if you have a connection to Bandera from long ago. The people and places may be long gone but many of those small town Bandera worst kept secrets will live on in infamy. And that my friends is what makes meeting up with old friends from back in the day so special. Only they can appreciate or tell those tales we experienced while Growing Up In Bandera. No, I won't explain the tales which provide the material and inspiration behind writing such a song. Let's just say that I don't qualify as a person eligible to cast the first stone.
