Yankee Doodle Dixie by Lisa Patton

Author:Lisa Patton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Chapter Nine

When I flip on the radio, after I get back in the car from dropping off Issie at school, “Fire and Rain” pours out of the speakers. It’s so vivid—almost like James Taylor is on the morning show in the control room, singing directly into the mic. I can hear a guitar but the other instruments are missing, the ones that give the song its full rich sound. FM 99 is not known for playing acoustic versions of songs (Edward would never allow a song to be played that hadn’t originally reached the top ten on the Adult Contemporary Billboard chart), but even still, I’d swear it was James himself.

“Thought I’d see you one more time again. Nah, nah, nah.” After the music fades, there’s clapping. Control room clapping! I nearly hit another mother exiting the preschool parking lot.

“All right, all right. JT. That was awesome,” Johnny says. “It’s great to have you back.”

“Thank you. Glad to be here.” That’s his voice. I’d know it anywhere. It really is James Taylor!

“You’re in concert tonight at Mud Island,” Johnny says.

“That’s right,” says JT.

Okay, what in god’s name is going on? Why am I the last to know that Sweet Baby James himself is at FM 99 today—only a few feet away from my office? It’s only been two weeks since Liam White was in the studio and now we have an even bigger star. I truly am going to kill Johnny Dial this time. I look down at my outfit and consider turning back around and heading home. This dress has been hanging in my closet for five years. I’d have thrown it away a long time ago but it’s one of those outfits that can pass in a pinch, when everything else is dirty. It’s the kind that you’d never wear to something special, though—and this is better than something special. One glance at the clock tells me I better keep driving forward and accept the fact that I’m going to meet the James Taylor looking like I just left the Dress Barn.

“You’ve played Memphis what, six or seven times, and every single time I see you, you seem to get better,” Johnny says. “Your voice is smoother now than it was the first time I saw you back in 1970, I think it was.”

“The Sweet Baby James tour.”

“That’s it. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen at the Mid-South Coliseum. I still remember you came out on the stage wearing a flannel shirt, sat down on a stool and opened the show with ‘Sweet Baby James.’”

JT laughs, and it’s unmistakable.

I remember that shirt! I was there. One of my very first concerts. I fumble through my purse and punch in the numbers to Alice’s cell. When the answering machine comes on I’m practically squealing. “Turn on FM 99. JT is in the control room talking about the Sweet Baby James concert at the coliseum when that man in the crowd screamed out ‘Walking Down a Country Road.’ Remember that, Alice? Oh my gosh.

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