[Captain Jim]

I may have told this story here in the past...

We were in an RV park in Branson, MO, for a week. They had a sign on the office door "Jam Session Tonight". I let my wife talk me into going. I opened the door and it was like a scene from a movie: the place went dead quiet and every head in the place turned towards us.

There were three guys up front and a room full of people. Of the three guys, one was playing drums, one was playing a Telecaster, and a big guy in bib overalls was playing an old Taylor dread. Turns out, it wasn't what I consider a "jam session," but was these three guys playing for the crowd. The big guy in the bibs said, "Come on in - is that a guitar you've got there?"

I went in, opened the gig bag, and pulled out my Emerald X7. "What the heck kinda guitar is that?" I heard.

"It's an Emerald; made in Ireland."

"Is that fiberglass?" the big guy asked.

I said, "Well, it's carbon fiber..."

"So - fiberglass."

"Sure, let's call it fiberglass." Didn't seem to be the time or place to explain the nuance of carbon fiber.

Turns out these guys play there every week. A rarity that anyone else comes in with an instrument. The big guy asked, "What kind of music do you play?"

"Well, mostly rock 'n roll."

"You mean, like Elvis Presley?"

"Um, a bit newer than that, but, sure, I can play some Elvis if you want."

"We play country. Real country. Not that new crap. Mostly in G."

I could see right away that this was not going to be in my comfort zone. (insert understatement emoji here)

Then he said, "Well, let's see what you can do? Can you play leads?"

"I'll give it a try," I said. I plugged into their PA.

I played a lot of G-C-D that night. Sometimes C-F-G. They went with me on a rendition of Brown Eyed Girl... G-C-G-D, with an occasional Em thrown in just to be wild and crazy. Some of the crowd even sang along with the "Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la"s.

They asked if I wanted to play any of "Your kinda music by yourself,"

"Sure,"... I did Please Come To Boston and James Taylor's Country Road (the most country songs I do). The audience was nice with the applause.

When we wrapped things up, the big guy said, "That guitar sounds pretty good for fiberglass."

"Well, it's actually carb... thanks!"

Walking back to our motorhome, my wife said, "Well, that was kind of fun, wasn't it?"

"Uh huh." I don't think I swayed anyone towards carbon fiber that night.