BUFFALO’S BOOK CLUB FAVORITES FROM MY PRIVATE STASH
Diane Durrett moved from Atlanta to Nashville with a head full of dreams and a heart full of song. Once there, like most oth- ers, she immediately found that she needed a day job in order to work on her songwriting and pursue her dreams of per- forming. While most
songwriters end up as waitresses and other mun- dane jobs, Diane lucked into the job of driving a limousine for various stars in Nashville. In 2009, her memoir of these adventures, Driving Music City, was published. It’s a fun read. The stories she tells are grade “A,” often hilari-
ous, always intriguing, and blending in tidbits about her past to help paint the picture clearly. There is a great story about Diane driving Gregg Allman that ends with her in his hotel room. No, I will not be giving out any “spoilers.” I want you to read the book yourself. There is a beautiful story about the wedding of
Amy Grant and Vince Gill, and a tale of how Diane ended up getting kissed smack on the lips by Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler. There’s one excellent tale of a man and his
mother who hire the limo, and the man fills Diane’s head full of stories and promises of back- ing her musical career. (Haven’t we all been there?) We attend the funeral of the late great Chet Atkins, and go into the recording studio and shopping with the wild child Courtney Love. All of this and a first person account of a Rolling Stones sound check. Oh, and Diane’s tale of singing “Message in a Bottle” with Sting. How cool is that? The stories just keep on coming: getting the
limo stuck in the mud in Steve Cropper’s front yard; driving for Elton John and Billy Joel; hang- ing with Rev. Al Green; Jimmy Buffett; every story is a gem. All told by a lady who has music oozing from every pore. A wonderful story teller, a great song writer, a soulful vocalist - Dianne
Durrett....When I opened up my “goodie bag,” a bag of promotional materials and other fun stuff given to attendees, at the 2004 Americana Music Conference in Nashville, I was pleased as punch to find a copy of Mark Kemp’s book Dixie Lull- aby inside. I had already caught the buzz around the internet about the book, and had planned to request a review copy when I re- turned home from the con- ference. That night, back in my
hotel room, I cracked the cover on what would turn out to be one of my all time favorite music books. Subti- tled “A Story of Music, Race, and New Beginnings in a
New South,” Dixie Lullaby was all that and more. First of all, Mark Kemp, whose day job at the
time was at The Charlotte Observer, shares a lot of the same musical loves as me. I suppose we must be about the same age, and he grew up just up the road in Asheborro, North Carolina, a town that sounds quite a lot like my own birth place of Spartanburg, SC. Kemp examines Southern rock music as a
means to escape the racism that was thrust upon many of us all at birth. He paints a vivid portrait of life in the Carolinas during the Southern rock era of 1969-1979, with tips of the hat to founding fathers The Allman Brothers Band, as well as ex- aminations of Dr. John, Capricorn Records, The Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the movers and shakers of the genre. Kemp also moves headlong into the 1980’s,
1990’s and even into the 21st century, looking at the bands that followed in the footsteps of the originals, bands like R.E.M., The Black Crowes and The Drive By Truckers. He blends Southern cultural commentary and
memoir seamlessly, creating a magnificent and highly entertaining page-turner of a book.
-Michael Buffalo Smith 43
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