excerpted from
Flood
by Andrew Vachss

That was the first tape in my collection—I've added dozens since. I got some early Paul Butterfield, Delbert McClinton, Kinky Friedman (and if you think this guy's just a quasi-cowboy clown, listen to "Ride 'Em Jewboy" just once), Buddy Guy, Jimmy Cotton—all live. I had a Muddy Waters tape too, but it sounded like he was playing Prom Night in the suburbs someplace, the same way Charley Musselwhite did when I caught him at some college hangout near Boston. I don't blame either of them, but I erased the tapes. I have some stuff I didn't record myself too, some Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, stuff like that. I keep the tapes in the Plymouth to help me do the waiting—I've got more sense than to listen to them inside a closed room.

© 1998 Andrew Vachss. All rights reserved.