This is, Ron Pope wants everyone to know, a song that draws on the autobiographical – reflecting as it does on his early days making his way (or not) down the path of music making in the love arena. As he recalls his Mother told him: “If you ever find yourself back down South playing ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ in an empty bar, that’s the sign you need to come on home and go back to school.”
And naturally enough….Ron Pope recalls that “We were back in Georgia playing for exactly one paying customer who would not stop calling for ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ so we played it for him (and the bartenders). Luckily, I didn’t quit that day, but I can’t say that the thought didn’t cross my mind a time or two. We had lean times for a bunch of years. But we also had good times: we were poor but we were young and free and as wild as a pack of feral dogs.”
You’ll be able to catch Ron Pope in the UK this August at The Long Road festival. Well, if you have tickets (and you haven’t passed out drunk) you will.
