
There are many people I don’t remember meeting for the first time.
But it’s funny how the significant ones stick with us.
I remember meeting my wife and I remember meeting Tim Duncan in High School.
If you don’t know, Rodney Crowell and Rosanne Cash were later married.
I’ve loved Crowell’s music since I was a teenager.
When the time came to produce four demos to send to Ariola, I called Rodney Crowell. I had met him only once, at a party at Waylon Jennings’s house in 1976, when I was still attending Vanderbilt. He was at the party with Emmylou Harris, her husband and producer, Brian Ahern, and his old friend and recording engineer Donivan Cowart. That night, when everyone started passing the guitar around, Rodney and Donivan played a song they had just written called “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight.” I was stunned. I thought it was just about the best song I had ever heard, and perversely my heart sank. Writing a song that good seemed so far out of my reach that I felt like giving up my dream of songwriting. I was rattled, and even a bit despairing. Susanna and Guy Clark, longtime friends of Rodney’s, were also at the party, and at some point in the evening Susanna introduced me to Rodney.
– Rosanne Cash, Composed (Amazon)
Guy Clark too: