Country Music

Country Music Hits

Uncategorized

THE OLD MAN IN “DESPERADOS WAITING FOR A TRAIN” WAS REAL. HIS NAME WAS JACK PRIGG, AND HE RENTED A ROOM IN GUY CLARK’S GRANDMOTHER’S HOTEL IN MONAHANS, TEXAS. Rossie Clark ran a thirteen-room shotgun hotel that took in oilmen, drifters and bomber pilots. Prigg was a wildcatter and oilfield worker, and he was Rossie’s boyfriend. With Guy’s father overseas during the war, Prigg became the male figure in the boy’s life — and he took him into oil fields and pool halls and the Green Frog Cafe, where old men sat over dominoes and told whatever version of their lives sounded best that night. Clark said Prigg let him drive the car home from Odessa years before he had a license. Then Clark watched him get old. He wrote the song after Prigg died and called it a eulogy, as true as he could make it. Jerry Jeff Walker cut it first on Viva Terlingua in 1973. Rita Coolidge, David Allan Coe and Tom Rush all recorded it in 1974, before Clark finally released his own version on Old No. 1 in 1975. Ten years after that, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson released it as the Highwaymen and carried it to No. 15 on the country chart. Four of the most famous voices in American music, on a stage in front of thousands, singing about an old oil driller from a West Texas town almost none of them had heard of — a man who had been dead for years, and who never once heard his own name in the song.

The Real Old Man Behind “Desperados Waiting for a Train”

Long before “Desperados Waiting for a Train” became one of Guy Clark’s most beloved songs, its central figure was a real man with a real name: Jack Prigg. In West Texas, where oil money, hard weather, and long memories all seemed to live side by side, Prigg was not a legend at first. He was simply there — a renter in Rossie Clark’s thirteen-room shotgun hotel in Monahans, Texas, and a steady presence in the life of a young boy named Guy Clark.

A West Texas Home Full of Passing Strangers

Rossie Clark’s hotel was the kind of place that held the region together in quiet ways. Oilmen came through. Drifters came through. Bomber pilots came through. People stayed long enough to rest, then moved on. In that setting, Jack Prigg stood out because he stayed. He worked in the oil fields, wildcatted, drifted through the hard rhythms of the patch, and became Rossie Clark’s boyfriend. When Guy Clark’s father was overseas during the war, Jack Prigg became the male figure in the boy’s daily world.

That kind of bond can shape a child without ever announcing itself. Jack Prigg took Guy Clark into oil fields, pool halls, and the Green Frog Cafe, where old men sat over dominoes and told versions of their lives that changed with the light, the whiskey, or the audience. It was a world of tall tales, private codes, and rough affection. Guy Clark absorbed all of it.

The Man Who Let the Boy Drive

One of the most memorable details in the story is simple: Jack Prigg let Guy Clark drive the car home from Odessa years before Guy Clark had a license. That detail matters because it says something about trust, and maybe something about the way Jack Prigg saw the boy. Not as a child to be kept at a distance, but as someone to be introduced early to the responsibilities and freedoms of the world around him.

In the West Texas of Guy Clark’s memory, growing up meant listening closely, watching older men, and learning how stories could harden into myth.

Then time did what time always does. Guy Clark watched Jack Prigg grow old. After Jack Prigg died, Guy Clark wrote “Desperados Waiting for a Train” as a eulogy, trying to make it as true as he could. The song was not just about one man. It was about the passing of an era, the dignity of working lives, and the strange way memory can turn an ordinary person into a lasting figure in American music.

A Song That Traveled Far Beyond Monahans

Jerry Jeff Walker recorded the song first on Viva Terlingua in 1973. Other artists soon followed, including Rita Coolidge, David Allan Coe, and Tom Rush in 1974. Guy Clark released his own version in 1975 on Old No. 1, bringing the song back to its author in a form that felt both personal and universal.

About ten years later, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson recorded it as the Highwaymen and carried it to the country charts. That version gave the song another life, one even larger than the one Jack Prigg could have imagined.

And yet the heart of the story stayed the same: a West Texas boy, an oilfield man named Jack Prigg, and a memory strong enough to become a classic. The man in the song was real. The place was real. The feeling, shaped by loss and affection, still sounds real every time the first line begins.

 

Related Post

Uncategorized

Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White did not light a unity candle when they married. They sang to each other instead. On August 4, 1981, the two country musicians stood together for their wedding ceremony when their pastor suggested something that fit them better than the traditional candle. Ricky could sing a verse to Sharon, Sharon could sing one back, and then they could join together. They chose Townes Van Zandt’s “If I Needed You.” It sounded simple, but Sharon later admitted it was difficult to get through because both of them were so emotional. The song became their own wedding symbol — two voices beginning separately, then meeting together. That moment lasted far beyond the ceremony. Ricky and Sharon continued making music together, raised a family, and decades later recorded “If I Needed You” again. More than forty years after that wedding, the song still carries the memory of the promise they made when their marriage was just beginning.

Uncategorized

WAYLON JENNINGS SANG “ONLY DADDY THAT’LL WALK THE LINE.” CONNIE SMITH HEARD IT — AND GAVE THE WOMAN HER SIDE OF THE STORY. In 1968, Waylon Jennings released “Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line,” and the song climbed to No. 2 on the country chart. One of the things that caught Connie Smith’s ear was Wayne Moss’s guitar playing on Waylon’s recording. That same year, Connie recorded the song from a woman’s point of view as “Only Mama That’ll Walk the Line” for her album Sunshine and Rain. She even brought Wayne Moss in because she wanted that guitar feel from Waylon’s version. Connie later remembered that she recorded the song in a different key, which made Moss’s job harder — but he still pulled it off. Waylon gave the song its swagger. Connie kept that spirit, changed the perspective, and made it sound like the woman finally got to answer back.

Uncategorized

BEFORE THE HIGHWAYMEN, JOHNNY CASH AND WAYLON JENNINGS STOOD TOGETHER AND SANG FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF A MAN BEHIND BARS. In 1978, Cash and Jennings released “There Ain’t No Good Chain Gang,” written by Hal Bynum and Dave Kirby. The song appeared on Cash’s album I Would Like to See You Again and became one of their earliest major recorded collaborations. The story is simple. A prisoner writes home to his mother and tells her what life behind bars has taught him. Cash takes the lead, while Waylon’s rougher voice joins him on the chorus. There is humor in the warnings, but underneath it is a man realizing that some lessons come too late. Released as a single in May 1978, it climbed to No. 2 on Billboard’s country chart. Years before Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson joined them in the Highwaymen, Cash and Waylon already sounded like two men who understood exactly how an outlaw song should feel.

You Missed

Uncategorized

THE OLD MAN IN “DESPERADOS WAITING FOR A TRAIN” WAS REAL. HIS NAME WAS JACK PRIGG, AND HE RENTED A ROOM IN GUY CLARK’S GRANDMOTHER’S HOTEL IN MONAHANS, TEXAS. Rossie Clark ran a thirteen-room shotgun hotel that took in oilmen, drifters and bomber pilots. Prigg was a wildcatter and oilfield worker, and he was Rossie’s boyfriend. With Guy’s father overseas during the war, Prigg became the male figure in the boy’s life — and he took him into oil fields and pool halls and the Green Frog Cafe, where old men sat over dominoes and told whatever version of their lives sounded best that night. Clark said Prigg let him drive the car home from Odessa years before he had a license. Then Clark watched him get old. He wrote the song after Prigg died and called it a eulogy, as true as he could make it. Jerry Jeff Walker cut it first on Viva Terlingua in 1973. Rita Coolidge, David Allan Coe and Tom Rush all recorded it in 1974, before Clark finally released his own version on Old No. 1 in 1975. Ten years after that, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson released it as the Highwaymen and carried it to No. 15 on the country chart. Four of the most famous voices in American music, on a stage in front of thousands, singing about an old oil driller from a West Texas town almost none of them had heard of — a man who had been dead for years, and who never once heard his own name in the song.

Uncategorized

Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White did not light a unity candle when they married. They sang to each other instead. On August 4, 1981, the two country musicians stood together for their wedding ceremony when their pastor suggested something that fit them better than the traditional candle. Ricky could sing a verse to Sharon, Sharon could sing one back, and then they could join together. They chose Townes Van Zandt’s “If I Needed You.” It sounded simple, but Sharon later admitted it was difficult to get through because both of them were so emotional. The song became their own wedding symbol — two voices beginning separately, then meeting together. That moment lasted far beyond the ceremony. Ricky and Sharon continued making music together, raised a family, and decades later recorded “If I Needed You” again. More than forty years after that wedding, the song still carries the memory of the promise they made when their marriage was just beginning.

Uncategorized

WAYLON JENNINGS SANG “ONLY DADDY THAT’LL WALK THE LINE.” CONNIE SMITH HEARD IT — AND GAVE THE WOMAN HER SIDE OF THE STORY. In 1968, Waylon Jennings released “Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line,” and the song climbed to No. 2 on the country chart. One of the things that caught Connie Smith’s ear was Wayne Moss’s guitar playing on Waylon’s recording. That same year, Connie recorded the song from a woman’s point of view as “Only Mama That’ll Walk the Line” for her album Sunshine and Rain. She even brought Wayne Moss in because she wanted that guitar feel from Waylon’s version. Connie later remembered that she recorded the song in a different key, which made Moss’s job harder — but he still pulled it off. Waylon gave the song its swagger. Connie kept that spirit, changed the perspective, and made it sound like the woman finally got to answer back.

Uncategorized

BEFORE THE HIGHWAYMEN, JOHNNY CASH AND WAYLON JENNINGS STOOD TOGETHER AND SANG FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF A MAN BEHIND BARS. In 1978, Cash and Jennings released “There Ain’t No Good Chain Gang,” written by Hal Bynum and Dave Kirby. The song appeared on Cash’s album I Would Like to See You Again and became one of their earliest major recorded collaborations. The story is simple. A prisoner writes home to his mother and tells her what life behind bars has taught him. Cash takes the lead, while Waylon’s rougher voice joins him on the chorus. There is humor in the warnings, but underneath it is a man realizing that some lessons come too late. Released as a single in May 1978, it climbed to No. 2 on Billboard’s country chart. Years before Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson joined them in the Highwaymen, Cash and Waylon already sounded like two men who understood exactly how an outlaw song should feel.