Recently, we headed to Antioch California to play a music gig at the Contra Costa County Fair, an extremely friendly and well-run event (and stage, thank you sound man Tom). Antioch isn’t very far from Alameda — about an hour’s drive north — but the Delta is a different world than the Bay.
Despite it being the tributary major California Rivers including the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, I’ve somehow passed through and over this part of the state in a fog for most of my life. Having studied the map a little more this go, we headed toward the water after the gig, which was less than 10 minutes away, and found a bunch of boats, a wetland preserve and a restaurant named for Humphrey the Whale (if you lived in California in the 80s you remember the animal who went off course and literally upriver).
Next time we’re up there without the guitars, we’ll likely do more exploring. Speaking of guitars and Delta’s, anyone remember this song? I was pretty small when this came out but it nonetheless got lodged in my neocortex.
Delta Dawn by Larry Collins and Alex Harvey (and made famous by Tanya Tucker)
Powered by mp3ye.eu Delta Dawn
Delta Dawn, what’s that flower you have on
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by
And did I hear you say he was a-meeting you here today
To take you to his mansion in the sky
She’s forty-one and her daddy still calls her “baby”
All the folks around Brownsville say she’s crazy
‘Cause she walks around town with a suitcase in her hand
Looking for a mysterious dark-haired man
In her younger days they called her Delta Dawn
Prettiest woman you ever laid eyes on
Then a man of low degree stood by her side
And promised her he’d take her for his bride
Delta Dawn, what’s that flower you have on
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by
And did I hear you say he was a-meeting you here today
To take you to his mansion in the sky
Deborah Crooks (www.DeborahCrooks.com) is a writer, performing songwriter and recording artist based in San Francisco whose lyric driven and soul-wise music has drawn comparison to Lucinda Williams, Chrissie Hynde and Natalie Merchant.
Singing about faith, love and loss, her lyrics are honed by a lifetime of writing and world travel while her music draws on folk, rock, Americana and the blues. She released her first EP “5 Acres” in 2003 produced by Roberta Donnay, which caught the attention of Rocker Girl Magazine, selecting it for the RockerGirl Discoveries Cd. In 2007, she teamed up with local producer Ben Bernstein to complete “Turn It All Red” Ep, followed by 2008’s “Adding Water to the Ashes” CD, and a second full-length CD “2010. She’s currently working on a third CD to be released in 2013.
Deborah’s many performance credits include an appearance at the 2006 Millennium Music Conference, the RockerGirl Magazine Music Convention, IndieGrrl, at several of the Annual Invasion of the GoGirls at SXSW in Austin, TX, the Harmony Festival and 2009’s California Music Fest, MacWorld 2010, Far West Fest and many other venues and events. She toured the Northwest as part “Indie Abundance Music, Money & Mindfulness” (2009) with two other Bay Area artists, and followed up with “The Great Idea Tour of the Southwest in March 2010 with Jean Mazzei.
