We attended a house party last night.  A house party is a response to gather in a home for a convivial evening of conversation, food and drink, and in this case, a reflective interaction with the songs and stories of Scott Ainslie.  There were many around me that I had not previously met.  In that place strangers became friends at the atmosphere created by the householders, and by the passionate presentation by Scott of his music, and of the history behind the songs.  The history of which he spoke was our history as Americans, my history as a person of the 20th and 21st Century, growing up in the South, having lived my entire adult life outside of Chicago, the commercial hub of the country.

The guitar chords resonated deeply, the voices of past generations, who played and listened to the same songs, perhaps in a somewhat different key.  I found myself thinking that it was not that long ago that “my people” were slave owners.  Slave owning was such the norm, as well as a pragmatic source of wealth–that four years of armed conflict, and indescribable suffering were endured rather than abjure the violent extraction of economic value from  “other” human beings.

I’ve noted before that my great-uncle Thomas served in the Army of Northern Virginia.  At that time a wave of fiery violence and death touched nearly every family in some way that lived in the South.

My instinct says that we presently face much the same attitudes; a preference for violence and a disdain for equality and humanity of every individual, regardless of gender, ethnic background, or legal status in this country.

Ainslie’s music was a further nudge to “wake up,” to rise up and make common cause against the despotism that confronts us now.

I offer this YouTube as good serving of what Ainslie is all about. I’ve heard Scott and Reggie play together, both Blues Men extraordinaire.

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