Folk Heroes- Richard Arnold Beattie-Doc and Meryl Watson

The Denver Folklore Center April 1978

In cooperation with Sound Century Academy, the University of Colorado and The Harry Tuft Collection. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:02

Hello again, everyone. This is your neighbor and host, Richard Arnold Beatty, for another episode of Folk Heroes Stories and Songs from the Harry Tuff Collection and Sound Century Academy of Recording Arts and Broadcasting in cooperation with the University of Colorado. Tonight on Folk Heroes, we bring you to Denver, Colorado, in April of 1978, when Doc and Merle Watson brought their brand of Bluegrass to the Denver Folklore Center 48 years ago with so many great bluegrass surprises, and you'll hear them. It was just a month later that I came to look for an apartment and visited the Denver Folklore Center, and there I met Harry Tuft for the first time. This week was my Independence Day, leaving New York the evening of the 4th of July and landing at Stapleton Airport. Since United lost my luggage, I had a key to my apartment in my pocket and my trusty Takamini D18 ripoff model with the Martin Headstock established in 1962. Things were different then. Words meant different things. For instance, a goat was an animal who would eat your shirt. Or a baseball player who made an unfortunate error that lost the game. Nowadays, a goat is the greatest of all times. Back in 1978, a singer-songwriter was facing New Wave and Disco. All in the same city, sometimes on the same block. And if I could tell the 20-year-old boy who got off that plane anything, I would say, Go for it, kid. Welcome to Denver.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

What is old is new again? What matters is love you said. What was old is new again.

SPEAKER_05 4:35

Thank you, thank you very much. Now Meryl, uh, as soon as I get geared up on here and get them uh get the cars all hooked up. If you'll uh get an engineer thing, we'll run that wall based cannonball a little bit. Well the East Tuesday to the band both people all stay. From the Tuesday, both on the big hill, the memory. Now here's the daddy clax and his name for ever stand in the hills and many places all over this good old land. Here's the riches all the hand curtains around the hand ball. We'll take him home to Dixie Land on the ball bag. Get the money robbing the end, get the ball. And you're the rum, come back on the ball bag, and the ball swing it out now. We came out and on the two pebble day. I probably couldn't even remember the words to it, huh? Let's let's do a novelty version of that thing. I ain't gonna sing it. We'll just take about 19 rounds of it. And by John, we'll let you set the speed on this, and if it's too fast, then we'll blame John with it. If it's too slow, we'll blame me with it. Do you know bluegrass breakdown? No, no, we won't do that to you. That's a special banjo piece, so I was thinking maybe you might know it. John, pick out a good standard bluegrass tune and pick a hell out, and we'll have you. You're the guest good buddy, pick out one.

SPEAKER_08 18:36

So let's talk to you last. I got taken home to be hard to be on the clouds are out, shoot flattering, don't respond at all with large games. I can't make it home being long like gown out like a nose gang, I can't make it home be more biscuits, baby, make a good brown when it gets your biscuits, make around a baby.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

It's what you don't see that can change your life. Every day you open your eyes and the mental checklist of all that you have for the day blocks your vision. You get past the bedroom, the bathroom, the breakfast, and the drive-thru. You arrive at your desk and there are voicemails and emails and snail mails, and you process through until lunchtime. That's what you see every morning. Then, when we rewind the AM and go back, you find the morning that you didn't see. You ran past your husband who was trying to find meaning in his work. You snarfed down the burnt toast and left the coffee maker on, and oh, and you cut off your neighbor who was bringing his wife home with their new baby. You were in your own zone as you race through the school zone. That can change your life.

SPEAKER_03 20:49

That's a message for whatever community you're part of. Community radio. Are you being useful or are you being used for entertainment or educational purposes? Not to be confused with what you hear on the evening news. Are you being useful? Or are you being you are you conservative? Are you for conservation? Are you engaged in meaningful conversation? And how do you live? How do you live it out in every room of your house? Are you useful? Are you going to be able to do that? Vassar Clemens.

SPEAKER_04 22:01

I'm sitting here being very much uh honored by the presence of one Vassar Clements.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 22:06

Vassar, uh, what brings you to town? I'm sure I I shouldn't have to really say that.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

You're Oh, yeah, we playing at Ebbotsfield tonight and tomorrow night.

SPEAKER_04 22:14

Now you've got this is the Vassar Clements band now. Right. Right?

SPEAKER_02 22:17

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 22:17

How long has that has that been a thing?

SPEAKER_02 22:20

Well, uh this particular it's been a band, you know, kinda uh since maybe two a little over two years. But this particular group, the Vassar Clements band, has just started on the on the MCA label.

SPEAKER_04 22:33

Uh-huh. You've you've been on quite a few in the last couple of years.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

Oh well, I've been on quite a few, yeah. Uh none of what I would say my own, you know, but I've been on a lot of them.

SPEAKER_04 22:43

You've been a part of uh things like uh uh the thing with flying fish. Right. Uh a nice association of uh musicians making a kind of swing swing sort of music. And of course you you must go into all kinds of music.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

Uh I've tried, really. Uh well I've been lucky too to be associated with uh the people in the rock field and uh the country field, bluegrass field, and uh I'm looking for another all kinds of fields if I can find how did it all start off?

SPEAKER_04 23:14

Uh what were you uh how did you get into the fiddle at the end of the day?

SPEAKER_02 23:17

Well I guess I was uh brought up kinda uh liking bluegrass. I guess because it was a fast tempo thing, you know. In Florida.

SPEAKER_04 23:26

In Florida, really?

SPEAKER_02 23:27

And uh the only time I got to hear it, you know, was like on Saturday night because uh maybe once a year they would come through and play at the school, high school or something. But uh other than that it was just Saturday night I got to listen to it on the radio.

SPEAKER_04 23:40

On the radio? Grand Old Opry? Right.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

That because the rest of the time, as far as Florida's concerned, you know, uh back then it was all horns or combos or big bands or things.

SPEAKER_04 23:48

Did you get the National Barn Dance too?

SPEAKER_02 23:51

No, I couldn't get that. Uh Nashville came in clear, but uh other than that, I I don't remember any other station that we could get.

SPEAKER_04 23:58

How what uh what brought you to choose the fiddle?

SPEAKER_02 24:01

Uh uh there was me and my two cousins and we started off about the same time playing. So uh the way you know how kids think, we thought we had to have a fiddle before it was a band. Well, one of my cousins started learning to play the fiddle. Well me and the other one uh was playing guitar. And so this one quit. He didn't want to play anymore, so it was left up to me or my other cousin, you know, the one playing guitar. And uh we decided we'd both try to learn to play. Well, I guess I learned first. I learned one little tune, you know, so I was elected to play fiddle. Uh-huh. So and then it became an obsession, I think.

SPEAKER_04 24:43

And you've have you learned other instruments, you've learned other instruments as well, haven't you?

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Oh yes, I started off uh about the same time or a little bit before playing guitar, trying to play guitar. And then uh after I started on the fiddle and played it a while, it seemed like everything I would pick up then would kind of fall into place. It wasn't too hard to learn.

SPEAKER_04 25:02

Really? So once you had that real basic thing with the fiddle, you could just go almost anywhere. It seemed like Certainly mandolin, no no problem.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

And tenor banjo and uh viola, cello and what about five streams?

SPEAKER_04 25:13

Do you ever do you ever get into that?

SPEAKER_02 25:14

Well, I never had one. Uh I could probably learn, you know. I like and pick a tune or two on it, but uh getting the three fingers going where I'm so used to playing with a straight pick, you know, on guitar or anything.

SPEAKER_04 25:25

Right. And uh you you and your cousin did you stay together very long?

SPEAKER_02 25:31

Well, uh I guess quite a while. Uh uh we both learned quite a bit, I think. And uh he would have made a great musician if he'd have stayed with it, but uh he got married and uh got a job and he was scared to let it go, you know. Sure. Got responsibility where I didn't care, it didn't seem like I was I was gonna play music.

SPEAKER_04 25:58

What'd you do then when you didn't have a guitar player anymore?

SPEAKER_02 26:01

Well I just started playing with other bands, you know.

SPEAKER_04 26:03

Um Was there much bluegrass, uh live bluegrass around Florida?

SPEAKER_02 26:06

No. There wasn't any uh string music hardly at all.

SPEAKER_04 26:09

How long ago was this?

SPEAKER_02 26:10

This was in uh like in fifty-two on up. That's a year or two ago, isn't it? Yeah. And uh I got my first job, I guess, what I call professional, was like at thirteen or fourteen years old with Bill Monroe. Is that right?

SPEAKER_04 26:27

With Bill Monroe.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

Yeah. And as far as my lessons in school, I would just send them in, you know, and they would it was kind of a correspondence deal.

SPEAKER_04 26:34

Is that right? Where where did you send to?

SPEAKER_02 26:36

Kissimmee, Florida.

SPEAKER_04 26:38

Is that right?

SPEAKER_02 26:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:39

Kissimmee, uh huh. Now the now we know where the Kissimmee kid goes. Right.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

Most people is Kissimmee.

SPEAKER_04 26:45

Well, it's yeah. Up till this minute it was with me too. Um Kissimmee, Florida. Uh-huh. Uh a great center of music, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

Well, uh at least now it is. I think so now, yes. Uh Florida is getting more hip to it uh because we were just down there not long ago and had uh real good turnouts and uh it was really surprising because Florida is hard to crack.

SPEAKER_04 27:10

Is that right? In uh stride music or anything, yes. They're just happy with other things that they're doing?

SPEAKER_02 27:15

Well, uh I don't think they were really had been like they hadn't heard it.

SPEAKER_04 27:23

Mostly big big bands and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 27:25

And unless you hear anything, you don't know where you like it or not, and they just hadn't heard it.

SPEAKER_04 27:29

Did you go with Monroe? Uh yes. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

I went at 14. Yeah. I went with it several times.

SPEAKER_04 27:34

Didn't didn't worry about school and oh you said you sent your lessons in, and that's how you uh kept up with your school?

SPEAKER_02 27:39

Right, and uh then I get homesick, you know. I quit and went back at least uh for seven years, you know. I wouldn't work with him over well when I was that young I worked with him maybe a month or two at a time. And then I go home get homesick. Did you record with him? Yes. I did the first recordings back then on Decca when he first changed over to Decca Records. Is that right?

SPEAKER_04 28:03

And uh W where did he change from?

SPEAKER_02 28:05

What what was he was on uh Columbia, I believe.

SPEAKER_04 28:08

Oh, that's right, with his brother Charles. Yeah. That's right. And when he went with the band, he went over to Right. To Decca. And you you did those recordings with him.

SPEAKER_02 28:17

Yeah, music in the blues and all that stuff. Way back.

SPEAKER_04 28:20

That's great. Yeah. And you just after a while, I guess you uh what did you what happened to you after Monroe?

SPEAKER_02 28:28

Well, uh like I say I went back and forth uh in the bluegrass music for for quite a quite a few years, and then uh always in the back of my mind, I guess these big bands I could hear, you know, and I never was satisfied with just one thing. And then I got in uh to country music by playing with fair and young people like that. And then I rec I recorded a lot with uh on sessions with country people.

SPEAKER_04 28:55

Was that in Nashville mostly? Yes. Did that mean you moved at some point from Kissimmee and to Nashville? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:02

Uh I'd say this was around uh the last part of the fifties.

SPEAKER_04 29:12

When did you know you'd make music your life?

SPEAKER_02 29:14

Well, I think I knew it all along. All along? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:17

Even when you were like uh before you were a teenager.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

Yeah, it was uh I never thought of anything much except uh football at one point. But uh I didn't do that. My mother didn't want me to play football or anything. And she she wanted me to play music, she just didn't want me to leave home, you know. And so that was a drag. But uh I finally had to do it, you know.

SPEAKER_04 29:40

Sometimes the time comes you gotta you gotta do that thing. Well and uh so you were doing mostly Nashville stuff. And didn't you travel from time to time with a group? Did you go out with family? All the time. Yeah, all the time I was on the road. Going out in a bus uh as a cars and started off cars.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

Six people in a car and a bass on top, and song books and stuff in the trunk.

SPEAKER_04 30:04

Uh-huh. And selling the songbooks and the records and taffy candy, all this kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

Any anything.

SPEAKER_04 30:11

That's great. But now this, you know, for instance, uh jump all the way up to the present. The record that you've done now, as we mentioned in the beginning, represents all kinds of influences. There's there's not just uh there's not just bluegrass, there's not just country music, there's uh you know, there's funk, there's uh there's swing. Um what were some of the other people you were listening to? Did you get a chance to hear like Stefan Grappelli or any of that kind of thing?

SPEAKER_02 30:40

That's really strange too. I I never heard of Grappelli until uh this last I'd say the last eight years I've been in Nashville. Well, I heard of him, you know, then, but I never actually heard the man until uh well maybe three years ago or something when I went out and done this these gigs with uh Garcia and Grisman and that bunch, you know.

SPEAKER_04 31:07

Right.

SPEAKER_02 31:08

And uh out in California and Grisman had uh an album of uh Grappelli and somebody, um I can't think of his name.

SPEAKER_04 31:15

Anyway, Django Ryan? No, it was uh or John Luca Ponty.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

No. Well they were all five on this on this album.

SPEAKER_04 31:24

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 31:25

Uh Grappelli Ponty uh oh I think all five of the jazz violinists or whatever. I see were on this, and I didn't get to hear it real good then. They were playing it and they were talking.

SPEAKER_04 31:38

Mm-hmm. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

And so uh that's the only time I really got to hear even partially what they did. And then I finally got to meet the man. Uh this past year we both we both played Ivanhoe's in Chicago together.

SPEAKER_04 31:53

Is that right?

SPEAKER_02 31:54

And uh that must have been an occasion. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:57

Did you jam together?

SPEAKER_02 31:58

We wanted to, and uh the show they wouldn't let the show go long enough. I mean I felt so embarrassed because the guy had cancelled his show to come down and play with me.

SPEAKER_04 32:05

Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:06

And uh I didn't know it, you know. And then they turned the lights on, you know, and they wouldn't let us go any longer. And I was so embarrassed because uh that would have been such an honor, you know.

SPEAKER_04 32:15

Sure, sure. I hope you get to do it again at some time. I do too. Did you hear Western Swing? Were you let you hear any Bob Wills or any of that?

SPEAKER_02 32:21

Uh well not so much back then. I got to hear Bob Wills after uh maybe the second time or third time in Nashville, you know. Uh now I heard some things on the order of Bob Wills, like Pee-Wee King, because he was he was in Nashville.

SPEAKER_04 32:35

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

And uh there was another guy spent so long ago I can't remember, but uh he was from around Louisiana, but they played uh I know now that it was Texas Swing, you know, as far as they were playing. But not actually acquainted with uh Bob Wills type of music until like it was sometimes in in the fifties, uh I went with Munro and we had package shows back then, a big package shows. And we played uh San Antonio and he was playing a dance. And so after we got through the show, we went to see him and Bob Wills, and that's the first time I really got uh who is he have who who are his fiddle players? He had uh He had uh Jody Somebody was one of them, and uh Keith Coleman was another one uh who died not long ago. But he had three or f three or four, including yourself, you know, when he would play a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 33:26

Now you uh when you went with uh Dickie Betts, that must have been another sort of change in your life.

SPEAKER_02 33:31

It was.

SPEAKER_04 33:32

Uh How did that happen?

SPEAKER_02 33:33

Well, we were playing uh or I was kind of freelancing by myself, you know, and I went to Okeechobee, Florida to play a festival. And Dickie somewhere or other knew that I was gonna be down there. Anyway, he was in the process of doing this album of his. And so he flew down there and uh he and his father came out. And I noticed these two people there, you know, at a festival you just go under every shade tree and play with everybody you can, you know. And these same two people were uh everywhere that I would be playing, and I didn't know who they were or anything. And they were just smiling, you know, and I said to myself, I was just thinking, well, they really into music, you know. And maybe two or three hours he uh told me who he was, you know, but I still didn't know. I mean I knew his name was Dickie Betts, so and he asked me if I'd stop back by making and help him do his album. I said sure. And I didn't know actually who he was till I got to making and found out who the almonds were and everything.

SPEAKER_04 34:29

And how did hand pick how did that come about? Was that did he have that idea?

SPEAKER_02 34:34

Well he was he had the first start note, duh duh duh duh duh that part of it. And uh and we just all sat down and started jamming, really. And I've got the acetate y'all to hear that. And it seemed like it had more uh feeling in it than of course than the final product. Yeah. It turned out good, but it was so free, flowing, you know, and everything fell into place to be the first time we played it, you know.

SPEAKER_04 34:59

Amazing.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

And 'cause we were playing off of each other. Like the right.

SPEAKER_04 35:03

Was that the only take? Was it a one-take thing? No, that was well I see that's what you have that one. Yeah. And then they went back and you you went through it many several more times.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

I think the main reason we went back and did anymore was because he wanted uh John Huey on that with a steel. Uh huh. Because the first one just me and him was doing it, you know. And uh but we didn't do it but about once or twice after that. And it came off at the end of it there, you know, we didn't have it rehearsed at all. It just well, you can tell it. Because a lot of times I'm jumping in where I'm gonna do it. Oh, that's all right.

SPEAKER_04 35:32

It feels real good. It's uh the whole thing, we get many requests here at night for for that. And it's yeah, I always play it on the shows. Still a steady favorite. Oh, that's right. You play you play it on your own show. Yeah, it's a great what kind of uh um you're down at Ebbett's uh for tonight and tomorrow night. Uh-huh. Uh what sort of a band are you carrying? What kind of members do you have now?

SPEAKER_02 35:55

Uh we have the electric guitar that Jim O'Neill plays. He's uh I think a Florida boy. And um I have a bass, Richard Pry Richard Price plays bass, he's from Florida. And uh the drummer is Thumper Bartlett, he's from North Carolina and then the keyboard player who plays uh clavinet synthesizer and piano, and is a good singer. Uh Jackie Garrett, he's from Roanoke, Alabama. So we uh are doing the things on the album, you know, and it sounds uh just about like it.

SPEAKER_04 36:29

Right. And the album you dedicate to your wife, yeah, Millie, and she's responsible for a number of the songs on the album. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 36:36

Um she gives me ideas, you know, it's it's unbelievable. Uh the ideas are are are so s really far out, I don't know if I can do them or not. And I said, it's kind of a challenge to me. And uh she thinks I can do anything like that. And I said, Well, how are you gonna put all this stuff together? Like, for instance, that mixed melody. It's uh the way she said, uh now I want something that sounds kind of like a breakdown, something that's got a Spanish touch to it, and uh something classical. And just imagine what that would sound like the first time you uh now how are you gonna put this together? And so that's what we're coming up with.

SPEAKER_04 37:19

Well, it's great. The two of you must really work really do work well together because what she seems to have in her mind apparently comes flows through you and comes out into being uh really great music.

SPEAKER_02 37:31

Well she knows uh I think she knows what people wants to hear, you know, and every time she's been right so far because anything that I really get into and really like, you know, uh usually no nobody likes it but musicians. But uh I just let her you know, because I figure that she knows what people wants to hear.

SPEAKER_04 37:51

Why don't we we'll we'll uh take a break and listen to Mix Melody for just a second? Okay Which what is your favorite on the album? Do you have a favorite? That's probably a terrible question to ask. I would say uh What do you think worked the best about that?

SPEAKER_02 38:19

Uh Jessica, probably.

SPEAKER_04 38:24

Jessica?

SPEAKER_02 38:25

Yeah. Uh I like Old Black Magic. I guess because I don't play it that much.

SPEAKER_04 38:30

Alright. That's uh now you that one came out straight out of left field somewhere, you know. Is that something you heard when you were younger? Billy Daniels is uh years ago. Uh huh.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

And Louis Prima and uh Kitty Smith.

SPEAKER_04 38:42

Right. And you just feel I guess you feel you can play anything, right? Right.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

Well that's I hate to get in one category, you know. I just I know maybe like for records and everything, it's better to be in one category, but uh uh I feel like it uh that I'm not learning if I stay in it.

SPEAKER_04 39:05

Well you certainly are learning. I mean just the idea of some of the first things you did with Monroe all the way through up to you know to what you're doing on this album, it's just uh an incredible progression.

SPEAKER_02 39:14

Yeah, sometimes it's amazing to listen back to that.

SPEAKER_04 39:17

What about singing? Now you certainly were are not heard singing much before this. Is this the first?

SPEAKER_02 39:24

This is almost the first. I think I did one on another album or something, but uh I in the first place I don't like my singing. Uh and they if I do sing at all, there's just certain things that I can get through. And it has to be uh something that you don't hold notes out, you know, because uh I my my voice is not that strong and it won't stay on key that long. And I just have to pick things that I can, like uh uh boogies and things like that. That's real quick words.

SPEAKER_04 39:54

Uh well Lily Dale comes off very well.

SPEAKER_02 39:57

Uh well I I l I love that tune, I always have, and I was hoping I could do it because I've always wanted to do it.

SPEAKER_04 40:02

Right.

SPEAKER_02 40:02

But of course I had to have needed some help backup.

SPEAKER_04 40:08

Well, listen, I want to thank you very much for coming out and spending that time. I'm gonna play a few more tunes from the album and remind everybody that you'll be at uh Ebbett's Field. Probably by the time I get to play this uh interview, you'll be just about ready to go on tonight, and then you'll be here. You'll be also at Ebbett's tomorrow. It's a great honor, really, to be able to sit and talk with you, Bastard Clemens. Appreciate you coming along.

SPEAKER_03 40:33

Well, in August 1975, Clements played a highly publicized four-night residency at Ebbett's Field in Brooks Towers uh in Denver from August 21st through August 24th. Somewhere in between that, Harry Tuft uh got a chance to interview Vasser Clements. And that was uh that part of it. That's for all you bluegrass folks out there for the hay fever. Uh that's uh that's just our little special way of saying thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_07 44:06

Now if you gotta bell put your money in your pants Cause them good looking women they don't give a man a chance Oh sweet mama daddy got them beat belt Oh sweet mama daddy got them beat belt Now I used to love preacher preaching Bible through and through that day to the bell boy just preaching daily two Oh C mama Daddy got and big belly Oh see mama Dada B-B-Bell Put your money in your socks to them good looking when you throw the men on the rocks Oh Sweet mama daddy Oh Sweet mama daddy at the Oh Sweep mama daddy at the belly-nine years, right?

SPEAKER_06 45:52

We got a prison tune here called 99 years in one dark day.

SPEAKER_07 45:56

This is on my record which you can get out in the lobby on the breakout in this prison twenty years ago shot my woman with photos I'll be right here Got that black years and one dark day The food is bad in the bit the heart spend all day breaking rocks in the yard in a chair Com see that we've got years and one dark day learn to read, didn't learn to write my whole life in one big fight. I never heard other at his week. Gonna sing no song. It's the warning that I ain't wrong is my favorite one dark day I've been in this prison twenty years more, shot my woman with food food I'll be right here, got that like one dark day.

SPEAKER_06 48:43

One dark day, how about the game?

unknown 50:40

I don't have to do like a long time book mega and you find out it's looking at the data.

SPEAKER_07 54:10

From now on, that's what I'm gonna be, and I ruined your asleep. Oh baby, to your little tent I'm gonna creep on a star that shine above. They're gonna lie our way to love We'll rule this land, you and me cut on the cheek of Arabie.

SPEAKER_03 55:44

And don't forget the stampede coming up in July. The two hundred and fiftieth birthday of America, we will roll on to the 150th birthday of the state of Colorado in August 1st. What a summer! My name is Richard Arnold Beatty, the host and producer of Folk Heroes Concerts. Everyone should hear from the Harry Tuff Collection and the Sound Century Academy of Recording Arts and Broadcasting, based right here on Main Street in the wet mountain valley of Westcliff. We are here in the bookended towns of Silvercliffe, the other Westcliff, holding it together in the little towns, in the big wet mountains.