The Fourth of July is a Top 4 holiday, ranking behind only Christmas, Thanksgiving and maybe rival weekend of college football season.
Like Thanksgiving, it employs food as an important element (only it's barbecue and burgers and dogs and watermelon instead of turkey and dressing and sweet tater casserole). Like Christmas, it recognizes a pivotal moment in world history. And, like football, it's heavy in war metaphor.
What sets the Fourth apart from those other major holidays is that it's held during a time of year when, in the South, the weather might melt a sparkler before you can get it good and lit.
Some years you get a break from the heat. For example, on the Fourth of July when Tom T. Hall played Sopchoppy, Florida, the rain cooled things off nicely.
Tom T. Hall was a country singer/songwriter who was known as "The Storyteller" because his songs spun real-world anecdotes into wonderful stories. A lot of songwriters make their living off great hooks. Tom T. made his with characters and memories and humor.
Characters: "Harper Valley P.T.A.," "Ravishing Ruby," "Faster Horses."
Memories: "That's How I Got to Memphis," "Watermelon Wine."
Humor: "I Like Beer."
In the song "I Like Beer" he dreams of going to heaven and is disappointed when the water (which tasted like beer) was turned into wine.
Sopchoppy, Florida, is a Gulf Coast town a few miles southwest of Tallahassee.
In the mid-90s Tom T. moved down to the area (St. George Island has been a second home to a few country music stars over the years) and ended up making some music, playing with the local Dreadful Possums and cutting the album "Songs From Sopchoppy."
He played the local Fourth of July event there. At that time Tom T. wasn't going to draw thousands from a hundred miles away, but he was still a bonafide country music legend. So while you could park and get close to the stage, it was still hoppin' for a tiny town event.
The parking lots were unpaved. Young'ns ran around, chasing each other through groups of adults whom they didn't know but probably recognized from the IGA grocery store.
Barefooted teenage girls pretended to not know their parents. Boot-wearing teenage boys smirked and dipped Skoal out of view of their parents. There were old ladies and men in work shirts and sparklers and American flags and rebel flags, which to some folks isn't (or wasn't) as ironic as it might sound to others.
Before the concert the skies opened for a bit and turned the dirt to mud. "You're gonna get worms" mommas said to their barefooted teenage daughters.
It was messy and humid and a perfect evening for country music in the swamp if you remembered your skeeter spray.
Tom T. came on and did "I Like Beer" and "(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine." He did stuff from his new album, too, including "Redneck Riviera," which had been written by his bluegrass-musician wife, Miss Dixie, who was from England.
Since Tom T. was a Grand Ole Opry star, I wondered at the time whether that small, muddy crowd was any kind of letdown for him. But now, I think it may have hit just right for him. I think he might've dug it as much as I did.
August 20 will make a year since Tom T. Hall passed away, sadly, by his own hand. He had reportedly battled depression, and one might suspect that his final aging years without his beloved Miss Dixie were particularly cruel.
I know Scripture warns us against going out that way. But I also believe we're never alone, and that help can come awfully late in the game. So I'm hopeful he found the relief he needed.
My favorite Tom T. Hall song is "The Year Clayton Delaney Died." It had a character, memories and even some humor in the final lines:
I know there's a lot of big preachers
That know a lot more than I do.
But it could be that the Good Lord
Likes a little pickin' too.