the Joyce City Hardware and Furniture Company
on Sunday
to hear Mad Dog Craddock
sing on WDAG
from the Amarillo Hotel.
They hooked up speakers
and the sweet sound
of Mad Dog’s voice
filled the creaky aisles.
Arley Wanderdale was in Amarillo with Mad Dog,
singing and playing the piano,
and the Black Mesa Boys were there
too.
I ached for not being there with them.
But there was nothing more most folks in Joyce City
wanted to do
than spend a half hour
leaning on counters,
sitting on stairs,
resting in chairs,
staring at the hardware
and the tableware,
listening to hometown boys
on the radio.
They kept time in the aisles,
hooting after each number,
and when Mad Dog finished his last song, they sent
the dust swirling,
cheering and whooping,
patting each other on the back,
as if they’d been featured
on WDAG themselves.
I tried cheering for Mad Dog with everyone else,
but my throat
felt like a trap had
snapped down on it.
That Mad Dog, he didn’t have
a thing to worry about.
He sang good, all right.
He’ll go far as he wants.
May 1935