HEY JOE.: The ballad of Curtis Loew.

After I saw the new reference pic of the Different strokes by different folks challenge, I suddenly remembered this beautiful Lynyrd Skynyrd song- The ballad of Curtis Loew. The song is amazing and one of my Lynyrd Skynyrd Favourites. Its a proper country song, with a beautiful story. Thats the best part about country music- its stories. Music is nothing but an effort made to express yourselves. And when the stern tailcoated classical maestroes composed concertos and symphonies in their ivory towers, it was these freespirited country musicians who 'played the guitar just like ringing a bell' sang their ballads telling stories of the people to the people.

Anyways, heres the reference pic-

The song is about a small boy who loves to listen to the dobro( which is a guitar with a resonator, and has a very beautiful sound to it, by the way.) played by an old black man named Cutris Loew. He collects empty soda bottles and cashes them in the country store to give old Curt some money so that he would play for him all day. This small kid is apparently the only audience which Curtis Loew recieves, his reputation among people being that of a worthless drunkard. But the small boy loves him for his music with a loyalty which is fierce and innocent at the same time so much that he calls him the best bluesman ever.

When I saw this pic, I immedietly pictured Curtis Loew sitting on the chair, the dobro in his hands, while the small boy looks on with awe and wonder. I set out to make it with some basic sketches to study the postures of the boy and the man-

I wasn't quite getting the boy's posture right, so I asked my little brother to model for me( he stood mooning at me first, deeply amused and elated at my voluntary request, but then I made him stand the way I wanted to.)