~ My Uncle Joe ~

 

My Uncle Joe came back from WW2 he was a very creative man. The one problem that he had was after the war he clung on too the bottle. Yet like many he was a musician and actually went to United States about four years after the war. He was a dapper chap I am told and he always wanted to be a star. Ironically he was given land from my grandfather and he spent much of it on a dream. From what I am told he loved to play guitar and was really into the rockabilly thing. I never knew him but he was very well known within the town that he came from and he went down to the southern part of the states and would play bars.
He had high hopes but he never really had a plan his wife stuck with him when he was married from the war right though to his farming and then his attempt to get a record deal.

He ended up spending much of his money and his farm all for the sake of a record deal. I guess you have to give him credit, as he would go back and forth from Canada to United States. It was all or nothing for him and he and his wife separated a few times - which I am sure goes along with the territory many time. He almost had a deal and by that time he was nearly broke so he obtained a deal with a group of people and did make a record with a band. He was a solo musician. He sang and he played guitar and upon cutting a record no radio station would take him. I guess at a certain time he had to let go of his dream and face reality.
After five years of trying he came back and went back to farming and just playing in pubs on the side. I guess you have to hand it too him as here was one that had tried something that most others - for that matter any other from his town in western Canada would not take a chance as he did. So as the short story of his life went he just came back and went back to farming and he never was the same man after that. Mind you I guess the bottle caught up with him - ironically his wife stayed with him. He certainly was a captivating person. Yet seemingly their came a time where he was never the same man again. I guess he had dreams that when they didn’t come to be combined with what we know as post stress disorder - he never was the same. He kept on farming and at the age of 70 he passed away with liver cancer. It's kind of a sad story as I think that the combination of WW2 and not obtaining his goal within music left him in a situation onto himself. His sons went on to continue farming and he was the first to pass away within my mothers' family but during his prime of trying to obtain a dream he had I think that was the prime of his life.

His sons are still alive and do very well farming some have sold their farms and now are in there elder years but apparently he had the "chops" but then again he paid a large price for what was perhaps an over extended dream. The way I see it, is that he tried regardless of his vices and it would be something to have a copy of one of his recordings. I often think of him as someone that might have made it. And within that era it would have been outstanding. Yet he lived his life as he wished and he kept things together to afford his sons their own living. So in that way he was a fine father as his two sons are very decent people. I often think of this song by Dwight Yoakam titled, I Sang Dixie. As it seems to fit the lifestyle he lived.

But he was a dapper gent and had that appearance that looked like Al Pacino combined in a way with Leonard Cohen. Yet it was never meant to be. Yet he kept on farming to his very end. I am sure that he spent his self time playing. But I never met nor knew the man...