Do you play?

Sometimes when traveling, you’re just lucky. Today, Dinah and I were headed up I-25, needed lunch and literally stumbled across the San Marcos Cafe (thanks, Duck Duck Go), about 15 miles from Santa Fe. Walking through the door we were immediately immersed in perfect New Mexico atmosphere and a live guitarist.

On a break, the musician approached Dinah and asked ‘Do you play’. A few minutes later, I rejoined the table and he asked me ‘Do you play’. When I said I used to play Oboe, he invited me to bring it in and riff with him. Um … I declined since I’ve not owned an Oboe in 50 years.

Jerry Faires was the guitarist. While he makes a living making turquoise jewelry, he plays at the Cafe on Friday’s from 11-1 which is exactly when we luckily happened to be there. Jerry is 85 and has been playing guitar since 1962 (he thinks he is just about getting the hang of it).

He plays folk and writes his own tunes He’s really good. Go to the San Marcos Cafe on Fridays. Listen to Jerry. Heck, bring an instrument. Oh, and the food was simple and excellent New Mexico eats. Dinah wrote down a couple of his lines:

Written on that cocktail napkin was the rest of the story…

What do you need: man, money, women?

Below are links to a couple of his songs, if you can’t make it soon…