Sweat Equity

Sweat Equity. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

Waddie Mitchell’s first record of cowboy poetry was released nearly 30 years ago. The title of his newest CD, “Sweat Equity,” sums it up.

MITCHELL: It’s kind of a diverse thing. I’ve been writing an awful lot and I had I think 63 new pieces to choose from and my wife stepped in and said now wait a minute there’s stuff out there that fans want that you don’t have available anymore so we put a couple of those on.

But Mitchell says that most of the CD is new material. One of the standout pieces is something called, “Invisible Wounds.”

MITCHELL: A friend of mine called me the other day after he’d listened to the album and he said you know we had a guy show up in our hometown here. He showed up I suppose it was about 1976 and he always wore a military coat. He was kind of our first homeless person. For years you’d see him. The police had told him that he couldn’t loiter so he just started walking and you’d see him way on one side of town and then you’d see him way on the other side.

He relates that all of a sudden you didn’t see him any more. The obituary told a tragic story.

MITCHELL: He had started as the star athlete ini high school and went on to do very well in college and was drafted and became an officer. Went to Viet Nam. Came home with a Purple Heart and a Silver Star. Nobody ever knew why when he came home he couldn’t readapt.

It’s a powerful poem. Tomorrow, more with Waddie Mitchell.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.