A good friend on mine from the 70's has passed away. As good a lead guitarist as I've ever personally known, Barry Chance has moved on to the Hillbilly Band in Heaven. I got to know Barry as lead guitar player for "Barefoot Jerry" back in the 70's, at a much wilder time for both of us. You might think you never heard of Barefoot Jerry, but I bet you have heard these words. Charlie Daniels said, "& all the good people down in Tennessee, are diggin' Barefoot Jerry & the CDB" Doesn't that sound familiar? He went on to play with Jimmy Buffett, and the Coral Reefer Band. When I say he was good, I do mean it. I went to Nashville to MC the CD release party for our buddy Colt Ford. His people came to the hotel, and picked me up, and took us to the venue. Sitting there on Colt's bus, was my dear old friend, Barry Chance. Jason Chance, Barry's son, is now musical director for Colt Ford. Jason produced the top 10 Colt Ford "Chicken & Biscuits" CD, and is the same fireball on stage that his daddy was. Man, me & Barry were both so excited to see each other. I'm grateful I got to have that moment in time with my dear old friend. That was pretty much the center of my evening, till it was over. I helped celebrate Colt's release, and watched Barry watch his son. He was a very proud papa that night, with every reason to be, and I'd hooked back up with a dear friend of mine from over 30 years ago. Colt knew I'd be hit by the news, so he was kind enough to call the house yesterday, and tell me. I’ll for the remainder of my life remember, I was huggin' Barry goodbye, at the end of the night, I made him promise to come see me. I wanted him to come visit this studio, have a cup of coffee with us, and spend a few days with my family & me. I could tell by looking at him, he didn't seem to feel well. He'd been ill. He'd had a stroke I believe in 2002, but he was making his way back, slowly but surely. The very last thing I said to him before I went back to my hotel was, "Don't you die. Promise me you won't die, Barry Chance. You hear me, don’t you die for a while. I promise you the same. I want you to come and spend with me, Barry Chance. I want some quality time with my old friend again. So, promise me. OK?" He did make me that promise. It was 2 weeks ago today. We just don't know, do we? I'm so glad I got to see him again. I thank God for that magic night. God bless Barry Chance. There are some really excited pickers waitin' at the gate for him. I'll be along soon enough, Barry.