Cam’s Blues

After the recent death of Spider John Koerner, I revisited “Cam’s Blues,” a song the late Lonnie Knight and I wrote back in 2009 after the death of Twin Cities musician Cam Waters. His obituary said he was “a renown musician and songwriter,” but he was much more and was an inspiration to many.

Cam, like John, was one of those guys who kept the flames of great music burning bright. I can’t say I knew John personally, but ages ago, I spent every Wednesday night playing mandolin in a jug band at the Viking on Minneapolis’ West Bank, and John often came in.

I’ve been dusting off old songs lately, including songs I never perform. I think I performed “Cam’s Blues” live once. He deserved better. So I pulled the song out, got rid of some verses, added a verse about Koerner, Ray and Glover, then added a couple of new verses at the end.

Folks like Cam, Dave Ray, Tony Glover and Spider John have given us so much. We need to keep that light lit, and pass it on ourselves.