Frank Gutch Jr…..crossing bridges and connecting the dots…….
The past 24-hours have been crazy….and crazy is going continue right into next week. However, something really cool and rather inspirational happened last night all because of a simple exchange of photographs.
As many of you know Darrell Vickers and I headed to Oregon to help Frank’s sister Colleen with all the “stuff” in Frank’s house. Vickers took care of the huge music collection and I waded my way through two filing cabinets and Frank’s office.
Vickers has been furiously digitizing Frank’s CD collection of roughly 1,600 CD (and that’s the leftovers!!). Frank had managed to reduce his collection somewhat over the past few years so heaven knows how truly large it was. Then there’s the vinyl……. Anyway, when you carefully sort out the flotsam and jetsam of someone’s life you always find a special treasure or two. A trinket of some sort, a card that makes you laugh….something that brings back memories of someone no longer with us or of times past. For Vickers, he found two CDs of photos Frank had taken some time ago….tucked away with all that music…..probably a good storage spot. Frank was an avid photographer and I’ve heard numerous tales of him and his buddy Chito and their picture-taking escapades.
The set of photos Vickers sent me last night appeared to be of a private concert/garden party and the only name to go on was Steve Young. Yep…..I’m like a dog with a bone. I love to dig into something like this. The properties of the photo told me it was taken July 1, 2012 at 10pm. So, I started digging. I confirmed it was in fact THE Steve Young so looked into tour/performance dates, etc. Nada. All I could find was a tour he did with one of the stops being in Portland, Oregon in 1991. The person touring with him was a singer/songwriter by the name of Tim Otto. Google wasn’t too helpful there either. Otto seemed to have disappeared. So I noodled around with a few other ideas and decided to Google one of Young’s more famous songs Seven Bridges Road. Bingo!!!! A piece written by (of all people) Tim Otto for the online magazine No Depression. A small mention of a tour Young did with his son Jubal Lee Young in 2012 and yes!!!!….they performed in Portland Oregon. Now it was time to search out Jubal Lee. A pretty unique name…..there can’t be many. I was pretty sure the photos were of Young and his son. For the article click here http://nodepression.com/article/steve-young-inside-seven-bridges-road
Found Jubal Lee, a singer/songwriter in his own right, and messaged him. I was shocked he got back to me so quickly and so the conversation through FB and email began. I sent him a couple of the photos and he confirmed it was him with his dad. He remembers the tour but not precisely where this performance was. After some thought he figures it was somewhere just outside Seattle at somebody’s home as they did a few private concerts around the area. As Frank was an avid fan (and friend) of both Steve Young and Jubal Lee it certainly made sense he would go out of his way to see them perform together, especially in his home state Jubal Lee confirmed he and Frank chatted on a regular basis over the past 10-12 years.
Seven Bridges Road – Steve Young (1969)
Now according to Jubal Lee, his parents were “interesting” people….”quite the characters“. I would have to agree. The definition of jubilee is “a special anniversary of an event, especially one celebrating twenty-five or fifty years of a reign or activity”. Presenting your child with a name like Jubal Lee….well every day, every year, it’s a celebration of that child’s birth. A birth that must have given them much joy….albeit with a wink and nudge.
Seven Bridges Road – The Eagles (live)
Steve Young passed away in March of 2016. At this writing, Jubal Lee is in Oklahoma packing up his mom’s house. She passed away just a few weeks ago in June. That he took the time to message me back in the middle of his personal loss makes my search even more worthwhile. All-in-all, it took me just over an hour to find him…..and I’m so glad I did.
Hallelujah – Jubal Lee Young
I’ve emailed Jubal Lee the remaining photos, they belong with him. Frank was a pay-it-forward kind of person and he would have wanted Jubal Lee to have them. I don’t know if it’s the last time he performed with his dad, but photos by a good friend of father and son together…..I think they were found at just the right time.
Riding Down The Highway – Jubal Lee Young (written by Steve Young)
Thank you Vickers…..and thank you Frank. You’re still crossing bridges and connecting the dots……
Cheers!
All photos ©2018 Frank Gutch Jr. (except the stack of CDs)
A few more pics……
By the way, if anyone recognized these faces (or you recognize yourself) I would appreciate hearing from you.