A Voice Like No Other

I'm sure I once described to you a voice that appeals to me like no other.

Sure, my wife's voice is one of the voices I think of most.

But there's another, a person who has stood near me, singing, smiling, laughing, carrying on as if we're all hanging out at a family reunion.

She knows who I'm talking about.

But she doesn't know me and I don't know her.

How do I describe the voice without describing the voice?

She doesn't sing opera but she could sing at the Grand Ole Opry.

She doesn't sing rap but her wordplay is just as entertaining as an rapper's.

She defied the system and took a break to raise a family.

I still remember the first time I heard her like some say they remember the first time they heard Elvis.

Sitting in the carpark of a bowling alley, listening to the radio, waiting for my wife and bowling partners to show up.

Seems like a pretty appropriate place, there in Rocket City, a few miles from rocket test stands and torndown cotton mills.

Might have been sitting in the old four-dour Chevy Nova that had gone on more offroad adventures than the Ford Ranger I owned later.

They say Alison Kraus has a voice of gold but she pales in comparison to the refrain of real life pouring out of the heart and soul of Claire Lynch.

Will I ever know Claire or she know me?

Probably not.

I can't sing along with a karaoke machine, let alone a versatile performer like Claire, who jumps from bluegrass to swing with the ease of a chickadee flying through a Southern breeze bending trees and freezing bees.

Love life 'cause it's all we've got.

Sing and dance 'cause this is the only moment we know we'll ever have.

Claire, here's to you, young gal.  May that voice of yours last forever, or at least as long as I'm alive and can still hear!  ;)