Even though he's been leaving for a long time.
I'm not much for mega-stars in the music world. I kinda stopped paying attention after the 80s. But I'm a festival goer and one of the great things about the modern music world is that people who don't play to mega-stadiums can still get their music out there. And years ago I fell in love with one particular performer, Alex Beaton. So many wonderful Celtic musicians out there, but Beaton, ah, Beaton made my heart soar. I knew it wasn't any use to sit down in whatever tent he was performing in. I always stood to one side. I can't dance. I can't sing. But I would be so lost in his music that I would sway and move and sing and just...be...gone.
In 2011, Alex and his step-son were sitting on their patio. His step-son went inside and when he came back Alex was on the ground with a spinal injury that left him a quadriplegic. I don't know if they ever figured out exactly what happened. He and his wife still attended festivals, still kept up his newsletters after, but it was a struggle.
I learned today that Alex passed away on May 27. And I cried. His Scottish heart spoke to my West Virginia hillbilly heart in a way no other musician ever has and probably never will again. And years ago he gave me what I want on my gravestone when I'm laid to rest in our little family graveyard in the back of beyond in Preston County, in the farming settlement where the happiest times of my life were spent.
May he rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteA friend who is a Scottish-American blacksmith who was a vendor at various Highland Games throughout the eastern states saw Beaton regularly, thought he was a good musician but an insufferable prick as a man, and told Beaton so on at least one occasion. I'm sure my friend would be saddened by both Beaton's spinal injury and his untimely death.
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