The Best Song Ever Written About North Dakota

It’s a music summer for Lillian and me. We started with James Taylor and Carole King at the Fargodome. We had tickets for Simon and Garfunkel, but Art got sick and they canceled.

Then we went to the Winnipeg Folk Festival, five days of rock and folk music. Lillian did the math. We sat through 45 hours of music. It came to $5.50 per hour each. To see Emmy Lou Harris, Hot Tuna, Levon Helm, The Wailin’ Jennys, Greg Brown, Bo Ramsey, Sarah Harmer and a whole bunch of others. A bargain.

While we were there we did a very bad thing. We were walking down the street in downtown Winnipeg en route to the Manitoba Museum on our first day there, and we noticed Neil Young was coming home to Winnipeg to play a concert later this month. On a lark we went into the Winnipeg Concert Hall box office and inquired if there were any seats. Sold out. Except for these two seats in the second row. We gasped at the price. And then Lillian started humming “Happy Birthday,” and she bought me the two most expensive birthday presents I’ve ever had. Well, one for her and one for me. Had to cancel my fall fishing trip with my brother on the Snake River to swing it, but hey, a steelhead salmon in one hand and Neil Young from the second row, in the other . . . My brother will understand.

We leave Monday (tomorrow) morning. We’ve seen Neil a few times, but not solo, all alone on stage, in his hometown. I’ve seen the set lists from the gigs he’s been doing on this tour. “Helpless.” “Down By The River.” “Ohio.” “After The Gold Rush.” “Cinnamon Girl.” “Old Man.” And on and on. Plus a whole bunch of new songs ready to come out on his new CD.

We’ll be back Wednesday. And then Friday we leave for Montana, where we’ll stop in Bozeman and see Jackson Brown. Seen his set lists too. “Doctor My Eyes.” “Runnin’ On Empty.” “I Am A Patriot.” And about 18 more.

We’ll end the summer at the Bohemian Hall south of Mandan, on August 21. You can all come along on that one. I hope you all will. To see Chuck Suchy, and most of his family, I expect, and maybe a surprise guest or two. North Dakota’s best songwriter, ever, is Chuck Suchy. Period. Don’t talk to me about Peggy Lee or Bobby Vee, or anyone else with a three letter last name ending in “ee.” A Rubber Ball? Is That All There Is? Oh, I loved them both, in their day, but Chuck Suchy is timeless. Do you have his CD’s? If not, I think they are still for sale at the Hallmark store and Mandan Drug in downtown Mandan. Or you can buy them at his website.

I think you all know his story. A homeboy from Mandan who, as a young man, started making music to support this bad farming habit he had. I watched Chuck stand on that smoky little stage at the Bismarck Town House night after night covering Glen Campbell and a few dozen other balladeers while legislators and lobbyists generally ignored him as they drank their whiskey cokes and martinis.

And then he started writing songs, and singing them, and recording them, and people liked them, and he finally said goodbye to the Town House and started doing what singer-songwriters do. Perform their own music. And the audience listens, and appreciates, and claps. Well, the first number in Chuck’s age is 6 now, I guess, and he just gets better and better. And so do his songs. His new CD, “Unraveling Heart,” is loaded with them.

But the first number in my age is 6, too, and I’m sentimental, and I really like his early stuff. My two favorites, surprisingly, are a couple of waltzes, “Saturday Night At The Hall” and “Dancing Dakota.” Except for “West Dakota Breezes.” That is surely the best song ever written about North Dakota. I told Chuck a couple years ago that I hope we both live to be really old men, and that I die just before he does, so he can sing “West Dakota Breezes” at my funeral. I hope it works out that way. Meanwhile, spend the next six minutes listening to it by going to this website, scrolling down and clicking on it. Whether you've heard it a hundred times, like I have, or never heard it at all, I guarantee it will be the best six minutes of your day.