Yes, that's Jon Corneal with Yours Truly at the Cosmic American Music Festival at the Derry Down in Winter Haven, Florida in September, 2015. Jon and I were roughly the same age; he showed the wear and tear of many years as a touring musician. I first knew of Jon when I got and played Safe at Home by the International Submarine Band. I got the album because, as anyone who has followed this blog for some time knows, I'm a Gram Parsons fanatic. It began while I was a student at South Florida and some friends from Winter Haven told me about their townie friend who had gone to Harvard and started the ISB.
I got Safe at Home in the spring of 1968 and listened. When it got to the final cut, I heard Gram say, "Polka Varieties Farmer John's Sausages brings you Jon Corneal asking the musical question, "Do You Know How It Feels To Be Lonesome?" The name Jon Corneal seemed familiar to me; perhaps he'd been mentioned by my USF friends. I thought his voice sounded very much like Gram's. It was only yesterday, in the wake of the news of Jon's passing, that I learned from my friend Gene Owen that I'd been taken in by a typical piece of Gram's trickery; it was his voice, not Jon's. Jon was a drummer, but he also could sing.
RIP Jon. I knew you only briefly, but it was a pleasure and an honor.
