SRO Crowd Enjoys J.Robert’s Songs of Florida Cattle Culture Show

Local favorite J.Robert was able to rustle up quite a band of musicians for the April edition of his First Monday of the Month concert series, Songs of Florida Cattle Culture, at Margood Theater in Goodland. The standing room only crowd hung on every note - and every story - the ensemble had to offer during a solid two-hour set.

The threat of a much-needed thunderstorm moved the show inside the theater this month. When the weather cooperates, J.Robert likes to set up his show on the outdoor stage behind the theater, overlooking the bay.

Marie Nofsinger, a regular collaborator, hooks the audience early. Captn Jac, another regular, kept things lively. TR Kerth brings his storyteller gifts to the stage, entertaining the crowd with a couple of his quirky original compositions. Then Jack Shealy, the youngster of the crew at 38, regales the audience with stories of free-range cattle, and not-quite-legal activities from his childhood in the Southwest Florida backcountry.

“My family are Gladesmen,” Jack Shealy tells the audience. “It was kind of a lawless culture. But it’s only illegal if you get caught. My granddaddy ran moonshine. It’s never wrong if it's to feed the family.”

Some of Shealy’s favorite memories are of Jack Price’s property in the Immokalee area.

"There was a lot of hunting going on,” Shealy said, “but there wasn’t too much hunting going on at Jack Price’s property, buddy. They said if you hunted on Price’s property it was a good way to get shot at. But when I was in high school, I met a kid who claimed to be Jack Price’s nephew. He said he’d take me on a tour of the property. It was like going to Disney World for an 18-year-old swamp rat like me. I remember riding around there, seeing it for what it was. I probably saw more wildlife at Jack Price’s property than I did over the years in Big Cypress. We didn’t do any hunting,’ we just rode around.

"They still had free range cattle,” Shealy tells the audience of his childhood, “just like you read about in the book A Land Remembered. There were families that had cows they ran through the northern part of the preserve. Some of the cows looked so poor you wanted to put ‘em down when you saw ‘em. Ribs poking’ out. But they were really hearty. They used to call them Spanish cattle, or cracker cattle. They were so resilient that people would pay good money for the cattle because of their genes. They’d breed ‘em for their herds and take ‘em all through the state. You hear a lot of things about the Everglades, the pythons and everything. I think it’s safe to say, there’s never been a better steward of our natural lands in Florida than the Florida cattlemen. You go and see some of those legacy properties, there’s wildlife galore. Those cattle lands are everything I remember them to be when I was young. You see turkey, you see deer, you see everything flourishing there. How about one last round of applause for the cowboys.”

Shealy then gets the crowd fired up with a heartfelt rendition of Wagon Wheel.

After the song J.Robert asks Shealy if he’s ever seen a Florida Cur dog.

“I’ve got two of ‘em,” Shealy replied. “Our Florida Cattle Cur are like a skinny, short-legged Lab/Greyhound mix.”

J.Robert then delights the audience with an original composition, Mangrove and Buttonwood, from his original music score from the award-winning documentary “Unbroken Circles, The Great Florida Cattle Drive.”

“I have to slip one in here for the saltwater cowboys,” J.Robert said. “I was born on the black waters, of a backwater bay,” he sings, “way down in the mangroves, and the buttonwood trees...Up in the morning, fishing the Gulf, pulling in big ones, all by myself…lawdy, lawdy, life is slow, in the mangroves and the buttonwood trees. Yee, hee! Big Cypress gal cooks good grits. Her daddy owns a brand new skiff...The moon is high, the tides are low, the gators hide down in Smuggler’s Cove….Nets are banned, boats hauled in, momma’s hungry, her dress is thin…bottle’s all empty, money’s all spent... Lawdy, lawdy, lawdy, times are slow, in the mangroves and the buttonwood trees...Lawdy, lawdy, lawdy, Yankee winds blow, in the mangroves and the buttonwood trees."

J.Robert introduces Mac Martin as his feature entertainer. Martin is a fourth generation Floridian from Arcadia, about 90 miles north of Goodland. He’s as at home sharing a story as he is playing a tune on his acoustic guitar.

“My great, great, great grandfather was a legislator, back in the 1800s,” Mac Martin starts. "My great, great grandfather was a doctor in Arcadia. He was the first doctor to perform surgery on a Seminole Indian. It made national news because they used ether. That was considered high tech back then.”

As a young man, Martin worked for the famous citrus producer, Ben Hill Griffin, whose name graces the University of Florida’s football stadium. Martin’s 89-year-old mother still serves as a choir director at a church in Arcadia. He said she wouldn’t be happy if she knew he had a piece of chewing gum in his mouth.

He then sings an original song about a Florida cowboy. “He works from the dawn till the dusk’s setting sun, with his dogs and his horse and his gun…In the freezing rain or the heat of the day, riding hard until he is done...Well he sits all alone on the prairie, with the blue sky like heaven above...Though he’ll never get rich, he’s got all he needs. He knows how God’s world is run. He’s the Florida Cowboy... He’s honest and he’s bold. Movin’ the cattle, riding the range, stays young till he gets old. He’s the Florida cowboy...works real hard with his hands…He goes to work with his dogs at his side...He never complains. He rides through the day. He’s tough, he’s strong, he’s quiet and true…With a quick and a sweet friendly grin... He’s early to work...He’s there for you when you need him. He’s a Florida cowboy... Moving the cattle, riding the range, quietly fading away. He’s the Florida cowboy.”

J.Robert’s instinctive accompaniment on the fiddle - after all he is called the Florida Fiddler - makes Martin's great Florida folk songs even greater.

As the evening winds down, Nofsinger, who shares emcee duties with J.Robert, calls a friend from the audience to the stage, a la Will Ferrell’s character Ron Burgundy in Anchorman. Eric Strachan, a noted local newspaperman, climbs onto the stage and borrows Martin’s guitar. Strachan shows his comedy chops by introducing his first song as an original. “I’d like to do an original song here” Eric Strachan deadpans, “it was originally written by James Taylor."  Keeping with the cowboy theme, Strachan plays Sweet Baby James, with J.Robert accompanying on fiddle.

Strachan does a credible job on his James Taylor cover then plays a tune by John Prine.

Though the audience probably would have been happy if the ensemble played until the cows came home, J.Robert rounds things up with another original from his Unbroken Circles score. He actually wrote the song back in 1970, when he was playing gigs in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming.

“I wrote this song and tucked it away,” J.Robert tells the audience, “until this film came along. It’s called This World Beyond.”

“Good morning, Captain,” J.Robert sings. “Ready? Herd ‘em up...Wagon trains roaring across the desert...Wagon wheels, spinning around the sun...Pioneers, searching for their own comfort..Ever seeking, never reaching, life beyond."

J.Robert and Friends will do it again on Monday, May 2, at the Margood Theater. Admission is free, but generous donations are encouraged.