Inspiration from an Unlikely Source #1

Actually, this is not the first time I've drawn inspiration from an unlikely source. Far from it. For several years now I've noticed a particular stripe of person who has been there all along, the hardheaded toiler, the person with no quit in them (to quote Woodrell), the stubborn beast who simply will not back down in the face of disappointment and setback and rejection.

I like these folks plenty.
Here's today's: Jimmy Wayne, country singer.

Jimmy had a couple of hits in 2003, and then he faded into relative obscurity and couldn't get a break. Guys like that are a dime a dozen. They end up flipping burgers or selling used cars or sitting at the far end of the bar. Or going back to school or becoming lawyers or city councilmen - I don't really know, to tell the truth; the point is that they leave the dream behind and do something else.

Not Jimmy:
“I played at cookouts and everything I could around my hometown. It didn’t matter what it was or if it was for two or three people, I would play anywhere and everywhere.”

I love that! The guy just wouldn't shut up. And now he's got a hit. Not much of a hit, in my opinion, but that doesn't much matter, does it - because if there was only one person on earth interested in hearing Jimmy sing, I imagine he'd still be singing.