Who's got a line on a Wyld, Dark Heart?"In old Anglo-Saxon, Wyld means Fate."- His old English Lit professor."He was named after my brother-in-law, Tom Baxter. After he came back from World War I, Tom went joy-riding in Northeast Philly one night with fellow doughboys. They came to a one-lane bridge, snow falling and a truck spun out of control. So, Tom’s great uncle Tom chose to drive the car off the bridge and into Pennypack Creek. He saved everyone but himself. Tom was like that. And his namesake got everything right in the song "The Boys We Are.†That's what makes the song so troubling. It's all true.- Annie. His great aunt."Yeah, that song. Reminds me. He dove into Pennypack Creek one time? Right by that same bridge where his great uncle went in? Yeah. Guess what? He couldn't swim a lick then. He went under, I mean, like a rock, straight under. We still don't know who saved 'im. It was like the creek spit him out saying, I'm not ready for you. Not yet. Not now."- Bucky, a friend who drove a blacked-out, moon-capped '50 Chevy. Maybe still does."He spent weekdays with his grandparents (in Philly by way of England) and weekends with his grandparents (from Ohio by way of South Georgia). His grandfather from Georgia taught him 5-string banjo, fiddle, mandolin and guitar when he was 12. At square dances, he'd flat-pick guitar while his grandpop called. Saturday nights, they'd listen to WSM and WCKY and play til dawn. He got into rock and classical after his grandpop pulled a knife on his dad."- Bucky again."I taught him two things. First, singing is athletics. Second, don't think you have to know everybody in every pub. Stick with one pub and know those folks well."- Graham. His opera, acting and singing coach."He liked the Beatles, adores the Stones, but he'll always have one foot in a pile of doo-wop records, the other somewhere else. Classical music. Maybe jazz. Or Latin. Or one of his favorite Johnnys: Horton, Cash or Burnette.- Jane. High school sweetheart."Whether we're talking about the guitar you play or the motorcycle you ride, it's all about the girl. He knows that, 'cause I taught him that. It's all about the girl."- His brother, Top, from 13 Rebels Motorcycle Club."Like me, he made one-too-many cruises, drove one-too-many ships and paid for it with the coin called family."- Cap'n Jim. Skipper."Keep him outa white Cadillacs and Milano, Texas, and he'll do fine."- Anonymous.Text (c) 2006 Feathermerchant Music. From the liner notes of the album "The Boys We Are" by Wyld, Dark Heart.
