"Too White to Play the Blues" genre: Blues Rock
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	The Crossroads, pickin' cotton, Texas oil fields... it's all true - an autobiographical song about growing up white and playing the blues.
	CD: Most Requested   Label: Avatar Credits: Gene Kelton, BMI
	Story Behind the Song Growing up in the sixties and early seventies, there was alot of controversy as to whether or not a white boy could truly play the blues. That question has certainly been answered through the years. Every line in this song is a true statement in reference to my life. Written in 1990. Lyrics I was born in Mississippi on the wrong side of the tracks Three families shared the tin roof of a sharecroppers shack We chopped wood in the winter drew our water from a well We went to Church on Sunday, Lord but everyday was hell People called us white trash... hillbillies too Learnin' how to fight was all I learned in school The blues was a way of life... we was poor but we was proud Thats why I still get fightin' mad when I hear someone in the crowd (say he's) CHORUS Too white... what gives you the right (to say) Too white... make me want to fight (when they say) Too white... too white to play the blues I never knew my daddy... he left when I was young So mama waited tables at them joints on 61 There were rumours and gossip by them righteous folks uptown But they'd buy my grandpa's moonshine when that evenin' sun went down Well I started pickin' cotton... soon as I could drag a sack It didn't matter to the bossman... if you was white or black He said I pay by the pound boy... not the color of yo skin So if you think that I'm too white to play the blues think again... (when you say) REPEAT CHORUS I used to go down to this juke joint where the Southern 'cross the Dog We danced barefoot on a dirt floor the bands played from dusk till dawn In that dusty Delta darkness 'neath a Mississippi moon I saw a vision at the Crossroads where I was Baptized by the Blues I hitchhiked into Texas learned survival in the streets When the oil fields ran dry this guitar fed my family Through hell and highwater, look who followed in my shoes The Good Lord gave me two sons who were born playin' the blues (don't say they're...) REPEAT CHORUS Gene Kelton, BMI

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