“Houston, Texas, 1956: Landscaped by whitewashed tree trunks, oyster-shell parking lots, roadside watermelon stands, sawdust dance floors, and Penecostal tent revivals, it proudly proclaimed itself ‘The murder capital of the world.’ It remains unclear whether such dubious distinction was substantiated by statistical evidence, no doubt the Chamber of Commerce had facts to the contrary; but in the hometown of my childhood, statements made loud, stayed loud.”

(Rodney Crowell’s “I Walk the Line Revisited” from “Songs Without Rhyme: Prose By Celebrated Songwriters,” 2001)

Tags: fiction, I Walk The Line, Revisited, Rodney Crowell, Writing