Organic Beef

They loaded the Hammond B-3
Into the pickup bed,
Cinching it up tight against the cab,
Running the electric cord
Out to the Honda generator,
She sat on the piano bench
While he climbed into the driver’s seat,
She fired up the generator,
He fired up the truck,
They sneaked into the pasture before dawn,
When the sun came up the cattle were lowing,
New baby calves hid in the brome grass
Not knowing what was coming next,

She played all the greats,
Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff, and Groove Holmes,
By eight o’clock she was into Booker T. Jones and Gregg Allman,
They drove around the cows and calves
Serenading them with the jazzy sound,
When she stopped playing and he stopped the pickup
They were all looking at her with that forlorn look,
She stood up and called out to them,
“There is another truck coming this afternoon,
“Don’t get into it.”