OKIE from Muskogee - photography

[eli griggs]

Earlier, as I listened to music on my iPhone, "Okie from Muskogee" played and it occurred to me, I don't ever remember even seeing one single image from that U.S. City.

If you have images to share, interesting things or places or people there, please share and describe what's happening in this famous little city that was the subject to such a well known song.

Cheers

 

[xkaes]

There must be a reason:

"A place where even squares can have a ball"

 

[Dave Ludwig]

Muskogee, OK: On the edge of town there are/were about a dozen old roadside fireworks stands scattered in a field on S. Main next to a sand and gravel co. I shot this about 8 years ago.

 

[DREW WILEY]

That was written by Merle Haggard after he got out of prison and was living in Bakersfield, which was the promised land to Oakies fleeing the dust bowl, and is still a trucker and Country-Western music hub. But if that was their promised land, I'd sure hate to see where they came from. Farm labor conditions were brutal (Steinbeck wasn't exaggerating, nor was Dorothea Lange the photographer), and to this day, Bakersfield has the worst air quality in California, and possibly the nation. But Kern County also holds the highest peak in the lower 48, plus Sequoia National Park with the largest trees on earth, rugged canyons twice as deep as Grand Canyon, and some of the most spectacular wildflower displays on the planet.

Merle was actually more like a Hippie in certain ways than the type of character painted by that song. He got his inspiration when Johnny Cash visited San Quentin Prison.

 

[eli griggs]

Muskogee, OK: On the edge of town there are/were about a dozen old roadside fireworks stands scattered in a field on S. Main next to a sand and gravel co. I shot this about 8 years ago.

View attachment 421759

A good place for setting off fireworks?

 

[mshchem]

Muskogee, OK: On the edge of town there are/were about a dozen old roadside fireworks stands scattered in a field on S. Main next to a sand and gravel co. I shot this about 8 years ago.

View attachment 421759

Great photo!

 

[mshchem]

That was written by Merle Haggard after he got out of prison and was living in Bakersfield, which was the promised land to Oakies fleeing the dust bowl, and is still a trucker and Country-Western music hub. But if that was their promised land, I'd sure hate to see where they came from. Farm labor conditions were brutal (Steinbeck wasn't exaggerating, nor was Dorothea Lange the photographer), and to this day, Bakersfield has the worst air quality in California, and possibly the nation. But Kern County also holds the highest peak in the lower 48, plus Sequoia National Park with the largest trees on earth, rugged canyons twice as deep as Grand Canyon, and some of the most spectacular wildflower displays on the planet.

Merle was actually more like a Hippie in certain ways than the type of character painted by that song. He got his inspiration when Johnny Cash visited San Quentin Prison.

I've been to Muir Woods, that's the extent of my Redwoods experience, it's "religious" or better a spiritual experience!