Yesterday, on my walk, I met a real life "Ginseng Sullivan".

Most afternoons I go for a walk down along the Whitewater River. The trailhead is a few blocks from my house. It’s real nice.

Often there’s no one else down there. Maybe some wildlife.

Yesterday I was walking along and I saw a guy stopped up ahead staring at the treetops across the river. I thought he might have spotted one of the bald eagles that like to hang out along that stretch. When I got to where he was, I asked him what he was looking at.

Turns out he was just checking out the white sycamore branches against the blue sky. A beautiful sight this time of year for sure.

We ended up talking for 20 minutes or so. He grew up in east Tennessee and moved up here a few years back. Doesn’t think he’ll ever get to move back home. And he supports himself by harvesting wild ginseng and other herbs. He had a lot of interesting information.

Reminded me of that old Norman Blake song that was later made semi-famous by Tony Rice.

Here’s a clip of Trey Hensley at Carter Vintage Guitars in Nashville playing a Tony Rice signature model guitar and singing “Ginseng Sullivan”: