This week we want to send a heartfelt shout out to Floyd “Strick” and Meta Strickler in celebration of their 66th Wedding Anniversary!
It was a little more than a year ago in October, when I had the delight of dancing with Strick before he did his set with Quenby and the WOW Band at Stacey’s in Gallatin Gateway. He told me then that ‘next year’ would be he and Meta’s 66th anniversary… and that their wedding dance had been right there, at Stacey’s (!), all those years ago; AND Strick’s Band, The Wranglers, played music for it! I have since heard an endless bounty of musical stories and adventures of the ‘Life and Times’ of “Strick” and his talented family. Mostly though, I continue to appreciate this local legend as he brings it to the stage, at a spry 86-years-young, for all of us – a Legacy of Americana Music from Montana.
Check out Strick with Quenby and the West of Wayland Band from September 17, 2016 at the Bozeman Eagles, singing ‘Heartaches by the Numbers’. This chorus is highlighted,
“Now I’ve got heartaches by the numbers
A love that I can’t win
But the day that I stop counting
That’s the day my world will end
Heartache number three was when you called me
And told me you was coming home to stay
With hoping heart I waited for your knock on the door
I waited but you must have lost your way
Now I’ve got heartaches by the numbers
Troubles by the score
Every day you love me less
Each day I love you more
Now I’ve got heartaches by the numbers
A love that I can’t win
But the day that I stop countin’
That’s the day my world will end”
This song is written by Harlan Howard, and sung by all the greats of country – i.e. Strick Strickler! Always a pleasure and an honor to support our musician story tellers! We can safely say that this is not Strick’s ‘True Story’ with his lifelong beloved; and as you can see, Bozeman was out dancing and enjoying this timeless tune and grandfather of our Gallatin Valley.
You’ll see Strick out regularly as a special guest with not only the WOW band, but so many others ‘Western Electric’, ‘SlomoJoe’, ‘Little Jane and the Pistol Whips’, and the ‘Heather Lingle Band’ among others. We’re hoping he’ll be out this Friday and Saturday with us at the Bozeman Legion – see you there!
~ Heidi Lea… Blogging for Q&WOW