The meeting between the two men, one old, one young, preserves Vernon’s songs by passing them on into young Charlie’s perfect memory for music. He never forgets a song.
Although their own lives are both centered on music, they are vastly different. . McAlister is just another face in a dusty army displaced in the midst of the Great Depression. With his nearly indestructible steel-bodied National guitar, McAlister set out on a quest for the perfect song, the most wonderful music the full-toned guitar was capable of producing. Somewhat “peculiar” after a blow to the head ended his career in a sawmill, Vernon had abandoned his wife and family to hit the road in his search for a song so powerful that simply playing it would put an end to all misery and suffering.
When Vernon plays for a plate of food at the picnic he opened a whole new world for Shoe, a young man with Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild form of autism. Vernon’s songs set young Charlie on a lifelong search for powerful, unique music.
Both men shares a belief in the power of music and are convinced each song has both a physical and a spiritual existence. With combined musical careers spanning more than 70 years the two men share a great many stylistic similarities even though the two personalities are as different as night and day; one a homeless wanderer and the other incapable of leaving his parents’ home to find a place for himself in the world.
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