I was

visiting my Mother at the nursing facility where she lives a few weeks ago. She was asleep when I came in so I sat and waited for her to finish the nap. After a while the sound of electric guitars came down the hallway.Country music, what I call more traditional- "I fall to pieces", " Funny how time slips away", " Your cheating heart" and so on. 
   The sound was a little muffled, not unlike driving up to a beer joint out in the country and standing there in the dark before you went in to the light, sound, smoke, and smell of beer.
   So I walked down the hall to see what was going on. In the common dining area there were two men set up, in their 70's?, one playing an acoustic guitar and the other an electric. The man on the electric was playing the melody, or sort of..... sometimes it was off , a totally different song . The man singing had a voice mixed like Don William's pure tones along with Merle Haggards singular twang.  There was a small group of residents listening. 
  I went back down to Mothers room with a picture in my mind of where those people were- not knowing if it was there in wheelchairs or out on a dance floor years ago.
  They closed with "Faded Love" but it was the song before it that has stayed in my mind. The electric guitar player was dead on this time and the singer nailed it as well. The song--

Tougher Than The Rest
   written by Bruce Springsteen
The road is dark
And it's a thin thin line
But I want you to know I'll walk it for you any time
Maybe your other boyfriends
Couldn't pass the test
Well if you're ready for love
Honey I'm tougher than the rest
Maybe they weren't as old as I thought. Maybe none of them are as old as we think.