Saved at the Alabama-Florida Line

Johnny Glass has had it with Nashville.  Its many posers, pimps and politicians preyed on him for four difficult years, leaving him disheartened.  A talented, struggling singer-songwriter, he still yearns to make a living doing what he loves, writing and singing songs.  A former band mate lives in a broken down Airstream camper on the Florida-Alabama State line near the sparkling Gulf of Mexico—for free.  Playing music and singing songs at the world-famous Flora-Bama Lounge and Package Store on the beach is his everyday gig.  Johnny has a standing offer to join his buddy anytime, as the owner of the place is a lover of singer-songwriters, and could certainly use someone with his skills.

     Lucy Whitman is a sophomore debutante at the University of South Alabama and the privileged daughter of an Alabama State Senator.  Uninterested in her life as a university student and sorority girl, Lucy tilts to the wild side on the weekends where she sings, unbeknownst to her overbearing parents, in a bona fide honky-tonk band at America’s Last Great American Roadhouse, the Flora-Bama.  Instead of planned summer school, she has decided to spend the entire tourist season singing; and if it goes well, she likely won’t go back to South.  

     For Johnny and Lucy, it’s love at first sight.  Through joined artistry their relationship grows, and they become a popular on-stage duo.  They enjoy each other and the creative fulfillment the partnership brings.  However, Lucy’s mother and powerful father want nothing of their daughter playing a honky-tonk joint in Orange Beach.  After gently trying to win her favor, they make their strongest, connected attempt toward altering her brazen life path; and it has devastating consequences—not only for Lucy’s music, but for everyone living on Pleasure Island: The beloved Flora-Bama may be shuttered—for good.  

     Lucy’s father uses his political connections to deploy an army of state government agents against the beach bar, trumping up dozens of unfounded charges resulting in its indefinite closure.  Already in financial trouble stemming from bad outside investments, a great recession and an unprecedented manmade environmental disaster, the bar cannot afford to be closed during the lucrative tourist season.

     Johnny and Lucy, the locals and the rest of the musicians join forces with the Flora-Bama’s loveable owner and come up with a plan to save the quintessential beach bar, and the community it faithfully supports.  In doing so, Johnny and Lucy realize the grand futility of commercial success, and the bountiful wealth they already possess—from living and enjoying life, making music and many friends, in a beautiful, unforgettable place like no other.     

     Saved at the Alabama-Florida Line is a romantic, satirical tale of forbidden love that seeks to draw semblance to Southern living, art, failed politics and pop culture.    

*Nominated “Best Piece of Fiction” Alabama Library Association 2017.