Bobby Atkins - Wallenda On The Highwire (2:17)
Country music, along with its close cousin bluegrass, has a long and well-documented history as being a vehicle for musical tributes to people and events in news. Topical songs like this one, recorded just after high wire walker Karl Wallenda fell to his death in Puerto Rico in 1978, often document events from personal perspectives that don't always make it into the history books. I feel like I'm not going too far out on a limb if I proclaim this to be the world's only bluegrass Karl Wallenda tribute 45.
The name Wallenda has been cropping up in a lot of recent news stories due to the fact that Karl's grandson, Nik Wallenda, will attempt on Friday to be the first person to cross the brink of Niagara Falls on a high wire. Others have crossed the river gorge on a wire, but not at the brink - always downriver. ABC will broadcast the stunt on live television but insists, over Wallenda's objections, that he wear a body harness to prevent his death should he fall.
According to the Associated Press, ABC has determined that legal liability considerations prohibit the network from footing any of the astonomical bills associated with Wallenda's preparations, permits, and materials, such as the 7-ton two-inch thick cable purchased to span the gorge. Wallenda's set up a donation page over at Indiegogo to help defray the stunt's spiralling costs, so kick in a few bucks and help the guy out.
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