Notes from the Midnight Driver

After the concert, Alex stays with Sol to make sure he is okay. Sol compliments Alex on how hard he worked; Alex takes offense, wishing Sol would call him talented too. Alex accuses Sol of playing better than him and of keeping his talent a secret. Sol retorts, “you’ve been coming here since the autumn already, and you’ve never asked me a thing about myself” (170). Sol continues by explaining some highlights of his knowledge and then has to pause to breathe. Alex takes the opportunity to pose a question to Sol: “Why don’t you play guitar anymore?” (171).

In response, Sol tells Alex a long narrative about his life as a touring musician. Sol met his wife, Ethel, who Laurie reminds him of, and he had to adjust when they had a daughter, Judy, together. On one night after deciding to play “one more big gig” (173), Ethel came to see him, and they got in an argument. After she left, she was killed by a drunk driver. Sol never “played again, until tonight” (175) so that he could be with his daughter. But as soon as Judy grew old enough, she moved out and refused contact with her father.