My heart still lurches when I think about Wink being gone. When we played together we passed DNA back and forth. His last show was with us, July 13, 2019, near the banks of the Ohio River. He was one of my biggest cheerleaders; a rough mother cat tongue when I was underwhelming myself. I hear him when I read him and that comforts me. Cut through the gruff and you had a marshmallow.

A few years ago, I did his and Michael's genealogy and I found out the O'Bannon brothers were related (second cousins, three times removed) to Jesse and Frank James. Perfect.

PS: I flew him (from The Fox Song) in at the end of Hundred to solo with me one last time. Wink O’Bannon, by himself, is the last thing you hear on this record.

WO to TK to WO to TK

On feeling stuck on a song - JUN 18, 2013, WO to TK: Just a thought…as for creativity and happiness, well, I don’t expect any problem with the former, given your past…you produce more work in a month than I did in any given year, and you always have…as for happiness, that is not my area of expertise…I aim more for evading misery, and I can’t claim to perfect success… Another girl in rock write-up - DEC 10, 2014, WO to TK: Dear, that’s very nice, but this gender crap irritates me to no end. “Oh, it’s a woman doing that” – I tremble with disgust. I KNOW that they can’t help it. But it’s so BORING. When you (or, rarely, we) play, I never ever thought of any damned gender. I thought: what in the hell is Tara Key doing and what in the hell am I supposed to do that works with that? You are the craziest, most idiosyncratic, most inexplicable guitarist I have ever met, and, were I not an inveterate atheist, I would thank god for my good fortune. Don’t let this go to your head or (god forbid) get cocky (humor intended) but thank god!
When my Mom passed away - MAR 15, 2016, WO to TK: I know. It doesn’t go away. They don’t go away. It changes. Time is an inscrutable mystery. We are an accumulation of events. But I’m rambling. I said that I’d shut up, and I will. No words. Ineffable – that term has many uses, I think. Take care of yourself. It’s hard. There is no one or two or ten ways to experience something this profound. It changes, sure, sometimes ten times a day, and there is an inclination for “normalcy” (whatever that is) to assert itself in that hypnotic business as usual kind of way, but you know and I know that this ain’t goin’ anywhere. They’re here to stay.
On a beautiful work in progress by Wink – November 6, 2017, WO to TK: Needs work…..nothing is ever finished, which is probably a good thing…..
In late 2019, Wink told me he was sick. And swore me to secrecy. I racked my brain to try and stop time, change things, deny it. The best I could do, after the news was public, was to trick him into giving me his Hit List of favorite songs and then to corral our buddies to try and make him some $$$.
JAN 19, 2020, WO to TK: I think that every third Skull of Glee song was probably inspired by “Shadowplay”… I can listen to Kenny Burrell all night long, but underneath it is “Stepping Stone” and “Born to Be Wild.” JAN 20, 2020 TK to WO: Never underestimate the power of danceability, says the wallflower incapable of dancing anywhere but in my brain or after 5 shots just before The Big Crash hits! WO to TK: Indeed. The funk is within us if not quite down to the feet. Finger funk. I am in the process of convincing myself that all of the nonsense believed by small children is actually accurate and that the adult view is a fraud reinforced by culture. Of course that mountain is alive! Of course your teddy bear has plans!
When my brother passed away; I apply the same logic with this project - DEC 09, 2018 WO to TK: Sometimes, when words are insufficient, you pick up a guitar…
--Tara Key


Hundred
Wink O’Bannon
(Matthew Dennis O’Bannon)

Antietam
Guitars, vocal: Tara Key
Drums: Josh Madell
Bass: Tim Harris

Guitar: Wink O’Bannon

Antietam recorded at Chessie Studios, NYC
Mixed by Tara Key at Chessie Studios

Photo by Lonnie Turner