I used to manage a country band.

We once had a steel guitar player who seemed like your typical honky-tonk musician. He lived in a regular house in the country. The only giveaway was that he was the only band member who didn’t regularly complain about pay.

I don’t remember how it came about, but one day one of the band members was teasing him about going to the salt mine. The steel guitar player responded that he never really goes to the mines and that they were more his grandfather’s thing.

Another member of the band said something about there not being any salt mines and wondered why people around kept talking about them.

The bandleader said, “You realize the guy’s last name is Morton.”