Have you ever glanced through a classified ad section in the newspaper and saw an ad for an antique violin, mandolin or some other type of instrument? When I see an ad of this nature I wonder how the owner values the instrument. Is it like a mahogany federal chair from the 1700s or a […]
As I eased along a route I often took, I knew it was a straight shot to my destination. I expected to be there well ahead of time, of which I try to make a habit. As a sweet aroma permeated the car, I thought to myself: “Why am I smelling a new tire inside […]
Though I don’t consider myself a product of a different age, I look around and see how men and women, boys and girls, publicly act, dress, behave, treat each other, speak, and I ponder what happened. My parents raised me with certain expectations of behavior especially in the presence of the opposite sex or anyone who […]
My New Year’s Eve show got me home about 3:30 a.m., and I quickly tried to get to sleep with a plan to rise early and head to Nashville. I awoke on time and aimed my burgundy Chevy Lumina towards the goal a little over two hours away. The trip had been made hundreds of […]
Over the past few weeks, I have said goodbye to many friends and family, and I share this story in honor of each of them and those who gave tirelessly to care for each of them as they prepared for their final steps. Perhaps it will give us all something to carry throughout the coming year – to always remember […]
It was a blustery cold morning as Kitty and Pearl began their walk over to Maudie Pearson’s house. They carried tins full of green collards, black-eyed peasand hamhocks and some cornbread. “This seems like an odd meal to take Miss Maudie,” Pearl said. “It’s News Year’s Day fixin’s,” Kitty said. “If she eats these she will have all […]
“Here’s the boxes of outside lights,” I said as I handed them down the attic stairs to my father Floyd. Next came the interior boxes that were spread on the floor of the living room for my mother Pearl to sift through. A few hops up and down the attic ladder and all the Christmas […]
In the valley below the Gravelly Spur sometimes life was lost in the living, but at times circumstances would change that for a while. Billy Thurston lived in a sharecropper’s house with his mother Alma and father Fred. Although Billy was just eight-years-old, he already had performed almost every task it took to help run […]
Never rely upon what “other people” say when you develop an opinion. I have spent my life walking in the light of truth. I was taught early to follow the rules and speak the truth. As a small child, I was a whiz at numbers but had some difficulty with spelling, at least that is […]
I have been blessed to meet some amazing performers who have for some period occupied the spotlight in many music genres but especially those who made a home in country music. Through the 1950s and 60s, one of the female vocalists who kept the airwaves filled with her talents from Starday, Mercury, United Artists, Monument, […]
