When I started as a disc jockey in radio at WRFG in Atlanta, Ga., the influence of musical preferences of the hosts T.P. and Sandra Hollomon of the Bluegrass Festival impacted me with every drop of needle. I had known the music of the Stanley Brothers since I began listening to mountain music and as […]
I covered the cloth in furniture polish and pushed it across the top of the wardrobe removing each object perched there and giving it a good going over. When I was a boy, I always wondered what was on top of the wardrobe because I couldn’t see it. Now I wish I didn’t. Dust seems […]
When I began my working experience, I always looked forward to the arrival of warm weather. I could hear my wallet growing exponentially with each inch rise of the green, green grass of home. Well, maybe more like the neighbors’ grass since I didn’t get paid for mowing our yard. When I was about 10, […]
It seems so much of our life is spent working to prove something to someone else. In our early years we aspire to gain the approval of our parents or key mentors that wish to see us succeed in education, sports, music or whatever dream they hold for us or share with us. Sometimes, it’s […]
Maddie Denton (second from right) of Murfreesboro, Tenn. won the Randall Franks Trophy at the 1890s Day Old Time Fiddle Convention May 28, 2016. In the fiddle off, she faced Mark Ralph (third from left) of Somerville, Ala. winner of the 51 and up category, who won second, Andrew Lin (second from left) of Lexington, […]
International Bluegrass Music Museum Legend and country humorist Randall Franks, “Officer Randy Goode” from TV’s “In the Heat of the Night,” returns to his Southern gospel music roots with his new CD “Keep ‘Em Smilin’.” Franks became the first solo bluegrass artist to reach the top rankings of the Christian music sales charts with […]
I have seen numerous members of my family and friends go through the ups and downs of chronic illnesses, and watched as they struggled with tasks which once they had performed with ease. When I was just a child, volunteering in a local nursing home, I met a woman who was around eighty at the […]
Some of the most difficult times to watch are when someone we know is trying to be there for a loved one when he or she is coming to the end of his or her journey. As I think back through the years, I remember watching my mother and father as they reached out to […]
I reached over and turned off the 5:15 a.m. alarm. Rubbing my face with my hands, I wiped the sleep from my eyes as I threw back the covers and headed towards the bathroom to wash myself awake. The hotel room looked like many others that I stay in week after week when I am […]
Country music humorist Randall Franks, “Officer Randy Goode” from TV’s “In the Heat of the Night,” recently debuted music and comedy from his upcoming Christian CD “Keep ‘Em Smilin’” at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga. to an international congregation. “Performing years ago for a Carter family gathering and grand marshaling the Plains […]
