Entries by

A Southern gospel hall of fame event

A few weeks ago I was privileged to attend the Singing News Fan Awards along with the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductions at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. The streets of Dollywood were lined with fans as the musical stars of the genre walked the red carpet to cheers and flashing cameras. They […]

Suffer no foolishness

Do you ever find yourself looking around wondering what happened to the world around you? The lenses through which you have looked at life become skewed by some new information you learn, the action of another, or simply a mistake that you have made yourself.

The Marksmen – “This Is My Crowd”

Throughout my career in music, one of my favorite acts to hear, watch on stage and to know has been the Marksmen Quartet of Murrayville, Ga. I was part of the group for several years in the 1980s and continue to aid them with promoting their weekly tours in venues around the country. That experience […]

Should things we buy last forever?

I don’t know about y’all, but it seems that more and more of what I buy just doesn’t seem to last.   I remember when I was growing up; I would earn extra money working in neighbor’s yards. My neighbors, the Mikells, had an old refrigerator in their utility room where they kept Coca-Colas, RC’s […]

Country ramblings – Oscar, Vince and Ricky

When I made my first appearance for the Grand Ole Opry in 1984, I had already appeared on shows with one of the long-running stars of the show Rollin “Oscar” Sullivan of Lonzo & Oscar. Lonzo and Oscar were one of country music’s best-known comedy duos. Although there were three Lonzo’s through the years that […]

Some days you should stay in bed

As I turned the key and the engine on the gray Murray riding mower was balking, I sort of knew it was going to be one of those days. With a little prompting though I was off and running. Many people love to mow, although I started mowing other people’s yards at about age nine, […]

Thank your lucky stars

Webster describes a star as a celestial body with twinkling points of light. The wise men of old followed a star to the baby Jesus. Centuries ago, sailors learned to navigate themselves around the world by the stars. Today, many look at people who have reached a certain status in their field such as stars […]

From where does honor come?

When I was a little boy, I remember holding my dad’s hand while walking on the sidewalk along the main street of our county seat. He seemed so big even though the large buildings of brick and stone along the street made even him look small by comparison. The cars seemed to speed buy as folks […]

Where did I put you?

Do you ever go to the back of the house, and when you get there you don’t remember what you went after? How about do you ever go to the store without a list, only to return home with everything but what you went after?