I have enjoyed the honor of working for many years to spread the news about the wonderful work accomplished by the Southern Gospel Music Association to honor those who have innovated and made strides in Southern gospel music.
This year at the induction ceremonies in Dollywood held in conjunction with the Singing News Fan Awards, there were six inductions.
Stars from Red Skelton to Roy Acuff got their starts performing on a show where a medicine show “Doc” gathered folks around to sell a sure cure.
It was this same circumstance under the watchful eye of “Doc” M.F. Chamberlain that a youthful Tommy Scott got his start as a professional touring musician in 1936. By that time the show was already 46 years old and the 19-year-old Scott tossed his guitar over his back and left the farm to sleep in a wagon and earn $6 a week.
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As I stumble sleepily from the bed, I weave up the hall to my office. I swing by my computer hitting the on button as I head to the kitchen to pour a bowl of raisin bran.
I grab an apple as well and head back to sit down at my desk as I take the first bite of my apple, and type in my e-mail account password to check what has accumulated over night.
Before I went to sleep, I had spent at least an hour following up on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts among others.
“Two boys in Illinois took a short (cut) across an orchard, and did not become aware of the presence of a vicious dog until it was too late to reach either fence. One boy was spry enough to escape the attack by climbing a tree, but the other started around the tree, with a dog in hot pursuit, until by making smaller circles than it was possible for his pursuer to make, he gained sufficiently to grasp the dog’s tail, and held with desperate grip until nearly exhausted, when he hailed his companion and called him to come down.
As I stood at the podium at the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Ford Theater in Nashville, I anxiously searched for the right transitional words to introduce one of my favorite groups – The Riders in the Sky.
I have always admired western music, from the configurations of the harmonies to the mix of the instruments and the musical styles fused into what became the standards in the western films of the 1930s-50s and beyond.
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I can remember fondly childhood gatherings of almost each branch of our family.
Kids playing every imaginable game in the yard – hide and seek, tag, baseball, and any other activity that would keep us occupied while the adults gathered telling jokes and laughing.
I have come to the conclusion that everyone in life, no matter how blessed, finds that there are trials we must face.
Sometimes these are the common trials that everyone faces in life – How do we pay a bill? Where do I find a job? How do I cope with the stresses?
Sometimes they are more monumental. In just the last week, I have prayed for friends and loved ones and their caregivers that are facing heart by-pass surgery, Parkinson’s disease, accident recovery, cancer in various stages, and stroke.
One of my favorite people to see, hear and be around as a youth was comedian/singer Wendy Bagwell.
Well, not just as a youth, I still enjoy hearing his wonderful stories that amused and his music with the Sunliters – Jan Buckner and Geraldine Morrison that uplifted.
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In life, we are constantly faced with choices. We are blessed or cursed with the gift of free will, depending on your prospective.
From the smallest detail of “Do you want fries with that?” to “Do you take this woman to be…?,” in America, we have endless choices.
I found myself in yet another conversation with one of my fellow entertainers recently discussing what we will be selling, as the future becomes the present.
Many performers sell their own products at concerts including CDs and DVDs, that fans buy and often hand to us to receive an autograph.
