A fiddle and the fireplace

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Some say it was a coal mine cave-in. Others say it was the fever, but whatever the reason my Grandpa Harve found himself orphaned in a time when, if children were lucky, some relative or caring neighbor took them in.

I don’t know much about his childhood, although I am told his tales of life on the Tennessee River rivaled those of Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn.”

When my dad was a boy, Harve gathered the children around the fireplace and before bed told a story of an orphaned boy named A.J. (his real initials), filled with intrigue of riverboat gamblers and the dangers of riding the rapids on a handmade raft.
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Cousin Will and the telephone

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One of my readers wrote in and asked for a bit of humor, so I decided to share these comedy routines below.

Remember all they asked for was a bit!

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Lulu Roman – At Last

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When I was growing up there is hardly a Saturday at 7 that did not pass without our television being set to watch “Hee Haw.”

One of the most iconic members of that huge ensemble cast was the comedienne Lulu Roman.

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Bluegrassed – Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out

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Through my years as part of the bluegrass music industry, I have been blessed to come to know many great musicians and singers who hold spots of esteem in the eyes of their peers and the lovers of the music.

One of those groups, who also like myself travel from the great state of Georgia, is Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out.
The International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) has named the group Vocal Group of the Year seven times, and they are led IBMA’s most-awarded Male Vocalist of the Year with five wins.

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Do we struggle each day with finding the future?

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When you got up this morning, did you wonder what you were going to do today?

Most of us have a routine that we are locked in, work, school or family activities.

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A new beginning

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Well its 2013, the world did not end as predicted. So I guess that means we must continue to earn money, pay bills, meet our responsibilities or someone will come and take us away. Well not maybe us, but our stuff that we have borrowed from others through all those plastic moneymakers in our pockets.
New Year’s is the day that folks turn over a new leaf, make promises to do better, try to dedicate themselves to a better future.

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Why can’t I button this?

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As I took the pocketknife from my blue jean pocket, I opened it to the punch and began digging another hole in my leather belt.

It is was easy to see that the Thanksgiving and Christmas season provided me a gift beyond measure, at least the measure of what my waist once was.

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“Let’s Live Every Day Like It Was Christmas”

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It was just over 20 years ago when two-time Dove Award nominee Mark Wheeler of the Marksmen Quartet and I created a Christmas song beckoning listeners to do just that – “Let’s Live Every Day Like It Was Christmas.”

Millions around the world have heard songs or tunes I penned for radio, movies or television but none has had the widespread impact on listeners that it did.
Perhaps it was the simple message based in experience and the easy reminder that Christmas is about “the baby king who gave the world a chance.”
For me I always get caught up in the sentimentality of the season – the lights, the songs, the parades, the church services and programs. They always seem to take me back to my childhood and the excitement that mounted as Christmas day drew closer. Read more

Dallas can never be the same

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Like many people around the world, I was saddened by the news just after Thanksgiving that someone who had caught the fascination of 300 million people in my youth had ended his adventure on this earth.
I too wondered for a summer “Who Shot J.R.?”

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A night at Everett’s

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I recently was perusing in a used book store and I ran across a book now out of print that I have been trying to find for a while. It is called the “Country Music Book of Lists.” Several years ago I provided a list of funny happenings for the book that featured a variety of music stars. I had never seen a copy.

While reading through my list, I was reminded of an early incident that really began my interest in making people laugh.

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