Country Music History 101

Today I read some of this week's lectionary material (if you're not familiar with that term, click on that link and you'll see what this is), and I thought of Joseph and his coat of many colors. Some would call this his technicolor dreamcoat, but to each his/her own. I immediately went back to my childhood to Saturday afternoons at Granny Ione's house. I could smell her perfume and the frying of chicken. I was blessed to have her until I was 40 years old. We watched a lot of Porter and Dolly, and all those other country music TV shows. I made her DVDs and VHS tapes of some of the ones I saw on RFD-TV. Yes, I know that's taboo, but I never had any intention to sell any of them, just to share them with my Granny who didn't have RFD and couldn't get it on her cable system. I guarantee she would have, if she'd thought they would carry it. When she died, I went to her house to get them. I said, "I always knew I would have to take them back. I just didn...

I’ve failed as a blogger again, but this time I’ve had a better excuse. I had surgery last month and I’ve been recovering, watching old westerns like "The Virginian" (I never knew there was a 90-minute TV show! I was too little to realize this when the show was in its first run.) and of course, watching my favorite old TV show, "The Waltons." I considered putting details of my surgery on my other blog, and maybe someday I will. This week I’m back to working. Monday I was in MRI, Tuesday I was off, Wednesday I was on my feet in TEE, and today I spent the day on my butt scheduling. For those who are new to country music, this song was written by the prolific and amazing songwriter Cindy Walker and the song was first recorded by Eddy Arnold, one of country music’s most superior crooners. It was also recorded by Jerry Vale, Ray Charles, Emmylou Harris, Diana Krall, Bob Dylan, and some dude from Memphis named Elvis Presley. Many others have recorded it as well. The rea...

Name that tune! My Pontiac might, but I don't want to lose my license because I need to drive. I feel like I have already failed as a blogger because I go months without blogging. I spend a lot of time by myself, mostly in the car but sometimes at home too. I often think of things I want to write about, history of country music, Nashville's, and my own. When I'm home and I could be writing, I lie in the loveseat recliner and play "Word Wipe" and eat sugar-free popsicles until I find myself running to the bathroom. I'm really not a total waste of protoplasm. Most weeks, I work three to five days at a major medical center about 35 miles from home. I'm a PRN, or "as needed" employee. Since I have a lot of roles within the medical center and specifically the heart institute, I'm needed a lot. Officially, I'm a nuclear medicine/PET technologist. I've never worked in "PET", though I have worked on a nuclear camera capable of...

Be sure you scroll down past the line to read the entire post. This was my original post, titled Can't thank Greyhound for this one: Roy Clark has passed away. I really can't write about this now, but look at the site in the next day or so for more info. _____________________________ Today's post: Yesterday, Roy Linwood Clark, beloved host of Hee Haw and member of the Grand Ole Opry, passed away at his Tulsa, OK home at age 85 of complications from pneumonia. Roy was born April 15, 1933 in Meherrin, VA into a musical family.  He often brought his family to the show as musical guests.  Music came naturally to Roy, who was a guitar virtuoso, a banjo legend, a fine fiddler and even played the mandolin.  He was married to Barbara for 61 years.  Growing up, he performed with his family and made a name for himself playing for Jimmy Dean and Wanda Jackson.  He appeared on the Tonight Show several times. He was a recurring guest on The Beverly Hillbillies befor...

So, even though this blog is about classic country music memories, at least part of it is just my memories.  Oh, it's gonna be about a lot of various and sundry things.  Since one of those things is my memories of Nashville, I want to share about a book I just finished on Audible, A Murder in Music City .  I got the idea that if I ever want to make a Wiki about a subject, this would be a good one.  I want a source that has pictures of all the people I've been researching this week.  The book is about Paula Herring, a college freshman who came home to Nashville one weekend only to be brutally murdered in her own home on a cold Saturday night in 1964. Being a native Nashvillian, I enjoyed all the references to places that I pass on a regular basis and some that are gone.  I don't remember some of the businesses mentioned on West End and Broadway, but I do know those roads and intersections quite well.  The victim's mother and several others in the book...