Country Reunion Magazine, January 2021

Country Reunion m a g a z i n e

Hal Ketchum’s Death

Charly Pride Passes Cousin Emmy & Early Radio Floyd Country Store Tim Atwood’s New Album Misty Rowe’s Autobiography

Makky Kaylor & the Swanky South Interview with Bobby Bare Georgette Jones Releases CD Jan Howard’s Burial

… and more

November 2020

January 2021

Country’s Family Reunion

NEWS

Who’s inside?

Charley Pride p. 3 Hal Ketchum, p. 4 Cousin Emmy, p.6 Floyd Country Store, p. 8 Tim Atwood, p. 10 Renae the Waitress, p. 11 Misty Rowe, p. 12 Areeda’s Cooking, p. 14 Makky Kaylor, p. 15 Bobby Bare, p. 17 Nadine’s Corner, p. 21 Jan Howard, p. 22 Georgette Jones, p. 23 Books for Sale, p. 24

CFR News is published monthly by Country Road Management, 710 N. Main St., Suite B Columbia, TN 38401 Larry Black, Publisher Paula Underwood Winters, Editor, Print Layout & Design Claudia Johnson, Writer, Online Layout & Design

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November 2020

Stars Remember Charly Pride

Just one month after receiving the Country Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Charley Pride, 86, passed away due to complications of COVID-19. His life and legacy was remembered by his fellow entertainers.

“Like the rest of the world, I am shocked and saddened to learn about the death of Charley Pride. He and I went back to the early days of his career in 1966 when he made his first nationwide appearance as a guest on my syndicated television show. In later years we toured together, shared music, and argued baseball endlessly. I saw firsthand some of his early struggles as the first black performer in country music. My admiration for the way he handled himself during those years knows no bounds. I’ve lost a hero and a friend.”

– Bill Anderson

“I am just so sad to hear the news of Charley Pride’s passing. He was so sweet and kind. My Jimmy loved him and played on so many of his hit records. Charley was a wonderful man, a true gentleman, and a legend.

Please keep his wife, Rozene, son, Dion, and his entire family in your prayers. Our Opry family has lost another great one.”

– Michele Capps

“Mom and I are saddened to hear of the passing of the great Charley Pride. He was a legend and a pioneer who broke down barriers in country music, and his impact on music in general is undeniable.

He will be greatly missed.”

– Charlie Daniels Jr.

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“It’s such a sad day saying so long to Charley Pride. I’m just so thankful I got to sing a song with him. That’s where this pic was taken. I also narrated his “I’ll Be Me” documentary.

My heart, my love, my soul... everything goes out to Rozene and the entire Pride family.”

– Tanya Tucker “I’m absolutely stunned and my heart is breaking.”

– Jeannie Seely

January 2021

Troubadour Hal Ketchum Gone Yeah, it's a small town Saturday night."

Ketchum eventually traded one of his two drum kits for Multitalented Grand Ole Opr y inductee Hal a five-string banjo and then traded another banjo for a Ketchum, who was a singer, songwriter, painter, master Martin acoustic guitar, forming a duo with his singing carpenter and actor, died on Nov. 23, 2020, at his home and guitar-playing brother, Franklin. in Texas.

After a 1981 move to Austin, Texas, Ketchum found “With great sadness and grief we announce that Hal himself a regular at a small dance hall, Gruene Hall, passed away peacefully last night at home due to w h e r e h e b e c a m e i n s p i r e d to t r y s i n g i n g a n d complications of Dementia,” songwriting. By 1986 he had recorded Ketchum’s wife, Andrea, posted 11 of his original songs, releasing them on Facebook. “May his music live on a self-funded album, "Threadbare on forever in your hearts and bring Alibis," in 1988. you peace.”

"Threadbare Alibis" spawned a Bor n in Greenwich, Ne w record deal with Curb Records and York, on April 9, 1953, to a family precipitated a move to Nashville. His that made music a part of their Recording Industry Association of daily activities, Ketchum began America certified Gold album, “Past performing in clubs as a drummer the Point of Rescue,” released in 1991, with a rhythm and blues trio as a produced four Top 20 singles: No. 2 teenager. charting "Small Town Saturday Night” " It w a s a g r e a t l e s s o n i n and title track, "Past the Point of sociology because the bars would Rescue;" "Five O'Clock World"; and his move the pool table over in the self-penned "I Know Where Love corner and put a three-quarterLives.”

Hal Ketchum inch piece of plywood on top, and Ketchum released the album "Sure that would be my dr um riser,” Love" in 1992. The album's title track charted at No. 3 Ketchum said once in an interview. “At 15 years old I'd on the Hot Country Songs chart, followed by "Hearts get to sit up in the corner of these joints and just watch the evening progress. Friday night everybody would get paid from one of the local pulp mills, and they would wander in and be very generous during the first set. Then by halfway through the second set, they're dancing with one of the girls. And by the third set they're fighting. I learned never to stop playing during a fight. That was an important part of my education.”

Ketchum pointed out that his observations were "tattooed onto my soul" and not dissimilar to scenes depicted in his very first hit, “Small Town Saturday Night,” which states that the locals "howl at the moon, shoot out the light.

Photo: Hal ketchum Facebook

By Claudia Johnson

Page 4

January 2021

Between 1991 and 2006, Ketchum had 17 entries on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. In total, he had 15 top 10 singles and sold five million albums.

Additionally, Ketchum appeared in the 1988 film "Heartbreak Hotel" and made a cameo appearance as a bank robber in the 1994 film “Maverick."

He became paralyzed for a period of time in 1998 from Acute Transverse Myelitis, an ailment of the spinal column that left Ketchum without the use of the left side of his body, forcing him to relearn basic tasks, including how to walk and play the guitar.

Ac c o r d i n g to halketchum.com, in 2008, Ketchum released an album called "Father Time,” which was unusual in that it was recorded with no over-dubs, just head on recording direct to two tracks. “ He c a p t u r e d t h a t authenticity of old style recording and revisited one of the first songs that he ever wrote, ‘The Preacher and Me,’” the website states, adding. “Then he took a break.”

His split with Curb Records was followed by a split with his third wife, Gina, with whom he adopted three daughters, and culminated with the death of his long time bass player, Keith Carper, who passed away at 50 years old in 2009.

After he relocated from Nashville back to Texas in 2010, he frequently played in regional theaters, clubs and other performance venues.

"I'd reached a point during my time in Nashville where I'd fallen into that mill worker mentality, where you're only as good as your last record," Ketchum said when he released his album “I'm the Troubadour” in 2014. "If the phone didn't ring for two days, I was crushed. I'd worked myself into this odd place, where you have to be validated by your previous accomplishments. To be liberated from that kind of pressure is really fantastic. The pressure's off now. I'm just old Hal now… and I still have a lot to say.”

He also began to engage in cherished hobbies. He was a painter whose work was displayed in a sold-out art show in Santa Fe, New Mexico's Pena Gallery in 2002

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and throughout his home. He was a master carpenter and furniture maker. Fly fishing in Montana and reading brought him peace. He continued to perform and to write songs, but by spring 2019 a debilitating condition would prevent him from enjoying the things he loved.

Ketchum developed early-onset senile dementia, including Alzheimer's disease and gave his final performance in October 2018 at Gruene Hall, where he had made frequent appearances since 1 9 8 5 a n d h a d v o l u n te e r e d a s a carpenter on its restoration.

A benefit concert, “Raised by Wolves, Bound for Glory: A Texas Tribute to Hal Ketchum,” during which many of his musician friends performed was held there in early 2020.

“He’s played hundreds of benefits, supporting causes and those in need,” the fundraising campaign message stated. “Any help that you can give Hal and his family is graciously appreciated.”

His wife, Andrea, continued to communicate and interact with Ketchum’s followers throughout his illness, often posting updates on his condition, photos and videos and expressing gratitude for those who showed kindness during trying times.

When observing Andrea’s dedication, the refrain from his No. 2 hit, which Ketchum co-wrote with Gary Burr, comes to mind.

“I would count the steps from here to heaven, every heartache I was given, tip my hat and walk through fire to find sure love,” he wrote. “I would chase old ghosts and watch them scatter, drop old dreams and watch them shatter, lose myself and all I own to find sure love.”

January 2021

Cousin Emmy: Queen of the 5-String Banjo

By Claudia Johnson In the early days of radio a surprising number of female performers became popular and influential – surprising considering that most of them were born before women could even vote, let alone control their own careers.

Cynthia May Carver, best known by her stage name, “Cousin Emmy,” is a sterling example. Born March 14, 1903, she is considered one of the pioneering solo female stars in the country music industry.

In fact, Grandpa Jones credited her with teaching him the claw hammer style of banjo playing when they were both a part of West Virginia’s WWVA Jamboree in 1937.

One of eight children Car ver was born to sharecropper parents in Barren C o u n t y, Kentucky.

“I was raised in a log cabin with cracks so big you could throw a cat through it and never touch a hair!” she would say, admitting that she had only two weeks of formal education. “I started strippin’ 'tobakker' when I was eight, I reckon.”

Her father, Henry, played fiddle, while her mother, Molly, was a banjo player.

“We was always singing around home, and I learned them ballads from my great grandmother,” she told the St. Louis Globe-Democrat in an interview when she performed solo with her five-string banjo at the City Art Museum in February 1944. “I’m the sweetest singer of mountain ballads that ever came out of the foothills.”

She had begun performing as a small child, and by the mid 1920s she and brother Burton began performing around the Twin Cities and Central

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Illinois, where her mother had moved after her parents’ divorce.

Appearing as “Joy White,” her repertoire eventually included some 15 or more instruments, including the banjo, guitar, fiddle, piano, accordion, saxophone, harmonica, ukulele, jaw-harp and musical saw.

She also played musical numbers on a rubber glove fitted with a nozzle and a hole in the middle finger.

Playing five-string banjo, she first performed on radio with two Carver cousins in a band broadcast on WHB in Kansas City, Missouri.

She was soon recruited by WHAS in Louisville, Ke n t u c k y, w h e r e s h e became a featured act with Frankie Moore's Log Cabin Boys in 1935.

That same year she became the first woman to w i n t h e Na t i o n a l Oldtime Fi d d l e r ’s Contest.

By 1938 she had her own touring group, Cousin Emmy and Her Kinfolk, and a r a d i o program. It was not unusual for her to travel as much as 500 miles in a day to maintain her rigorous performance schedule.

In the early 1940s her popularity resulted in exposure in large radio markets like St. Louis, Missouri, where she had a sponsored radio show, and in Knoxville, Tennessee, where her show on WNOX attracted 2.5 million listeners nationwide.

Cousin Emmy was best known for her “comedy rube act” and was said to have a “brassy and even outrageous” personality.

“Ain't no tellin’ what I’ll pull out next,” she would say as she retrieved a harmonica from her cleavage.

January 2021

Time Magazine featured Carver in its Dec. 6, One of those was “Ruby, Are You Mad at Your 1943, issue.

Man?,” which she recorded in 1946 as Cousin Emmy “Every morning but Sunday at 5:25 the and Her Kin Folks. The song has become a bluegrass notoriously noxious air of St. Louis is purified by the standard. The Osborne Brothers recorded it in 1956, natural twang of real mountaineer and Buck Owens made it a Top goings on,” the Time article 5 hit in 1971. The Carolina stated. “These upcountry Chocolate Drops regularly proceedings continue for an hour perform it at their concerts. over CBS Station KMOX, a Her music and prestige took her 50,000-watter with some to Hollywood where she played 2,500.000 steady listeners. They Cousin Emmy in “Swing in the emanate from a radio group Saddle,” a 1944 western movie known as Cousin Emmy and Her that featured several other (and Kin Folks.” less popular) country acts.

Time Magazine described her Cousin Emmy and Her Kin as a “teetotaling, nonsmoking, Folks appeared in “The Second unprofane Baptist,” but that has Greatest Sex,” another Western been disputed by those who met musical film, 11 years later. her in her travels.

T h e C o u s i n E m m y S o n g Carver insisted that she was Book with photographs, a single, saying, “I ain’t got time to biographical sketch and lyrics to do no courtin'.” This, too, may be nine songs was published in a myth. One researcher claims 1945. Due to her national h e ’s f o u n d a t l e a s t t h r e e attention and sustained radio Click to Listen marriages, but this writer could and touring popularity, Decca n o t c o n fi r m t h i s t h r o u g h Records signed Carver to a genealogical research. contract, but she only recorded one album, “Kentucky Regardless of her personal life, professionally she Mountain Ballads,” released in 1947 with her band. was a sought-after performer during the 1940s. A Carver’s authentic sound, timeless content and Shreveport, Louisiana, newspaper, The Times, stated unadulterated talent found her in the 1960s and ‘70s in its Nov. 13, 1948, edition that she was “something during a time when folk music was appreciated by a of a radio phenomenon” and mentioned the 1943 Time new generation of listeners.

Magazine article.

Cousin Emmy gained a new audience as a result “I figured that they should put me in the running of the folk revival of the 1960s. In 1961, while for woman of the year,” Carver said, perhaps not performing at a "Country & Western Night" show really joking, adding, “but nothing ever came of it.” at Disneyland, she met the New Lost City Ramblers.

The newspaper observed that on stage she wore In 1967, the New Lost City Ramblers convinced high-button shoes, cotton stockings and a checkered Cousin Emmy to record with them on the album "The dress, but that in person she dressed more New Lost City Ramblers with Cousin Emmy.” She conservatively. also appeared on "Rainbow Quest," a folk music “She is a husky-voiced person with platinum hair, series hosted by Pete Seeger. Such performances led a very white face, dimples and a definitely over-sized to an appearance at the Newport Folk Festival, mouth,” The Shreveport Times wrote in announcing excerpts of which were part of an anthology her upcoming appearance on “Louisiana Hayride.” collection, and in “Festival,” an Academy AwardIn spite of her “rube” character, Carver was an nominated documentary. astute businesswoman who bragged that she was “the Carver died April 11, 1980, in Sherman Oaks, first hillbilly star to own a Cadillac” and insisted on California, where she had lived for many years. Her retention of all rights to the dozens of songs she grave at Eternal Valley Memorial Park reads “Cynthia wrote.

M. Carver, ‘Cousin Emmy,’ Queen of the 5-String Banjo.”

Page 7 January 2021

Experience Music in Rural Virginia

by Claudia Johnson The Floyd Country Store in Floyd, Virginia, is renowned as a place to experience authentic Appalachian music and is home to a group of musicians, flatfoot dancers and cloggers who are carrying on the tradition of their families who’d pa ss the time playing music and dancing together.

Everywhere they could, these folks would gather with their friends and families from their front porch to the neighbor’s kitchen. In the 1980s folks in Floyd took to coming out to the General Store and began the Friday Night Jamboree tradition that continues today.

The store is an incubator for local heritage music and dancing. Year-round there’s music and dancing every Friday evening, Americana music ever y Saturday afternoon and a traditional mountain music jam every Sunday. Many Saturday evenings there’s an old-time dance or concert.

Some of the finest traditional musicians around turn up on stage at the store, enjoying the energy and enthusiasm of an audience that truly appreciates traditional music.

rain or shine, all year round. The first hour is gospel music and followed by two dance bands.

The Jamboree has limited reserved seating and is often standing room only.

Beginning at noon each Saturday Americana Afternoons feature performers playing anything from blues, folk, jazz, rock & roll, bluegrass and country. This all-American roots music weekly celebration is a free event.

Every Sunday from 1:30- 6 p.m. the store hosts a local jam that is free to the public. The Old-Time Jam is 1:30-3:30 p.m. and the Bluegrass Jam is 4- 6 p.m.

Most Sundays there is also a beginner jam upstairs to help those who are just discovering the joys of jamming.

The Music On music nights the store remains open late, and soup, sandwiches, ice cream and home baked goods are served.

The Friday Night Jamboree happens every Friday, Page 8

January 2021

The Store There’s a quirky collection of merchandise offered at the Floyd Country Store. Just like the old days, the store stocks items that serve the local community and items chosen with simple country living in mind.

The store has served the community through most of the 20th century. Although its origins are lost in obscurity it is known that in June 1910 a business called Farmer’s Supply opened its doors in the building and the store has remained open ever since.

In the early 1980s when it was known as Cockram’s General Store it took on another role.

Two of the store’s former owners were in a local bluegrass band that gathered at the store most every Friday night for a practice session. People

passing by would knock on the doors, asking to be let inside so they could better hear the music.

Pretty soon, the band got tired of being interrupted every few minutes to let someone else

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in the store, and so they just left the doors open. As the crowds grew, other musicians came to join the fun.

Under a series of owners the store continued to operate as a hardware store and a general store until the late 1990s when changes in the way people shopped made it hard for local businesses to keep going. Nevertheless, the store remained open for one evening a week, for the now famous Friday Night Jamboree.

A restoration of the store in 2007 revitalized the business, and now the retail store and cafe are back in full swing. In 2007, with the establishment of The Crooked Road, Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, The Floyd Country Store became part of the mission to honor and preserve the extraordinary music of the Appalachian region.

The Floyd Country Store is located at 206 South Locust Street, Floyd, Virginia. Call (540) 745-4563 or emailinfo@floydcountrystore.com.

The website, www.floydcountr ystore.com, includes a calendar of events, ticket sales, an online store, the restaurant and soda fountain, cotta ge rental reservations and information about private lessons, workshops and music camps.

January 2021

Tim Atwood to be Inducted into North American Country Music Hall of Fame Click to Listen

Country entertainer Tim Atwood will be inducted into North American Country Music Hall of Fame on the March 13, 2021.

With more than 8,500 appearances on the Grand Ole Opry stage, Atwood has performed alongside nearly four decades of country music hitmakers, including George Jones, Dolly Parton, The Oak Ridge Boys, Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks, Vince Gill and Taylor Swift.

In October 2020 to promote the release of his f o u r t h s o l o a l b u m , “ W h o I A m , ” At wo o d performed on “Larry’s Country Diner.”

“To say I am excited about this new album is an understatement,” Atwood said. “I believe ‘Who I Am’ is the best project I've ever delivered. My fans know you can't put me in a box and simply slap a label on my music. I love to play a country shuffle, and I love to make that piano rock.”

Atwood learned from the best and has emerged as a premier stylist himself with a mantle full of awards, honors and hall of fame inductions to prove it. Each offering from “Who I Am” allows listeners to jump into a different storyline and Country music feel.

“I love songs that paint a picture as well as songs that bring a tear because life isn't always happy,” Atwood said. “I love songs that make you laugh, and I especially love songs that praise my Lord and Savior. My new album connects all of the Page 10

pieces of my musical puzzle and gives you a true picture of who I am. This album is me.”

No two songs alike, Atwood’s genuine nature and soulful renderings bring the album to life. The singer/songwriter/musician spent a year writing and selecting songs that were meaningful to him.

“More than thirty years ago, I played every instrument on the demo for Confederate Railroad’s "Somewhere Stoned Playin' Pinball," Atwood said.

“That song just stuck with me all these years later.

"You First" chronicles a big piece of my life story, a story for anyone who has ever lost a loved one. And “Sending Me Angels” is a powerful song of redemption for me. It is the song I sang to my wife on our wedding day, a song I feel is especially important to us in today’s time. When all feels lost, look heavenward. I know from experience, the angels are there.”

Atwood expressed his gratitude to a “Larry’s Country Diner” sponsor, Springer Mountain Farms, and specifically to the company’s owner, Gus Arrendale.

“Their help and support allowed me to record the music I love, with the musicians I love, for the people I love,” Atwood said. “My heart is full.”

Many of Country’s respected performers have praised Atwood’s single, “Sending me Angels” while offering support for the new album.

January 2021

“When this song started, I had to sit up in my chair,” said Duane Allen of The Oak Ridge Boys. “I don’t know what I was expecting, but the urgency in Tim’s voice commanded all my attention. I have known Tim for decades and have always admired his keyboard work. However, this vocal work by Tim announces to the world, ‘Hear me. I have something to tell you!’ Tim has surrounded his great vocal work with awesome musicians and vocal background singers. The song is powerful, and I believe that Tim has just nailed it.”

An award-winning entertainer, Atwood was honored in the U.S. Congressional Record for his many contributions to Countr y music as a performer and a studio musician.

The a 38-year veteran of the Grand Ole Opry and member of the world-famous Wheeling Jamboree was Winner of the 2020 Telly Award for Social Media Event of the Year along with Wade Hayes, Ronnie McDowell, T Graham Brown, David Frizzell, Tim Rushlow, LuLu Roman, Bryan White

and host Megan Alexander for their live event, “Hats Off To the 80s and 90s.”

A f t e r a r e c e n t n o d b y t h e Re u n i o n o f Professional Entertainers for Songwriter of the Year, Atwood’s song “That’s How I Roll” was recorded as a collaborative effort by Jeannie Seely, Lorrie Morgan and Vince Gill.

Learn more about Atwood and how to get his music at timatwood.com.

Get “Country’s Family Reunion” DVDs and a player or Join Country Road TV to Watch on Your Devices “Country’s Family Reunion” has stopped airing on RFD-TV. However, you can still watch more than 20 years of shows by subscribing to Country Road TV for only $9.99 a month. If you are unsure whether you can access it, call Customer Service at 800-820-5405.

They will be happy to help you determine if you can and how. With your subscription you can watch all of the Country’s Family Reunion shows as well as 18 seasons of Larry’s Country Diner, Small Town Big Deal, Gearz, BamaQ, Nashville Insider, Ralph Emery (audio interviews), Joey + Rory, Marty Robbins Spotlight and much more. Country Road TV is available on computers, smart TVs or any internet streaming device.

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Call Renae to order: at 615-579-5497. $99.95 + $8.95 shipping and handling.

Page 11

January 2021

Misty Memories Ask any fan of the classic country music TV show “Hee Haw” who their favorite “Hee Haw Honey” was, and there’s a very good chance the answer will be Misty Rowe.

Known for her natural blonde hair and never-ending smile, Rowe popped up out of the “Hee Haw” cornfield for 19 years. But “Hee Haw” was just one of Rowe’s many television and movie credits. She also played the role of Wendy the Car Hop on “Happy Days.” She had the lead role of Maid Marion in the series “When Things Were Rotten.” She was also the first person to ever portray Marilyn Monroe in a motion picture.

“I’ve been blessed to be a working actress all my life,” said Rowe. “And when I wasn’t on TV, I was on stage in live musicals and productions. I appeared in over 1, 000 performances of “Always Patsy Cline.” I’ve actually been involved in that production longer than I was on ‘Hee Haw.’” But those live performances came to a screeching halt in 2020 due to the coronavirus. So, Misty decided to use her downtime to write her life story. “I’ve had so many people tell me I should write my autobiography, but I just never had the time, until now.”

Rowe’s autobiography, “Misty Memories” is told in her own words, as she shared her life story with author Scot England.

“Scot has written many great country music related books, including autobiographies with Lulu Roman, Jimmy Capps and Moe Bandy. I read and loved all those books, and I wanted mine to be the same high quality,” said Rowe.

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January 2021

The process of writing her autobiography was a unique one, especially once the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

“I live about 11 hours from Nashville, and since we couldn’t travel, Scot and I did this entire book without ever meeting in person,” Rowe explained. “We wrote the whole book via Zoom. We were face to face, on the computer each day, but we never me until Scot brought me a van full of the first 500 books to sign!”

“Misty Memories” includes Rowe’s backstage stories and memories of the “Hee Haw” cast and many other country music stars.

“Of course, I’ve got lots about Roy Clark, Buck Owens and Junior Samples, who I did the BR-549 skit with,” Rowe said. “All of my Hee Haw years were such great fun. I also have lots of stories about my friendship with Kenny Rogers and his wife Marianne Gordon. Kenny passed away just after I started writing the book, and Marianne wrote the foreword. I was so touched by her kind words.”

While Rowe’s years in Kornfield Kounty were fun-filled, her book also covers other much-less pleasant memories.

“Many people will be very surprised when they find out how poor my family was when I was growing up,” Rowe said. “I also tell how my dream marriage to a television soap opera star turned into a real-life soap opera.”

Rowe details how she cared for her mother during a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease and of the heartbreaking grief of losing a child and how she went on to find joy with the child she had been praying for.

“I’m sure there are many people who will relate to my story, and I hope that I can help one or two of those people as I share my story in the Rowe and Her Daughter most honest way I possibly can,” said the star.

The deluxe, 350-page, hardback book includes 240 rare photos from Rowe’s personal collection. Each book costs $25.99, including postage. Autographed copies, hand-signed by Rowe are $28.99, including postage.

To order Rowe’s “Misty Memories” by credit card or PayPal, visit www.mistyrowebook.com or purchase from Amazon.com. Personal checks for direct purchase should be mailed to England Media 102 Rachel’s Ct. Hendersonville TN 37075.

Give someone you love a subscription to Country’s Family Reunion News’s interactive, online magazine.

Click to order! $15 per year.

Country’s Family Reunion News Page 13

January 2021

Areeda’s southern cooking

by Areeda Schneider Stampley

Homemade Vegetable Soup Perfect on a cold night.

1 pound ground beef 1 large onion, cubed ½ cup celery 1 green bell pepper 1 8 oz can yellow corn, drained 1 can stewed tomatoes, 2 cups 1 teaspoon sugar 1 8 oz can green peas, drained 1 small can tomato paste 3-4 cups water 1 cup cabbage Salt & black pepper 2 medium cans chicken broth 2-3 cups potatoes, cubed 1 cup frozen okra 1 cup sliced carrots Add tomato juice or more water, if needed In large soup pot, brown beef. Remove from pot, drain liquid. To pot, add onion, celery and bell pepper, sauté slightly. Add beef and other ingredients, except potatoes. Return to a boil, and then simmer over low heat about 2 hours until done. Add potatoes halfway through cooking time.

Have it with Southern Cornbread!: 2 cups self-rising cornmeal 1 T. flour 2 tablespoons Crisco oil 1 cup (approx.) buttermilk Grease baking pan. Bake in preheated 400° degree oven approx.25 min. Yield: 10-12 corn-sticks or muffins.

To purchase Areeda’s Southern Cooking, a collection of old-fashioned recipes send $24.45 check (no credit

cards) and mailing address to Areeda’s Southern Cooking, P. O. Box 202, Brentwood, TN 37024. Order online with PayPal or credit card at www.areedasoutherncooking.com.

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January 2021

Makky Kaylor: Making Music in the Swanky South Beale Street brewed. Music Row crafted.

Makky Kaylor’s original top-shelf blend is an intoxicating mix of his authentic Memphis-soulmeets-Nashville-classics roots with a splash of jazz that is served up stylishly with the singersongwriter-entertainer’s winsome southern charm.

Some call it “southern soul” or “country soul.”

Kaylor calls it “The Swanky South!”

Beale Street brewed. Music Row crafted. Makky Kaylor’s original top-shelf blend is an intoxicating mix of his authentic Memphis-soul-meets-Nashvilleclassics roots with a splash of jazz that is served up stylishly with the singer-songwriter-entertainer’s winsome southern charm. Some call it “southern soul” or “country soul.” Kaylor calls it “The Swanky South!”

An integral behind the scenes part of the music industry for most of his life, Kaylor was considered an A-list Music Row session singer for many years s i n g i n g d e m o s f o r n u m e r o u s Ha l l o f Fa m e Songwriters, including Harlan Howard, Wayland Holyfield and Randy Goodrum. During this time Kaylor also worked as a songwriter for various music publishers including those owned by Willie Nelson, Hank Cochran and Larry Gatlin with whom he recorded a duet. The smooth soulful vocal stylist was also featured on hundreds of commercial jingles for major products, including The Grand Ole Opry, Blue Diamond Almonds, Williams Sausage and many more.

Kaylor and his music have been featured on The Hallmark Channel, RFD-TV, Family Channel, Circle TV, Heartland, CMT and in motion pictures, as well as major venues including The Ryman Auditorium,

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Riverbend Centre in Austin, The Tennessee Theater and many other stages throughout his career.

Kaylor’s autobiography, Confessions of a Session Singer, sold worldwide. He had a principle role in a $15 million theater production at The Miracle Theater for two years in the Smokies and has had quite a few of his songs recorded by an array of other artists over the years.

Kaylor currently plays venues, theatres, and events across the United States often taking his full band The Swanky South Players or playing piano and performing solo.

Kaylor albums of note include his current “LIVE Fr o m T h e S w a n k y S o u t h ! ” ( 2 0 2 0 ) , “A L i t t l e Sentimental – A Storybook Album of Nashville Classics” (2013) and “Glad Tidings” (2002) featuring a duet of his acclaimed original Christmas song “They Saw A King” with Larry Gatlin and The Gatlin Brothers.

A brand new studio album is in development and will be co-produced with renowned drummer/producer Mark Beckett (legendary producer Barry Beckett’s son) who is practically southern rhythm and blues royalty and will feature Kaylor’s inimitable signature smooth, soulfully southern songs and artistry.

January 2021

At 36 in the midst of a busy career as a session singer for top songwriters and commercial jingles while also a pro songwriter on Music Row, Kaylor’s heart was diagnosed at a 20% working capacity and three times enlarged. He underwent open-heart surgery just after his 37th birthday to replace his damaged aortic valve with an experimental prosthetic valve.

With his head on his pillow in the operating room, Kaylor was armed with God’s promises written on small cards and a prayer “whether I wake in your presence or however my life looks when I wake on earth, I’m yours.”

Obviously, Kaylor awoke. His first words were to say that he and wife LeAnn were “going to have a baby girl” even though they had been married 16 years with no children. Sure enough, LeAnn was already carrying their baby girl, though they didn’t know at the time he made the announcement upon awakening after surgery.

He had two strokes headed to a meeting with the guys at Country Road TV in 2019 but God blessed once again with a miraculous recovery.

“Every day is not only a blessing to those of us who are recipients of God’s mercy and grace but also another chance to share light and love with a world in need of it,” Kaylor says enthusiastically.

“The Swanky South experience lavished upon us here in the land of cotton is not merely a thin veneer of aesthetic extravagance,” Kaylor says. “There is an exorbitant amount of refined beauty and elegance in the style, the cuisine, the literature, the landmarks and landscapes to be certain.

Kaylor says “The Swanky South” is to him more about an atmosphere of extravagant southern charm, graciousness, kindness and hospitality dwelling within

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the inhabitants themselves and given freely to locals and visitors.

“It’s honest. It’s soulful. It’s joyous. It’s laid back.

It’s real.” Kaylor says. “The Swanky South to my way of thinking is not the least bit contrived, cliquish or ostentatious. We don’t have time for that nonsense. We’re too busy making new friends and neighbors.”

Kaylor’s 2020 album “LIVE From The Swanky South!” is as the title implies, his original soulful stylish southern brand of original songs recorded live with his illustrious band of legendary musicians called The Swanky South Players for an enthusiastic full house of fans at Puckett’s on the historic downtown Square in Columbia, TN. The Swanky South Players featured on the “LIVE” project include legendary piano player Mark T. Jordan (Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison, Wynonna), trumpeter Scott Ducaj (Kenny Chesney, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Delbert McClinton), upright bassist Don “DJ” Johnson (Trace Adkins, KT Oslin, Earl Thomas Conley), drummer Wesley Pryor (Mark Chestnutt, Baillie and The Boys), and guitarist Robert Arthur (Brad Paisley, Jeff Bates).

“LIVE From The Swanky South!” is a celebration of these plethora of players who have added to Kaylor's Swanky South music style and also a thank you to the many fans and friends who have kept Kaylor encouraged and inspired from Memphis to Music Row and beyond through a lifetime of music – and, especially, for his beloved “Muletown” Columbia, Tennessee, neighbors as his lifelong music career continues forward.

Visit makkykaylor.com for more.

January 2021

Bobby Bare Interview, November 2006

by Michael Buffalo Smith The following interview appears in the book My Kind of Country: Conversations with Cowboys, Gamblers, Outlaws and Songwriters by Michael Buffalo Smith www.kudzoomag.com In the late '50s, Bobby Bare's moved from Ohio to Los Angeles, and his first appearance on record was in 1958 as he recorded his own blues tune "The All American Boy," which was credited to Bill Parsons. A number of labels refused the record before the Ohiobased Fraternity Records bought it for $50.

“The All American Boy" was released in 1959 and became the second-biggest single in the U.S. that December, crossing over to the pop charts and peaking at No. 3.

The single was also a big hit in the U.K., reaching No. 22. In 1962, Chet Atkins signed him to RCA Records. By the end of the year, he had a hit with "Shame on You." The single broke into the pop charts, and the following year he recorded Mel Tillis and Danny Dill's "Detroit City," w h i c h b e c a m e h i s s e co n d straight single to make both the country and pop charts. Bare followed up the single with a traditional folk song, "500 Miles from Home."

During the '60s Bare continued to mix country and folk, as he was influenced by songwriters like Bob Dylan, recording material by Dylan and several of his contemporaries.

Bare switched record labels in 1970, signing with Mercury Records. He stayed at the label for two years, producing a string of Top Ten hits, including "How I Got to Memphis," "Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends" and "Come Sundown."

After leaving Mercury he recorded an album for United Artists called “This Is Bare Country,” which remained unreleased until 1976. After leaving UA, he resigned with RCA in 1973 and released a double album of Shel Silverstein songs, “Bobby Bare Sings Lullabys, Legends and Lies.”

Not only did the album represent the beginning of collaboration with Silverstein, it was arguably the first country concept album, adding fire to the outlaw

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movement of the '70s in the process and giving Bare his first No. 1 single with "Marie Laveau."

Bare released another record of Silverstein songs, “Bobby Bare and the Family Singin' in the Kitchen,” in 1975. Unfortunately, the singer's oldest daughter died shortly after recording the album. She was only 15.

In 1977 Bare received a major publicity push from Bill Graham, the legendary rock concert promoter.

Graham signed the singer to his management company, proclaiming that Bare was the "Springsteen of country music." Soon, the singer found new audiences at college campuses and in Canada. He switched record labels the same year, recording the self-produced “Bare” for Columbia.

Bare resumed his collaboration with Silverstein in 1980, releasing the live collection “ D o w n a n d D i r t y, ” w h i c h co n t a i n e d t w o n o v e l t y h i t s , "Numbers" and "Tequila Sheila."

The following year, he released “As Is,” which showed that he was continuing to record a diverse selection of songwriters, including Townes Van Zandt, J.J. Cale, and Guy Clark.

Despite the fact that his work was consistently critically acclaimed, Bare's record sales began to slip in the early '80s, as the 1982 Silverstein collaboration “Drinkin' from the Bottle, Singin' from the Heart,” and his 1985 record for EMI failed to launch any major hit singles. In the mid-80's, Bobby Bare dropped off the charts, becoming disenchanted with the recording industry.

In 1995 he recorded “Old Dogs,” another Shel Silverstein written album, with Jerry Reed, Waylon Jennings and Mel Tillis. In 2005, his son, Bare Jr., brought Bobby back into the studio to record “The Moon Was Blue.”

During a posthumous induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Bobby Bare spoke of his late friend Shel Silverstein: "The words "dead" and "Silverstein" simply didn’t go together. We’ve got to ask ourselves, did he leave too early or have we stayed too late?”

Back in 2005, I spoke with Bare about music, family, fishin,' Old Dogs and of course, Shel Silverstein.

January 2021

Good to have you back, Bobby. This is one smooth album you have out. “The Moon Was Blue.”

I have been loving those songs all my life.

"Yesterday When I Was Young" has always been one of the Top Ten in my book.

Yeah, I have had two of them. That is one of them and the other is Melba Montgomery’s "No Charge."

That song brings tears to my eyes when she sings it. On "Yesterday When I Was Young," the musicians that they had on that had never heard those songs before and it just blew them away. Most of the songs did actually.

Those guys did a great job. That crossgenerational thing is amazing sometimes.

All of that energy and they are very serious about their music. It was a good experience for me because I had not cut an album in 20 or 30 years. Some of these kids were not even born then.(Laughs) Time kind of flies when you are having fun.

I was shocked and amazed when Bobby Jr. told me that I had not cut an album in 20 or 30 years. It seemed like just yesterday when I was with Shel (Silverstein) doing another album.

I was just talking about you with one of your old compadres, Jerry Reed, and we were speaking of you and he was saying great things about you.

Jerry's a good friend.

I understand that you were raised in OhioIronton. They say that you even have a street named after you there.

I have several clippings out of the paper when so and so got a DUI on Bobby Bare Blvd. (Laughs) As long as they don't hold you responsible.

(Laughing) What was it like growing up in Ironton?

I grew up about 11-12 miles outside of Ironton, in a place called Prickly Ash. Back then in the 40’s and 50’s everybody was poor. I didn’t feel neglected, everybody was poor, just scrambling for work and just barely getting by. My dad was a heavy equipment operator and whenever the iron and all that stuff petered out there they were strip-mining coal and he was running equipment in the mines, using bulldozers and shovels.

He pretty much always had a job.

How old were you when you got bit by the music bug?

I guess around 10-12 years old. Some of the songs I cut and recorded, I had to have learned them around 10,11,12 years old. We had big bands like Frank Sinatra, Guy Mitchell, and Perry Como. We didn’t have rock and roll for sure back in the 40’s and early 50’s. I spent a lot of time around those hills, running around, and fishing by myself. I would always be by myself and singing those

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songs all the time. The kind of songs that you can hear once and learn. Every song was a big hit and I would hear it on the radio and run around in the hills singing.

Then along came Hank Williams, Carl Smith and those guys, and I thought it was great. During the war I was hearing Gene Autry and "That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine" and Elton Brit singing "There Is a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere." I had to have been less than 10. Those songs were during the war years and it ended ‘45. I remember all those war songs.

Who were some of your early influences that you really admired?

Well, I realized that I have always liked songs and that drew me to Hank Williams because those songs were good and I found out I could sing those songs. I have been a song person all my life. Songs got me first, then the artist.

We were just speaking about how it has been 22 years since you did an album, and then it kind of dropped off in the 80’s. What was that about were you retired for a while?

Well, I took a realistic look at the record business as I have known it over the years, and as far as the radio and record companies were concerned I was over the hill and so were my friends. There was no outlet for what I was doing. Not that the music wasn’t good or records weren’t good, but the image I projected was too old for what the radio wanted to give exposure to. I could see this happen to all my friends.

The ones that continued on would get their heart broken every time they did an album. I could have gone ahead and done albums but there was no use for it because the record companies would not promote it. I realized that the young people do control the music business and that is the way it was and always will be that way.

January 2021

People love country music and they want it to sound like its country too. It will always evolve around to that.

I remember in the late 70’s when disco was big and country music was floundering. I told an interviewer from the The New York Times I thought that the music was so very boring. A lot of people were doing disco and that had taken over. That was just creating a huge demand for something that wasn't really good. If I was a young artist I would do just the opposite of what was going on and I felt quite sure it was right around the corner. Because right after that, around the corner came Randy Travis. Here came the rest of the bunch and they were all great. I loved Travis Tritt.

You don’t hear a whole lot of Randy Travis now. It seems even he is being replaced by the guys with tight blue jeans and hats.

Well, you know if your ass don’t look good in a pair of tight jeans then you are not getting a record deal.

Everything has gotten very visual now. The record company wanted to do a video and I asked them why?

What are they going to do with that?(Laughs) That was a great video they did of Johnny Cash...("Hurt") it was an emotional thing. They could do that artistically with you and use the great music of yours and get some beautiful stuff.

CMT is owned and run by MTV and they are all young people who do not have an idea who I am. I think they were airing the Glen Campbell Show, and they ran it for a little bit and Waylon was on one of the shows and those people went nuts and crazy trying to find him and didn’t even realize he had passed away.

Oh no, well they are young aren’t they?

(Laughs) I just did an interview with his son Shooter Jennings.

He and Bobby, Jr. are good friends.

Yeah, I was going to say, your son has really built a name for himself. It is amazing.

On his first album, Waylon and Jessie were living out here in Nashville. Shooter is a computer person, and good with graphics and Bobby, Jr. was doing his first record and he would go out there and he would work with Shooter on the graphics, editing and all kinds of stuff. I remember I was out there once with Waylon and he saw them out in the place working together on all the equipment. Waylon said they were out there working together just like we worked together.

Yeah the second generation going at it. I wanted to ask you about one of my real heroes, Shel Silverstein. Your relationship with him went way back to when I was playing records as a DJ back in the 70’s and I would play "Daddy What If." I wanted to get your thoughts of Shel Silverstein, and of course the “Old Dogs” album.

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I met Shel through Chet (Atkins). Playboy had voted Chet the number one guitarist or something like that and of course Shel was a songwriter and he loved country music. Shel’s favorite singer was Ernest Tubb. He loved country music. He knew that Chet was probably the greatest producer at that time of country songs.

He loved Chet and that is how I had met him. About that time I left RCA - when Chet quit producing. I went to Mercury and worked with Jerry Kennedy, then my two-year deal was up and Chet wanted me to come back to RCA. I told him I felt like there were too many producers over there and it is too confusing. He had four at that time I think. He said that he produced his own records and I had no idea that anyone had ever done that before. I went back over there and wanted some songwriter to write me an album that had a thread going through it and connected. More or less a concept type of album. I wanted some great songwriter like Harlan Howard or somebody to write me an album. But at that time record companies wanted to put out a two-hitsingle, name the album after the hit, and put two hits on there and eight rejects.

Harlan had a big party every year at the record convention at his house and all the great songwriters were there. At that time Shel was there and I told him what I wanted and he said that he would think about it.

This was on Saturday night, and then on Monday morning he called me from Chicago-that was where Playboy was then- and he said he had gotten me an album written called “Lullabies, Legends and Lies.”

I asked him when I could hear it, and he said he would hop on a plane, and he got there in the early afternoon. We listened to the songs and they were very visual and clever. Oh man, I went into the studio and listened to them and did 3 or 4 of them. I just sat down in the studio with a guitar and a mike and had the band all around me. I switched it on them... I had the band playing with me, as opposed to me playing with the band, the way it had always been done. You played with the band. I felt so good and it became a double album after we finished.

It was so different than what I had ever done before.

Jerry Bradley told me that if he had known what I was doing he would have stopped it because it was too far out. But it happened so quickly that as soon as I finished it I gave a copy of it to Vito who was a promotion guy out of Atlanta and I wanted him to listen to it. He was a friend of mine and he took it back to Atlanta and listened to it and heard “Daddy What If ” was in there.

Being a sentimental Italian he just loved it and took the acetate over to WSB which was the largest station in the South at the time and they played it.

January 2021

The reaction was so phenomenal that it got back to the record company and they rushed that record out. It took off like a house on fire. That record taking off so quickly and being so successful that fast saved me a big battle with the record company to get that record out.

They would not have wanted to put it out. But it had "The Winner" and "Marie Laveau" in it and lot of good stuff. It had a cut called "Rosalee’s Goody Cafe," that got so much reaction we tried to put it out, but promotional record singles were on 45’s and that thing was 9-minutes long and there was no way we could put it on a 45. It was a good album. Shel and I had so much fun doing it that we did many projects together and had a ton of fun through the years.

I thought the world of him and loved all the stuff he did. The first time I heard of him was Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, he wrote all of those great songs like “Cover of The Rolling Stone” and “Sylvia’s Mother.”

He was also in the business of doing movie soundtracks. One with Dustin Hoffman I know, and then he got hooked up with Dr. Hook.

Was it the mid-90’s y’all recorded Old Dogs?

Yeah, he was in town and we were talking about how radio was no longer playing old farts for us. We said, instead of whining about it let’s do a song for us. He wrote the album and then I demoed it. Then I got to thinking this would be a great project but I didn’t want to do it by myself. I went to Rick Blackburn at Atlantic Records and I had talked with Waylon Jennings and I talked to (Jerry) Reed. They said they would like for the three of us to do that album. Rick listened to it and loved it and wanted us to go ahead and do it. We got to talking about Mel Tillis and pulled him into it as well.

We got in the studio and had a great time together.

Right after that we lost Shel. I talked to him the night before, and he wasn’t feeling well and thought he had the flu. He was in the bed at 6:30 p.m.,and he got up that night and just fell over with a silent heart attack. It was a real shock to me and I am not over it yet. He had not been to the doctor since the 1950's. He took care of himself, ate right, didn’t abuse himself with drugs and alcohol.

He did yoga. I was sitting with some of my fishing buddies here - they were staying here. I got a call from Herb Gardner, the playwright from New York, and he said that he had some bad news about Shel - that he was gone. I just sunk. He was a part of my family and my kids had grown up with him. They had a bunch of cartoons that he had done. He would speak to my little girl like a frog on the phone. I have “Where The Sidewalk Ends.” He gave me the original manuscript of it and it is in a big roll. We went on vacation one

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summer. and I had brought a new van and the kids were entertained with that the whole trip. He related well with the kids. He worked very hard at that and was meticulous on his works. It was hard to get him to stop when he was doing something.

A writer friend of mine from Cincinnati, Ohio by the name of Derek Halsey did a great interview with Billy Joe Shaver in which he credited you with jump-starting his career and I wanted to ask how that happened.

Well, it was back in the late 60’s and Jeanne’s folks were living out in California. Her Dad retired from the Police Department out there in Long Beach. So I thought I would start up a publishing company and get her parents to come out here and run it for me. Her Dad introduced me to Billy Joe one day and he was kind of strange and spooky. (Laughs) He came in the next day and I realized that his songs were really good and I signed him up as a writer to work with for several years and published all of his songs. talking with us.

Then my father in law had a heart attack and openheart surgery and had to retire. At that time I sold the publishing company to ATV, or two thirds of it. Billy Joe is a great writer. He is a writer’s writer. Some of his first songs - Tom T. Hall would come in and Billy Joe would sing a song for him - and at that time Tom was hot, writing all his hit songs - then Billy sang him "Willie The Wandering Gypsy" and Tom just fell out. He recorded it.

Then one night me and Billy Joe ran into Kris (Kristofferson) and we all went over to my house and sat up all night playing songs. Billy Joe and I had just written a song called "A Good Christian Soldier."

This was when Kris was hot, and he said that he would like to record that tune. I asked him when and he said he was supposed to be in the studio in about half an hour. (Laughs) I recently got that book that came out of compiling all of Shaver's lyrics. It’s amazing how many of his songs came right out of his life.

Oh, every one of them are about things that happened to him.

I was looking through some of my old albums and saw where you appeared on one of Charlie Daniels' Volunteer Jam records.

Yeah, that was always great fun. I love them old Southern rockers man. Charlie and all them. Toy Caldwell of Marshall Tucker was a friend of mine.

Really? I grew up around him and all the other Tucker guys in Spartanburg. He was a major inspiration to me as a guitar player and songwriter.

His daughter and mine were best friends and used to hang out together. My daughter got married out here last week. She's 29, so I guess Toy's daughter is 29 also.

January 2021

I wanted to ask you about your thoughts on your new album. What was it like to have your son producing you?

Well, to start with, he had been after me for a year or two to go into the studio and put down some stuff and I wasn’t all that interested.

Then one day I realized that it was important to him for me to do this. I love my son and I said okay. He

got the musicians together over there in the studio and we went into the studio and it was fine. I did it the same way I did “Lullabies, Legends, and Lies.”

I went into it with all these young pickers and their energy is so great. I would hit a chord on the guitar and start singing and they would play. The singer goes in much, much later and sings along with the tracks.

This I did in the reverse, it felt good and sounded good and took me into areas that I don’t think I had been before. I realized that I was going someplace that I had not been before. I realized that I was putting out more than I had in the past. On "Yesterday When I Was Young," on that chorus, it felt good to sing out with it.

E d i t o r ’s No t e : S i n c e t h i s i n t e r v i e w, B o b b y B a r e h a s continued his musical career. He’s hosted a podcast through WSM, launched a website at bobbybare.com and stays in touch with fans through his Facebook page at Official Bobby Bare.

In 2 0 1 8 a t a g e 8 3 B a r e w a s reinstated into the Grand Ole Opry by Garth Brooks.

Nadine’s Corner Well, here we are in 2021! Didn't know if we would see 2021 after 2020, but hey thank the Good Lord, that year is over! You know what, I have decided that if you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author and every day you have the opportunity to write a new page!

Me and Homer are having a little bit of trouble getting on the same page. Our New Year's resolution is to stop procrastinating, but I told Homer, “I'm not starting till next week!”

You know people, we may be old but we are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. Life's too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forgive the ones who don't and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said it would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it!

Now I have to admit, I didn't write that quote and you probably won't believe it when I tell you, but that was Dr Seuss! Yep, been reading his books lately, since they are shorter stories. When I read a book with 350 pages and miss a day, I have to start all over! S o go eat some green eggs and ham with some black eyed peas and know the good Lord is with us every step of the way in 2021!

Love y'all!

Nadine Page 21

January 2021

Where the Stars are Buried

by Renae Johnson, Renae the Waitress Jan Howard, Spring Hill Cemetery, Gallatin, Tennessee

In 2020 so many of our favorite country music stars passed away, and some of us didn’t even get to say goodbye. In this new series we will visit their final resting places.

Jan Howard died on March 28, 2020, only a couple of weeks after her 91st birthday on March 13. She passed peacefully of natural causes. Her final resting place is located in section “Good Shepherd “ at Spring Hill Cemetery located at 5110 Gallatin Pike, Nashville, Tennessee.

Because of the pandemic a public celebration of life was not allowed. The family held a small, private graveside service. Just hours after her death on March 28, the Grand Ole Opry honored her with a performance by Vince Gill, his wife Amy Grant and daughters The foursome performed the standard, “You Are My Sunshine,” in her honor. Although the Opry house was empty due to Covid-19, it was broadcast on radio and TV. Jan was a singer-songwriter who partnered with Bill Anderson for the No.1 country song “ For Loving You.” She had been a member of the Grand Ole Opry for 49 years. Her music career launched in 1960 with her first major country hit, “The One You Slip Around With.” That led to more than 20 Top 40 solo singles including “Evil on Your Mind,” “Bad Seed” and “Count Your Blessings, Woman.”

She was also a songwriter, penning big hits for others like the Kitty Wells song, “It’s All Over But the Crying,” Connie Smith’s “I Never Once Stopped Loving You” and Bill Anderson’s “Love Is a Sometimes Thing.”

In Country music she was known as force to be reckoned with and was a pioneer for women in country music.

One of my favorite “Larry’s Country Diner” shows was when she and Bill Anderson were the guests. Jan was so excited to put on an apron and help me serve. She told me all about the time she was a real waitress.

Her most personal song was “My Son,” was written as a plea for her son Jimmy’s safe return from the Vietnam War. He was killed two weeks after its release in 1968. The family asked any donations in her memory be made to Overwatch Alliance Veterans Foundation.

Jan chronicled her life and career in her acclaimed autobiography, Sunshine and Shadows, in which she shares her triumphs and struggles, including the death by suicide of a second son.

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Jan Howard

Jan’s Son’s Grave

Jan’s Grave January 2021

Georgette Jones performs songs from her new CD, Skin, at The Nashville

Georgette Jones holds CD release concert "It's been a long three years in the making, but I finally have my new cd, “Skin," released. I couldn't be more excited about this project. It's the first time I was able to make all the creative decisions, and it's a dream come true.

For more information and to purchase, click here and thank you so much for your support." - Georgette

Type to enter text Lynn Anderson’s daughter Lisa and her honey.

Duet Dean Miller, son of Roger Miller, who produced the CD

Page 23 Duet with Vince Morena

January 2021 Lynn Woodruff Gray, Melissa Luman and Donnie Winters

Page 24 Duet with Vince Morena

December 2020