Country Reunion Magazine, March 2021

Country Reunion m a g a z i n e

March 2021

Muriel Anderson

Ritchie Albright Randy Parton’s Death Billy Bob’s Texas Reopens

Rory Feek Nadine’s Corner

Diner Chat Tony Joe White˝

Freddy Fender

… and more

November 2020

Country Reunion Magazine Who’s inside?

Randy Parton, p. 3 Muriel Anderson, p. 4 Gene Watson, p. 5 Gene Autry, p.6 Nadine’s Corner, p. 7 Rhonda Vincent, p. 7 Billy Bob’s Texas, p. 8 Ritchie Albright, p. 10 Rory Feek, p. 11 Freddy Fender, p. 12 Areeda’s Cooking, p. 13 Tony Jo White, p. 17 Kitty Cline, Minnie Pearl, p. 23

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November 2020

Dolly Parton Pays Tribute to Brother Randy Parton

by Claudia Johnson

Musician and songwriter Randy Parton passed away Jan. 21 at age 67.

"My brother Randy has lost his battle with cancer," Dolly Parton wrote in a Facebook tribute. "The family and I are grieving his loss, but we know he is in a better place than we are at this time. We are a family of faith, and we believe that he is safe with God and that he is joined by members of the family that have gone on before and have welcomed him with joy and open arms."

Randy Parton's entire career was in the music industry.

"Randy was a great singer, writer and entertainer," Dolly said. "He sang, played guitar and bass in my band for many years. He’s had several chart records of his own, but his duet with me on “Old Flames Can’t Hold A Candle to You” will always be a highlight in my own career. “You Are My Christmas,” our duet on my latest Christmas album, joined with his daughter Heidi, will always be a favorite. It was his last musical recording, and he shined on it just like he’s shining in heaven now."

Randy headed his own show at Dollywood since it opened in 1986.

"His own fans will miss his soulful baritone and enchanting storytelling at Dollywood’s "My People" show, where he performed for many years alongside other members of the Parton family," a memorial by Dollywood stated.

Earlier in his career he was the base player in Jean Shepard's band, the Second Fiddles, for seven years, according to Shepard's son, Hawkshaw Hawkins Jr.,

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who called Randy "one of the sweetest guys I ever met" in an interview with Nashville's WSMV television.

Hawkins recalled how Randy took time to help him hone is guitar skills as they traveled on Shepard's tour bus.

Randy performed "Too Much Water" on the soundtrack for the 1984 movie "Rhinestone," in which Dolly played a singer in a Country bar in New York City.The Sylvester Stallone movie did not live up to commercial or critical expectations.

However, the soundtrack album debuted at No. 54 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart dated July 28, 1984, and remained there for 17 weeks, spawning two Top Ten hits for Dolly. It also peaked at No. 135 on the Billboard 200.

In 2017 Randy produced daughter Heidi’s album, “This Kind of Love,” and sings backup on several songs. He also performs a duet with Heidi on “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.” The son of the late Robert and Avie Parton, Randy is survived by wife Deb, daughter Heidi, son Sabyn and grandsons Huston and Trent. In addition to Dolly, also surviving are his siblings Willadeene, David Wilburn, Coy Denver, Bobby Lee, Stella Mae, Cassie Nan, Freida Estelle and Rachel Ann. An infant brother, Larry died just a few days after his birth in 1955, and Floyd died in 2018 at the age of 61.

"We will always love him, and he will always be in our hearts," Dolly said in her message on behalf of the Parton family. "Those wishing to honor Randy may donate to the Imagination Library in honor of both Randy and our father, Robert Lee Parton."

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March 2021

Muriel Anderson, Premier Acoustic Guitarist, Composer and Instructor with Country Connection

By Claudia Johnson Guitarist, harp guitarist and composer Muriel brother-in-law, Chet Atkins. Atkins became a Anderson recently joined Larry Black and crew for friend and mentor to Anderson. a live taping of “Larry’s Country Diner” set to air in “Muriel Anderson is a good friend and a great March. guitarist,” Atkins said of Anderson, adding that she Anderson embraces music from all over the deserved national recognition. world, and her playing reflects a sense of grace and That, she has earned. Anderson is the first joy, infused with humor. The Chicago Tribune woman to have won the National Fingerstyle called the acoustic guitarist “one of the world’s Guitar Championship. Her CD, “Nightlight best, and most versatile, guitar instrumentalists.”

Daylight,” was chosen as one of the top 10 CDs of Born in Downers Grove, t h e d e c a d e b y Gu i t a r P l a y e r I l l i n o i s , A n d e r s o n’s g r e a t Magazine, and her “Heartstrings” grandparents emigrated to the recording accompanied the United States from Finland. astronauts on the space shuttle He r g r a n d f a t h e r p l a y e d Discovery. saxophone in the John Philip Her recording of “El Noi de la Sousa band, and Anderson M a r e ” can be heard in Woody learned piano as a child.

A l l e n's f e a t u r e f i l m , “ Vi c k y However, when she was Cristina Barcelona.” eight a family friend gave her a She has recorded an album with guitar slated for the garbage, the flamenco duo Tierra Negra and and she began taking lessons a performed with such diverse few years later at Old Town musicians a s Atkins, Tommy S c h o o l o f Fo l k Mu s i c i n Emmanuel, Earl Klugh, Doc Muriel Anderson Chicago. Her talent earned her Watson and Les Paul. a spot as a member of her high “Just one hell of a great player …a school’s jazz band. great personality, and what I like is the touch that Before entering college on an academic Muriel has on the guitar, the way she plays it like scholarship, Anderson helped form a bluegrass we all wish to play,” Paul said in praise of Anderson, band with which she performed throughout her who usually plays a nylon string guitar and a Doolin years at DePaul University in Chicago. custom 21-string harp guitar, which has both One of her classical guitar teachers at DePaul nylon and steel strings. was Leon Borkowski, who had been a student of celebrated cla ssical guitarist Christopher Parkening, from whom she later tood master classes in Montana “She has demonstrated excellent technique and has the fine musicianship to communicate well to her audiences,” Parkening said of his former student.

At D e Pa u l s h e t o o k m a n d o l i n l e s s o n s from Jethro Burns, who introduced her to his Page 4

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March 2021

Across her career, the 60-year-old Anderson has released more than a dozen solo albums and instructional CDs and DVDs through TrueFire and Homespun. Her double-album, “Nightlight Daylight,” won 11 national and international awards. The CD cover contains fiber optics that illuminate an image of the sky when the cover is pressed.

Last year she released "Acoustic Chef," a cookbook with a CD of music for each recipe.

A gifted composer who began writing music at age five, her compositions include commissioned classical works for the Nashville Chamber Orchestra and the Vox Caelestis Women's Choir.

Her songbooks have been published by respected companies like Hal Leonard, Zen-On Japan and Mel Bay, for which she serves on the advisory board.

Also and author, Anderson has published magazine articles in Guitar Player, Acoustic Guitar, Fingerstyle Guitar, Classical Guitar and Frets magazines and is currently a regular columnist for Acoustic Guitar Japan magazine.

Her new TrueFire channel brings her indemand musical instrument teaching to a wider audience through online classes.

“After reaching the top in her field – she is widely recognized as the premier female fingerstyle guitarist today – Anderson hopes to encourage and inspire a younger audience, to turn them on to the beauty of making music, and maybe in some cases,

even turn their lives around,” writer Melissa Erickson stated in The Reporter, referring to Anderson’s commitment to teaching.

Among her many projects is All Star Guitar Night, an initiative she launched to support the Music for Life Alliance, a charity founded by Anderson.

More about her recordings, classes and upcoming live-streams can be found at murielanderson.com.

Gene Watson Loses Daughter to Covid-19

Photo is husband Chris, daughter and husband Madison and Dakota, Page 5 and Terri Lynn.

Terri Lynn Watson Wear, the daughter of Gene Watson, passed away on Feb. 2, 2021.

"Thank you for your thoughts and prayers as my family mourns the loss of my daughter, Terri, who passed from Covid last week," Watson posted on Facebook. "Your support and friendship have been much appreciated."

Wear, who would have been 59 on March 11, was born in Paris, Tennessee, to Gene and his wife, Mattie Bivins Watson, and still resided in that area. She graduated from MacArthur High School in Houston, Texas, and attended North Harris County College.

"Terri had several jobs, but most important to her was being a stay-athome mother and wife," her obituary stated, adding, "She was active at Life Church where she had sung in the choir."

In addition to her parents, she is survived by her husband, Chris Wear, whom she married on Feb. 26, 1999, a daughter, Madison Helm, and husband Dakota, and a brother, Gary Wayne Watson, and wife Gina. A son, Ricky Lynn Henderson, preceded her in death.

Wear was buried at Sylvan Cemetery on Feb. 7, 2021,March following a graveside 2021 countryreunionmagazine.com service.

Timeless Advice from Gene Autry

by Claudia Johnson

"America's Favorite Singing Cowboy," Gene Autry, is the only entertainer to have five stars on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, one each for radio, records, film, television and live theatrical performance (including rodeo). He is also remembered for the codes of conduct he set for radio and television production, out of which the "Ten Cowboy Commandments" evolved.

The unsurpassed image-maker of the American West was born in Tioga, Texas, on Sept. 29, 1907, and raised in Texas and Oklahoma. Autry's talents were recognized by humorist Will Rogers, and by 1929 the young performer was being billed as "Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy" at radio station KVOO in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Columbia Records signed him to a recording contract that same year, and soon thereafter Autry performed on the star-making radio show, "National Barn Dance," at WLS in Chicago.

From 1940 to 1956 the public listened to him weekly o n t h e C B S R a d i o Ne t w o r k s h o w, " G e n e Autry's Melody Ranch," featuring Autry's trademark theme song "Back in the Saddle Again." In addition, Autry's popularity was apparent during his personal appearance tours. The first performer to sell out Madison Square Garden, his concert and rodeo

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appearances throughout the United States and Europe are legendar y and ser ved as a model for other performers. Autry did two shows a day, seven days a week, for 65 to 85 days at a stretch.

The Country-Western crooner first appeared on screen in 1934, and for the next 20 years he popularized the musical Western by starring in 93 feature films. In 1940 Theater Exhibitors of America voted Autry the fourth biggest box office attraction behind Mickey Rooney, Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy.

In a decades-long career Autry made 640 recordings, including more than 300 songs written or co-written by him. His records sold more than 100 million copies, yielding more than a dozen gold and platinum records, including the first record ever certified gold. His Christmas and children's records "Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)" and "Peter Cottontail" are among his platinum recordings.

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," the second all-time best-selling Christmas single, boasts in excess of 30 million in sales. He carried his love for entertaining and his sharp business sense into broadcasting, where, under the Golden West Broadcasters banner, he owned such award-winning stations as KMPC radio and KTLA Television in Los Angeles as well as other stations across the country. " G e n e 's " Te n C o w b o y C o m m a n d m e n t s " o r "Cowboy Code" began to evolve from such Autryrelated publicity as the item "Nine Cardinal Rules Govern Production of All Autry Films," which ran in the 1949 press book for Riders in the Sky," according to author Holly George-Warren's biography, Public C o w b o y No . 1 : T h e L i f e a n d Ti m e s o f G e n e Autry. "The rules were a natural progression of Gene's philosophies going back to his first "Melody Ranch" programs and early pictures."

The writer noted that as early as August 1947, he had pronounced "cowboy code" mandates during his "Melody Ranch" radio show dramas. Autry's public relations team promoted his "Cowboy Code," which was mentioned in a 1948 Life magazine feature, and fan magazines began to publicize the rules as they evolved.

Tenets promoting an ethical, moral, and patriotic lifestyle had an affinity to those of such youth organizations as the Boy Scouts, which developed similar doctrines.

To celebrate Autry's 110th birthday in 2017, Gene Autry Entertainment created new graphics of The Cowboy Code to share on social media or download and print. These are a vailable at Autr y's website, geneautry.com to download and print at no charge. The one presented here is from his Republic Pictures era.

Other options are Autry from his Columbia Pictures era and the code printed on parchment.

March 2021

Vincent Inducted Rhonda Vincent was invited to be a new member of the Grand Ole Opry by Jeannie Seely back in April of 2020, but thanks to Covid 19 her official induction had to be postponed until Feb. 6, 2021! But Rhonda is now the newest member. She and her brother, Jamie, are now both members!

Nadine’s Corner Well, spent the last two days listening to Homer's relatives squabble. Clyde and Lois came over and had dinner and Clyde said that 44 years ago they had a cheap apartment, cheap car, slept on a sofa bed and watched a 10-inch black and white TV but he got to sleep with a hot 25 year old. Now we have a good house, good car, king size bed and a big screen TV. He looked at Lois and said, it seems like you ain't holding up your end of the bargain. Lois looked at him and told him to go out and find him a young 25 year old and she would be sure he lived in a cheap apartment, had a cheap car, sleeping on a sofa bed and watching a 10-inch black and white TV. I gotta agree with Lois on that one.

Homer told our preacher last weekend that when we first married that he would come home and I'd bring him his slippers and our dog would run around barking, now after all these years, he comes home, the dog brings his slippers and I just run around barking. Preacher looked at him and said, what's the problem, you're still getting the same service! I tell you, I love that preacher!

Now that we're this age, we just help each other get dressed, listen and repeat news since neither one of us can hear. The best part though, is being able to share those old memories that made us laugh and remember why we love each other so much! Lord knows, I ain't training another one.

Remember, people can't drive you crazy if you don't give em the keys!

Love y'all,

Nadine Page 7

March 2021

Billy Bob's Texas Open for 2021 Concerts

By Claudia Johnson With the possibility of traveling again this spring, a trip to Fort Worth, Texas, may be just what's needed to celebrate 2021. Located in the heart of the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District, Billy Bob’s Texas has begun a year-long celebration marking its 40th Anniversary with concerts scheduled throughout the year by some of the biggest names in music along with some of the hottest rising stars.

Seven separate acts are slated for March, including Dwight Yoakam with Tennessee Jet on March 19-20. As part of the special 40th Anniversary weekend celebration, Larry, Steve & Rudy: The Gatlin Brothers will hit the stage on April 1 and Countr y Music Hal l of Fame member Hank Williams, Jr. will entertain April 2 and 3. Dozens of other performers are already scheduled for 2021 from Joe Nichols to Jon Pardi.

Since its 1981 opening in a 100,000-squarefoot former cattle barn that accommodates 6,000 people, more than 17 million visitors have enjoyed live entertainment by hundreds of musical stars from all genres at what has become known as “The World’s Largest Honky Tonk.” Billy Page 8

Bob’s has been named the Country Music Club of the Year 10 times by the Academy of Country.

There's a restaurant that serves barbecue, steaks, burgers and light meals along with more than 30 bar stations. On Fridays and Saturdays the venue features live bull riding – a step up from the mechanical variety.

When visiting Billy Bob's visitors are greeted by a history video narrated by George Strait and can enjoy the large collection of memorabilia. Since 1989 each entertainer who has performed there has left a concrete handprint impression displayed on the Wall of Fame. The Guitar Bar in Billy Bob’s has 75 guitars autographed by stars who have performed at the club.

The building now known as Billy Bob’s Texas was built in 1910 and was once an open-air barn used to house prize cattle for the Fort Worth Stock Show. As a 1936 Texas Centennial Project the building was enclosed by the City of Fort Worth at a cost of $183,500, and the tower over the main entrance was added. The “new” structure contained livestock stalls and an auction ring that is now the Billy Bob’s Bull Riding arena.

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March 2021

Hank Williams Jr.

Livestock events were Dwight Yoakam held there until it was moved to the Will Rogers Memorial Complex in 1943.

During World War II the building was used as an airplane factory, and in the 1950s the building became a depar tment store so large that the stock boys wore roller skates to make their jobs easier.

Billy Bob’s Texas has been featured on television and movie screens and has served as the location for several music videos for country’s biggest stars.

A number of episodes of the original television series “Dallas” were shot there. Other shows include “Walker Texas Ranger,” CBS’s “Happy New Year America,” “CBS This Mo r n i n g , ” V H 1 “ Ro c k o f L o v e ” a n d “Nashville Star.”

Movies include “Over the Top” starring Sylvester Stallone in 1987, “Baja Oklahoma” with Lesley Ann Warren, Peter Coyote & Willie Nelson in 1988, “Necessary Roughness” with Scott Bakula, Sinbad, Robert Loggia and Kathy Ireland in 1991 and “Pure Country” in 1992 starring George Strait.

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For 2021 Billy Bob's Texas has implemented health and safety protocols for the protection of their guests, employees and performers in response to Covid 19 as part of a statewide commitment to reopen Texas. Strait is spokesperson for the effort.

In a public service announcement on Billy Bob's website, Strait encourages everyone to "write this down, take a little note" about how to stay safe and still enjoy live entertainment.

In 1998 Billy Bob's launched its own record label to provide professional recordings of live shows.

To buy Billy Bob’s Texas merchandise or any of the "Live at Billy Bob's Texas" CDs and DVDs or to buy tickets for special events and concerts, go to billybobstexas.com..

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Billy Bob's Texas Historic Fort Worth Stockyards

2520 Rodeo Plaza Fort Worth, Texas 76164

March 2021

Experience Music in Rural Virginia

DrummerRichie

Albright Dedicated Career to Outlaw

“It is with broken hearts that we share the passing of Richie Albright, 81, on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021,” according Albright’s Facebook page the following day.

During his more than five decades in music, Albright worked with Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Johnny Rodriguez, Billy Joe Shaver, Jessi Colter and more. He was best known as an Outlaw, legendary drummer and right-hand man to Waylon Jennings.

“To those who knew him best he was a loyal friend, a tireless worker, a loving husband and a proud father," the post by his family on his Facebook stated.

A l b r i g h t s t a r te d wo r k i n g w i t h Waylon Jennings in 1964 and later in life toured with Waylon’s son, Shooter Jennings.

Albright, who was born in Oklahoma and grew up in Bagdad, Arizona, was a member of the Waylors, Jennings’ band. Albright moved to Nashville with Jennings when Jennings signed with RCA Records in 1966.

According to his website, musician Bronson Herrmuth asked Albright in 2007 if he knew his drumming would influence future musicians.

"I knew that I was playing with a very dynamic, just outrageous, great singer and guitar player, that's what I knew," Albright said. "You know when magic happens it

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happens a lot so that was a good barometer, I knew he was going to be big, I was just there for the ride man."

Jennings did not use studio musicians for his recordings, so Albright was vital to the continued success of Jennings and the Outlaw Country movement.

"Richie's first love and passion was music, which he was blessed to spend more than 50 years devoting his life to," said a statement posted to Albright's Facebook page. "His role in the [o]utlaw movement will ensure that his legacy will be with us forever."

Albright’s drum kit is currently enshrined in the Countr y Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Na shvil le, a s par t of the museum’s Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring ʼ70s exhibit.

In his last days he spent his time surveying land and weekends tending to his farm in Leiper's Fork. Albright was also playing music as part of Waymore’s Outlaws, which included Jerry Jigger Bridges, Fred Newell, Tommy Townsend, Carter Robertson and Barny Robertson.

He is survived by his wife, Linda, his sons, Brian and Trey, his daughter, Richel, and his brother, Jerry. He is preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Margie Albright, and his oldest brother, Charles.

For a live interview with Albright with the Country Music Hall of Fame, click here.

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March 2021

tried to play it in my own way without really thinking about it. It just felt like it Rory Feek was a song for the times. It wasn’t written for these times, but it feels like it was.”

Releases The Bob Dylan song was very popular in the 1960s during the changing times of the New Album Vietnam war, civil rights and coming of age. .When Rory released his video version of the song on YouTube on January 24, 2021, he wrote: ”On January 13, 1964, Bob Dylan released what was to become one of his most famous songs, "The Times They Are A- Changin'." Nearly 60 years later, those words seem as relevant, pro- found, and prophetic as they did then...”

They made the video at the sound- stage at Redking in Columbia using local friends and released it on Rory’s blog “This Life I Live” and on YouTube in

by Paula Winters While the new project is a solo album it’s not really solo. There are special guest artists including It’s has been five years since Rory and Joey The Isaacs, Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs and wife released their Hymns album and now Rory is Sharon White, Trisha Yearwood, Allison Krauss and releasing a new album. It was two years after Joey’s others. “I have other people singing, even if it’s not passing before he got back on stage to perform.

Joey, there are other people singing with me,” Rory Rory said he really didn’t have much interest in said. recording again and hadn’t written any songs since The album, Gentle Man, will come out on Indiana was born. He was writing his blog and Father’s Day, Me and the Blues was released on writing books and that was keeping him busy. But Valentine’s Day. He will release one a month until one day in Matt Johnson’s office, they decided to lay June when the album is released. down a couple songs and it felt good. Then Covid hit To keep up with Rory and his music, go to and things got put on hold. roryfeek.com In late summer 2020 they got serious about doing something and contacted Ben Isaacs. Then in October they went to Ben’s studio and recorded 14 songs.

“I started going through songs and picked out two of mine for the album. I wanted songs, not my songs, but great stories and that’s what we recorded,” said Ror y. “We knew we wanted at least one cover song and The Times They Are A Changin’ was Matt’s idea.”

“I had never really known that song,” Rory continued, “I had heard it, of course, but I pulled up the lyrics and just Page 11

March 2021

Where the Stars are Buried

by Renae Johnson, Renae the Waitress Freddy Fender, San Benito Memorial Park Cemetery, San Benito, TX Freddy Fender, the "Bebop Kid" of the Texas-Mexico border who later turned his twangy tenor into the smash country ballad "Before the Next Teardrop Falls," died on October 14, 2006, at age 69, at his Corpus Christi home with his family at his bedside, said Ron Rogers, a family spokesman.

Over the years, Febder grappled with drug and alcohol abuse, was treated for diabetes and underwent a kidney transplant.

Fender hit it big in 1975 after some regional success, years of struggling - and a stint in prison - when "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" climbed to No. 1 on the pop and country charts."

"The Old Man upstairs rolled a seven on me," he told The Associated Press in 1975. "I hope he keeps it up."

Wa s t e d D a y s a n d Wasted Nights" rose to No. 1 on the countr y chart and top 10 on the pop chart that same year, while "Secret Love" and " Yo u ' l l L o s e a G o o d Thing" also hit No. 1 in the country charts.

Born Baldemar Huerta, Fender was proud of his Mexican-American heritage and frequently sung verses or whole songs in Spanish. "Teardrop" had a verse in Spanish.

“Whenever I r un into prejudice," he told The Washington Post in 1977, "I smile and feel sorry for them, and I say to myself, 'There's one more argument for birth control.”'

He won a Grammy of Best Latin Pop Album in 2002 for "La Musica de Baldemar Huerta." He also shared in two Grammys: with the Texas Tornados, which won in 1990 for best Mexican-American performance for "Soy de San Luis," and with Los Super Seven in the same category in 1998 for "Los Super Seven.”

Among his other achievements, Fender appeared in the 1987 motion picture "The Milagro Beanfield War," directed by Robert Redford. In February 1999, Fender was awarded a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame after thenTexas Gov. George W. Bush wrote to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce endorsing him.

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He said in a 2004 interview with The Associated Press that one thing would make his musical career complete induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.

"Hopefully I'll be the first Mexican-American going into Hillbilly Heaven," he said.

Fender was born in 1937 in San Benito, the South Texas border town credited for spawning the Mexican-polka sound of conjunto. Fender's later years were marred by health problems resulting in a kidney transplant from his daughter, Marla Huerta Garcia, in January 2002 and a liver transplant in 2004.

Fender was to have lung surgery in early 2006 until surgeons found tumors. He started chemotherapy, bur he stopped treatment due to the side effects. A later scan found nine more tumors after which he resumed chemo at a lower dosage.

"I feel very comfortable in my life," Fender told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times the August before he died.

"I'm one year away from 70, and I've had a good run. I really believe I'm OK. In my mind and in my heart, I feel OK. I cannot complain that I haven't lived long enough, but I'd like to live longer.”

Celebration of Life A funeral mass was held Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2006, at the Queen University Catholic Church in San Benito, Texas. Fender was buried in white military dress, a Marine Corps League hat folded at his waist.

See his burial site on Find a Grave by clicking here.

March 2021

Areeda’s southern cooking

by Areeda Schneider Stampley

Lasagna Hearty wintertime dish 1 lb. ground chuck beef 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1 tablespoon basil 1 ½ teaspoons salt ½ teaspoon pepper 1 ½ lb. can whole tomatoes 2 six-ounce cans tomato paste ½ teaspoon oregano 1 tablespoon sugar 8 ounces egg noodles 12 ounce carton cream-style cottage cheese 2 beaten eggs 2 tablespoons parsley flakes ½ cup grated parmesan cheese 1 lb. Mozzarella cheese Brown meat slowly; drain. Add garlic, basil, salt, pepper, tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, and sugar. Simmer uncovered 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook egg noodles in boiling salted water until tender. Drain and rinse in cold water. In a bowl, combine cottage cheese, eggs, parsley flakes, and parmesan cheese. In a greased 9x13-inch baking pan, layer one-third each noodles, cottage cheese mixture, mozzarella cheese, and meat sauce. Repeat layering twice. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. If lasagna has been refrigerated, bake 45 minutes.

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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March 2021

Four Latino Artists Leave Signature on Country Music History

By Sasha Kay Dunavant

Country Music is truly a North American original. While most of the artists have heralded f r o m t h e Un i te d S t a te s w i t h a n u m b e r o f outstanding hit makers from Canada, four artists whose cultural roots are from South of the Border have left their signature on Country Music history.

Recording 15 Top 10 and six No. 1 hits, including "You Always Come Back (To Hurting Me),” "That's the Way Love Goes" and “"I Just Can't Get Her Out of My Mind,” Johnny Rodriquez is by far County Music’s most successful recording artist of Hispanic descent. Discovered by Tom T. Hall and Bobby Bare while singing at a Texas attraction, Rodriguez moved to Nashville in 1971 where he soon began recording and writing songs.

Hi s d e b u t a l b u m , “ In t r o d u c i n g Jo h n n y Rodriguez,” went to #1 on all three major trade charts and by 1973, he was nominated by the Country Music Association for "Male Vocalist of the Year" and won the Billboard Trend Setter Award for first Mexican-American to capture a national audience.

Since 1974, when Rodriguez had his first TV appearances, a role on "Adam 12" and a contestant on "The Dating Game" among them, he has been a favorite on national talk shows and performance format shows.

In the past 40 years, Johnny has released 35 albums and charted 45 singles. He has beat the pavement touring in every state in the U.S. and

enjoys an enormous response when touring overseas.

Ro d r i g u e z h a s b e e n h o n o r e d f o r h i s contributions and place in music's traditions and history. This artist brings the Hispanic communities and Country Music together with his bilingual songs.

Rodriguez was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in Carthage, Texas, in 2007, for h i s c o n t r i b u t i o n t o C o u n t r y Mu s i c . In 2010, Rodriguez received the Pioneer Award from the Institute of Hispanic Culture.

Freddy Fender, born Baldemar Garza Huerta, in San Benito, Texas, made his debut at 10 years old while singing “Paloma Querida” on a Harlingen, Texas, radio station KGBT. Huerta quit school at 16 and enlisted in the Marines.

He was soon dishonorably discharged, which he claimed was later changed to a general discharge due to the alcoholic nature of his offenses.

Hueta embraced the music world, having success in Mexico and South America for Spanish renditions of songs such as “Don’t be Cruel” among others.

Huerta became “Freddy Fender” in 1958 in hopes of having hit in America.

The name “Fender” was taken from the guitar and amplifier, and “Freddy” was chosen for the alliteration.

The release of his first rendition of his single “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” was a short-lived badge of honor due to his imprisonment for possession of marijuana in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

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Country Reunion Magazine March 2021

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Fellow musician, Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis, released Fender on the condition that he stay away from alcohol, drugs and music while he remained on probation.

In 1974, Fender released “Before the Next Tear Falls,” a solid gold single that sold in excess of million copies and was No. 1 on the Billboard Country and Pop Charts. Later a remake of “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” hit No. 1 on the charts as well as singles such as “Secret Love” and “You’ll Lose a Good Thing.”

Though his addiction issues made waves in the music community, his talent was an unstoppable force. People responded to Fender’s Rockabilly, Swamp-Pop Sound. Reaching No. 1 on Pop and Country Charts with bilingual songs and winning a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album in 2002 were triumphs for Fender and the Latino Community.

Fender died in 2006 at 69 of lung cancer after having a kidney transplant due to his drug and alcohol use.

There are two female artists on the list of Hispanic Country Music performers. One of these is Rosie Flores, born in 1950 in San Antonio, Texas, who coined an authentic style al l her own, b l e n d i n g Ja z z , Ro c k a b i l l y, Country, Western and Tex-Mex. She first performed her “cowpunk” style in local nightclubs and in 1987 recorded the first of her 10 solo albums, “Voodoo.”

She had three singles chart on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs – “He Cares, Somebody Loses, Somebody Wins and “Crying Over You” – making her the first female Latina country artist to ever enter the Billboard country charts.

Latina beauty Leticia "Tish" Hinojosa, also born in San Antonio, successfully combined Me x i c a n f o l k w i t h C o u n t r y Music, often recording her sweet folk sound in Spanish and English.

A f te r h e r f i r s t i n d e p e n d e n t release, "Taos to Tennessee," in 1987 when she was 32, she was Page 15

s i g n e d b y A & M Re c o r d s a n d a c h i e v e d a n international debut release.

She charted twice on the Billboard Country Charts for her songs "I'll Pull You Through" and "Til U Love Me Again." In 1992, her album, “Culture Swing,” won the NAIRD Folk Album of the Year.

One of her albums, “Our Little Planet,” is a selfpenned, 12-song collection of traditional bluegrass and her trademark sound of contemporary folk and Tex-Mex. Hinojosa has expressed her dedication to the Latina community by becoming a spokesperson for The National Latino Children's Agenda, The National Association of Bilingual Education and The United Farm Workers of America.

Hinojosa, Flores and Rodriguez continue to write, record and perform, making an ongoing contribution to Country Music, while integrating and preserving pieces of their families’ cultural heritage.

March 2021

One Eye on The World One Eye on the World takes readers on a serious yet humorous journey of the glory years of the newspaper industry.

This was before the sad state of many faltering newspapers and the biased media in today’s world.

The book’s title comes from the author, John L. Shields, losing one eye at one and a half years old.

Having only one eye impacted John’s life, but he turned it into a positive and was known for his unusual sense of humor.

Throughout a career in several states—West Coast, East Coast, and in between—his path crossed with well-known entertainers, politicians, and news makers. Readers will find an interesting recounting of history, from John’s birth in 1942 through the present. The author had a front row seat to some of the most dramatic changes in US history—events that changed the world.

Readers will ride along with someone who spent almost fifty years in newspapers as a newspaper carrier, circulation mail-room employee, reporter, sports editor, editor, supervisor for groups of newspapers, and CEO/publisher. Those years— from 1959 to 2007—were some of the most turbulent, and brought some of the most dramatic changes for the country, both good and bad.

John’s stories give readers insight into a reporter-editor-photographer covering schools, tragedies, corruption, and human interest. These stories bring readers into the newsroom of daily newspapers, and how decisions are made.

John L. Shields picked cotton on a Texas farm as a child, establishing a lifetime work ethic.

Starting from the bottom delivering newspapers and working in a mail room, John never thought he would become a journalist. Yet John went on to have a fifty-year career as a reporter, editor, publisher, and CEO for newspaper companies throughout the United States.

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“Humor has always been extremely important to me traveling through the years. Keeps my mind active, and thoughts away from those of an old fellow. Really, some in their 50’s are old. Poor souls. My guiding light the past 50 years has been “Two Steps Ahead Always”. “Oops” will be added when I kick the bucket.”

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– John Shields

March 2021

Tony Joe White Interview, November 2004 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 Tony Joe White is an American treasure. In 1969, Tony Joe came bursting out of the swamplands of Louisiana with his classic, “Polk Salad Annie,” a Top 10 Hit, followed in 1970, by Brook Benton’s soulful rendition of White’s timeless classic, “Rainy Night In Georgia.”

Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s Tony Joe White toured with some of the biggest artists of the decade including Creedence Clearwater Revival and James Taylor. The 1990s began with a bang, as Tina Turner recorded four of his songs for her multi-platinum selling Foreign Affairs album. While there was a certain “mystique” surrounding White in the United States, it was in Europe where he gained legendary status.

During the 90’s he spent two years touring Europe with Eric Clapton and Joe Cocker, among others.

French audiences eagerly embraced White as the "Swamp Fox" and in 1998, he became the subject of a

French produced documentary: Tony Joe White-The Man From Down South. Throughout the years, White has had songs recorded by dozens of major artists including Elvis, Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Etta James, Hank, Jr., Tim McGraw, John Mayall and Waylon Jennings, (who recorded numerous White coversincluding the ’99 release, “Closing In On The Fire”). He has written and performed jingles for McDonalds and L e v i ’s 5 0 1 B l u e s a n d b e e n f e a t u r e d o n m o v i e soundtracks for Millennium, Selena and Hotspot. In 2004, I spoke with White about his friends, his music and his latest album at the time, The Heroines.

I have been wanting to speak with you for quite some time, but with the new Heroines album out the time is just right. The album is great.

Oh, my son Jody got in there and surprised everyone with his ears and ideas and did a great job.

It’s a smooth thing. I want to go back and ask just a few questions about your past, nothing incriminating, (Laughs)....

Let’s stay out of the swamps (Laughs)....

Just for the people that might not know, please tell us where you were born and raised.

It’s a place called Goodwill, Louisiana on the northeast end near Arkansas, Mississippi, in that Delta corner. We had a cotton farm.

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When did you first become interested in music?

Well my folks, mom and dad, five sisters and one brother - they all played guitar and piano. I was the youngest and he was the oldest and the girls were in between us. Someone was playing something every day when we got through with work and picking cotton. Someone was always playing music, Daddy on guitar. I heard it all my life but didn’t really get into it. Then one day when I was about 16 my brother brought an album home

by Lightnin’ Hopkins. I heard that old blues man with his one guitar and that microphone close to his foot and anyway we all got into it. We were heavily into the blues growing up in our teens in that area.

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Do you remember the first song that you ever wrote?

Yeah, it seems like I wrote a song called “Someday.”

After I left Louisiana, I was down playing in clubs in Kingsville, Texas. I remember a song called “Someday” that I had written then.

at that small club. Then a station picked it up in L.A. and put it on the big list, you know what I mean. Then it made it to finally #3 in America and then it got followed up with “Rainy Night in Georgia.” All of the sudden I was moving.

Your biggest claim to fame was “Polk Salad Annie.” How high did that chart in the States?

(NOTE: The name of the song is listed as “Polk

That was a good one-two punch.

Yeah, I think both of those songs had been written in one week. I had moved to Corpus Cristi by then and I had heard Bobbie Gentry sing “Ode To Billy Joe” and I thought, I am Billy Joe man, and I know that life. I wanted to write about something that I knew about and was real. “Poke” was real because I had eaten a bunch of it when I was growing up and rainy nights were real because I had driven a truck when I got right out of high school. That’s how those two songs came about and it is pretty amazing that they have stuck around.

Salad Annie,” however, the name of the plant is actually from the pokeweed plant and is called “poke sallet”)

It wa s number three in America and then worldwide, into Europe and Australia. I had a record right before “Poke” that happened and it made number 2 in Paris, France. At that time I was playing in a night club in Texas but had this huge record going overseas. I had never been anywhere. I went over there and did some interviews and toured with a guitar.

What was that song?

It was called “Soul Francisco” and it was about the hippie movement at that time and it was on my first album. It was during the flower children days.

All of a sudden the guitar and voice clicked and people were buying my records. When I got home from touring at that time “Poke” had kicked in here in America. It was out for about 7-8 months and it looked like it wasn’t going to happen with a record company. So I was back playing at the nightclub in Texas because you are always playing somewhere, and you can’t sit around and watch a record. We must have been selling 1,000 records a week of “ Po ke ” in that nightclub11. The record company would mail them to us and we would buy them and try to sell them at that club. They said that they thought they would try to go with something else. I told them that they could do that but that we were selling lots of those records Page 18

Didn’t Elvis sing “Polk Salad Annie?”

Yeah, he did come out with it in ‘72, ‘73 somewhere around there. His producer called me and I was living in Memphis by then. He phoned me and said he wanted to fly me and my wife to Las Vegas and watch him do it and record it live onstage. Elvis had been right in that little scene too, with Lightnin’ Hopkins and John Lee Hooker and all of us kids down on the river. Then we had all that blues going.

Elvis had been a big hero of ours. We combed our hair like him and I did his songs onstage and the whole thing was just happening. Then they were flying us to Las Vegas- it was like a dream.

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March 2021

Did you get to spend some time with him and get to know him?

Yeah, we hung out for about 3-4 days out there in the dressing rooms and stuff. And then we hung out in Memphis and saw him down there at Stax and he treated me real good. He liked guitar and he would get me to show him some of the blues licks and stuff like that. He always seemed to really want to play. He could bang and make a few chords, but he really liked those bluesy things.

You were talking about “Rainy Night in Georgia.” One of my favorite versions of that was Brook Benton and Conway Twitty on that country / blues album, do you remember?

No, that was Sam Moore singing on that.

He did a fine job on that too.

Oh, yeah, it was chill bump time again, with Conway’s voice and everything just killed me on that album.

I know that you have toured with all sorts of people. Who comes to mind if I ask about favorite people you have toured with?

That’s kind of hard, like naming your favorite song.

I have always had a great time with Joe Cocker, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton. People that you really love their music and you’re glad to be out there with them. Then on the country side, Waylon Jennings was great and we went lots of miles together.

I was going to ask you about Tina Turner, because I know she has recorded lots of your songs. How did your relationship with her come about?

It started with a demo I had done in my studio here and a song that my wife and I had written called “Undercover Agent For The Blues.” It has me and my guitar, bass, and drums. I may have put a tiny bit of organ on the back. It was very simplistic. At that time Roger Davis was managing Tina and they were in L.A. I heard that Mark Knopfler played it for her because him and I had been friends for a long time, so I had sent him a copy of it. Then Roger called me and said that Tina wanted to record that song, and that she wanted me to play guitar on it and wanted it to sound just like the old demo. Which was an old analog 16-track with hissing and Page 19

everything. (Laughs) But is sounded cool. So I flew out there and met Roger and we went over and saw Tina and she was doing a commercial at Chevrolet, some car dealership thing, and we walked into her dressing room and she was getting her make-up on.

Roger and I were standing there and she looked at me and started rolling and laughing. She was just dying laughing and couldn’t get her breath. I was standing there looking at the floor and just thought maybe my pants were unzipped or something, you know? It was weird. She just couldn’t quit. Finally she walked over to give me a big hug and said that she was sorry for laughing, but that she thought ever since “Poke Salad Annie” that I was a black man. (Laughs). We hit it off from that minute like brothers and sisters. We flew to New York where they were going to record and did “Undercover Agent for the Blues” using just organ, bass, drums and me on the guitar. Tina was singing and doing it live. It was amazing to see her in the studio because she moves in the studio just like she does on the stage. She is dancing and moving and then all of a sudden in the middle of the song on the instrumental part she kicks the singing booth door open and struts out into the big room where me and the drums are, and grabs the microphone off the cymbals and finishes the song almost down on her knees like a show. I am thinking, I hope they have that tape rolling, man. So anyway, it came out perfect and she came over and told me that there was a song on that tape that she really liked called “Steamy Windows” and that she really wanted to cut it. So I was thinking that this must be a dream.

Not only playing guitar for her, but having Tina cut some of my songs. Then she cut “Steamy” that day and that night Roger called and said that she had heard two more songs on the tape that she liked and wanted to cut the next day, but that she wanted to fly to Paris to sing “Foreign Affair,” and they ended up naming the album that. I felt that would be a good one for her to start with. We flew to London and cut the tracks. She wanted to sing it in Paris. One take in the studio and it was over with. I think she did every one of those songs in one take.

She did four of my songs and it made me float around, man. To me, Tina was right up there with Elvis and Lightnin.’

Listen to Tony Joe’s “Ode to Tina Turner” and watch the video here.

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March 2021

She is one of the best for sure. Just dynamite.

I saw on your website a picture of you and some of the guys from the Muscle Shoals Sound studio in Muscle Shoals so I guess you recorded there some?

Yeah, two albums there. The Closer to the Truth album were recorded there.

Did you work with some of the Muscle Shoals musicians down there?

It was always Roger Hawkins on drums and David Hood on bass and Steve Nathan on B-3. Once that was all cranked up you were rolling.

Did you tour with Clapton and Joe Cocker at the same time or was that individual tours?

Separate. With Clapton I only did a few things with him. It wasn’t like my Cocker tour. Joe and I stayed out about 2 months. Clapton was as cool as he could be. He always had this portable pool table in his dressing room and everytime I would go in we would shoot some pool or snooker or whatever it was that he had going. He was always very cool to me. He’s holding one of my songs that he was thinking about recording. It was an old song called, “Taking the Midnight Train.” It was off an earlier album. Clapton and Joe and Creedence all had a good time on tour.

You were out with the original band with Fogerty?

Oh yeah, they had a lot of hits out and we had this so there was a lot going on. It was about 1973 or 1974, right in there, and they had lots of hits out and a couple of things going so we had some huge crowds.

has Ritchie Havens in it and he plays Othello. It is a bunch of hippies living out in a desert commune and that type of thing.

Bobby Whitlock.

He is a very soulful man. We did a benefit in Mississippi about four years ago and I was able to spend some time with him and he was trying to get things together and move along. I heard now that he has done that.

Waylon.

He and I are dear friends and lived together in Memphis for awhile. Him and Jessi came through there during Waylon’s rocking days. He was staying up 1-2 days at a time. He came pulling in there in an old Cadillac and he and Jessi were going to stay for awhile. He brought a Stratocaster in a tweed case to me as a gift. He is just so unbelievable. A friend of his had found it and it was in good condition. So I put it in a safe here at the studio and would take it out every now and then for a song. The other day out in Phoenix they had a Waylon Day and Shooter (his son) is playing music now and I told him that I had something I wanted to give him, but he had to come home to get it. I told him that ‘58 Sunburst that his Daddy had given me was for him. He is playing music and getting ready to play Waylon in that movie about Johnny Cash. He is a great musician who is fixing to have a great guitar. It is pretty amazing that it would come around like that again.

Let’s play a form of word association. I want to name a few folks and get your brief thoughts on each of them. Starting with Bonnie Bramlett.

She has a soulful voice. We did a short movie together in Santa Fe, New Mexico called Catch My Soul. That was when she was still with Delaney. I went down there to do the soundtrack and ended up playing a part in it. I just played myself and I was a preacher that played guitar. We stayed down there for about three months. The movie is pretty findable They later renamed it The Black Devil. It Page 20

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March 2021

Women’s History Month

Women in the Grand Ole Opry Not Always Singers

by Sasha Dunavant

Induction into the Grand Ole Opry doesn’t necessarily mean an artist is a great singer, ultratalented or has millions of fans. It means that one has a connection not only with music, song, talent and character but with legacy and innovation. It means that an artist has a relationship with their fans, individuality as an artist and a kinship with the pursuits of the Grand Ole Opry.

Merely performing on its stage as thousands have done over the last nine decades, doesn’t automatically win a slot on the Opry’s 187-member list. Women who’ve been inducted into the highstakes club are true gems. These women had a knack for being one of kind, standing out and making whatever their groove was their own.

Cora “Kitty” Denning Cline was not a singer but a dulcimer soloist for four years on the 1920s Grand Ole Opry. She reached fame at age 49 when she auditioned for “Judge” George Hay’s new WSM radio show, “The Grand Ole Opry.”

"I went down there and played “Chippie, Get Your Hair Cut," Mrs. Cline later told a reporter.

In her early sets she performed alongside her relative, fiddle player Edgar Cline, but Hay decided that Cline sounded excellent accompanied by none other than herself and made her the first female solo Opry act. After that she performed alone, receiving $1 for ever y air minute that she played her sugar maple hammered dulcimer, which she bought for $4.50 from maker Lum Scott.

A l t h o u g h M r s . C l i n e ’s experience with the Opry ended abruptly after seeing a car crash on Page 21

the way home from the show one night, causing her to rarely travel outside the home, fans knew her from her Opry Hits such as “Sally Goodin,” Airplane,” “Going Up Cripple Creek,” “When the Saints Go Marching In” and “Arkansas Traveler.”

Cline lived most of her life in Fairfield, a rural community near Nashville. Her grandchildren remember their famous and respected grandmother and all of the company she attracted.

“On Sundays, for many years, people would come to the Cline home with their guitars and other instruments to play with my grandmother," a granddaughter of Cline told interviewers in recent years. "She usually cooked for those who came over, which were as many as 20 to 40 people."

Her fans adored her, and while she never achieved the fame of the superstars, Cline loved the letters that she received f rom the public.

Throughout her long life she surrounded herself with friends and family she loved, continuing to enjoy music.

The mother of nine children, Cline died at age 96 in 1973, leaving 42 grandchildren, 69 great grandchildren and 12 great-great grandchildren.

Cline paved the way for many women ahead, broke the mold for women of her time and proved that age is just a number when reaching for the stars.

March 2021

“HOW-W-W-Dee, I’m jes so proud to be here,” Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon, best known as “Cousin Minnie Pearl” proclaimed to her weekly Grand Ole Opry radio audience.

A graduate of what is now known as Belmont University in Nashville, Cannon met a mountain woman that inspired the charismatic, comedic character of “Cousin Minnie Pearl,” along with her ruffled dresses, her hillbilly friends and her hat with the iconic dangling $1.98 price tag. Discovered at a bank convention in November 1940, Minnie Pearl became a monumental staple to “The Grand Ole Opry” family for more than 50 years. Minnie Pearl introduced us to her gang, Uncle Nabob, his wife, Aunt Ambrosia, Lucifer Hucklehead, Miss Lizzie Tinkum, Doc Payne and, of course, her hilarious “brother.”

Minnie Pearl also appeared on ABC’s “Ozark Jubilee” during the late 1950s, but perhaps she became most famous for her debut and long running success on the 1960s-‘70 television sensation “HEE HAW.” Most of her monologues, hilarious skits and unforgettable characters were from Grinder’s Switch, modeled after Cannon’s hometown, Centerville, Tennessee, and people she knew there.

Following a bout with breast cancer, Cannon became a spokesperson for the center in Nashville where she had received treatment. The facility was later named the Sarah Cannon Cancer Center in her honor.

After suffering a stroke in June 1991, Cannon ended a comedic career that had spanned five

decades. A second stroke ended her life on March 4, 1996.

Minnie Pearl was not only one of the first women that we feel in love with on The Grand Ole’ Opry, she was a woman we felt like we knew. She reminded us of other people and other folks reminded us of her. She was a professional, educated, hilarious and hardworking women.

Both Cline and Cannon were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in its early years paving the way for female performers over the past 90 years who’ve been given a chance in a male-dominated industry like County Music.

When they are, our world brightens, horizons expand, another wall is broken down and all women can hold their heads just a little higher than before.

Watch Grand Ladies of the Grand Ole Opry

The Grand Ladies of Country Music Live! Full Show!

Female Grand Ole Opry Members, 60th Anniversary

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March 2021

Hello Spring HELLO SPRING! Are you guys ready for some warmer weather? Boy I sure am.

Unfortunately we had to cancel our shows in Shipshewana , Indiana and the Cancun get-a-way.

BUT…we are still planning on going to Branson in October with shows at the Clay Cooper Theater. More info coming soon.

NEW SHOWS…we have filmed 8 NEW “Larry’s Country Diner shows”!!! And they should be airing soon.

The new shows include some old friends and some new friends so you won’t want to miss any of them.

Country’s Family Reunion News 2020 Book A lot of you have purchased the 2020 Newspaper Book and I encourage you to buy some of the past years.

We started printing all 12 months in a yearly book 8 years ago because our newspapers had so many great photos and featured articles. We felt like it was like preserving history and the 8 x 11 books turned out beautiful. They also make a great gift for anyone who has not subscribed to our monthly newspaper.

The Promise Book I have reprinted The Promise Book that I am featuring this month. This book includes photos of the artists on our diner shows and The Promise that Larry read on each show. I also include the date the shows aired on RFD -TV. The funny thing about The Promise is that Larry kept forgetting to ready it. Half of the time I had to remind him. Add The Promise to your book list Visitors to the Set We had 2 special guests come to our tapings: On the first day Hazel, the wife of Charlie Daniels stopped by and on the second day of tapings we had Benny, Jean Shepard’s husband come by sitting at Gus’ table. Many of you will be happy to see Michele Capps again hanging with us at the Diner .

Hazel Page 23 Daniels

Jennifer Herron

Bobby Marquez

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Becky Buller

Mo March 2021 Pitney

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March 2021