And I had to take care of a little dog too named Suzy. It was the promoter's wife's - Judy Lynn's - it was her dog. And one of my duties going on the tour was to take care of it. |
I remember li'l ol' Hank Jr. - he was just a baby back in them days, you know - but he used to hang around. His mama would bring him around. He was just a natural. |
But now I've been in the arena for 47 years and I stutter less today than I did in those days. |
I didn't get to meet Hank Williams. I was in the Air Force on Okinawa when he passed away. |
I'm not retiring. Topics: Short |
And I began to tell little anecdotes that had happened to me, and people would laugh. And I began to like that, you know. But I knew that, 'cause I'd do that in school, but I wouldn't do it out there in front of all them people. |
Well, no, you can prepare it all you want, but I'd still stutter. |
Or in the early days we didn't have the bus, we had a station wagon. |
And you know, we'd go to church. We were Baptists. And every now and then there'd be a tent would set up, and it was the Holiness folks. And we liked their music. |
You know, being an entertainer is partly being on the road, and a lot of your songs come from the road. |
I'm gonna do between 75 and 100 dates. A lot of it will be in Laughlin, Nevada; I'll be there for two weeks. And I'll work some casinos here and there, and the fair dates. |
And my daddy could play a harmonica and also the guitar, so I guess I got a little bit from both of 'em, but I think mostly from my mother's side of the family. |
Well, you know, back then there wasn't many albums, it was the singles. You sold singles. |
But if you put a script up in front of me to read, or a cue card, I couldn't do it without stuttering. |
And I got to know Red Foley well. And I got to know Lefty really well, he was a great guy. |
You know, it comes from my mother's side of the family. She had seven sisters and one brother, and all of them could play instruments. I suppose I picked it up from that. |
And they turned around and leased it to The Assembly Of God Churches - their headquarters are in Springfield, Missouri. They leased it to them for the first year. Then, after the first year, they will donate it to the church. |
No, my son's a songwriter and he does that. |
You have to insulate yourself - I'm talking about from everything, people can be talking to you and you won't hear 'em - that's how you write a song. And I haven't been able to do that over here 'cause I'm so busy and then, when I am off, I want to get away from music. |
But Patsy, she was a great, great girl. And Brenda Lee is a wonderful person, and her mama Grace. I've known those folks for years and years and years. |