Tune in to KBOO’s Music from the True Vine 9-noon PT on Saturdays.  You will hear the best of traditional and contemporary bluegrass and old time music.

I have been surrounded by wonderful muscians most of my life.  My Mother was a friend of Lily Mae Ledford of the Coon Creek Girls.  They were among the first “girl groups” and played regularly at Renfro Valley.  Our family went to Renfro Valley often and enjoyed attending the all night gospel sing each year, just like Nashville’s big show at Ryman.  Actually, the Renfro Valley shows probably started before the Grand Ole Opry.  I was very young and remember sleeping on the benches.

I went to Lily Mae’s funeral.  My friend Sue Massek and I were working together at Alternatives for Women in Lexington.  Sue had been spending quality time with Lily Mae during the months leading up to her end of life.  Sue was singing at Lily Mae’s funeral.  As a matter of fact there were many singers from Nashville involved.

I was a beautiful, warm day to drive South East into the mountains.  I didn’t mind the trip alone.  The small country church was crowded.  The parking lot jammed.  After the service I settled into my car, turned on some soothing music and eased into the thoughts that come during such occasions.   Finally the procession began to form and I fell in line behind a huge pickup truck.  We drove quite a distance through spectacular scenery.  Then through a shallow creek, over a cattle gate and stopped.

I looked up to find the pickup driver standing at my window.  Dan introduced himself and asked “Do we know you?  Come on in and have something cold to drink and some pie.”

It was time to give up on any plans to catch up with Sue at the graveside service.  I relaxed and continued to follow Dan and his wife inside for a debriefing of the events of the day.  The conversation was interesting, the pie was perfect and the lemonade real.

One of my co-workers at the Ky Department of Education was married to a singer/song writer that performed at Renfro Valley.   I would visit and go to the Saturday night shows.  One weekend they told me Bob’s friend, Bill Monroe, was coming over to visit for the afternoon.  Elizabeth and I made lemon pie for the occasion.  Neither of us are good cooks.  The pie crust and filling separated due to moisture.  I served Bill his pie and watched the lemon filling slide off the crust onto his lap.  He looked as if he wanted to growl, but finally laughed as he admitted he need a lot of interesting experiences to help stimulate ideas for compositions.  I don’t think he actually developed a ‘Lemon Pie Breakdown’.

I did my graduate work at Peabody College in Nashville.  During those 3 summers I  palled around with a woman who was far more assertive than I.  She was determined to get close to the country stars… we did.  We “ran into” Kris Kristofferson at a hotel and had drinks together.  If you watched the video and know me at all you will understand that Kris is my kind of man.  Kris shared the same story with us that afternoon in the bar. There were no cameras so the version he shared with us was full of passion.  It was an encounter I will never forget.  A few years later I met him again.  It was a small concert with Rita Coolidge.  We talked a few minutes and he introduced me to Rita.  He remains my No. 1 heart throb after all these years.   My friend and I got invited to several great parties where we met people like Stringbean, Little Jimmy Dickins and way too many names to drop.  We got back stage at the Ryman Auditorium where we met Jeannie C. Riley and Emmylou Harris.  I want to make clear…. I was very much a follower in these incidents, but also more than willing to encourage my friend to press on.  We made many trips to the new Opryland.  On my first trip, the very first person I ran into was Roy Acuff.  I had a couple minutes alone with him before a crowd gathered.  He told us stories of how the Grand Ole Opry broadcast would soon be moved from the Ryman to this new Opryland park.  He said they would actually bring a huge chunk of the center stage floor with them, then he twirled and balanced him fiddle bow on his nose to end with a laugh and applause.

I attended some of the last performances at the Ryman, the Mother Church of Country Music.  There were many anniversary celebration broadcasts on stage from Opryland.  You will see the center stage circle clearly in this 70th Anniversary opening number.   Now the original home of the Grand Ole Opry has reopened.   I feel fortunate to have been impacted by the deep roots of country, gospel and bluegrass music.

Visit my video playlists to find my collection of favorites.