----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Kaufman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 7:05 PM Subject: [peeps-country-classics] Fw: THANK GOD & GREYHOUND, I'M ON MY WAY
> Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 5:06 PM > Subject: THANK GOD & GREYHOUND, I'M ON MY WAY > > > > > Today's - TWANGTOWNUSA.COM COUNTRY MUSIC REPORTER > "We Don't Write The News...We Report The News" > ************************************************************ > Today's Country Music News Has Been Posted On The News Board. > http://www.twangtownusa.com/news/ > ************************************************************************* > The Following Story Will Also Appear In The Story Section At > DICKSHUEY.COM... > > Date: Sunday - 28 January 2007 > headline: THANK GOD & GREYHOUND, I'M ON MY WAY > Short text: By Gordon Brown, Founder, NE Country Music Historical > Society > > > Text: NASHVILLE IN 1959 > By Gordon Brown, Founder, > NE Country Music Historical Society > > About the writer: > Gordy's introduction to country music came at age 15 in 1954. He had > been brought up on gospel music in the First Church of the Nazarene in New > Bedford, Mass. When the church began a Sunday night half-hour program, he > got interested in broadcasting and began working part time at station WNBH > AM & FM in his hometown. On Saturday nights a DJ by the name of Norm > Rapoza was airing a 3 hour show called Hillbilly Guest House. Gordy began > helping him by answering the phones, taking requests and looking for > records. > When Norm left to work at another station, Gordy took over the show. > But a lifetime love of country music and a 30-year career in radio and > television, mostly in engineering and production, had begun. > > THANK GOD & GREYHOUND, I'M ON MY WAY > Just after my 20th birthday in September 1959, I hoped on a bus for a > 24 hour trip to Nashville to see the Grand Ole Opry to get better > acquainted with the artists I had been playing on the radio. As the bus > pulled into Knoxville, TN, just over the Cumberland Mountains from Music > City USA, I woke up and found my head resting on the shoulder of the lady > seated next to me. I apologized but she said she had also been sleeping > and it was no problem. > I arrived in Nashville late on a Thursday afternoon, checked into the > hotel next to the National Life & Accident Insurance Building and tried to > catch up on my sleep but had my 9-transistor radio turned on, listening to > WSM AM 650. Ralph Emery's Opry Star Spotlight show came on later that > evening. He was playing the latest country records and chatting with some > the stars who dropped in to plug their latest records. He had been doing > this show for the past two years I found out later. With all this going on > right next door, I could not get any sleep so I got up and strolled on > over. > The guard at the National Life Building directed me to the elevator > that would take me up to the studios and the home station of the World > Famous Grand Ole Opry. I finally found large Studio A and stood in the > doorway. > "Howdy, Hoss. What's your name?" Ralph asked as he looked my way. I > told him and was invited to come in and sit down next to his control > board. When the record ended, he introduced me as a "young disc jockey > from New Bedford, Mass-a-tu-sits." This was some big jump for me.from a > 250 local wattage station back home to being on a 50,000 watts clear > channel station. I did not consider myself an announcer, just a young kid > having fun with country music. So without having written ahead or being > introduced to him by anyone, Ralph interviewed me on the air for about 15 > minutes. I have no idea what questions he asked or what we talked about > and regret I don't have a recording of it. > I did take notes on who I met while in the country music capital and > glad I did. That night I met the Wilburn Brothers, Roger Miller and other > stars who dropped in. One of the Wilburn's went to the WSM library and > brought me a copy of their latest 45 record which became my first souvenir > of Nashville. > Around one or 1:30 in the morning, Ralph's show took a break for a > half hour religious program and Ralph said, "Come on, let's go get some > coffee," I don't remember who else was with us, but we went to a little > coffee shop a few blocks from the studios. On the way back to the station, > Ralph looked in his rear-view mirror and said, "I think that's Del Wood > following us." And sure enough, the honky-tonk piano player followed us > right into the studio parking lot and into the building. > She introduced herself to me and asked if I was going to attend the > Opry on Saturday night and, of course, I said I was. She said she didn't > have any pictures with her but she'd be sure and have one for me then. I > thanked her and thought to myself "she'll never remember." > A little later I went into the control room to see what a big city > station had for equipment. The engineer on duty also asked if I was going > to the Opry and I said, "I didn't come all the way down here to miss it." > He told me was engineering the first half and for me to meet him at the > stage door to the Ryman around 6 o'clock and I could go in with him. Well, > I wasn't gonna let that opportunity pass me by. So I had purchased a 50 > cent General Admission ticket when I first arrived in Nashville, I never > had to use it. The $1.60 Reserved Seats were sold out long before I got > there. > > WHAT? NO TOURIST TRAPS? > The next day, I bought a Grand Ole Opry History Picture Book, Vol. 1, > #2 so I could see who were Opry members and who were not. I put my note > papers in it and glad I did. My next stop was at Tree Publishing Company > where I met a young Bill Anderson, just starting out in the business. He > wasn't an Opry member yet, but he was the first to sign my book. He would > become a member of the Opry a couple of years later and a Hall of Fame > member many years after. As of this writing I now have over 40 autographs > in that old book including some pickers and stars of the Wheeling > Jamboree. > Bill gave me a copy of his new 45 record, "Ninety-Nine Years" and a > couple of Decca albums including, "Webb" by Webb Pierce. Another stop was > at the Hank Snow Music Center located at 810 Church Street. Here I ordered > a Colonel-type bow tie with my name and station call letters in red > spangles on blue and, a Hank Snow Easy Method of Playing Spanish Guitar > course. Tootsie's Orchard Lounge and the Ernest Tubb Record Shop on > Broadway were the only other "tourist traps" in town, outside of Fort > Nashboro that I knew of at this time. And somewhere I purchased a > beautiful turquoise blue cowboy hat just like the ones the Flatt & Scruggs > group was wearing at the time. > > FROLICING WITH THE STARS > That evening, the Friday Night Frolics show was being broadcast live > and recorded for syndication as the Pet Milk Grand Opry. This mini-Grand > Ole Opry show was put on in WSM's large Studio C with an audience of two > or three hundred, I think. The Friday Night Opry began just a couple of > years earlier, I later learned. > Sometime before the show, Ralph introduced me to announcer Grant > Turner in the hallway. Grant introduced me to the Louvin Brothers and > Grandpa Jones. Grant asked if I had scheduled any interviews with the > stars. I told him I hadn't even thought of doing that. He looked down the > hall and called out, "Hey, Miss Kitty!" The Queen of Country music, not > yet in her stage outfit, but she came over to us and Grant asked if she > would be willing to do an interview with me. > She said she would and that she'd ask Johnny & Jack and join us after > their part of the show. So after their segment, Grant brought me into > another studio with two telephones. I got the DJ back in New Bedford to > set up a tape to record this, my first interview. So with Kitty Wells, her > husband Johnny Wright, his cousin Jack Anglin and Gordon Stoker, leader of > the Jordanaires on one phone and me on the other, we chatted for a little > while. I have a very poor quality tape of that somewhere. They must have > had a good laugh over this young DJ from Massa-tu-sits who had never done > anything like that before. > Others on that Friday night show included Bill Monroe, Hank Snow, > June Carter, The Carlisles, Ferlin Husky, Billy Grammer, Del Wood, Carl > Butler and Jimmie Newman. > > SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE GRAND OLE OPRY > At about 6 p.m. on Saturday, I went to the Ryman's stage door and met > the engineer I'd met at the studios on Thursday. We went up to the control > room located on the balcony level behind the big red curtain-the only part > of the Ryman with air conditioning and I got to enjoy my first Grand Ole > Opry in real comfort. > My favorite artists back then were Hank Snow and his Rainbow Ranch > Boys and Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys and I got > to seem them both live for the first time in my life along with many other > now legends of the Opry. > After Del Wood finished her honky-tong number, I stepped out of the > control room and leaned over the balcony to get her attention. Remember, > she had told me she'd have a picture for me? Well, she had not forgotten. > Looking up she stage whispered, "Gordy, come on down here. I've got > something for you." When I got there she reached in her purse and pulled > out an 8X10 which was already autographed to me. This was my first > autographed picture and, of course, I still have it. > I stood there awhile amidst the hustle and bustle of stars coming and > going from the stage-Billy Grammer whose record "Gotta Travel On" was > hitting the top of the charts was there. My idol, Hank Snow was there. And > the legendary Cousin Minnie Pearle was there. I was told she always stayed > in the wings ready to fill in for any star that didn't make it to the show > or back from Tootsie's in time. And of course, all the others who had been > on the Friday Night Frolics were there. I guess I was star struck as I got > no more autographs on this trip and didn't talk to anyone else backstage. > All night long, the engineer handed me the scripts from the evening's > show-all the commercials, station breaks and introductions to the acts. > Unfortunately, they are long gone, along with that beautiful cowboy hat, > the Colonel bow tie and the Hank Snow guitar course. > After the Opry, I hurried over to the Ernest Tubb Record Shop for the > Midnight Jamboree. Being a short fella, I couldn't see much as I stood in > the crowd and don't remember who was on the show that night. I do know it > was not Ernest as he was out on tour. > I remember that trip as if it was yesterday, but it will soon be > fifty years. I was treated real well, even though I was just a local DJ > from Yankee land. After those very busy few days, I slept on just about > the whole bus ride back to Massachusetts. > After I returned to New Bedford, new station management changed the > format to Rock 'n Roll and I lost the country show with no chance to ask > for write-ins to support keeping it on. My show was recorded on Thurs. > afternoons for playback on Saturday night, and the bad news came to me on > Friday. But I took most of the country music library-78's, 45's, and LP's > with me-and that became the start of my record collecting hobby. > I didn't get back to Nashville again until 1988, twenty-nine years > later. That's when I got inspired to start the New England Country Music > Historical Society and really put my interest in our New England history > to work. But that's a whole other story. > > ### > > > "Come n' See Us...The World Does" > > "COUNTRY MUSIC News & Music Since - 1999" > > TWANGTOWNUSA.COM WEB RADIO > http://www.TWANGTOWNUSA.COM > "Country Music Radio & News 24/7" > {Country-Bluegrass-Gospel Music Programming} > Hear Country Music Artists & D.J.'s From Around The World...Playing Now. > Country Music The Way It Should Be. > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Got A Country Music Question...??? 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