The Roots of the Band

Music has influenced me all my life. Some of my earliest memories are from when I was only three years old, standing in front of the TV watching Tennessee Ernie Ford and singing "Sixteen Tons" right along with him.

I grew up surrounded by the sounds of the era. I remember hearing my mother sing "Buttons & Bows" by Rosemary Clooney and the electric energy of Elvis singing "Blue Suede Shoes." I remember the excitement of going to the record store to buy that single, only to come home and realize we had bought the Carl Perkins version instead.

Mammy's Promise

The real turning point, though, was my great-grandmother, "Mammy." I spent my childhood watching Flatt and Scruggs with her. She saw how much I loved it and told me something I never forgot: she said I could "pay my own way" in this world if I learned to play. She promised that if I wanted to learn, she would buy me a guitar and pay for the lessons herself.

When the Beatles hit the Ed Sullivan Show, that was it. I called Mammy up and told her I was ready - I wanted to learn to play the guitar. True to her word, she paid for that first guitar and my lessons out of her Social Security check. My big brother James went down to a pawn shop to pick it out for me.

Years later, when Mammy passed away, my mother gave me her Bible. When I opened it up, a newspaper clipping fell out and landed at my feet. It was Hank Williams' obituary. It felt like a final sign - a connection between her, the history of this music, and my own journey.

This was the forerunner to my life as a songwriter and the true beginning of the Living Room Floor Band. Every time I hit record, I feel like I'm still playing that guitar Mammy bought me.

My Life As A Songwriter
Blind Luck

I've been lucky enough, and I mean extremely and blindly lucky, to have had some songs recorded that achieved moderate success, with two songs that made it onto multi-million selling albums.

In about 1974 I was lucky enough to find my way into  theMel Tillis publishing company and have him record one of the first songs I ever wrote. It was included on an album the same year Mel won the CMA Entertainer of the Year award.

Mel hired two writers who also had their first major artist recordings on the same album. One was Jimmy Darrell, the leader and lead singer in the old Possum Holler band. Jimmy taught me practically all I know about writing songs. The other one was Buddy Cannon, who has gone on to be one of the most successful record producers in the music business. Buddy helped me record "Change Your Thinking" and "You Can't Make Old Friends."

The Success of "Dream Of Me"

The biggest success we've had is a song called "Dream Of Me." Vern Gosdin almost immediately put the song "on hold" the minute Buddy played it for him. We had already sent it to the Oak Ridge Boys and we got a call from them on the very same day. They both cut it.

Ovation released it as a radio single and it became a Billboard Top 10. But it was also on the Oak Ridge Boys "Fancy Free" album which contained "Elvira" and became one of the first country million-selling albums.

My Friend Billy Williams

One other person I was lucky enough to meet is Billy Williams. I met Billy in my very first studio songwriter demo session. He's taught me so much about music but it's what he's taught me spiritually about life that endears him to me forever. He's my fourth brother.

Before Billy came to Nashville and became a session guitar player and record producer, he was the leader of the house band at a popular country dance club in Phoenix called Mr. Lucky's.  After a number of frustrating years in Nashville, he moved back to Phoenix and his old job with headliner Jay David Sloan.  Billy and the band were subsequently hired to do a European tour backing an aspiring young female singer.

Another act had also been hired for the tour, a singer/songwriter named  Lyle Lovett, who was accompanied by a lone cello player. They developed a relationship and when the tour was over, Lyle went to Phoenix and Billy and the band went into the studio and recorded some "demos" of Lyle's songs, which later became the basis for Lyle's first album.

Lyle wanted to shop his tunes in Nashville and Billy sent him to see me and another longtime friend, Ernie Rowell, who was the leader and frontman for George Jones' band, the Jones Boys. Ernie and I realized that his style of writing was not conducive to the country record label/radio market at the time and we advised him that he should pursue a record deal for himself instead.  And the rest is history.  We sent him to another plugger in town and one meeting led to another and, before it was all said and done, Lyle landed a record deal with Curb records.

Billy wound up co-producing all of Lyle's early albums and Billy's band, which contained guitar player Ray Herndon, who later became a country artist himself, bass player Matt McKenzie, who went on to play in Don Williams' band, and Matt Rollings, who is now one of Nashville's premier session piano players/arrangers/record producers, made up Lyle's touring band in the early years.  Lyle's had 17 Grammy Award nominations and his album, Road To Ensenada co-produced by Billy, won Country Album of the Year in 1997.

Billy has also produced Grammy nominated albums in the Best New Age and Best Native American Music categorys for Native-American floutist, Carlos Nakai.  So, not only was Billy a huge positive influence on my life and my music career, he was instrumental in the successful careers of many others.  That's Billy, giving way more than he gets.  He changed my life in a huge way.

I owe a lot to these guys. And to Mel Tillis for giving me the chance to make a living doing something I dearly love. As Vern would say, just enough to keep me hangin' on.