 PRECIOUS MEMORIES, HOW THEY LINGER...
by Stan Hitchcock
Buck Owens passed near the end of March and another pioneer has gone. He was a great man of music and a great friend and I treasure the memories of the time we got to spend together, in music. The last time I was with him was when he came into Nashville to do Heart to Heart with me when I was still running CMT. It was 1988 and he brought one of his trademark red, white and blue guitars that he had specially made for his friends, and he gave it to me in the middle of the show. Buck and I did a lot of shows together in the 60’s and 70’s and I always enjoyed standing in the wings at the side of the stage, or in a television studio when I would guest on Hee Haw, and watching him perform. I had not seen Buck in person since the time we did Heart to Heart together in ’88, but he would call me from time to time just to check on how I was doing. As you get older, your old friendships grow even more precious. As the great musician/record producer Owen Bradley used to say, "When you find yourself attending more funerals than weddings, you realize you’re getting old".
So many have passed since I arrived in Nashville in ‘62, but the other members of this strange tribe of pickers, singers, strutters, starvers, grinners, bookers, writers, publishers, managers, promoters, movers, takers and givers seem to be bound together with a deep and abiding love for each other that never fails to surface and spill over on those occasions when we all join together to say goodbye to one of our own. Special moments occur at these final going away parties.....Red Foley singing Peace in the Valley at Hank Williams funeral; J. D. Sumner and the Stamps singing it again at Presley’s wake; Ricky Skaggs’ beautiful singing at Keith Whitley’s farewell; the great outpouring of love in the stories told at Roger Miller’s celebration of life; the overwhelming spirit of love and respect at Minnie Pearl’s funeral; the passing of an era when we lost Ernest Tubb, Roy Acuff, Bashful Brother Oswald, Merle Travis, Bill Monroe, Stringbean, The Wilburn Brothers, Ira Louvin and Grandpa Jones. I shall never forget the look of love in Brenda Lee’s eyes as she sang her goodbye to the man who guided her recording career, Mr. Owen Bradley, nor the depth of sadness at the passing of Tammy Wynette after a lifetime of pain.
There have been some who were cut down in the prime that have been particularly hard.....Mel Street, Bob Luman, Nat Stuckey, Conway Twitty, Keith Whitley, O. B. McClinton, Marty Robbins, George Morgan, Eddie Rabbitt, Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Randy Hughes, Jack Anglin, Jim Reeves, Dottie West, Tammy, Wynn Stewart, Chet Atkins, Johnny Russell, Merle Kilgore and, of course, Roger Miller. There’s also a host of great songwriters like Cindy Walker and Harlan Howard that will be forever missed. Special musician friends like steel guitarists Hal Rugg and Curly Chalker who could raise the goose bumps on my inner arm when they played the turn around on one of my songs in the early years.
It seems that when we lose one of our music friends that it has a special significance to all of us who have been touched by their music in a way that is intensely personal. Maybe that was the song you dated to in high school, or got married to, or had some other personal attachment that brought this person into a part of your life. Yes, these are our heroes and it is hard to give them up.
Sometimes the loss just makes no sense.....when Keith Whitley died, after drinking straight alcohol until his heart stopped, I was just so angry because I loved him and I couldn’t reconcile him doing something like that, or when Mel Street got up from the breakfast table, with all his family sitting there, climbed the stairs to the second story bedroom and shot himself to death. Wasted years that could have been so good, with family and friends that loved them.....I still grieve for the senseless loss.
It was particularly painful when Dottie West died, after her car broke down on the way to the Opry and she hitched a ride from an elderly neighbor that came by and he wrecked taking the Opry exit off Briley Parkway.
Conway, who knew something, was not quite right within himself, but kept putting off going to the doctor until the day he left Branson, Missouri after a concert and about 100 miles up the road the aneurysm in the main artery in his stomach ruptured and he bled to death.
Bob Luman, who I took on a fishing trip just weeks before he died, kept complaining of being cold in the 80 degree weather. Cold, cause he was bleeding inside and his body was slowly shutting down. Bob Luman was one of the best at this job of entertaining that I have ever met, and I just loved him like a brother and I thought he would live to be 120 at least.
Eddie Rabbitt, who was one of the nicest men I ever met, kind, calm, considerate, and full of talent.......finally lost the fight to lung cancer, but he fought it hard. The last time we were together he came up to Branson, Missouri with me and we shot a "Heart to Heart" show together.....just the two of us with two flat top guitars and some funny stories to tell. He was my friend, and I miss him.........
So many have been lost and I guess it is just on my mind strong today as I sit here at my keyboard and the rain falls outside my window and runs in little miniature rivers down to the creek in front of our old farm house…and the ghosts of my old friends stroll through my memory like old soldiers in a Veterans Day parade, still walking proud and straight just as they always did, and still raising their voices in songs that will always be the way that I remember them best.
| "Precious memories, how they linger, how they ever flood my soul. In the stillness of the midnight, Precious sacred scenes unfold." |
Until next time my friends,
Stan
stan@bluehighwaystv.com
|
|
