Rt 2 Stuart

Rt 2 Stuart Virginia

Back When I Was A Cowboy: (May 1997). I had promised a friend I would write a song for her future husband as a birthday gift, if she’s just jot down some ideas. I worked on and off for several months trying to write it. In the process this song was written. THINGS TO KNOW: Its’ the true story of my life! Wish I could find all the words to A Cowboy Life’s!!

Countyline (May 2020). I wrote this in 2004 and made a demo of it, which I was never pleased with the demo and wrote the song off.   After reading the autobiography of Guy Clark and listening to his music and that of his guitar picker, Verlon Thompson, I decided the song was worth a another try. THINGS TO KNOW: I left my hometown in 1972 for the Navy. Everytime I would cross the Countyline I would blow my horn for a half mile! Talking with some of my shipmates, they told me the did the same!

Country Boy: (March 2006). Another true story of my childhood! Grew up in the simple life of a country boy and I’m damn proud of it. I tell the joke that we were so wealthy, we had two TV’s...they were on top of each other, one for sound and the other for the picture….I’m sure there’s some families out there that can relate to that. But looking back, it was rich childhood raised on solid principals of honesty and hard work. I can clearly remember watching those great Sunday morning Gospel music programs on TV and waking up to the smell of Mama’s Fried Chicken and Sopping Gravy…YES, that was Sunday morning breakfast!! THINGS TO KNOW: For the benefit of some that didn’t grow up in the country, when you bought soft drinks you had to pay a 2-cent deposit on each bottle. Lots of people would just throw the bottle out the window of the car in the ditches after they were empty. We’d roam the ditches along the road between the house and country store looking for “pop bottles” and turn them in for that 2 cent return of deposit…which was a very common way to make a little money!

Crooked Road: (September 2007). Virginia has a designated trail titled “The Crooked Road” to celebrate the musical heritage of Virginia Musicians (Carter Family, Ralph Stanley, etc). The Crooked Road begins in Ferrum Virginia some 30 miles away and runs through Patrick Country. We were visiting my hometown in January 2007 and we staying in the Virginian Motel directly in the town of Stuart. I spent several hours looking out at Bull Mountain. I also got the chance to play at one of the “Crooked Road” venues in Willis Gap on the North Caroline border. I wrote most of the song while looking out the “Bull Mountain watching the Pickup trucks drive by”. THINGS TO KNOW: I have a picture video of the Crooked Road on You Tube.

Daddy’s Funeral (2011) (Home Studio Version)   Very simple recap of the events surrounding my father funeral in 2011. He was bed ridden for 4 years dying of nothing. His refusal to go to a doctor for a full exam until he was unable to move his muscles, just kept him in bed. There was just nothing left to say after four years. THINGS TO KNOW: At the gravesite, just as they started singing Amazing Grace, an old Log Truck came pulling loudly and slowly up the hill. Although it aggravated most everybody, my Mama thought it was a great last tribute to an old sawmill man.

Daddy Was A Factory Man: (August 2003) My Mama wrote that the textile factory (which my Daddy worked at for 44 years and my two brothers-in-law have worked there for 30 plus years) up and closed with only a couple of weeks notice. I had written the title and idea several years ago, but the news of the factory closing inspired me to write the song. I love the bass line that Jogi put on it. THINGS TO KNOW: When my Daddy first heard it, he told my Mama, “he pretty much covered everything”.

Grandpa and Charlie Poole: (Oct 2012) I wanted to write a tribute to my Grandpa Boss Foley (Mama's Daddy). He died of cancer in 1961 when I was 7 years old. I have a few faint memories of him. But I remember stories about his "Moonshiner Days" and that the great Charlie Poole would visit and hang around for a few days at a time, before he became famous. The statistics of Charlie Poole and Grandpa Boss are all true. THINGS TO KNOW: Mama used to say, if she woke up to the sound of Charlie Poole records, she knew if was gonna be a good day (meaning her Daddy wasn't too hung-over)

Grandpa Cleves Story: (2019) My Grandpa Cleve died in 1989 while I was stationed in Italy. I wrote a song then and have updated numerous times, but I’ve need been happy with it. To much to say, so I figured no better way to pay tribute was just to tell his story. THINGS TO KNOW: Its all in the story.

Guardian Angel: (November 2008). The “Fernpass” in Austria is a very dangerous curvy mountain road, where motorcyclists try to set land speed records and end up being the next organ donor. There is a sign showing a motorcyclist with a tiny angel up on his shoulder and the sign reads (translated) Give Your Guardian A Chance. When I decided to write a song about two times when I was about 14 years old, my Guardian Angel stepped in. THINGS TO KNOW: You can’t put the gun in mouth and keep pulling trigger and expect the Guardian Angel to save you every time. Your Guardian Angel can’t do it all…

Jonathan’s Song: (Feb 2005). The first time this song has been published. It’s a tribute to my cousin Marine Corporal Jonathan Bowling. . Jonathan was killed in IRAQ. THINGS TO KNOW: Jonathan and I are related through his mother, but I went to school for all 12 years with his father.

Mama's Biscuits and Gravy: (June 2010) Every songwriter eventually writes a song about Mama!!. Biscuits and Gravy is a real southern breakfast standard. Homemade biscuits made with flour, Crisco Shortening and Milk. Gravy (sometimes referred to as Sopping Gravy) is made from leftover grease in the frying pan (after you've cooked up a batch of bacon or sausage), you add flour to the grease until it browns and add condensed milk, stirring it to it thickens. My father (along with most southerners) ate this every morning for breakfast, along with some bacon and eggs. He lived to be 84. But take a minute to think about 1945, where you had to build a fire in the stove and get it hot enough to bake biscuits. Mama says it wasn't until the mid 50's that we finally got an electric stove...THINGS TO KNOW: I want to personally thank Willie Nelson for the rhyme of Navy and Gravy from his song Pick Up The Tempo!! Also my Mama loves this song and it go a lot of radio airplay in my hometown!!!!

Mama's Front Yard: (2015) From my childhood home in the Elamsville Community of Stuart Virginia, there is a spectacular view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I used a picture from that view on a lot of promotional material. I went home in summer of 2015 and each night I would set out in the front yard and watch the sun go down over the mountains. THINGS TO KNOW: Country nights are not quiet..actually natures sounds are quite loud...which you hear at the end of the song. Up the road a few hundred yards resides a lone donkey belonging to my cousin and each night between 9 & 9:15pm he would start braying that would go on for 5 minutes, just like clockwork.

NAFTA Blues: (January 2000, AKA Y2K) I wrote this on New Years Day. I had read about several hometown factories had closed and I decided to write the song. (3 years before my Daddy’s factory closed). THINGS TO KNOW: The phase “pennies in my shoes” goes back to the penny loafter days. This song was arranged to have a Dixieland Band on it, but they all backed out, leaving me to use a demo version I had worked up. It supposed to have kinda a Jimmie Rodgers (1930) sound. Oh, my Grandpa (on my Mama’s side) was a Moonshiner! That’s my good friend Mandy Strobel joining me on vocals.

News From Back Home: (April 2000). Written after several letters from my sister, Raena, I set down with the intention of just collecting a few ideas from things that had happened in the family, a half hour later, I had a whole song. THINGS TO KNOW: Its ALL true. Someday, I’ll have write MORE News From Back Home!!

The House I Call Home (July 2012)   Another song written on the road. Al tribute to my father, who by the age of 32 with 4 kids built the house I grew up in and my mother still lives. My father had cut timber and working in a sawmill right after WWII in North Carolina. He returned to his hometown in Virginia in 1952 and start working 2nd shift in a textile factory. Shortly after, he bought and began to run a small sawmill in the mornings from 7am. til 12pm. Come home, wash up, eat dinner and catch his ride to the factory at 2pm. THINGS TO KNOW: I was just thinking of the sad day that I will not be able to walk freely into my childhood home. Whether its owned by another family member or a stranger, it will never be the same again. I'm one of the lucky ones that can still do that 56 years after we moved in, I can still call it home

Red & Mae's (Feb 2018) Every year after our annual Country Music Convention, I'm normally inspired to write some specific. This time I was just inspired to write something after a pretty long dry spell. Decided I'd play tribute to my favorite beer joint back home over the county line where they could serve beer on Sundays.   The song is pretty much autobiographical. In the past 10 years, the NEW Red and Mae's has gone thru a number of management changes and has never lived up to the original. THINGS TO KNOW..My Real Cousin Earl was a regular at Red and Mae's, but he never caused any trouble. I sent him a demo in Sep 2019 to get his approval to honor him in the song. Earl passed away in December 2019.

You are listening to “Mama’s Biscuits and Gravy”