muddys.org

In the 60’s as we all know, Birmingham, Alabama was a hotbed of racial trouble. The church bombing, the hosing, MLK and all the rest of it has been well documented. Thankfully I don’t remember most of it. I don’t know if I was shielded from it or if I have some mental block but it’s not there. However there were two instances that will forever be etched in my mind.

We moved back from Atlanta the summer before I entered second grade. We lived within easy walking distance of Forest Hills Elementary. I was there from the 2nd to the 6th grade and I think I got a great education there. In fact I know I did. Forest Hills was attended by all white kids from the time I attended second grade through the first semester of my 6th grade year. The second semester the school was integrated. The white teacher I had was gone and was replaced by a black teacher. I don’t recall if any kids were transferred out of my class but I feel certain there were and in their place were some black kids. I guess we were about 50\50. It didn’t really bother me that much. In fact one of the black kids and I got to be pretty good buddies. The thing that was so horrible about it was that many of the parents kept their kids home in protest. I’m sure that I wasn’t the only white kid that was there while they protested but it sure felt like it. It was my last year there. After that I attended a private school in Vestavia called Alliance Christian. I don’t know this for sure (but I’m going to ask!) but I don’t think I was sent to ACHS because my parents wanted me to get away from black people but because that felt like I could get a better education than I could at Fairfield. Plus my folks were (my Mom still is, my Dad passed away) devout Christians.

The second horrible event happened when I was maybe 16 or 17 years old. My Dad had bought some land in Altedena Valley and was planning on building a house. Naturally that meant selling ours. We never thought anything about it really. We put it on the market and began to show it. One day a white lady came and looked at the house and brought along a black friend of hers. The white lady didn’t want it but the black lady did. I’m not at all sure how they found out, but the neighbors caught wind of it and they obviously didn’t like the idea. I came home one night and out in front of my house was a big crowd of people chanting and yelling at us because we were going to sell to a black. Our yard was salted, eggs thrown at our house and threats made. Some of these people I knew! The people across the street were more or less the ring leaders and it caused all of us a great deal of anguish. In the end we didn’t sell. Again, I’m not sure why but we didn’t. Turns out that one of the neighbors who sort of spearheaded the whole thing moved out themselves in the middle of the night not long after that after selling their house to, you guessed it, blacks.

Now I’m not racist in the least and never have been. I think that those events, along with great parenting, prevented that.

Next…. The beginning of the Great Fall….

It was 1965 and we moved back to Fairfield. Initially we rented a house in Forest Hills. My Dad was building a house in a new subdivision called Fair Oaks. I don’t recall a whole lot about that house but I do remember it was set on a hill. Behind me lived a girl named Karen Smith. We didn’t live there very long since the house was ready fairly quickly.

In 1965 there was still segregation going on and the next four years I went to school with all white kids but I’ll get into that later. Outside of going out back to play with Karen I don’t remember much about that time.  It’s funny how certain memories, weird memories, do come back though. I don’t know how it was or why they did it but I recall being hit in the side of the head with a rock while living there. I don’t know why and I don’t recall the pain so much but I do remember this kind of spinning my head did when it was hit. Not a dizziness really but like a bell ringing almost with the sound slowly fading out. Nothing after that. It didn’t knock me out thankfully and there was no real permanent damage done.

We didn’t live there long and soon we moved into the house where I truly grew up. 7101 Pine Tree Lane there in Fair Oaks. I still know our old phone number even. 786-3363. I didn’t know it then, but it was a wonderful and thrilling place to grow up. So many memories flood back as I think of that time.

We were the first house to be completed in the neighborhood and we were the first to move in. One block up one way ended and one block down the other way the road ended. The rest was woods and the woods were my playground. Often times I would leave in the morning and not be back for hours. As the subdivision grew the woods receded and I had to resort to my backyard. That in itself was not a bad thing give the fact that we had a huge backyard that was mostly a thinned out wooded area. In the very back I built a fine tree house. At least to me it was. It had one wall that would fold down and I could look out over the surrounding area for miles. It wasn’t particularly high but it was great. The city eventually carved off the back corner presumably to provide a better view for the traffic and with it took my tree house. I built a couple more but none compared to that one.

The very best thing about growing up there was the pool. Fair Oaks Swim and Tennis Club. Never was much of a tennis club but the pool was the greatest thing ever. During the summer I would spend hours and hours there, It was an L shaped pool with a fantastic high dive. I learned to do a lot of tricks off that board. A gainer (where one would spring forward off the board and flip backwards), the swan dive, the flying squirrel ( grab both ankles and pull back while diving head first), flips, can openers and all sorts of things. It was great fun. The down side to it is the fact that I paid for all that time in the water with ear infections that lead to my hearing problems. But if I had it to do over again I would in a heartbeat. I lived there until I got married the first time. It was a marvelous and magical place. Not without it’s problems however….

I:\Music\Rock\Abba
I:\Music\Rock\ACDC
I:\Music\Rock\Aerosmith
I:\Music\Rock\Alanis Morissette
I:\Music\Rock\Alex Chilton
I:\Music\Rock\Allman Brothers
I:\Music\Rock\Beach Boys
I:\Music\Rock\Beatles
I:\Music\Rock\Bee Gees
I:\Music\Rock\Big Guitars From Texas – 1985 – Trash, Twang, & Thunder
I:\Music\Rock\Black Sabboth
I:\Music\Rock\Bo Diddley
I:\Music\Rock\Bob Dylan
I:\Music\Rock\Bodeans
I:\Music\Rock\Bruce Cockburn
I:\Music\Rock\Bruce Springsteen
I:\Music\Rock\Canned Heat
I:\Music\Rock\CCR
I:\Music\Rock\Chuck Berry
I:\Music\Rock\Coldplay
I:\Music\Rock\Cream
I:\Music\Rock\Crosby Nash
I:\Music\Rock\Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
I:\Music\Rock\Dave Edmunds
I:\Music\Rock\David Bowie
I:\Music\Rock\David Gilmore
I:\Music\Rock\Decemberists
I:\Music\Rock\Dion
I:\Music\Rock\Dire Straits
I:\Music\Rock\Dixie Cups
I:\Music\Rock\Donald Fagen
I:\Music\Rock\Duane Allman and Eric Clapton
I:\Music\Rock\Duane Eddy
I:\Music\Rock\Elvis
I:\Music\Rock\Elvis Costello
I:\Music\Rock\Emmylou Harris
I:\Music\Rock\Eric Clapton
I:\Music\Rock\Everly Brothers
I:\Music\Rock\Fleetwood Mac
I:\Music\Rock\Georgia Satelites
I:\Music\Rock\Golden Earing
I:\Music\Rock\Grand Funk Railroad
I:\Music\Rock\James Gang
I:\Music\Rock\Jeff Beck
I:\Music\Rock\Jerry Lee Lewis
I:\Music\Rock\Jimi Hendrix
I:\Music\Rock\Joan Armatrading
I:\Music\Rock\John Lennon
I:\Music\Rock\Johnny Rivers
I:\Music\Rock\Kings X
I:\Music\Rock\Led Zepplin
I:\Music\Rock\Los Lobos
I:\Music\Rock\Los Lonely Boys
I:\Music\Rock\Lou Reed
I:\Music\Rock\Members
I:\Music\Rock\Michael Jackson
I:\Music\Rock\Monkees
I:\Music\Rock\Neil Diamond
I:\Music\Rock\Neil Young Discography 1968-2007 (44 Albums) (Mp3 320K)
I:\Music\Rock\Neko Case
I:\Music\Rock\Nevilles
I:\Music\Rock\Paul Simon
I:\Music\Rock\Peter Gabriel
I:\Music\Rock\Phil Collins
I:\Music\Rock\Pink Floyd
I:\Music\Rock\Pixies
I:\Music\Rock\Pretenders
I:\Music\Rock\Prince
I:\Music\Rock\R.E.M
I:\Music\Rock\Ramones
I:\Music\Rock\Ricky Nelson
I:\Music\Rock\Roger Waters
I:\Music\Rock\Rolling Stones
I:\Music\Rock\Roy Orbison
I:\Music\Rock\Ry Cooder
I:\Music\Rock\Santana
I:\Music\Rock\Simon and Garfunkel
I:\Music\Rock\Sly and the Family Stone
I:\Music\Rock\Spencer Davis Group
I:\Music\Rock\Steeley Dan
I:\Music\Rock\Steppenwolf
I:\Music\Rock\Sting
I:\Music\Rock\T-Bone Burnett
I:\Music\Rock\Talking Heads
I:\Music\Rock\Texas Tornados
I:\Music\Rock\The Animals
I:\Music\Rock\The Chantels
I:\Music\Rock\The Deuce Coupes
I:\Music\Rock\The Doors
I:\Music\Rock\The Guess Who
I:\Music\Rock\The Monkees
I:\Music\Rock\The Righteous Brothers
I:\Music\Rock\The Ronettes
I:\Music\Rock\The Who
I:\Music\Rock\The Zombies
I:\Music\Rock\They Might Be Giants
I:\Music\Rock\Three Dog Night
I:\Music\Rock\Tom Jones (Greatest Hits)
I:\Music\Rock\Tom Petty
I:\Music\Rock\Tom Verlaine
I:\Music\Rock\Tom Waites
I:\Music\Rock\Tommy James and the Shondells
I:\Music\Rock\Tommy Roe
I:\Music\Rock\Traffic
I:\Music\Rock\Traveling Wilburys
I:\Music\Rock\U2
I:\Music\Rock\Van Morrison
I:\Music\Rock\Various
I:\Music\Rock\Ventures
I:\Music\Rock\Warren Zevon
I:\Music\Rock\White Stripes
I:\Music\Rock\Woodstock
I:\Music\Rock\Yardbirds
I:\Music\Rock\Yes
I:\Music\Rock\ZZ Top

I:\Music\Jazz\Al Sears
I:\Music\Jazz\Amy Winehouse
I:\Music\Jazz\Andrews Sisters
I:\Music\Jazz\Andy Williams
I:\Music\Jazz\Art Blakey
I:\Music\Jazz\Art Tatum
I:\Music\Jazz\Artie Shaw
I:\Music\Jazz\Ben Webster
I:\Music\Jazz\Benny Goodman
I:\Music\Jazz\Bill Evens
I:\Music\Jazz\Billy Holiday
I:\Music\Jazz\Bing Crosby
I:\Music\Jazz\Bix Beiderbecke
I:\Music\Jazz\Boswell Sisters
I:\Music\Jazz\Branford Marsalis
I:\Music\Jazz\Bud Powell
I:\Music\Jazz\Butch Thompson
I:\Music\Jazz\Cab Calloway
I:\Music\Jazz\Cannonball Adderly
I:\Music\Jazz\Carla Thomas
I:\Music\Jazz\Carmen Miranda
I:\Music\Jazz\Charlie Barnet
I:\Music\Jazz\Charlie Parker
I:\Music\Jazz\Chet Baker
I:\Music\Jazz\Clifford Brown
I:\Music\Jazz\Cole Porter
I:\Music\Jazz\Coleman Hawkins
I:\Music\Jazz\Count Basie
I:\Music\Jazz\Dave Brubeck
I:\Music\Jazz\Diana Krall
I:\Music\Jazz\Dizzy Gillespie
I:\Music\Jazz\Django Reinhardt
I:\Music\Jazz\Don Caballero
I:\Music\Jazz\Doris Day
I:\Music\Jazz\Duke Ellington
I:\Music\Jazz\Earl Garner
I:\Music\Jazz\Earl Hines
I:\Music\Jazz\Eartha Kitt
I:\Music\Jazz\Eddie Lockjaw Davis
I:\Music\Jazz\Ella Fitzgerald
I:\Music\Jazz\Erroll Garner
I:\Music\Jazz\Etta James
I:\Music\Jazz\Eva Cassidy
I:\Music\Jazz\Fats Waller
I:\Music\Jazz\Fletcher Henderson
I:\Music\Jazz\Frank Sinatra
I:\Music\Jazz\Gary Burton
I:\Music\Jazz\Gene Krupa
I:\Music\Jazz\Glen Miller
I:\Music\Jazz\Hammond B3
I:\Music\Jazz\Harry Conick
I:\Music\Jazz\Harry James
I:\Music\Jazz\Houston Person – My Romance
I:\Music\Jazz\Jaco Pastorius
I:\Music\Jazz\Jazz at First Sight
I:\Music\Jazz\Jelly Roll Morton
I:\Music\Jazz\Jimmy Mcgriff
I:\Music\Jazz\Joe Henderson
I:\Music\Jazz\John Coltrane
I:\Music\Jazz\John Pizzarelli
I:\Music\Jazz\Johnny Hodges
I:\Music\Jazz\King Oliver
I:\Music\Jazz\King Sunny Ade & His African Beats
I:\Music\Jazz\Kronos Quartet
I:\Music\Jazz\Les Brown
I:\Music\Jazz\Les Paul
I:\Music\Jazz\Lester Young
I:\Music\Jazz\Lionel Hampton
I:\Music\Jazz\Louis Armstrong
I:\Music\Jazz\Louis Jordan
I:\Music\Jazz\Marian Mcpartland
I:\Music\Jazz\McCoy Tyner
I:\Music\Jazz\Miles Davis
I:\Music\Jazz\Mills Brothers
I:\Music\Jazz\Mindi Abair
I:\Music\Jazz\Modern Jazz Quartet
I:\Music\Jazz\Monk
I:\Music\Jazz\Nat King Cole
I:\Music\Jazz\Norah Jones
I:\Music\Jazz\Oliver_Nelson,King_Curtis_&_Jimmy_Forrest_-_Soul_Battle_[264k_VBR].zip
I:\Music\Jazz\Oliver_Nelson_-_Black,_brown_and_beautiful_(1970)_[FLAC].zip
I:\Music\Jazz\Peggy Lee
I:\Music\Jazz\Pharoah Sanders
I:\Music\Jazz\Rashaan Roland Kirk
I:\Music\Jazz\Ray Charles
I:\Music\Jazz\Roy Eldridge
I:\Music\Jazz\Sarah Vaughan – With Clifford Brown – Remastered – 2001
I:\Music\Jazz\Shadowfax
I:\Music\Jazz\Sonny Rollins
I:\Music\Jazz\Sonny Stitt
I:\Music\Jazz\Spyro Gyra
I:\Music\Jazz\Sun Ra
I:\Music\Jazz\Sydney Bechet
I:\Music\Jazz\Tito Puente
I:\Music\Jazz\Tommy Dorsey
I:\Music\Jazz\Tony Bennett
I:\Music\Jazz\Various
I:\Music\Jazz\Wes Montgomery
I:\Music\Jazz\Woody Herman
I:\Music\Jazz\Wynton Marsalis – Big Train
I:\Music\Jazz\Wynton_Marsalis_-_Big_Train.zip
I:\Music\Jazz\Xavier Cugat & His Orchestra

I:\Music\Country\Alan Jackson
I:\Music\Country\Allison Krauss
I:\Music\Country\Asleep At The Wheel
I:\Music\Country\Bluegrass
I:\Music\Country\Bob Wills
I:\Music\Country\Box Car Willie
I:\Music\Country\Brenda Lee
I:\Music\Country\Buck Owens
I:\Music\Country\Buddy Miller
I:\Music\Country\Charlie Pride
I:\Music\Country\Connie Francis
I:\Music\Country\Conway Twitty
I:\Music\Country\Cowboy Junkies
I:\Music\Country\Doc Watson
I:\Music\Country\Dolly Parton
I:\Music\Country\Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
I:\Music\Country\Dwight Yoakum
I:\Music\Country\Earle Scruggs
I:\Music\Country\Earnest Tubb
I:\Music\Country\Franklie Laine
I:\Music\Country\Gene Autry
I:\Music\Country\George Jones
I:\Music\Country\Glen Campbell
I:\Music\Country\Grandpa Jones
I:\Music\Country\Hank Hocklin
I:\Music\Country\Hank Snow
I:\Music\Country\Hank Williams
I:\Music\Country\Henry Thomas
I:\Music\Country\J.J. Cale
I:\Music\Country\Jerry Lee Lewis
I:\Music\Country\Jim Reeves
I:\Music\Country\Jimmy Dean
I:\Music\Country\Joe Ely
I:\Music\Country\John Hartford
I:\Music\Country\Johnny Cash
I:\Music\Country\Kathy Mattea
I:\Music\Country\Leon Payne
I:\Music\Country\Lester Flatt
I:\Music\Country\Los Lobos and Ronnie Milsap
I:\Music\Country\Louvin Brothers
I:\Music\Country\Lucinda Williams
I:\Music\Country\Lyle Lovett
I:\Music\Country\Marty Robins
I:\Music\Country\Marty Stuart
I:\Music\Country\Mason Proffit
I:\Music\Country\Merle Haggard
I:\Music\Country\Patsy Cline
I:\Music\Country\Porter Wagner
I:\Music\Country\Ralph Stanley
I:\Music\Country\Randy Travis
I:\Music\Country\Ray Charles – The Complete Country and Western Recordings
I:\Music\Country\Ray Stevens
I:\Music\Country\Red Sovine
I:\Music\Country\Ricky Skaggs
I:\Music\Country\Riders in the Sky
I:\Music\Country\Stanley Brothers
I:\Music\Country\Steve Earle
I:\Music\Country\Stringbean
I:\Music\Country\Tammy Wynette
I:\Music\Country\The Carter Family
I:\Music\Country\The Judds
I:\Music\Country\Travis Tritt
I:\Music\Country\Various
I:\Music\Country\Willie Nelson

I:\Music\Christmas\1940’s Christmas
I:\Music\Christmas\Andreas Vollenweider
I:\Music\Christmas\Andy Wiliams
I:\Music\Christmas\B.B. King
I:\Music\Christmas\Bela Fleck
I:\Music\Christmas\Bing Crosby
I:\Music\Christmas\Blues, Mistletoe, & Santa’s Little Helper 1995 320k
I:\Music\Christmas\Brian Setzer
I:\Music\Christmas\Chet Baker
I:\Music\Christmas\Dion
I:\Music\Christmas\Ella
I:\Music\Christmas\Frank Sinatra
I:\Music\Christmas\Jimmy Smith
I:\Music\Christmas\Johnny Cash
I:\Music\Christmas\Kathy Mattea
I:\Music\Christmas\LOS LONELY BOYS – Christmas Spirit (2008) @320
I:\Music\Christmas\Various Artists

I:\Music\Blues\A.C. Reed
I:\Music\Blues\Albert Collins
I:\Music\Blues\Albert King
I:\Music\Blues\Albert Lee
I:\Music\Blues\BB King
I:\Music\Blues\Bee Houston
I:\Music\Blues\Bessie Smith
I:\Music\Blues\Big Bill Broonzy
I:\Music\Blues\Big Fat Mama
I:\Music\Blues\Bill Whyman’s Rhythm Kings
I:\Music\Blues\Blackie & The Rodeo Kings – 1999 – Kings of Love – Disc 1
I:\Music\Blues\Bloodline (Joe Bonamassa) – 1994 – Bloodline 320k
I:\Music\Blues\Bonnie Raitt
I:\Music\Blues\Brothers In Blues
I:\Music\Blues\Buddy Guy
I:\Music\Blues\Bugs Henderson
I:\Music\Blues\Cajun
I:\Music\Blues\Champion Jack Dupree
I:\Music\Blues\Charlie Musselwhite
I:\Music\Blues\Chicago Blues Reunion
I:\Music\Blues\Earl King
I:\Music\Blues\Elmore James
I:\Music\Blues\Essex Blues Band – 2003 – Blues Friends 256k
I:\Music\Blues\Etta James
I:\Music\Blues\Gentleman’s Blues Club
I:\Music\Blues\George Thorogood
I:\Music\Blues\Howlin’ Wolf
I:\Music\Blues\J.B. Hutto and the Houserockers
I:\Music\Blues\J.B. Lenoir
I:\Music\Blues\James Cotton
I:\Music\Blues\John Lee Hooker
I:\Music\Blues\John Mayall
I:\Music\Blues\Johnny Lang
I:\Music\Blues\Johnny Shines
I:\Music\Blues\Keb Mo
I:\Music\Blues\Kelly Richie – Carry The Light – 2008
I:\Music\Blues\Kenny Wayne Shepherd
I:\Music\Blues\Leadbelly
I:\Music\Blues\Lightnin’ Hopkins
I:\Music\Blues\Little Walter
I:\Music\Blues\Lonnie Mack
I:\Music\Blues\Magic Slim and the Teardrops
I:\Music\Blues\Michael Burks
I:\Music\Blues\Muddy Waters
I:\Music\Blues\Nighthawks
I:\Music\Blues\Pine Top Perkins
I:\Music\Blues\Professor Longhair
I:\Music\Blues\R.L. Burnside
I:\Music\Blues\Rob Agerbeek
I:\Music\Blues\Robert Johnson
I:\Music\Blues\Sean Costello
I:\Music\Blues\Sleepy John Estes
I:\Music\Blues\Sonny Boy Williamson and the Yard birds
I:\Music\Blues\Stevie Ray Vaughn
I:\Music\Blues\Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots
I:\Music\Blues\Taj Mahal
I:\Music\Blues\The Lott-Riley Band
I:\Music\Blues\Tony Joe White
I:\Music\Blues\Various
I:\Music\Blues\Willie Dixon
I:\Music\Blues\Willie King
I:\Music\Blues\Zen Blues Quartet – What A Life

I’m horrible with dates. I’m horrible with names. But I never forget a face. Not that names and faces matter a whole lot with my time in Atlanta. I never have been quite sure what we were doing there. My dad apparently started his own business over there. Something to do with recording and\or sound equipment I think. I should ask about that I guess. Initially we lived in a hotel which was great fun primarily because it had a pool. I don’t remember the room itself or how long we were there but I do remember the pool.

Our house was one of the first being built in the subdivision. It sat on top of a little hill and had a big backyard behind which there were woods. Initially there were just 4 or 5 houses on our street eventually turning into many homes. I got my first bike there and used to ride it down the long sloping hill towards the entrance of the neighborhood. There was a curve at the end of the street that always had dirt covering it. I slid around that curve several times getting road rash several times. Heading in the opposite direction the road ended for a while until they finished building the road that wound back around to the exit of the subdivision. I can remember seeing a chain gang working on that road. The best part, however, were the woods.

You could walk out the back of the house and go deep into the woods where you could find all sorts of things. First there was what I assume was an abandoned pig pen based on the old corn cobs lying around. Next to it was a huge persimmon tree. We used to have persimmon battles hurling the big orange fruit at each other. Going back even further, the woods consisted of a huge stand of pine trees with a blanket of pine straw on the ground. The ground was level and there were virtually no weeds or underbrush beneath the tress. What was so cool were the old abandoned cars scattered among the pines. Old cars. 1930’s and 1940’s automobiles with the doors and the hoods off and their engines removed. I would spend hours back in those woods playing.

I went to the first grade in Atlanta. I don’t remember the name nor do I remember any of the kids there but I do remember what the school building looked like. I can also recall my teacher although I haven’t clue of her name.

My fondest memories of living in Atlanta were Sunday mornings when we would often go out to the airport and eat breakfast. All of that has changed now but back then you could sit in the restaurant while looking through the big glass walls  as the planes took off and landed. It was big fun.

We were there a year give or take. My mother hated Atlanta and would always get lost every time she tried to go anywhere. I don’t know why we left but I can only assume it was because as great as Atlanta is it wasn’t home. So we moved back to Fairfield.

I:\Music\Blues\A.C. Reed
I:\Music\Blues\Albert Collins
I:\Music\Blues\Albert King
I:\Music\Blues\Albert Lee
I:\Music\Blues\BB King
I:\Music\Blues\Bee Houston
I:\Music\Blues\Bessie Smith
I:\Music\Blues\Big Bill Broonzy
I:\Music\Blues\Big Fat Mama
I:\Music\Blues\Bill Whyman’s Rhythm Kings
I:\Music\Blues\Blackie & The Rodeo Kings – 1999 – Kings of Love – Disc 1
I:\Music\Blues\Bloodline (Joe Bonamassa) – 1994 – Bloodline 320k
I:\Music\Blues\Bonnie Raitt
I:\Music\Blues\Brothers In Blues
I:\Music\Blues\Buddy Guy
I:\Music\Blues\Bugs Henderson
I:\Music\Blues\Cajun
I:\Music\Blues\Champion Jack Dupree
I:\Music\Blues\Charlie Musselwhite
I:\Music\Blues\Chicago Blues Reunion
I:\Music\Blues\Earl King
I:\Music\Blues\Elmore James
I:\Music\Blues\Essex Blues Band – 2003 – Blues Friends 256k
I:\Music\Blues\Etta James
I:\Music\Blues\Gentleman’s Blues Club
I:\Music\Blues\George Thorogood
I:\Music\Blues\Howlin’ Wolf
I:\Music\Blues\J.B. Hutto and the Houserockers
I:\Music\Blues\J.B. Lenoir
I:\Music\Blues\James Cotton
I:\Music\Blues\John Lee Hooker
I:\Music\Blues\John Mayall
I:\Music\Blues\Johnny Lang
I:\Music\Blues\Johnny Shines
I:\Music\Blues\Keb Mo
I:\Music\Blues\Kelly Richie – Carry The Light – 2008
I:\Music\Blues\Kenny Wayne Shepherd
I:\Music\Blues\Leadbelly
I:\Music\Blues\Lightnin’ Hopkins
I:\Music\Blues\Little Walter
I:\Music\Blues\Lonnie Mack
I:\Music\Blues\Magic Slim and the Teardrops
I:\Music\Blues\Michael Burks
I:\Music\Blues\Muddy Waters
I:\Music\Blues\Nighthawks
I:\Music\Blues\Pine Top Perkins
I:\Music\Blues\Professor Longhair
I:\Music\Blues\R.L. Burnside
I:\Music\Blues\Rob Agerbeek
I:\Music\Blues\Robert Johnson
I:\Music\Blues\Sean Costello
I:\Music\Blues\Sleepy John Estes
I:\Music\Blues\Sonny Boy Williamson and the Yard birds
I:\Music\Blues\Stevie Ray Vaughn
I:\Music\Blues\Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots
I:\Music\Blues\Taj Mahal
I:\Music\Blues\The Lott-Riley Band
I:\Music\Blues\Tony Joe White
I:\Music\Blues\Various
I:\Music\Blues\Willie Dixon
I:\Music\Blues\Willie King
I:\Music\Blues\Zen Blues Quartet – What A Life

January 9, 1958

Lloyd Noland Hospital

Fairfield, Alabama

That’s where I was born. My folks lived on 41st Street right down the hill from the hospital. At the time, I had one sister a year older than me. In 1959 my first brother was born and in 1960 my second and last brother came along. I don’t remember much about that house. I know the three of us boys shared a room. It had a bunk bed. I was on the top no doubt because I was the oldest. My sister had her room and of course my parents had their room. I can remember the old black and white TV in the living room with the big knob used to change the channels.

I don’t know who the kid was but once we were playing some game, chase, hide and go seek, something, and were running through the house. Obviously that was a big no no. The kid rounded the corner and opened the door to the basement running through it and falling down the stairs into that dark, dirt sided basement. It scared all of us but I don’t think he was hurt that badly amazingly enough.

We were there until right before I went to the first grade. Up until then we had a place on the Warrior River at Howton’s Camp. It was a three bedroom place but still small. A common room in the front, a smallish front porch facing the river and three bedrooms in the back. No bathroom. Our room, the kids room, had a bunk bed and a double bed. The middle bedroom is where my parents were and the other room had a two twin beds in it. There was a big common room where the kitchen and the living area were. Up in the corner was a stuffed fox hanging on the wall. I remember that. I’m not very clear about the rest of the furnishing. I do remember an abundance of MAD magazines laying around no doubt from my sister’s friends. The outhouse was in the corner of the lot closest to the river.  I never used it for obvious reasons. I’m not sure any of us ever used it. There was a common bathhouse on the grounds made of concrete and cement blocks. It had that smell of a  wet stadium bathroom which I hated. I avoided that place at all costs. I’m not at all sure what my parents did for personal hygiene but us kids bathed in the river with Ivory soap. It floats ya know. We spent our summers there every year.

My Dad worked at US Steel and made that long, curvy drive to the river through what was then woods whenever he wasn’t working. He owned a brown 53 model Chevrolet and he was pretty much owned by the mill as I understand it.

Our cabin was located near the front of a slough. There were maybe 6 or 8 cabins along the bank. At one end of the slough was a store where one could buy gas, fishing tackle, etc. We rarely ever went there instead we used Howton’s store located in front of the camp on the bank of the river. Mrs. Howton was alive then and we could go and load out pockets full of candy and goodies for a dime. Candy cigarettes, the little wax coke bottles filled with some sort of colored, sweet liquid, bubble gum and who knows what other cavity making substances were there.

There weren’t many catastrophes that happened at that place on the river but there were a few. I got my second somewhat major injury at the river. My first was done on my tricycle. I was riding it in the house and ran over the floor grate for the heater and landed on my chin. That little episode got me the first of hundreds of stitches I have gotten in my lifetime. The second injury was a broken arm. It was my left arm I believe. I had climbed a tree next to the cabin and I fell out of it breaking my arm.

My grandfather was climbing the wooden ladder on the front of the pier and a nail caught his leg and cut it pretty badly as he climbed out. That landed him in the hospital.

The only other real injury I recall was when my brother climbed up on the roof of the boathouse and got into a wasp nest. If I recall he was stung pretty badly by the swarm of wasps. That was bad. But he recovered without any real long term effects.

There were a couple of other things that happened that were pretty funny.

A couple of doors down there was a guy that had a cabin. His name was Jim Brady. He thought he was a pretty cool guy and had what appeared to be a pretty fancy boat. He liked to show off and was out on the main river cutting up in his boat. He began to run his boat in circles and managed to flip the boat over. No one was hurt but I recall thinking he deserved it.

Another time, my sister, myself, a friend of hers and maybe a couple of others were in our boat with my Dad. Now my dad was a pretty big guy and he hated sitting down in the seat so he sat up on the back of the seat most of the time when he drove the boat. We were out on the big river and he fell out! My sister was the oldest and she couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen and of course had no idea how to drive that boat. My Dad wasn’t hurt and we weren’t going that fast. People on the bank had to holler out to us and instruct her on how to get the boat back.

Another time we had a cousin come down and visit. She had jumped off the pier into the river and her wedding ring (or engagement ring, I forget which) came off her finger and obviously went straight to the bottom. Naturally she was beside herself. My Dad was at work and of course we had no hope of ever finding it. The water wasn’t that deep, maybe 8 or 10 feet but the bottom was this think gray mud that would just coat your feet if you ever touched it. My Dad got home that afternoon and was told what happened. He got a bucket and jumped into the river going straight to the bottom and scooped up a bucket full of that gooey mud. He found the ring! That still amazes me.

But as I was soon to enter the first grade, my life changed significantly for the first time. We moved to Atlanta.