Song History 

Note: For the history of Virginia notes, scroll to the end of the page.

 A tribute song to The following artists:

George Strait
Jimmie Rogers (the father of country music)
Jerry Lee Lewis

George Strait
The Contemporary, country, artist George Strait is considered to be the “King of Country Music” with over 31 albums, 400 songs, 60 number one hits and 125 charted singles.

Jimmy Rogers
He was known as the “Singing Break-Man, America’s Blue Yodeler.” He was the father of country music. He entertained thousands and influenced generations of musicians. Jimmie Rodgers’ music was the comfort food for the, rural, radio-listening audience in the Years 1927 through 1933.

Jerry Lee Lewis
Great Balls of Fire was a 1957, Sun Records, recording, written by Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer. It was ranked as the 96th greatest song ever written. (Rolling Stone Magazine) Jerry Lee Lewis was inducted into the country Hall of Fame in 2022.

phrase.org.uk/meanings/great-balls-of-fire.html

The term Great Balls of Fire originated as an expression in the Southern states of the USA around 1850. It derives from 470, multiple, biblical references. Early on, it had Christian connotations regarding God’s heavenly wrath towards humanity.

In the 19th century, it clearly evoked imagery of surprise and delight. The expression came into wider Southern consciousness with the filming of Gone with the Wind, when it was used as an exclamation by Scarlett O’Hara.“Great Balls of Fire.” “It’s Rhett!”

The lewd connotation made famous in the Jerry Lewis rendition of the song Great Balls of Fire, written by Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer, is a far cry from the original Christian usage, or common usage as an expression of dismay or surprise.

If you live on the Florida/Georgia Line you are more than aware that the words “Hurricane Season” is code for life-and-death situations, not idle chatter.

I did not have to imagine a hurricane when I wrote this song. I watched it coming in. The humidity turned to melted lard and the rising wind became a raging turmoil. What was in existence, 20 miles, from my vantage point, simply, disappeared.

As the fallout from the storm passed, overhead, I was reminded of my early childhood, when the high winds would blow my mother’s skirt high and wide as she attempted to bring clothes in from the washline during an on-coming storm plus her failed attempts to calm the hysterical, fearful, canine dancing of our dogs.

The song just wrote itself, then and there, based upon the reality of the moment, the memory of a past life, and a barely remembered, haunting, song by the Duo Joe & Eddie.

Marty Rifkin, my producer, and I worked to develop a different sound for this song. The result is a poignant country song that touches the heart.

This is just a simple Appalachian country song about a once thriving community in the late 1800s and early 1900s due to mining.

Sylvatus got its name from Mr. Sylvatus Smith, Senior. He was the mayor, barber, assistant postmaster at one time. Previously, the town was named Shades of Death due to the prolific growth of the mountain Nightshade plant.

Today, it is a small community of 234 residents, according to Google, and has no zip code.

This town got me to thinking about what the children would be doing when they graduated from their local high school, or the, community, college in the valley below.

Today, with the internet, they can stay put on their lush mountain top, or keep the home place, as many do, for a summer home.

As things began to go sideways with the U.S. economy and minimum wage earners were being paid below what they needed for rent and food, I wrote this song.

Manufacturing moved offshore and thriving towns became ghost towns.

Things have improved marginally, since the song was written. Car manufacturing has moved into Southern states, Amazon has gone nationwide with warehouse services and the minimum wage in California is now at $20 an hour. This is not the fate for all of U.S. workers at this time.

There is more to be done for the average worker. Time will tell the continuing saga.

Greatest surprise is a fun loving Texas Two-Step in the styling of a George Strait song with an unexpected, surprise ending.

The song is making simple truisms that romantic love is equal to many things that we as humans crave. And that we include in our life for daily, ongoing, fulfillment.

To hear it is to know it, whether you are in love, have been in love, or would like to be in love. Regardless of the romantic love humans strive for, there are many other things that we as human beings love.

This is my contemporary rendering of a pre-radio song titled “Buffalo Gals.” The original song was an inspiration to the Appalachian Mountain musicians, to create their own music in the early days of radio recording/ broadcasting.

“Come Out and Dance” includes references for 11 U.S. states, to include locations and cities, 3 movies + 3 songs.

The backstory that I wrote for this storied-song is as follows:

I pictured an old, Blue Ridge, apple farm at Fancy Gap, Virginia. An elderly man ran the farm and had raised a granddaughter, now of marriageable age.

He was concerned that she should meet the right man. So, he set up a “meet-cute”, unbeknownst to her, with the son of a friend that he thought would be appropriate for her. He did not tell his granddaughter about the young man, or that he would be coming by the house. The young man just showed up, and that is where the storied-song of “Come Out and Dance” begins.

“Breakdown” is a heartbreak song.
There should be a no-fault clause in relationships. Alas! There is not. We wake up to our error too late, and it becomes the mistake of a lifetime—such is the romantic notion of this song. “Breakdown” is written from the man’s point of view.

The woman is the “bad guy” in the relationship. It matters little whether a woman, or a man breaks a heart through their own foolishness, immaturity, or malice. The result is the same—a serious crime. The killing of a soul.

Once a “broken, scattered, shattered, salvaged” heart is mended, there is little hope that there is a corner of forgiveness. It is, in the aftermath, a different heart intent upon different ideals.

“Do Ya” is a “let-me-feel-the-pain” song.
“Do Ya” is an “in-current-time” song that a person wants to hear and sing when they are in the process of grieving the loss of love.

There are very few people that have not felt this kind of romantic pain. Be it “puppy love”, or adult love. Sometimes there is someone that just could not stay in our lives. For many, this has been the loss of a dating relationship, and for others, it has resulted in divorce. Both cases result in an emotional death. 

This is the kind of song, that made Conway Twitty such a popular song-stylist. Just an old-fashioned heartbreak song that allows the listener to indulge themselves in feeling the pain, along with remembering the debris of losing love.

“Ms. Willa Mae’s Biscuits” is an ironic story about marriage. The story is true and took place on top of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in the town of Galax, VA.

The names and locations have been changed. However, the Blue Ridge Café was known as The Hub, which serves the kind of country cookin’ I can eat every day.

The story is a reminder, that each day and every person we talk to is special. Often, we just don’t say what we should, when we should, to the persons that we love and those we meet and greet.

“Dime Box, Texas” is a love-gone-wrong song.
When love goes wrong, a person usually wishes they could leave the pain plus the memories behind and be free of the heartache. “Dime Box, Texas” is a metaphor for that space and place in time. Like the song says, if it can’t be erased in Dime Box, Texas, then you will just have to go live in Difficult, TN. Both towns do exist.

I learned about Dime Box, Texas, from reading one of my favorite books titled Blue Highways, written by William Least Heat-Moon. The uniqueness of the name Dime Box stayed with me. Upon researching the town’s history, I decided that if love went wrong, I would drive across the “Blue Highways” of Texas, to ease my pain, and spend some time in Dime Box, drinking coffee and kicking back with kind-hearted, down-to-earth folks. There are those in Dime Box, Texas, I now call “friends.”

Location: 50 Miles East of Austin, TX
Population: 400
Settled: 1830 by Stephen F. Austin’s Colonists

The town was originally called Brown’s Mill and was changed to Dime Box because the name Brown’s Mill was too close to the name of Brownsville in South Texas, which was confusing to the postal service.

Name: The name Dime Box came about because many locals often used a large wooden box to forward and receive mail, or order small items from a carrier on horseback traveling to nearby Giddings, TX. The residents would leave a dime in the box as payment for the postal pickup.

The town of Dime Box was on the national stage in 1945 as the first town to have 100% participation in the March of Dimes campaign.

Dime Box still offers residents a sense of roots and normalcy, pride in a unique history, and a chance to tell visitors about their unusual name.

Information Courtesy of:
Ms. Jean Davis
The Dime Box Heritage Museum
P.O. Box 174
Dime Box, TX 77853

Dusty is a song about the addictive nature of what our society calls love.

Both individuals in the song have moved on with their lives. However. No matter the passing of time the lustful longing between them is alive and well.

To experience the iconic films of James Dean is to love him.

He lost his life at the age of 24 in a fatal car crash in 1955. For his fans it is an unforgettable, bittersweet, memory.

This song features his three films along with the memories of pop culture in the 1950’s.

“Dream as if you will live forever. Live as if you will die tomorrow.” – James Dean

Buford Kegley is the well-known radio DJ for the 100,000-watt WBRF-FM in Galax, VA. He has been the morning radio personality for the area for 32 years and is an active performer and host of local country western events. 

Cheap date is a play on words relating to the old ideas of what a man wants from a woman and what a liberated woman wants from a man.

The meaning of cheap date in this song stems from the idea that women give too much to men in the courting stage. Instead of letting the man court them, many women begin to cook for the man, becoming his caretaker, and thus, they become a cheap date because the man does not have to court or spend any money on taking the woman out.

On the other hand, the popular male view of a cheap date hasn’t changed much in the history of the world. We all know what that includes. The song ends with the daughter deciding that she will be a liberated woman who is smart enough to find herself a man who will cook and do for her the way women do for men.

Women’s rights aren’t in the news much these days. However, the following statistics may surprise both male and female readers.

Ms. Shaevitz writes: The rules of the new world, for women meant the following:

No right to vote until 1920, 50 years after the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment, which allowed all citizens to vote. Not having the right to their own wages, if they had any. Not being allowed to sign contracts on their own. Not being allowed to own, or inherit property. Being denied access to education. Having severe prohibitions against participating in public life. For example, public spaces, stores, taverns, and courthouses were for men only, and in church people sat by rank and gender.

Before the 1960’s Women: Couldn’t have credit cards in their own names. Didn’t have competitive, organized sports at schools or colleges. Were often barred from being administrators of estates. Didn’t have equal access to undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools.

Before the 1970’s Women: Could be demoted or fired if they became pregnant. Didn’t have laws to prohibit sex discrimination. Didn’t have much of a chance getting into medical school. Couldn’t attend Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Williams, Amherst, or Dartmouth, or any of the military academies. Few were in number in the military and had almost no officers. Were but a minute percentage of the people sitting in Congress.

Before the 1980’s Women: Never had a woman run for the U.S. vice presidency. Never had a woman on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Before the 1990’s Women: Couldn’t count on the sexual harassment laws being taken seriously. Had never had a female attorney general, or secretary of state. Couldn’t be combat pilots in the military. Until Colonel Eileen Collins, never had a women commander of a U.S. space flight.

Changes that are worth remembering. 

Cattin’ Around = Out on the town, possibly, foolin’ around, but not necessarily.

It is more at teasing and intimating a falsehood as a truth.

To be a cat bird is to be someone who has been accused of cattin’ around.

To be a cat bird’s kitten is to be a chip off the old block.

It also means, someone who likes to have a good time, not necessarily immorally. The meaning can go either way. If you have been immoral, then the boot fits. If not, then you are being accused of such in jest. It is a jovial phrase. It is not meant to offend, but to instigate a banter of humorous discussion. 

One of the art pieces in my traveling art show is titled “Little Black Book.”

I interviewed 100 men for this piece and asked them what their perfect woman would be like if they could create her. One of the men I interviewed last year asked me what my perfect man would be like. After thinking about it for a long time, I wrote this song based upon what I have read about the rancher, actor, and renaissance man, Tommy Lee Jones.

This song was written in memory of Phyllis Ann Hines Weatherman.

Phyllis was killed in a horseback riding accident, the day before Christmas Eve, in Galax, VA. She was survived by her husband, Scott, and two-year-old son, Jason Weatherman.

The New River flows to the Mississippi, north through Galax for eight miles.

The carnival comes once each year and is the highlight of the summer activities for local residents.

The Fiddler’s Convention was established in 1935 by Doctor Davis, Doctor Bowie, and Eck Dunford. It had its beginning as a one-night competition held at the Galax High School, offering $77.50 in prize money. 

Today, crowds of over 30,000 are drawn to the Blue Ridge, during the second week of August, to hear old-time music. Virginia’s Grayson and Carroll counties have been credited with producing more traditional, stringed band, performers than any area of the United States.

It is known, that country music had its beginning with the Carter Family as well as influence from the Stoneman family from Galax. Past native, traditional, musicians to be remembered include: Wade Ward, Green Leonard, Alex Dunford, Uncle Charlie Higgens, Kyle Creed, and Pop Stoneman.

The silver silhouettes of the female figure have been seen on the mud-flaps of trucks for over 50 years. They are an icon of popular male culture in America.

The mud-flaps were produced by the Barjan Truck Distribution Company.

From: The Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association (PRCA)

The title world championships are the most coveted titles in the world of professional rodeo. To win one, a cowboy, or cowgirl must be prepared to compete in 80 to 125 rodeos in a year, shell out thousands of dollars on travel, and spend upwards of 200 days per year on the road. And, even after a competitor has done all of this, he still is likely to go home without the gold buckle. Only those with superlative talent and a generous amount of luck will ever enter the ranks of the world champions.

Jim Rodriguez, Jr., 1959 Team Roper at Age 18

Ike Rude, 1953 Steer Roper

16, Jim Shoulders 

6, Larry Mahan
Tom Ferguson and Ty Murray

6, Tom Ferguson and Ty Murray 

6, Casey Tibbs

4, Casey Tibbs, 1951

5 Joe Alexander, Bruce Ford

5, Joe Alexander, 1971-1975 

8, Don Gay

6, Jim Shoulders, 1954-59 

In addition to writing and producing country music I, also, am a gallery producing artist with a 45-piece retrospective show.

One of the show pieces is titled “Little Black Book.” I have interviewed upwards of 100 men for this art piece. I asked them to describe their perfect woman in detail and to tell me if they had ever met her.

One of the men, I interviewed, asked me to describe my perfect man. I told him that the man would probably be a rancher, work in the entertainment film industry, and be as comfortable in his blue jeans as he would be in a tuxedo.

That may sound like a stretch, however, there are quite a few men that appear on that list, including: Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Pratt, Russell Crowe, Mark Ruffalo, Blake Shelton, Hayden Christensen, and more.

I never intended to write a song about Mr. Jones, plus I was certainly not jonesing for Mr. Jones. I can honestly say, the song was written by my subconsciousness as it, inadvertently, gathered information over a period of several years.

A couple of years after I was asked the question, I found myself in Dubai, UAE. I was standing at a very busy crosswalk, and it was one of those crosswalks that you can walk across the street at various angles, which was new to me at the time. There were hundreds of men crossing in this crosswalk and no other women. It was, for me, a visual movie. I just stood there and watched everyone cross over the street. The crowd was made up of Arabs, men from India, Pakistan, and a few expats. It was a bright sunny day, and if I had been looking for that perfect man, there were certainly a plethora of men in my view.

It was one of those moments that just stop still, and remain in our memory for a lifetime. For whatever reason, as I continued to walk down the street, the song just floated into my consciousness.

The song became about the Renaissance Man,
Tommy Lee Jones.

The Catalyst for the song “Jelly Bean” came from a featured report aired on the TV news show 20/20.

The television correspondent informed the listening audience that there were women across America that were writing letters of inspiration to incarcerated prisoners.

The report indicated that many of these, pen pal, letter writing couples eventually married, even though the inmate might be serving a lengthy, or lifetime sentence.

The Intriguing story captivated my imagination, and eventually, I published the storied song “Jelly Bean.”

Detailed Reference: Re-engineeryou.com
Prison letters and why women love men in prison.

Google July 7th, 2024
To date there are 40 websites that cater to prison correspondence.

The woman in this storied song has lost her husband to death and their 50 years of marriage is just not enough for her.

I wrote “Moment In Time” for any and all persons who have fallen in love, for however long that love existed.

There are thousands of true love stories out there. Each of whom reach for the ring of relationship, and would do it again, and again with the same person.

The Advent of Covid makes this storied song even more touching.

For those that have not found a lasting love, the song is even more poignant in that their short-term relationship was truly only a “moment in time.” Unrequited love, for many, is a death.

This brings to mind the film “Somewhere in
Time” starring Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour. With the turning of a penny the relationship was lost, never to be found again

This storied song is about the hide-and-seek of relationships and the irrational behavior public non- commitment brings.

The backstory of the song is that there is a husband and wife watching the various romantic escapades of couples in their small town. Each episode points out various types of non-committed relationships.

The viewing husband and wife, have a bit of a back- and -forth, discussion with the husband having the last prolific word, ending the song.

This is a woman’s storied song, built upon the lustful desire that cloaks itself in the guise of love.

It is an obsession, born from the desperation of loneliness, that leads to the loss of practicality and personal emotional control of her life.

The new mother has lost her former husband and finds herself involved in a midnight entanglement with a low-down, no-account, man.

Redolent of the true tale, of the Blackjack Davey song, written in 1624. Seems a Lady Hamilton, a mother of two, rode off with the Gypsy King, Johnny Faye, and his band of Scottish Border Reivers.

The Gypsy King and his men we’re hunted down and hung. Lady Jean Hamilton was imprisoned and pined for her lover for the rest of her life, in a lonely wooden tower.

The songs that have emanated from this event are alive and well in the 19th through 21st centuries.

This storied song is about a man that is a bit twisted. He has the notion, that if he settles down with the woman he is with, that he will miss out on finding the perfect woman.

This seems to be the fate for many men and women. They are searching for something impossible to find. Perfection.

The woman in the story has had it, and is giving him the old-heave-ho. I might add, she is delighted to do so. Thus, the title of the song Hallelujah! The meaning of which, is praise Jah. End of song lyrics: “he is gone.”

In June of 1606, King James I granted a charter to a group of London entrepreneurs, the Virginia Company. Virginia was named by Sir Walter Raleigh for Elizabeth I. (The Virgin Queen) They were to establish an English settlement in North America. Within two years, only 60 out of the original 500 settlers survived the food shortages, winter, fatal disease and Indian Attacks.

A Dutch slave trader exchanged his cargo of Africans for food in 1619. These Africans had the rights of indentured servants and had a similar legal position as that of many Englishmen who indentured themselves for several years of labor in exchange for passage to America. Racial-based slavery did not develop until the 1680s.

A few years of peace with the Indians occurred with the marriage of Pocahontas (the favored daughter of the Algonquian Chief Powhatan) to the tobacco entrepreneur John Rolfe. This ended with the Algonquian attack, which killed over 300 settlers in 1622. King James revoked the Virginia Company Charter. Virginia became a crown colony in 1624. Institutions appeared by 1640.

English and Scottish settlers immigrated to three geographical locations:

• The Virginia Tidewater (Aristocratic / Slave Owning 5-6 / Landowners)
• The Low Country of the Carolinas (Yoeman Farmers)
• The Back Hill Country (Previous Indentured Servants)

The staple crop was tobacco, which was opposed by King James but was allowed to be sold in England.

Under the headright system, individuals entering Virginia received 50 acres of land. Those who could not afford passage indentured themselves as servants and paid their passage to their term of contract masters with their headright land grant of 50 acres. Thus, many colonists became rich in land and labor at no cost to themselves. Out of 2,675 immigrants to Virginia from 1623-1637, at least 2,094 or 78% were indentured.

Virginia was the largest of the colonies, originally extending from Maine to Florida and West to the Pacific, including Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Virginia is considered the mother of the Great Republic. Up to the 1680s, the population grew because of the immigration. In the five years before 1624, mortality ran approximately 75%.

French Huguenots arrived, followed by German workers, to work the iron furnaces of the Piedmont

Slavery became a solution to the labor shortage as immigration slowed and moved to the Bahamas. Ulster Scots and Germans moved southwest from Pennsylvania down to the Allegheny Ridges into the Shenandoah Valley.

During the American Revolution, many men who served for three, or more years in a state, or continental line unit, or who died in service were entitled to bounty land. The amount of land awarded depended on the rank of the individual and the length of service. Bounty land grants were given to Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. More than 100,000 people lived in North and South Carolina. They were not limited to tobacco only. They exported rice, indigo, lumber, tar, and resin.

Immigration into Virginia stopped. Families began to move westward.

Just before the turn of the century, J.P. Carico persuaded Washington Mills to build a dam and locate a plant on the New River. The mill town was called Fries. Additionally, J.P. Carico encouraged the N&W Railroad to extend their line. He joined John B. Waugh and R.E. Jones to form a real estate company to acquire a 375-acre site that would become the town of Galax, VA. The original price of a 50-foot lot ran $25.00.

Among the settlers of the New River Valley were the English and Quakers who came from North Carolina after the battle of Alamance in 1771, as well as the Scottish/Irish immigrants and English who immigrated from the Tidewater and settled into the highlands.

Galax was incorporated as a town in 1906. It was originally called Bonapart, but the name was changed to Galax after the beautiful green leaves used in flower arrangements. The name was suggested by J.W. Cook, an official of the N&W Railroad, in 1904.

The immigrants from England, Ireland, and Scotland brought with them a simplicity of early folk music, and this formed the basis of our American Southern folk music tradition. A tradition that filled the air and provided entertainment at their barbecues, dances, housewarmings, shooting matches, baking, and quilting bees.

Appalachian, blues, and old-time country music were simple and folksy. They were played with just guitars and fiddles. They were a celebration of life. Although basic, with three chords and a simple melody, this simplistic music style evolved into the rhythmic guitar-and-fiddle-driven traditional country sound that became the foundation for modern Country Music. For extensive country music history, go to loc.gov.