A Musical Interview with my Grandfather
- Jan 26, 2020
- 5 min read
Me: “All right! First, I want you to tell me about your earliest memory of music.”
Grandfather “Big Daddy” (BD): I’d have to say it was on an old radio, about 1958. The singer was Patsy Cline and the song was “I Gave my Wedding Dress Away.”*
M: How old were you then?
BD: I would say 6-8.
M: Okay, wow! What other sorts of music did you grow up listening to?
BD: Mostly country. Then when Dad started preaching there was a lot of gospel, and that continued until now.
M: So you still listen to gospel music?
BD: Yeah. I’m really more of a hymn person than I am contemporary praise kind of stuff. And then in the 1960’s it began to be pop because that was what was on the radio, and then rhythm n’ blues, all kinds of other stuff.
M: What sort of pop music was on the radio?
BD: In the 60s, it was mostly rhythm n’ blues and rock and roll, that kind of stuff.
M: Do you have a favorite artist from that time?
BD: Well, no, not really. There were the Temptations – I liked them a lot. There was the Motown sound – like Diana Ross and the Supremes, all those kind of people.
M: So what I’m getting is it was a lot of Motown. R&B, Blues-
BD: It was everything. Everything I could listen to that I liked, I wanted to listen to more of it.
M: Yeah, I totally get that; I’m the same way! So, what did music mean to you as you were growing up with it?
BD: If I remember it correctly, it was mostly background. Then when it got into the church setting, it was worship. Then about, say, 1958, I had a sickness – rheumatic fever – and it put me in the hospital for 6 weeks. Then it put me in the bed for 6 months, and it put me out of school for a year. So during that time, I began to listen to it as… really, I guess you’d say it was therapy.
M: Music has that way about it, huh?
BD: Yes, it does.
M: So your father introduced you to gospel music and the sort. What about the other music that you listened to? Did your parents approve of it?
BD: No. Once, when I was little, Dad asked the congregation at the time if there was any song that they would like us to sing in church, and I said, “Yes!” And he said, “Well, what’s that?” And I said, “I’d like to sing Patsy Cline ‘When I Gave my Wedding Dress Away.’” He told that story – in fact, it’s in his book – he told that story ‘til the day he died.
M: So music was obviously a pretty big part of your life. Did you play any instruments?
BD: No, I couldn’t play, and I couldn’t sing a lick! Still can’t.
M: Did your parents try to get you to play instruments?
BD: Nah; then, there was really no opportunity because you had to have money to get lessons, and we weren’t rich or anything like that, so… we sang at church for the enjoyment of it and we sang along with the radio.
M: Can you think about a particular piece of music that is meaningful to you?
BD: In the Christmas genre, there’s “O Holy Night,” which is my favorite Christmas song. I have a lot of them. I don’t like carols – the “Jingle Bells” or the things like that – but I do like the more classical style and the more Christmas-celebration style like “Silent Night,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” all of those.
M: Oh, yeah, so you don’t like the generic holiday ditties.
BD: I don’t. I don’t like “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” or anything like that.
M: Yeah, that song seems a little harsh nowadays… Now that you have certainly gotten much older (grandmother laughing in the background), has your taste in music changed at all?
BD: I don’t know whether it has; I like to think it’s evolved. I mean, I like some contemporary music. I like One Republic – I don’t even know if they consider that contemporary music – but I like One Republic and… I like a whole lot of stuff; I like a lot of new blues. I like a whole lot of different things. I don’t know if it’s changed or not… I even like a little bit of hip-hop, but I don’t like rap, per se.
M: Yeah, I get that. It’s an acquired taste, I guess.
BD: It is for me, yes.
M: Obviously you have a pretty broad acceptance for music. Overall, what do you think of today’s music?
BD: I think, much like the 1960s, the last decade was another kind of a Golden Era. There was a lot of good music to come out in the 2010s and even in the 2000s. So I don’t know if it’s over or not, but I hope not.
M: Some people seem to think it is, haha. You mentioned hearing music on the radio – and I guess you still do – did you go to any live performances when you were younger?
BD: No, just church. If I recall, the first actual concert I went to was Jerry Butler – he was a soul singer – or Chuck Berry when I went to Clemson University. I can still see Chuck.
M: Have you ever met or interacted with a famous musician?
BD: Well… Joe Stilwell was the drummer for NEEDTOBREATHE and he was in the band with Sean (my father). He came over to our house one time and decided they were going to shave their heads for the football game that night. Joe went first: he shaved his head,
and then everyone else backed out. Oh, and Moise Lister, too; I knew him. He was a composer of many gospel songs, not the least of which Elvis Presley recorded into a Platinum recording of “His Hand in Mine.” And we know Michael Booth of The Booth
Brothers. He’s Carolyn’s (my grandmother’s) second cousin’s husband.
M: If you don’t mind me asking, do you and Nana have a song?
BD: Let’s see. I would have to say (Nana chimes in simultaneously) “Color My World” by Chicago. It was played at our wedding by a friend of ours.
M: Well, I think this is a good place to wrap up! You’ve been a fantastic interviewee; I’ve learned a lot. Is there anything else you want to say in particular about your feelings on music?
BD: It relaxes me to listen to music. I’ve probably got 3,000 songs on a playlist. Just things that I like from different artists. I usually don’t just listen to one artist for several minutes; I usually just put it on shuffle and let it roll. I like to be surprised; everything that’s on the playlist, I picked ‘cause I liked it for a particular reason. I don’t know how long or short that is compared to everyone else’s but I like to have lots of variety. I like to discover new people that I enjoy listening to. *I looked into "I Gave My Wedding Dress Away", and apparently it is actually sung by Kitty Wells.
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