I listened to a Charley Pride song recently and the memories poured over me as the song played. Mama and Daddy listened to country music. Charley Pride, Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, The Oak Ridge Boys and all the other old country singers. Funny, I don’t remember them ever listening to Patsy Cline and I really like her style and songs.
Saturday evenings we would watch The Lawrence Welk Show at 6PM followed by Hee Haw at 7. The humor in the contrast between the two shows never struck me until later. Lawrence Welk with his big band sound, trios and couples, and that couple that danced regularly. So formal and correct. Then Hee Hee Hee Haw Haw Haw! Corny comedy.
If we were lucky Mama would cook fried fish, mashed potatoes, and fried corn cakes for supper at 5, right before our musical evening began. She probably didn’t fix that meal often but I associate the memory with Saturday nights because that is the only day we ever had it; probably because of the labor involved in cooking and cleaning up! Kenny would come pick up Valerie for their date and Mama would say every week as he backed out onto Ooltewah Ringgold Road, “I wish he wouldn’t back out onto that road. It’s not safe.” Then we would finish cleaning up and watch our shows.
As I said, Mama and Daddy liked a lot of country singers but I think Charlie Pride was their favorite because he’s the one I remember hearing. I think our first car with an 8 track player was a light green Oldsmobile 88; a couple of years later we got a blue Olds 98, also with an 8 track. We had every Charley Pride 8track ever made, I think. Whenever we traveled to North Carolina for the yearly reunion and on “The Vacation From Hell”(more about that another day), Charlie Pride is playing in the background of my memories. “His Amazing Love”, Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’”, Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone” and so many others. One reason I’m sure he was a favorite is because I still know all the words to his songs. I turned on Charley Pride music in my car and immediately joined him in song!
I also remember the country music station playing in the production room at Made-Rite. Summers and snow days we kids would work production. Usually I was either putting pickles and onions on sandwiches or “catching” wrapped product at the end of the production line. The production manager was a short, blond lady named Delores or Doris (I think) and she got permission from Daddy to play a radio in the production room. The radio sat on the green concrete floor, volume high to reach over the sound of equipment, country music echoing in the big, open warehouse-type room. My “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” by Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn singing about the “The Harper Valley PTA”, Conway Twitty (now that man sang some suggestive songs!) singing about his slow hand, and all the others echo in my head like they echoed in the production room.
I’m not a musical person and can enjoy listening to various genres. However, even a non musical person like me can’t deny the power music has on memory. I think I’m gonna go listen to some Charley Pride now and remember Mama and Daddy and the music of my childhood.
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