Stan Hitchcock-View From The Front Porch-August 24, 2013

Old friends, people who have known you about as long as there has been a YOU, those that have been an integral part of our life in the early years, the ones that helped to shape what you would later become....those are the special ones.

The post, from Bob Bilyeu, below, is my classic example of just such a friend. Let me tell you a little about our lives together....

I was 22 years old, August of 1958, when I returned to my hometown of Springfield, Missouri, after 4 years in the Navy. I was lost as an Easter Egg that never got found. So, what in the world am I gonna do with the rest of my life? Time to Fish or Cut Bait, Hitchcock, my gosh, other people that you graduated high school with, have already had four years to put a life together while you been sailing half way around the world sightseeing in the exotic Orient.

So, I got a job at E. A. Martin Machinery Company, the local Caterpillar Dealer, in the Parts Department. Alright now, I know what I am...I'm a Parts Man, yessir.

My Uncle Bob Johnson was the Pastor of Seminole Baptist Church and he sent word that he had invited a singing group to do a concert at his church, and he wanted me to come hear them. The group was called The Waymakers.

The Waymakers were seven cousins, and two non-related Ozark young folks, most of whom were attending Southwest Missouri State College. The predominant blood line was the Bilyeu family. The Bilyeu family, in the Ozarks, were all born singing...I mean they must have come out of the womb with perfect pitch and a song to sing.

The leader of this group was Bobby Joe Bilyeu. He was the oldest, the tallest, and the orneryest...which made him perfect as leader. He was raised so far back in the Ozark hills, down on Bull Creek in Taney County, that daylight only lasted about 30 minutes a day, hills blocking the sunrise, hills blocking the sunset...I mean the boy should have been backward and dumber than me, (which would have made him pretty dang dumb), but he wasn't, in fact he is one of the smartest hillbillies that I know of.

Anyway, I went to the church and sat in the second row, so I could see what all the this group could do. Well, what they did was knock my hat in the creek. Man, could they sing! They had the church dancin' in the aisles, not a natural thing for strict Baptists who don't even believe in dancin'. They were just the greatest thing I had seen or heard anywhere, and I had been to two county fairs and one goat ropin'!

I fought my way through the crowd surrounding them after the concert, not an easy chore since some of the old ladies were armed with hat pins, and knew how to use them.

I introduced myself to Bobby Joe Bilyeu, looked him in the eye and said, "Y'all are great...I want to sing with you." I had no idea what that statement was gonna lead to.

What it led to, one year later, 1959, was a recording, to benefit The Good Samaritan Boys Ranch, a thirty minute weekly radio show, concerts all over a 100 mile radius of Springfield through 1961, and finally, the telephone call from Don Law, of Columbia Records, in '61, inviting me to Nashville to talk about recording with them.

During this period of time, this incredible time compression of so much life changing events....Bobby Joe, and his now wife (another great member of the Waymakers) Connie Bilyeu, got married, (which confirmed my suspicions that there might be something going on there...umhuh..they were standing mighty close on stage, and always sat together in the backseat on the way to concerts).

Thus, Bobby Joe and Connie both became my very best friends, since 1958, and have had front row seats to witness my roller coaster life, as I careened across fifty some odd years of music and sometimes foolishness, finally ending up on this front porch, drinking my coffee and pecking out a story, ever now and then on this laptop.

Bob and Connie, those backward folks from the deep hills of the Ozarks...well, they became legendary teachers in the Springfield School System, in Music and Debate, and Worship Leader, Choir Director and Piano player at their church, SouthSide Baptist.

In 1992, Denise and I moved to Branson and started another cable tv network called Americana Television Network, following the sale of CMT. I had always wanted to do a tv show that captured the sound of the Old Country Churches that we all used to sing in. So, of course, I called Bobby Joe Bilyeu and told him what I wanted to do, and he put together my favorite tv show that I ever had a part in...."The Old Country Church". Bob has always been the host, and producer, and we captured the sound of those old wooden churches in a marvelous way. The show is still a favorite, now on BlueHighways TV.

The music history of the Bilyeu family of the Ozarks, continues with new generations of the blood line carrying on the tradition.

But, as I sit here this morning on the front porch of the old farm house, I can't help but wonder, what would have happened had I not gone to hear the Waymakers that Sunday? Hmmmm, I probably could have had a great career as a Parts Man, selling Caterpillar Tractor parts, and had a normal life....oh well, guess I'm stuck with being what I am....and it's all Bobby Joe Bilyeu's fault...when he answered my request to sing with him..."Sure, come on!"

stan