View From The Front Porch-Stan Hitchcock-February 16, 2013

The story I wrote yesterday about The Old Man That Time Forgot was taken from composites of different situations and people I know that found themselves on the bottom of the stack, after being on top. All Industries have sad tales of broken dreams and lives, however, I don't believe any Industry is quite as brutal to their creative forces as the Country Music Industry. Other music genres respect and protect their founding members long after they are gone, the Blues, Gospel, Folk and Rock folks hold their Music Icons up with great love and respect. I am not talking about the fan base here, I am talking about the business end of the music, record labels and radio primarily.

Now, no one is excusing the excess and additive personalities that some of the greats had to deal with, but a creative person is a giver, by nature, wanting the acceptance and respect that should come from their peers.


I have never had to experience addiction from drugs and alcohol, I just never cared for it. When I saw the change in the music biz, with the start of the 80's, that also coincided with my reaching the 40's age group, I focused on the business side of the music. Many of my friends and heroes did not have that opportunity. I have watched as great talents no longer had a forum for their work, no records, no radio, shoved to the sidelines like a race horse with an injured leg, except the music biz doesn't have the mercy to put the old musician down, like the horse industry, they just quit taking the calls and shut the doors in the faces of creativity. Without creative outlet, the old artists, songwriters and musicians wither and are frustrated to the end.

That is a reality, and most of us know it in the creative world, so we manage to survive without them. But, the ones that don't survive, that is the message behind my story. We don't all go out, on top and still swinging, like a Buck Owens, A Marty Robbins or an Eddy Arnold. Some go out like The Old Man That Time Forgot. It is to those artists that I say, you are still heroes to those of us who care to really know where the music came from. Your work was not for nothing, it touched many hearts, it brought joy to masses of people, who still remember you. You are not forgotten, and although you will probably not be looking at a Facebook page, in my heart, I care for you and thank you for the years of music that you shared.  Stan