Funny how life takes you exactly where it wants you to go. When I got
discharged, after my four years service in the U.S. Navy, I was ready to
come back home to the Ozarks and quietly live the rest
of my life there, where I felt sheltered and surrounded by family.
That was August 12, 1958, I was 22 years old and figured I had traveled
enough to last me the rest of my life. I had no idea what I was gonna
do to make a living, but I figured I could do about anything I set my
mind to doin'. Two months later I landed a job at E. A. Martin
Machinery Company, working in the parts department of this Caterpillar
Tractor dealership. Yep, looked like this was what I was meant to do
alright, as I set to work with the good folks there.
One year and a half later, my life took another twist, and off I went...working with homeless boys at the Good Samaritan Boys Ranch, where I helped run the Ranch and produced radio shows, where I sang and played my guitar to promote the Ranch. Yes, looked like this was what I was meant to do alright, as I set to work with these wonderful boys and my Uncle Bob Johnson who had started the work and asked me to help him.
It was two years later, early 1962, and I was topping the hill, on old Highway 41 West of Nashville, Tennessee. At 26 years old, driving a 1959 Desoto, carrying my few possessions, a suitcase of clothes, my shaving ditty bag, two pair of boots and a pair of tennis shoes and my faithful J45 Gibson flat top guitar. I doubt that anyone has moved to Nashville for a recording career with less personal wealth, disposable income or Net Worth....than me. The last paycheck I had received was in the Fall of 1959, which was the final check from E. A. Martin Machinery Company. The two years I worked at the Boys Ranch I received no salary, only living expenses for food and lodging. It was a work of love and one of the joyful times of my life. But, that still didn't get me any money. However, not to worry, I simply went to my lifelong friend, Warren Stokes, and ask him to loan me $50 to get to Nashville on. Warren, being the generous soul that he was, along with his wonderful wife, Doris, hit that back pocket of his and pulled out his billfold and without another thought, handed me $50.
I arrived at that hill on highway 41 about 6AM, looking down on this city of Music, which I had only been to twice before, and pulled over to the side of the road to just get out and look. It was winter time and the city was heated, almost entirely, by coal stoves, furnaces and coal burning fireplaces. A smoky pall hung over the town, a trace of snow lingering on the ground, the sun coming up over the Cumberland River running through the center of town....and I thought it was the prettiest thing I had ever seen.
The $50 was about depleted, what with two tanks of regular gas, at 30 cents a gallon, a Supper in some truck stop in Poplar Bluff, MO, last night, and a breakfast at one in Clarksville this morning. I climbed back into the old '59 Desoto and headed on in. I wasn't worried about being broke cause I had some friends in town. I was headed for Jimmy Gateley's house, out in Madison. Jimmy was a friend that I had gone to school with at Pleasant Hope High, he had entered the music business early on, out of high school, teamed up with Harold Morrison and appeared on Red Foley's Ozark Jubilee while I had been in the Navy. Jimmy and his wife Esther, had moved to Nashville a few years before and was well established as a songwriter and was the front man for the Bill Anderson Show. Jimmy and Esther had invited me to come sleep on their couch when I got to town until I could find a place and get settled. Also, as it turned out, part of the deal was that Esther Gateley would cook up great food for all of us to eat too. I slept on their couch for two weeks, then moved over to my friend Leo Taylor's couch, also in Madison, and stayed there for a few days. Leo was the drummer for Johnny Wright and Kitty Wells, and later married their Daughter, Ruby. After about 3 1/2 weeks in town I landed a bed at Mom Upchurch's Musicians Boarding House.
So, since 1954, when I graduated High School....joined the Navy....got out in 1958....become a parts department guy at the Cat dealer....late 1959, came out to work with the Boys Ranch.....and now, at 26, in Nashville, my life had finally changed and settled in on what I would do, in one form or another, for the rest of my days on Earth.
If I had a timeline, it would say: A hillbilly singer, guitar thumper, television host, touring entertainer, television producer, a guy that puts tv networks together, songwriter, author, pen and ink and watercolor artist, backroads adventurer,storyteller...full time married to Denise T. Hitchcock.... and a catch and release fisherman with fish tales to tell.
I reckon, when I cut my first Gospel album, with the Waymakers, for the Boys Ranch, in 1959, at KWTO radio studios, and the recording engineer, Wan Hope, asked me, "Stan, do you know any Country Songs?" When I answered, "Oh, sure, Wan.", and he asked me to do some while he was adjusting the mikes and recording equipment, and I did....my life was finally pointed in a different direction. Wan sent the tape of those songs to Bob Tubert in Nashville, Bob played them for Don Law at Columbia Records, Don Law called me at the Boys Ranch...and suddenly, I was a hillbilly singer with a borrowed $50 moving to Nashvllle. Which gets me back to the original sentence at the beginning of this little narrative...Ain't it funny how life takes you exactly where it wants you to go, throws you in the deep water and you either sink or swim. Thank God, I swam. I been dog paddling ever since. Stan
One year and a half later, my life took another twist, and off I went...working with homeless boys at the Good Samaritan Boys Ranch, where I helped run the Ranch and produced radio shows, where I sang and played my guitar to promote the Ranch. Yes, looked like this was what I was meant to do alright, as I set to work with these wonderful boys and my Uncle Bob Johnson who had started the work and asked me to help him.
It was two years later, early 1962, and I was topping the hill, on old Highway 41 West of Nashville, Tennessee. At 26 years old, driving a 1959 Desoto, carrying my few possessions, a suitcase of clothes, my shaving ditty bag, two pair of boots and a pair of tennis shoes and my faithful J45 Gibson flat top guitar. I doubt that anyone has moved to Nashville for a recording career with less personal wealth, disposable income or Net Worth....than me. The last paycheck I had received was in the Fall of 1959, which was the final check from E. A. Martin Machinery Company. The two years I worked at the Boys Ranch I received no salary, only living expenses for food and lodging. It was a work of love and one of the joyful times of my life. But, that still didn't get me any money. However, not to worry, I simply went to my lifelong friend, Warren Stokes, and ask him to loan me $50 to get to Nashville on. Warren, being the generous soul that he was, along with his wonderful wife, Doris, hit that back pocket of his and pulled out his billfold and without another thought, handed me $50.
I arrived at that hill on highway 41 about 6AM, looking down on this city of Music, which I had only been to twice before, and pulled over to the side of the road to just get out and look. It was winter time and the city was heated, almost entirely, by coal stoves, furnaces and coal burning fireplaces. A smoky pall hung over the town, a trace of snow lingering on the ground, the sun coming up over the Cumberland River running through the center of town....and I thought it was the prettiest thing I had ever seen.
The $50 was about depleted, what with two tanks of regular gas, at 30 cents a gallon, a Supper in some truck stop in Poplar Bluff, MO, last night, and a breakfast at one in Clarksville this morning. I climbed back into the old '59 Desoto and headed on in. I wasn't worried about being broke cause I had some friends in town. I was headed for Jimmy Gateley's house, out in Madison. Jimmy was a friend that I had gone to school with at Pleasant Hope High, he had entered the music business early on, out of high school, teamed up with Harold Morrison and appeared on Red Foley's Ozark Jubilee while I had been in the Navy. Jimmy and his wife Esther, had moved to Nashville a few years before and was well established as a songwriter and was the front man for the Bill Anderson Show. Jimmy and Esther had invited me to come sleep on their couch when I got to town until I could find a place and get settled. Also, as it turned out, part of the deal was that Esther Gateley would cook up great food for all of us to eat too. I slept on their couch for two weeks, then moved over to my friend Leo Taylor's couch, also in Madison, and stayed there for a few days. Leo was the drummer for Johnny Wright and Kitty Wells, and later married their Daughter, Ruby. After about 3 1/2 weeks in town I landed a bed at Mom Upchurch's Musicians Boarding House.
So, since 1954, when I graduated High School....joined the Navy....got out in 1958....become a parts department guy at the Cat dealer....late 1959, came out to work with the Boys Ranch.....and now, at 26, in Nashville, my life had finally changed and settled in on what I would do, in one form or another, for the rest of my days on Earth.
If I had a timeline, it would say: A hillbilly singer, guitar thumper, television host, touring entertainer, television producer, a guy that puts tv networks together, songwriter, author, pen and ink and watercolor artist, backroads adventurer,storyteller...full time married to Denise T. Hitchcock.... and a catch and release fisherman with fish tales to tell.
I reckon, when I cut my first Gospel album, with the Waymakers, for the Boys Ranch, in 1959, at KWTO radio studios, and the recording engineer, Wan Hope, asked me, "Stan, do you know any Country Songs?" When I answered, "Oh, sure, Wan.", and he asked me to do some while he was adjusting the mikes and recording equipment, and I did....my life was finally pointed in a different direction. Wan sent the tape of those songs to Bob Tubert in Nashville, Bob played them for Don Law at Columbia Records, Don Law called me at the Boys Ranch...and suddenly, I was a hillbilly singer with a borrowed $50 moving to Nashvllle. Which gets me back to the original sentence at the beginning of this little narrative...Ain't it funny how life takes you exactly where it wants you to go, throws you in the deep water and you either sink or swim. Thank God, I swam. I been dog paddling ever since. Stan
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