Music Memories

There is a wonderful thing about my family. We love music!

I can distinctly remember one occasion when the Kear family got together at Grandpa and Grandma Kear's house in Clayton, New Mexico - I must have been about 12 or 13 - and singing broke out. There were uncles and aunts there, and "cousins by the dozens," as Grandma Kear used to say. We started singing and before long my cousin Phyllis brought out her accordion. Somebody even brought out a cassette recorder and taped us. The only song I remember with absolute certainty was Mansion Over the Hilltop, because that was Grandma Kear's favorite hymn. I also remember Grandpa Kear singing a bit of a bluegrass tune that went, "Down the road, down the road, got a little pretty girl down the road..."

On the other side, the LeCrone family also loved music. As I said in an earlier memory, Grandma LeCrone was especially proud of our relationship to the Gaither family. Every Sunday morning the Gospel Singing Jubilee was only thing allowed on the television. That's where I first became acquainted with the Southern Gospel of the Florida Boys, The Cathedrals, the Dixie Echoes, and the Happy Goodmans.

My Mom and Dad enjoyed listening to music. Mom always played records while she did her housework. I remember when I was four or five years old, Mama stacking the record changer with Buck Owens, Porter Wagoner, Johnny Horton, Merle Haggard, Marty Robbins, and other old-school country and western legends. On Friday evenings (which was the Sabbath if you were a Seventh-day Adventist) Dad would pile the record player high with the albums of The Chuckwagon Gang, Del Delker, and The King's Heralds Quartet. We would fall asleep listening to them.

I still listen to The Chuckwagon Gang and The King's Heralds, although I now have them on CDs.

My Dad initially rebelled against my love of Rock and Roll as a young teenager, however, after I discovered a box of his old records, he lightened up. In his box of records were great old classics by Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Bill Haley and the Comets, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others. Even though my parents were primarily Country and Western music fans, they also occasionally slipped over into other genres. My Mom especially liked Elvis. Dad and Mom went to the movies to watch Woodstock when it first came out.

The first time I truly fell in love with a song was in the back seat of the car as Dad drove us to the Great Salt Plains Recreation Area in Northwestern Oklahoma. It was 1968 or 1969. He had the radio tuned to a popular station and suddenly the song I'll Never Find Another You by The Seekers came on. I was smitten. I wanted to play and sing just like that! Still do.

My family on both sides loved to watch the Country and Western shows on television on Saturday nights. Do you remember those great old shows? The Jude and Jody Show, Porter Wagoner (with Dolly Parton), Hee Haw, Johnny Cash, The Grand Ol' Opry.

Although both sides of my family loved to listen to music and loved to sing, there have never been many musicians among us. I mentioned that my cousin Phyllis played the accordion. I don't know of any other musicians on the Kear side, although there may well be many of them by now. On the LeCrone side there were a few folks who played a bit of piano. My cousin Jill can play the piano very well. There were lots of good voices. My mother sang in a Southern Gospel group. My brother used to play the bass with me. My sister has a beautiful singing voice.

When I was 15, I decided that I wanted to play the guitar. That Christmas, my folks bought me a Silvertone electric guitar with the amplifier in the case. I was in heaven. I drove them crazy ("Turn that noise down!") for months on end while I taught myself to play. I still love to play and sing. I have enough talent so that me and Jesus enjoy my songs (I try not to subject anyone else to my music). I have played the guitar in Church, while I was leading singing. I can play lots of church songs!

Today I play a 12-string Seagull Guitar, handmade in Canada, and from time to time I also strap on a harmonica.

"(Elisha said,) 'But now bring me a minstrel.' And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him." (2 Kings 3:15 KJV).