“Country Music’s in My Blood”

THERE was snow in the mountains​—lots of it. The roads were blocked. Provisions were running low. Because Dad loved people, he loaded four packhorses from our own supplies. Since he knew the ways of the rugged terrain, he was able to work his way up the rivers and streams to bring food to those in need.

That was more than 50 years ago. Although we soon left West Virginia, Dad’s interest in people has stayed with me until now. Besides a love for people, Dad gave me something else​—a love for what I call “heartland” music, country music that extols natural beauty, wholesome family life and positive values.

Dad played banjo and Mom sang. How often I’ve reflected on evening walks down mountain paths, listening to a gurgling stream and the playing and singing of mountain folk echoing through the valley! Throughout my life I have felt that the world needed much more “heartland” music. And I set out early in life to give it to them.

Getting Started

Shortly after moving from West Virginia to Pennsylvania, I took up playing guitar. While still in school I formed my first musical group. We played at school functions and box socials for young adults. It was soon evident to me that music has a power to make people happy.

Then came World War II. Going to war and killing just didn’t fit the love for people Dad had instilled in me. Since I raised hogs, I was deferred at first. Later I was drafted into the infantry. One night on training maneuvers, I fell 30 feet (9 m) off a swinging bridge and broke my leg in seven places. While it mended, I performed with a small group of servicemen.

After leaving the military, I set out to form a top-notch country and western group. By advertising in Billboard Magazine, musicians were gathered from all over the country to form the Pine Hollow Jamboree. We started on radio. Soon we were making personal appearances in both the eastern United States and Canada. A 17-station radio network was set up in our tour area.

Next came my Hillbilly Park in Pennsylvania, where many of the most notable performers in country music appeared as guest stars. I’d emcee the shows and as many as 35 of the Pine Hollow Jamboree cast backed them up. Although it was business, it was also gratifying to see thousands come each week to picnic in the park and enjoy live “heartland” country music.

Rock ’n’ Roll

Things looked good for country music, but then came rock ’n’ roll. My first encounter with rock music came when I was host of a show in Cleveland’s Circle Theatre. The producer came running backstage. He was furious. The audience was upset. Some were thoroughly bored by the performer on stage. Others were shocked by his body movements. Many were walking out in disgust. As emcee it was my job to get some new young performer called Elvis Presley off the stage and bring on the next act​—and do it quickly!

“That kid will never amount to anything,” I thought to myself. Of course, I was wrong. After his voice lessons, he probably did more to promote rock ’n’ roll than anyone. At the same time, I think he also did much to influence country music. Much of modern country music has shifted away from traditional country toward rock. By doing this, it gained the popularity of both country and rock, but the price of popularity was high.

While rock music was taking the country by storm, I kept busy promoting country music. A Nashville booking agency asked me to go on tour with country and western star Jimmy Wakely. After covering much of the eastern United States, we ended up in Hollywood, where I appeared in several movies.

Something Was Missing

Things were working out well for me in Hollywood. I was meeting the right people, going to the right places and doing all the things an up-and-coming star should be doing. But something was lacking. In all the glitter of its make-believe production, it lacked the basic substance I equated with the barefoot boy walking down the mountain path that I’ll always picture myself as being. Back home to Pennsylvania I went.

A recording company asked me to record a holiday song, “Elfie the Elf.” It was an immediate success. Seven record-producing companies couldn’t keep up with the sales demand. The popularity of my first record made it much easier for my following recordings to reach high sales figures.

Record fame called for more road shows. But the songs we played reminded me of my own devoted wife, all too many miles away. It picked at my heartstrings to go back home to her. Often performers turn to alcohol or drugs to help them cope. I went home.

Finding What Was Missing

In 1969 we moved to Florida. There in the flat land of central Florida, I found out what my instinctive love of people, mountains and music was all about.

It was Christmas day 1970. We had just returned from church. A knock at the door introduced me to an honest-faced, plainspoken man I’ll never forget. Although we spoke of many matters and he showed me many things in the Bible I didn’t know, it was his obvious concern for me that impressed me more than anything he said.

Before he left he invited me to a nearby Kingdom Hall. The meeting was that day in a few hours. I went. The Bible discourse was interesting, but what caught my attention was the open discussion of a Bible topic that followed.

Racial problems that were plaguing the country were nonexistent here. Blacks, whites, young and old, from all walks of life, were intent on sharing something from their hearts. “This is how it should be!” I thought to myself.

After the meeting I was deluged with welcomers. The man who had invited me told me that Jehovah’s Witnesses would be glad to study the Scriptures with me in my home. “How soon can we get started?” I responded. We started the next night.

Two weeks later he invited me to go with him to call on others. And I’ve been sharing the Bible’s hope for better conditions ever since.

Pressure to Compromise

My intention in moving to Florida was eventually to find some part-time outlet for my music interest. I drifted into a variety band that played two or three nights a week at various clubs. What I didn’t realize was that changes in modern music were on a head-on collision course with the Bible principles I was learning.

To emcee a club show often calls for suggestive, sex-oriented jokes and comments. As patrons have more to drink, their thinking gets duller, which subsequently calls for more brazen dialogue. I never would do this. My refusal to compromise my standards began to cause problems in getting jobs.

The shift in country music toward rock melody didn’t present much of a problem for me. A country musician can arrange the melody to suit his pure country delivery. That’s what I did. One thing I couldn’t do, however, was change the lyrics.

The words of traditional country music at times gravitated to things like romance triangles. With the movement of melody toward rock, modern country music’s lyrics have become increasingly vulgar with more vivid descriptions of lewd conduct. This is often what is demanded by the public, especially in clubs.

What would I do? My whole way of life hinged on my expressing myself through music. But the music that people wanted to hear was attacking everything I considered moral and decent!

It all came to a head when I was doing a club show shortly after I began studying the Bible. As we performed, the crowd danced or sat at tables talking, eating and drinking. Then a woman, who obviously had had too much to drink, exposed herself from the waist up and asked us to play a modern country-music song with immoral lyrics.

That did it! ‘What am I doing in a place like this?’ I asked myself. ‘What would my newfound Christian companions think?’ This final pressure to compromise my moral standards and Bible principles caused me to quit professional country music that night.

Sharing Wholesome Music

Music had been much more than just a good living for me​—it was in my blood. So quitting it entirely would have been a near impossibility. It didn’t come to that. At a picnic of members of our congregation, one brought a fiddle, another a guitar, and so on. I joined in and it started all over again. We play at weddings and other get-togethers of fellow Christians. Although it’s without financial reward, the wholesome fun and the opportunity to express myself through music make me feel well paid.

The part of country and western music that has meant so much to me has dealt with the basics that enrich life: love of the natural surroundings, devotion in the family arrangement and the peace of mind these things can give. One autumn day as I was driving through the radiantly colored Pennsylvania hills, a new realization hit me ‘like a ton of bricks.’ My “heartland” feelings relate directly to my newly learned Bible truths.

It was Jehovah God who gave man the land to love and care for. He purposes to return not just one valley to a state of peace but the entire earth to a beautiful Paradise. Jehovah always wanted fidelity in marriage and will demand it in the new system of his making. It all made sense! This is what “heartland” was all about.

Over the years I’ve seen how sharing wholesome music can lift the spirits of persons facing war, economic distress and family breakdown. But the enjoyment music gives offers only a temporary relief at best.

Sharing Bible principles and hopes with my neighbors as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses can do much more. It should. The lyrics are perfect. It’s a song that can touch every longing heart. And it gives a peace of mind that can lift you up forever.​—As told by Woody Wooddell.