Since I didn't blog last year, let me catch you up on a couple of important dates in 2012. On March 28, 2012 my hero Earl Scruggs died. I only had one opportunity in my lifetime to see him in person and that was in 2001 at the Oklahoma International Bluegrass Festival in Guthrie. It was there that I got my banjo head signed by Earl.
Another fine musician died in 2012 and I was honored to play steel guitar at his funeral. I'm talking about Jesse Watson, brother of Gene Watson. I had known Jesse for a short time, having met him at the Tudor Street Mission Church in Paris. We had some wonderful times playing music there and he was an outstanding guitar picker. He also played steel guitar.
While I'm talking about the subject, the year 2013 rolled around and there were a couple of other great musicians who passed away. On July 4th, Maurice Anderson died. He created the MSA Steel Guitar Company in Dallas and I have owned three of them in my lifetime. Maurice was one of the best, having played with Bob Wills and many others. The MSA Company still makes some of the finest steel guitars in the business!
The other death was closer to home. My great friend, Joe Julian died on October 10th. I may blog about Joe later, but for now let me say that Joe, along with J. T. Bryan and Ross Whitt (Honey Grove) gave me my first opportunities to play music with a real band.
To be continued...
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