I guess my heroes have always been cowboys and they still are it seems. Well some cowboys. Ole Waylon and Willie and the boys come to mind. My dad and his friend Dusty I remember. Oscar McGinty. My grandfather Harry (a very flawed hero of course but most heroes are), Audie Leon Murphy and of course the Cisco Kid who was my early hero of the silver screen, because Cisco didnt kill the bad guys he just captured them and brought them to justice. And especially my Mother who wasnt a cowboy but she was a real life cowgirl who became a judge and dispensed justice with a capitol J because she knew about people and she cared about people and she sometimes bent the law slightly so that justice could be served. I first saw Ole Willie when he was still playing guitar for Ray Price when Ray did a concert at Lackland AFB in San Antonio while I was undergoing basic training. I like him them especially when he sang a song as part of the program and the way he treated us basics afterwards when he and Ray and the band signed autographs. Years later I saw him again in person at the Panther Hall Ballroom in Fort Worth. He helped break the color line in country music by having Charley Pride as his opening act. Willie was far ahead of others in country with his lifestyle and his unusual ways of doing and saying things about things that mattered. He is a real life hero to me. All heroes tend to be flawed and Ole Willie aint no saint but he knows whats right and he cares about people - real people - poor people and working people. Thats what makes him one of my heroes. Willie dont just talk the talk, he walks the walk. And as singers go he aint to bad in that department. I feel a connection to him partly because I predicted to a lot of laughter way early in his career that he would be a big star someday and he made my prediction come to fruition, with his great versions of the old country standards of Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain and Remember Me (When the Candle Lights are Gleaming). And he definitely made it high on my list when he recorded with another of my heroes the Genius Ray Charles who did so much to bring country music into the main stream as well. Willie has had the backs of farmers for over 30 years with his Farm Aid Concerts that has raised millions for distressed farmers all over the nation. I predicted his rise to fame when his first charted song came out while I was in the AF at El Paso. I Never Cared For You. It barely made the charts in country but it showed the potential of the man who would one day become a country legend. And Willie was already an accomplished song writer a long time before he became a singing legend with songs like Crazy which was a huge hit for Patsy Cline. His songs had already been hits for Elvis and Patsy and Ray Price. Funny How Time Slips Away was a hit for Elvis and others long before the world knew of Ole Willie. Willie is still going strong now into his 8th decade on this our Mother Earth. He is truly one of my heroes. But I have other less well known maybe but like Ole Willie they care and they get it and they talk the talk and walk the walk. Scott Hamilton, Robin Meyers, Steve Riggs, Rodney Bivens, Beryl Jones, Tim OConnor, Chris Moore, Lori Walke, Barbara Royce, Diane Perkins, Kenetta Lisenbee, Mac McClendon, Steve Newell, Deborah Naylor, just to name a few. Hopefully the others know who they are. Some of my heroes have gone on but I still remember them every day - Jerry DiBello, George Thompson, Bobby Stoops. There are a lot others too and if I got started I could go on for a long, long time. They are all my heroes because they care! Bob Bearden
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 15:12:09 +0000
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