My father is having his pacemaker replaced in late February, so my thoughts have been on him. He was the one who taught me to play guitar. I’m having so much fun traveling through the South (and that’s about to expand to the North and West as well) storytelling and playing my guitar that I’ve given thought this morning on the songs that he taught me. I grew up listening to Country Music. If my daddy wasn’t playing it, he was listening to it.  He determined that I should learn music and taught me a little steel guitar, some mandolin, some bass guitar, and guitar. It was the guitar that stuck and became part of my identity.

The first song I learned was “Little Brown Jug.” You can see a YouTube cartoon sing-a-long of the tune here. It is a fun song that he made me learn IN EVERY KEY. Then we moved on to these songs, maybe not in this exact order, but I do know these were the songs of my childhood, the songs my daddy taught me that I’ll never forget.

2) Wildwood Flower

3) Under the Double Eagle

4) San Antonio Rose

5) Steel Guitar Rag

6) The Hank Williams Oeuvre

7) These were followed by  by artists such as Porter Wagoner, Milburn Brothers, Jimmie Rodgers ( There’s a museum for him in Meridean that I must see some day),  and a host of others. Upon reflection of this, I realize that the music he taught me is a rich legacy. He couldn’t have left me anything better than the notebook of music I’ve memorized and that I carry with me everywhere–the songs my daddy taught me.