Country Connections by James Perry

Too cold for the porch. So, I am sitting in our bedroom looking out the glass doors remembering Thanksgiving this year and reminiscing about Christmases and New Years of the past. I had dinner with the crew of our worldwide Country Connections Radio Show which concluded four years ago. The crew included David Farmer, Dr. Bob Wyrick, Professor Tim Johnson, Don Bell, Lawyer Roger and me. The show aired on Sunday nights from 6 ’til 10 p.m. EST. We had hits from all over the USA, Australia, Latin America, England, Spain, Portugal, Helsinki, Canada and Ireland.

Our radio show was on WYSH, WQLA based in Clinton, Tennessee, and broadcast all over the internet worldwide. We were helped around the world by Charlie Pride and his right-hand man, Danny Hutchins, who worked for Charlie Pride for 42 years. On his tours to foreign countries Charlie and Danny would mention and talk about our show during Charlie’s performances on stage. Our show had an enormous audience in Australia. Sunday nights here would be Monday mornings in Australia.

Our audience kept growing during the four and a half years, but the owner of WYSH and WQLA decided to cancel the internet which caused a 90 percent drop in our audience and caused me to cancel the show. We still get many requests to restart the Country Connection Show, but unless there’s a firm commitment by a reputable party and a legal contract, I’m not interested.

We interviewed many country music celebrities, songwriters, sidemen and local entertainers over the duration of the show. We had numerous hits and calls from Nashville Country stars requesting to be on the show. David and I even got chewed out by a great weekly listener named Pam Tillis. We played “Strange” by Patsy Cline. David and I could not remember who the writer was. Well, it happened to be Mel Tillis who was Pam’s father. Pam, who listened to our show frequently called and chewed us out. We both enjoyed the chewing out by such a pretty lady and both of us tried to apologize, but she had us and intended to prolong our agony for as long as possible. She was not really mad but had us cornered and kept us at bay as long as possible. We never made that mistake again. We really appreciated Pam listening on Sunday nights and we played her hits and some songs that did not make the top ten but were good songs. We now miss her hits and comments.

December has the biggest holiday in the Christian world and that is Christmas. It commemorates the birth of Christ Jesus. December 25 was picked as the day to honor his birth, even though that was probably not his actual birthday. It has also become a time for Christians to be with their families and friends, and also to have time off from work and enjoy a Christmas meal. Some from the northern latitudes travel to exotic warm islands or countries for a few days of tropical bliss, although this doesn’t fit in with the long tradition of a cozy fireplace with Hallmark scenes of evergreen trees covered with glistening snow, a horse pulled sleigh with laughing children enjoying the ride. This doesn’t happen in the tropics.

A very pretty girl who rode my school bus said to me a couple of years ago that she came from a place that had no snow. I could tell that she was part Asian. She told me that she had come recently with her family from the Philippines and didn’t know that Americans had so much Christmas. Her father was Caucasian American and her mother was Filipino. They only stayed here until her high school graduation and then went back to the Philippines.

A bad Christmas happening was on Christmas Eve 1944 five miles off Cherbourg, France, as the troop ship Leopoldville was sunk by a German submarine with 805 soldiers and some of the ship’s crew were killed as the ship sank. My father, Jesse Perry, survived by swinging on a cable and dropping 30 feet into a sea-going tug boat sent to rescue survivors of the torpedo explosion. He sustained mental and physical injuries for life. The U.S. Government disclaimed this happened for 30 years to protect top military brass. Thirty years later my father’s account of this disaster was proven. For years, neighbors, family and the army had called him a liar.

New Year’s Eve of 1952 happens to be the day that the greatest country singer and songwriter died at, or shortly after leaving, the Andrew Johnson Hotel on Gay Street in Knoxville. That country music star’s name was Hank Williams. It was rumored Hank died from drugs and alcohol. But after his divorce from Audrey Williams, he died from a broken heart. Listen to “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” which tells the final story about Hank and Audrey’s marriage and Hank’s vision of what will eventually happen to Audrey. Hank gave her a lot of what his talent had made for them for their divorce settlement. Hank died six months after their divorce and Audrey died in the house she received from Hank during the divorce settlement in June of 1952. Audrey was found dead inside the door of her house on November 4, 1975. The house was being seized by the IRS. A tragic ending for both Hank and Audrey Williams.

Hank was known as the Shakespeare of country music. He could say so much by using simple words and with his phrasing. All of Hank’s recordings can be listened to on the internet.

See you next month.