"The Alabama Elvis"
Dec.24 1950 - May 23 2010
My father died this past sunday,May 23rd.He was the greatest singer I have ever heard
His shows cosisted of up to seventy songs and he would sound just as good on the last song as he did on the first.His stage name was "The Alabama Elvis".
He was well known all over and has performed on major networks like Showtime and The Ralph Emery Show on CMT,as seen in the photo.
He was my first and most important musical influence.When I was very young he would sing and play guitar in his room for hours.
As he played he would stomp his foot so hard it could be felt all through the house.
He played gospel music at first but always added a rock feel to it because his true musical love was the early rock of the fifties.
When the congregation at church needed a lift of spirit,he was always called up to sing and play.I began in music by playing drums for him when I was about six years old.
We would go to the church on Saturdays and rehearse and stay there for hours.This was the first time I "felt" music.I had heard it all my life but now I could FEEL it.
From then on I was hooked on this feeling.
On his thirteenth birthday in 1963,he got a Harmony Stella acoustic.I still have this guitar.He played it so much there are pits in the fingerboard an eighth inch deep.That guitar had no idea of the life ahead of it,and what a musical creation it would create.
In the early 90's he began performing the old Fifties music he loved as The Alabama Elvis.He did that for years until physical complications wouldnt allow him to.
He worked in the mines for Drummond Coal for thirty years and was known there as "Flash" until he was later named "Elvis".He even changed his middle name from Elijah to Elvis.
I will be creating a site with videos and photos of his performances and other things from the past.I am really going to miss him