So, moving a little "further on up the road"... My parents, G.B. Burris and Carlyn Winnell Ray, were married. I was born in 1954. You do the math. That was the year Marilyn Monroe married Joe DiMaggio, the year Bill Haley and the Comets recorded "Rock Around The Clock", the year Joseph McCarthy began hearings investigating the United States Army for being "soft on Communism", the year Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four minute mile, the year the 'Miss America Pageant' was broadcast on TV for the first time, the year the first "Godzilla" movie premiered in Tokyo, the year the first 'Burger King' opened, the year Elvis Presley first recorded at 'Sun Records' in Memphis... (this could go on forever).

My parents had stopped playing music as a profession by this time, but, as musicians tend to do, continued to make music a large part of their lives. There was always a guitar, a piano, a fiddle, or any number of other instruments available to me. Through watching and listening to my parents and my grandparents and aunts and uncles (they were all good musicians, too... but that's another blog) I learned a lot about music, songs, musical structure... basically just how to play and sing a song. There was never a family gathering where we didn't have music... live music... good music... played and sung by real people... on real instruments. Because of this exposure to music, by the time I was 4 years old, I could play and sing several songs while accompanying myself on piano. I guess I had a 'good ear'. (that is still open to debate)  :)

Thanks for listening. More to come... "further on up the road".

 

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