CHAPTER 3

Music

For as long as I can remember, music has been part of my life. It has always been there, just like part of the family. Our home was always full of music. My mama has been the organist at church for more than forty years, and my daddy was the choir director for many years. My family was at church pretty much anytime the doors were open. I have the fondest memories of dinner on the grounds and Wednesday night fellowship suppers full of good food and song.

I loved playing the piano and began taking lessons (from somebody other than my mama) when I was eight years old. My teacher was a little old widowed lady named Mrs. Ogden. I loved learning to play, but I hated practicing my assigned lessons. I liked playing hymns and songs from my Olivia Newton John songbook instead. After a few years of lessons, I began to accompany my mother on the piano at church.

Like many girls, I would sway in front of my bedroom mirror and sing into my hairbrush. I knew all the songs from Alabama, Dolly Parton, Marie Osmond, Lionel Richie, and Andy Gibb. For a while, I might have even believed I was a member of the Bee Gees! I took every opportunity to sing for folks—whether in living room shows, at school, or in church plays. Anytime I could get an audience, I was singing. I am one of Barbara Mandrell’s biggest fans, and when all the cousins would get together, we would put on variety shows with skits and songs just like hers. I would even belt out imaginary duets with Elvis. I knew in my heart that I just wanted to sing for people. I thought it was something I could do for them to make them laugh or just be happy. Still do.

In junior high I began to realize just how much singing meant to me. I started singing in talent contests all around the state of Georgia, and by high school I had started taking voice lessons from Mrs. Logan. She was tough on me, but I adored her. She made sure I practiced and didn’t holler too much at football games. I also had two choral directors who gave me such encouragement to go for it. Ms. Rentz and Mr. Ivey will probably never know the confidence they instilled in me. I am so grateful for all they taught me and for the support and faith they offered me at such an impressionable age.

I don’t know what I did to deserve such special parents! I won the lottery as far as that’s concerned. They’ve always been my biggest fans. My sweet daddy would drive for hours and hours to take me to sing at civic functions, ball games, county fairs, even if it was to sing just one song—and never a complaint did he utter!

Both of my folks have always been incredibly encouraging to me about singing and performing. My mama would sneak little notes into my pockets or purse with the best advice: “You can do it!” “Don’t be nervous!” “Believe in yourself!” I would find them when I was warming up, and suddenly I’d feel the butterflies settle down. If, heaven forbid, a day comes when I can no longer sing in tune, I know my parents will still be there to cheer me on.

Music has brought me so many amazing opportunities, from performing for presidents to my lifelong dream of winning a Grammy! I believed I would sing in RCA’s famous Studio B—the same studio where Elvis recorded with the Jordanaires—and I did! Most of all, though, music has been my very close friend through heartbreak and grief—and through my greatest joys and celebrations.