My dad was a professional guitar player and singer. When I was 13, and living with him in Jonesboro, Lousiana, I begged him to teach me some guitar chords. Finally, he showed me some bar chords, which were hard to learn, but sounded great once you did.
A short while later, I moved back to Texas to live with my mom. One day, I was playing and singing some popular songs of the day in my room (100 Pounds of Clay, In the Still of the Night, etc). The front door was open and my Junior League baseball coach Joe Parker had come by to see me and I didn’t know that he was there listening to me play and sing.
Joe knocked on the door, and when I answered, he told me how much he enjoyed hearing me play and sing. I was shocked. I was NOT comfortable playing in front of others. Joe was also a Program Director at the Grand Prairie YMCA. He invited me to come to the Y and sing those songs, SOLO. Whoa! This was WAY out of my comfort zone, so I declined.
Not one to give up easily, he invited me to learn some Hootenanny songs that the youth could sing along with at the Y. Hootenannies were VERY popular at the time. You Millenials can Google Hootenanny. Ha-ha.People loved ’em because they could all have fun singing along at the top of their voices.
Popular songs were Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore, Kumbaya, If I Had a Hammer, Lemon Tree, etc.
So, I learned the songs, led the hootenannies, and had a blast. This experience boosted my confidence. Shortly thereafter, Kerry Turner (lead guitar), Phillip Bray (drummer), and me (singer and rhythm guitar), and Wayne (Bass player) formed a Rock and Roll Band called The Lavelles and began to play at school dances.
Just for fun, we entered and to our delight WON the first Battle of the Bands Six Flags Over Texas sponsored, playing two classics songs, Johnny B. Goode and Linda Lou. Oh, yeah!
It’s true, sometimes you need a *nudge* to come out of your comfort zone to try something NEW that will bring you great joy. Take this as YOUR *NUDGE*!
