[Excerpt from Navy Greenshirt] I had completed almost two years of a tour in a Navy training squadron, and my current job assignment was that of assistant maintenance officer (AMO). When the maintenance officer (MO) went on leave, I ran the Maintenance Department and thoroughly enjoyed my two weeks in charge. Everything went smoothly and […]
With goggles pulled tightly across my face, I waited for the signal to step out onto the USS Independence flight deck. Five men and I stood in the tiny entranceway of the aircraft carrier’s “island,” a seven-story superstructure that towered over the flight deck. My helmet muffled the engine roar outside the metal bulkhead. I […]
Navy Greenshirt: A Leader Made, Not Born Chapter 1 “Captain, United States Navy, Arriving” Chapter 2 Maintenance Officer School Chapter 3 The Professionals of VT-23
The will Faron Young signed three months before his suicide directed that everything be sold–from guns and clothing to publishing rights and song royalties. Faron’s estate was purchased by Ed Gregory, whose United Shows of America (The Ultimate Midway) can be found at many state fairs. My biography research includes reviewing Faron’s remaining […]
[Excerpt from Navy Greenshirt] Before going to Japan, I had called Faron Young, and we’d held a long enjoyable conversation. As always, he had an opinion on everything and didn’t care how people reacted to his comments and actions. I enjoyed his wonderful sense of humor. He said he’d stopped smoking–again. (He had […]
“Dear Faron — When you’re good, you’re very very good. But when you’re bad, you’re the opposite!” These words of a speech teacher can be found in Faron Young’s 1951 high school yearbook. They accurately predicted the life of this future country music legend. From a teenager who cleaned fishing boats and sold manure […]
Willie Nelson was an unknown songwriter when he pitched Hello Walls to Faron Young, one of the hottest singers in country music. Faron recorded the song in 1961, and it stayed at number one on the Billboard country music charts for nine weeks. Faron later explained in a radio interview that artists get paid […]
Faron Young–the Singing Sheriff–recorded country songs and entertained for more than forty years. His hits included Goin’ Steady, Sweet Dreams, Hello Walls, Alone With You, It’s Four In the Morning, and Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young. The Country Deputies backed him from 1954 until his death in 1996. When Faron completed […]
[I wrote this for Newsweek’s “My Turn” column but didn’t get my turn.] Country music legend Faron Young died December 10, 1996, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. News reports said depression over health problems and a feeling that the music industry had passed him by contributed to his suicide. My friendship with Faron […]
Nashville songwriter Jerry Chesnut remembers well that pre-dawn morning in 1971 when he could not sleep. He picked up his guitar, looked at his watch, and said, “It’s four in the morning and a new day is dawning.” Then he started writing a song. The first two verses and chorus came easily, but he […]