This periodic newsletter commemorates the lives of Faron Young and Marty Robbins. Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story was published in 2007 by the University of Illinois Press, and I’m currently writing Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins for publication in 2012. REMEMBERING MARCH 5, 1963 Billy Grammar and Faron Young were in […]
FARON’S BIRTHDAY Faron Young was born 77 years ago today in a little two bedroom rental house in Shreveport, Louisiana. His sister Dorothy remembered standing out in front and telling people who came by, “We got a new baby brother.” She told me, “All the kids in the neighborhood liked to come over and play […]
MARTY ROBBINS AT THE DAYTONA 500 February brings NASCAR’s Daytona 500 race. Marty Robbins ran that race in 1973 and 1975 and was a broadcast commentator in 1976. He described the first race as follows: “I was gonna pass the guy on the inside, and coming off the fourth turn there’s a bad hump, and […]
FARON YOUNG AUDIO BOOK I’ve been talking with a production company about publishing Live Fast, Love Hard as an audio book. I would pay production costs and then earn royalties on sales. The company would distribute and sell the book via the Internet, both as an 8-CD set and as a downloadable e-book. I’m wondering […]
Happy New Year!! This periodic newsletter commemorates the lives of Faron Young and Marty Robbins. Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story was published in 2007 by the University of Illinois Press, and I’m currently writing Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins for publication in 2012. FARON AND MARTY SIGN RECORDING CONTRACTS […]
MARTY ROBBINS IN HIS DRINKING DAYS Those who knew the teetotaler Marty Robbins might be surprised to hear this story. It comes from a transcript of a 1981 interview, and the incident probably happened in 1949 or 1950. “I’ve drunk as many as 24 bottles of beer between nine and one at night,” Marty told […]
This periodic newsletter commemorates the lives of Faron Young and Marty Robbins. Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story was published last year by the University of Illinois Press, and I’m currently writing Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins. This week marks the anniversary of the deaths of these great entertainers–Marty 26 […]
MARTY ROBBINS BEFORE AND AFTER THE NAVY Here’s a paragraph in my biography draft that I originally placed in the section on Martin as a teenager before he enlisted in the Navy: ***He and his half dozen friends “were trying to have fun,” he said. “We’d choose up sides and have fights with the oranges. […]
MARTY ROBBINS, THE NAME Marty once told Ralph Emery he got the name Marty Robbins from “a Russian kid by the name of Harry Tomichov” [phonetic spelling]. He wanted to change his name “because I didn’t want anybody to know it was me playing. Because I was ashamed. So Harry says why don’t you just […]
RESEARCHING MARTY ROBBINS IN GLENDALE, ARIZONA My sister and I just returned from a great research trip. Kayo and I met people who knew Marty and people who keep his memory alive through the “Friends of Marty Robbins” organization. Thanks to Jo Wenger for arranging a meeting at the Shot of Java coffee shop. She […]