14 March 2006
This weekly newsletter will keep you posted on progress toward a late September publication date of Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story by the University of Illinois Press. The book is being marketed with Craig Havighurst’s Air Castle of the South: WSM and the Making of Music City.
FARON YOUNG, THIRTY-THREE YEARS AGO: Faron was wrapping up a Canadian tour by playing a show in Edmonton, Alberta, on March 5, 1974, when he received news that his mother, Doris, had died. He’d also been in Canada on that day eleven years earlier, driving with Billy Grammer and Shelley Snyder to Calgary, Alberta, when they heard the radio stations playing Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins, and Patsy Cline records over and over. Faron said, “Boy, they’re really hot up here.” Then the disc jockey broke in to dedicate the songs “to those we lost today.”
LETTERS
Ruth Henry writes from Orange Park, Florida, “I want to say a few words about the late great FARON YOUNG, and to tell every one I think I’m probably one of his biggest die hard fans. I first saw Faron perform while 17 years old living in Des Moines Iowa. I cannot really put into words how great a talent he was. My day starts by putting on his music, and starting my daily task, I only wish I could have met him in person. One of my favorite CDs is where he sings Rockabilly, and those old standards NO ONE could sing em like Faron. I once read where Faron wasn’t too proud of them songs hey he was great, I rank Faron right up there with Frank Sinatra, Nat Cole, and Johnny Mathis. Here I am 69 years old soon to be the big 70 and my mind hasn’t changed at all about this great talent.”
Jean Earle in the UK asks, “Just wondering how your investigations into your new book are coming along? Way back in 1980 during one of our visits to Nashville we were lucky enough to meet with Marty Robbins . . . As luck might have it, we were in Marty’s office talking to the staff there when in walked Marty looking very smart….he said he was all dressed up as he had been to a photo shoot….maybe to use on his next album cover. . . . We saw him on the Opry later, and when we returned home we again saw him, back in England at Wembley. A very charming gentleman.”
Response: I’ve done 25 telephone interviews about Marty Robbins so far, and I’m planning a research trip to Nashville in mid-April.
SALES/MARKETING
The main reason I haven’t sold many copies of my first two books (“A Farm in the Hidewood: My South Dakota Home” at http://ddiekman.tripod.com/id7.html and “Navy Greenshirt: A Leader Made, Not Born” at http://ddiekman.tripod.com/id5.html) is because I haven’t marketed them. I don’t like sales/marketing and am not good at it. I was told the best way to gain experience and confidence is to own a home-based business, so I became a Mary Kay beauty consultant. I am extremely impressed with the business philosophy of the company, as well as the quality of its products. For a look at what’s available, please check my new website: www.marykay.com/ddiekman. Shipping in the USA is free.