IN THE SPOTLIGHT – JOHN ANDERSON

Patience can be a virtue when trying to schedule an interview. It took more than 16 months before the stars aligned and I got a call from John Anderson to talk about my Randy Travis biography. It’s quite a thrill to hear such a recognizable voice on the other end of the phone line.

John and Randy first met in the late 1970s, when John was singing with house bands because he couldn’t afford his own band. Randy was in one of those house bands. Fifteen years later, when John was honored with the Academy of Country Music’s Career Achievement Award, he was thrilled to have it presented by superstar Randy Travis. “That was a big, big night for me,” he says. “I felt very flattered and honored. That particular award was for inspiring the younger people to move into country music.”

IN THE SPOTLIGHT – WADE LANDRY

The last time I saw Wade Landry was in July at The Troubadour in Nashville, with Mel Tillis Jr. and his Memory Makers band. So imagine my surprise when I called him two weeks ago, and he’s now living in Louisiana. Kayo and I had first met Wade in 2021, at the Music City Bar and Grill in Nashville, where he was playing fiddle and singing Mel Tillis songs. Kayo caught him on a break and asked if he’d been with Mel Tillis at the casino in Flandreau, South Dakota, about 15 years earlier. She remembered Ernie Reed telling her before the show that it was the other twin fiddler’s first night with Mel. “Was it on New Year’s Eve?” Wade asked. Kayo said yes. “That was me,” he said. Kayo introduced me as the author of Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story, and Wade brought his copy several nights later for me to autograph.