The Storyteller's Farm & Museum Near Nashville Features Johnny Cash, Elvis and Music History

There are so many interesting stories in the world. Rod Stewart once sang “Every picture tells a story, don’t it.” I think the same can be said for places. Places have many stories. One such place with lots of stories for music fans is Storyteller’s Hideaway Farm and Museum, just west of Nashville off Highway 40 in Bon Aqua, TN. This is where Johnny Cash used to go to escape from public life.  

The Storytellers Museum features memorabilia, artifacts, and stories from classic country music history with a distinct focus on Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and Colonel Tom Parker, as well as producer Red Wortham. The stories and storied lives don't stop there.

The Hideaway Farm is a 107-acre property that Johnny Cash owned for 33 years and called the center of his universe. It features a 200-year-old Farmhouse, with an intimate collection of family photos, memorabilia, and footage of Johnny Cash at the property, as well as stories from his family.  The famous One-Piece-At-A-Time Cadillac, created from Johnny’s own song of the same name, is also on display.

Johnny's One-Piece-At-A-Time Cadillac. 
All color photos on this page courtesy Gary Firstenberg

The couple responsible for renovating this place, preserving history and sharing it is Brian and Sally Oxley. In June I spoke with Brian Oxley and learned a little about the project he and his wife have undertaken.

When I asked how he came to take such an interest in these properties of Johnny Cash he replied,  “I had a friend in Illinois… I was visiting in his office and he had a series of paintings of people who he respected the most. He had one of Johnny Cash…. And I asked, ‘Who is that?' He then began to tell me his story.”

If you’re surprised that Brian Oxley was unfamiliar with who Johnny Cash was, it’s helpful to know his background. Oxley grew up in Japan, the son of missionaries there. When his parents retired they chose Nashville as a place to settle.

Oxley became intrigued by the Johnny Cash story and the more he learned, the more fascinated he became. “I found Johnny Cash’s parents’ home. They were across the street from Johnny’s house that had burned down,” Oxley explained. “It was on the market, so I bought it, and renovated it to the original form.” 

Being from Duluth I couldn’t help but think of collector/archivist Bill Pagel’s ongoing efforts to restore Bob Dylan’s boyhood homes to their original form.

The Colonel and Elvis

Oxley continued. “On one occasion I got to know Tommy Cash, Johnny’s brother. Tommy told about the farm (The Hideaway), how it was off the beaten path. Tommy approached the farmer who owned it and I was able to buy the property. I wanted a spiritual tone to it, because Johnny Cash was spiritual.”

As Oxley became aware of properties related to this story he purchased them. The Mama Cash house was the last home Johnny and June stayed in before June died. They were there because Johnny wasn’t doing well. They were in the process of installing an elevator in his house across the street.

At a certain point in time Oxley found the VHS tape that became Seeing Red. It’s possible that Elvis might never have been discovered were it not for Red Wortham. That story is shared here. 

The Oxleys are well aware that timing is everything. One day Brian Oxley heard that Colonel Parker’s place was going to be torn down to become a car wash. “I stepped in and we acquired the rights to dismantle it,” he said. He now displays the wall behind the desk where Elvis and the Colonel did their deal. “I dismantled the wall where Elvis and Col. Parker shook hands.”

Johnny's favorite chair.

After acquiring what could be preserved he learned about the Hollywood film that is in the works about this period of music history. None other than Tom Hanks will be playing Colonel Parker. 

In June the Oxley’s got word that there is a movement in Holland to bring the Colonel back. “They want to build a monument. I have the house and tons of pictures. He (Colonel Parker) was an illegal alien.”

Restorations of this magnitude clearly require capital. Though primarily the Oxley’s own money has been invested, he has also been assisted a friend from Taiwan whose mother was a famous classical dancer. While other people were telling Oxley that he was out of his mind, this friend said, “Go for it.”

“The stuff I do, you can’t go to normal business people. There was no assurance it would ever make money,” Oxley continued. “I’m a storyteller. When people come in they are closer to Elvis with his head on the wall than anywhere on the wall. The original gates from the Colonel’s place were duplicated at Graceland.”

The Oxley's motivation has all along been to preserve music history. And we're all being enriched by it.

STORYTELLERS HIDEAWAY FARM AND MUSEUM

9676 OLD HIGHWAY 46, BON AQUA, TN, 37025

(931) 996-4336

INFO@STORYTELLERSMUSEUM.COM

https://www.storytellershideawayfarm.com/

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Photos from the Hank Williams Museum and Bitcoins of Trivia

I have at least a couple connections to the influential singer/songwriter Hank Williams. Few people know he was born Hiram Williams, which jumped out at me because I had a great uncle in Eastern Kentucky named Hiram. In addition to owning the general store, he was the mayor and (if I recall) the police department of Bear Track, Kentucky, population 36. He also played a pretty mean banjo.

A second link to the name Hiram: my parents attended, and met at, Hiram College near Cleveland in the years previous to my birth in September 1952. Four months later, the world lost a great one when Hank Williams died in Oak Hill, West Virginia on New Years Day, 1953.

Hank Williams' songs were about real life, often dealing with fairly universal human feelings -- joy, sorrow, lonesomeness, heartache and other variations of the blues. His brief life -- just over 29 years -- intersected with all the greats of country music of his day, and influenced countless others ever after. 

His robin's egg blue Cadillac, of which he was proud,
and where he died, in Oak Hill, WVa

Photographer Gary Firstenberg spent some time at the Hank Williams Museum this past week and was gracious enough to send these photos from both the museum and the cemetery where Williams was laid to rest.

I'd planned initially to write a blog post about William's influence on another great singer/songwriter Bob Dylan. The Nobel Prize he received in 2016 was "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." Hank Williams was certainly a part of that tradition.

Having read Dylan's Chronicles: Volume One a couple times, you can't miss the tribute he paid to Hank Williams as a giant of country music in the 1950s. Dylan's fame centered around his own songwriting, but as every Dylan fan knows he's not shy about singing other people's work. Here's a link to 11 Hank Williams songs performed by Dylan.

* * * 

Hank Williams' story makes me sad in many respects. He suffered much and died young. On the other hand, it shows how much one can accomplish in a short time if one is committed to his or her craft and calling. 

On the other hand, his music so lifts the spirit, even when when he's moanin' the blues. "Jambalaya" and "Hey, Good Lookin'" capture the joyful side of living. "I Saw the Light" -- which he recorded in 1948 -- is another transcendent tune that we continue to sing to this day.

Here's an unusual bit of trivia that I was unaware of about this man. He was born with spinal bifida occulta, a rare birth defect of the spinal column that may have caused him to suffer lifelong back pain. This possibly contributed to his alcoholism and addiction to pills. 

 In 2003, Hank Williams was ranked second

in CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music, 

behind only Johnny Cash. 

Here's a rare live recording of Hank Williams

Thanks again to Gary Firstenberg for the photos and to Beth Petty at the museum

for giving him permission to take these liberties. 

The Hank Williams Museum is located at

118 Commerce Street in Montgomery, Alabama

Learn more at the Museum Website.

Can Red Wortham Be Credited For Launching the Career of Elvis Presley?

Photo: Gary Firstenberg

For some reason "What if... ?" questions are endlessly fascinating. That's what makes the classic film "It's a Wonderful Life" starring Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore so continuously entertaining. You know the story. Stewart, as George Bailey, is so down and out that he gives up on his hopeless situation and prepares to kill himself. Clarence, his guardian angel, saves his life but must also give him a reason to not give up on it all. 

When George Bailey says, "I wish I'd never been born," Clarence sees his opening. Using the special power only guardian angels in fiction stories have at their disposal, he shows Bailey exactly what would have happened, and what would not have happened.

I can think of a dozen places where my life could have been completely altered had things gone other directions. A pair of "chance" meetings resulted in my attending a school in Minnesota where I met my wife, for example. Had that not occurred, my kids and now grandkids would certainly have never existed.

These are the thoughts that flicked through my brain as I listened to Brian Oxley of the Storyteller's Museum* share the story of Red Wortham. Is it possible that we might never heard of Elvis Presley had it not been for this unusual man? 

It's useful to put stories in their context, and Oxley has produced a video that lays out his case. The 12-minute video, Seeing Red, now resides on YouTube. What follows are some of my notes, with an embed of the video afterwards.

SEEING RED

Record producer W.C. “Red” Wortham was born in Stewart County TN in 1920. His family lived on a mixed neighborhood street where blacks and whites got along. He evidently liked music because by the age of 13 Red and his friend Charlie were playing shows. As a teen he was getting paid to play on WLAC radio in Nashville.

At 20 Red formed his own big band orchestra that often performed at the Andrew Jackson Hotel, which became a go to spot for musicians. His location enabled him to start a music company where he could produce music and promote fellow musicians.

At a certain point he partnered with Jim Bullet of Bullet Records to expand his company’s reach. This positioned him to play a critical role in the music industry in the late 40s and early 50s.

The Prisonaires.

At age 42 he bought an old general store in Bon Aqua TN to create his distinctive recording studio, which remained active through the 60s and 70s. Throughout that time he recorded both white and black artists. African American musicians often sought him out knowing he was colorblind with regard to whom he worked with and promoted.

Red recorded hundreds of groups in a range of styles, but his recording of the Prisonaires proved to be his most significant decision.

When Frank Clement was elected governor in 1953 he appointed James Edwards to be warden at Tennessee State Prison. They brought a new attitude to the prison, focusing on the hopes of tomorrow rather than the mistakes of yesterday.

Joe Calloway, from local radio station WSIX in Nashville, was invited to broadcast from within the prison. Here he met a prisoner named Johnny Bragg who had been a singer since childhood. Bragg, who had already been behind bars 10 years, had assembled a group of guys that enjoyed singing. Joe Calloway thought they were pretty good and invited Red into the prison to record some demo tapes. 

The name of their group was already taken though, so Red gave them a new name: The Prisonaires. The group was comprised of two prison gospel singers, Ed Thurman and William Stewart (each doing 99 years for murder), and two new arrivals at the prison, John Drue Jr. (three years for larceny) and Marcell Sanders (on-to-five for involuntary manslaughter).

Elvis heard this song and felt a spark.

When Red brought his equipment into the prison they recorded "Just Walkin' in the Rain" and "Baby Please" in the doo wop style of the day. Red was impressed and sent the songs he pressed to Mercury Records and Decca. When Red didn't hear back, his friend Jim Bullet recommended that he go see Sam Phillips with his fledgling Sun Records.

Phillips indeed liked what he heard, but wanted a different B-side rather than "Just Walkin' in the Rain". Fortunately, Sam Phillips didn't get his way.

To record the official 45, Jim Bullett brought the Prisonaires to Sun Records on a day pass where they worked from morning till night recording it. When the song was released in 1953 it sold 50,000 copies.

Now that you've read this far, here's the point.

The significance of "Just Walkin' in the Rain" wasn't just that it put Sun Records on the map, but that it caught the attention of a young Elvis Presley. Presley began visiting Sun Records often that year. On one of these occasions he recorded a song for his mom called "My Happiness." This was the first time his voice had been recorded. 

As Phillips listened to the purity of the performance by the Prisonaires it reminded Phillips of Elvis’ voice and led Phillips to record "That’s All Right, Mama" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky." The rest is history.

 

EdNote: THE PRISONAIRES became so popular as a result of their hit single that they were given day passes to perform all over Tennessee. They even put on shows at the Governor's mansion.

It's probably impossible to say the Elvis phenomenon would have never happened without Red Wortham's having recorded the Prisonaires. It could be so, though. As with It's a Wonderful Life, few of us get to see what might have been. And most of us are probably unaware of how many others we ourselves have influenced, for better or worse, intentionally and unintentionally. 

Brian Oxley's stories get even more intriguing when we get to the Johnny Cash chapters. But I'm reserving that for another day.

* * * 

 

* The story Seeing Red is but one of many important stories that have been unearthed by Brian and Sally Oxley, founders of  The Storytellers Museum and Hideaway Farm in Bon Aqua, Tennessee. This is the place Johnny Cash once referred to as "the Center of My Universe." 

The Museum and Hideaway has been a project undertaken by Brian and Sally Oxley of whom I intend to share more in a future blog post. I was introduced to them by Gary Firstenberg, who has been giving Nevada Bob Gordon a tour of music history's points of interest in the Deep South. For more about this magical place visit https://www.storytellershideawayfarm.com/