James E. Akenson
Ray Griff Comes Around Just How Much?
There’s all sorts of fascinating about unusual and unexpected connections that happen in our lives. Six Degrees of Separation gets a lot of attention. We’re supposed to be connected to anyone on the planet by a mere six connections through the right people. There are networks of connections about which we might not know. It’s being investigated carefully. But even if it isn’t 100% accurate, it’s an intriguing idea. We all run into people at times with whom we have unusual connections.
Six Sigma deals with making products almost perfect with but 0.00034% chance of error. You go way, way out beyond mathematical normal to achieve perfection. And lately, Sigma is slang for someone who is special, cool, and different. It’s metaphorically adopting the Sigma math to mean a way cool positive social trait that not everyone possesses. I’m getting Aura Points for mentioning Sigma.
Well now, what does this Six Degrees of Separation and Six Sigma stuff have to do with Country Music? Strange that you should ask. Well now. Back-in-the-day…the International Country Music Conference took place in Meridian, Mississippi. Makes sense since Jimmie Rodgers is “The Father of Country Music.” The Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival took place in Meridian.
Let’s talk about some unusual connections that might be explained statistically, but you wouldn’t expect them to happen. Let’s connect Tennessee Tech University graduate student Culin McAlpin, Canadian Country Music artist Ray Griff, early Country Music artist Rex Griffin, Ernest Tubb biographer Ronnie Pugh, the Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival, the International Country Music Conference (ICMC) and me. Sounds improbable? Hang on! We can make it all tie together.
Let’s sound like The Golden Girls Picture it, Sicily 1922. Well not exactly. Try this. “Picture it, the Jeffers Learning Resources Center Fall Semester 2024 on the stately campus of Tennessee Tech University.” Graduate student Culin McAlpin tells me that his uncle mentioned that he is a big fan of Ray Griff. Mercy! That rang a bell.
Canadian Country Music artist Ray Griff performed at the Jimmie Rodgers Memorial festival back in the 1980s. I was there. International Country Music Conference presenters received comp tickets to Jimmie Rodgers festival performances. Hadn’t heard of Ray Griff, but that doesn’t mean anything since there’s a lot about Country Music I didn’t know. And I still don’t know! Ray Griff did a very fine set and the audience responded enthusiastically to him. My friend Dave Sichak of hilbilly-music.com certainly knows a l lot about Ray Griff. Griff isn’t to be taken as lightly as you might think.
I went ahead and contacted the Jimmie Rodgers Foundation. I didn’t have pics of Ray Griff. And, I didn’t have the programs from the Jimmie Rodgers festivals when Griff appeared. It took a bit of perseverance, but it paid off. It meant I became acquainted with the new Jimmie Rodgers Foundation Executive Director Alana Sparrow Broughton. It meant I drew upon my knowledge of 1980s and early 1990s JRMF leaders such as James Skelton and Rodgers’ family matriarch Miss Elsie Williamson McWilliams.
James Skelton made the Jimmie Rodgers Festival happen. Miss Elsie helped Jimmie Rodgers once he married Miss Elsie’s sister Carrie. Miss Elsie wanted to help Jimmie Rodgers since she was worried for sister Carrie’s well being. Jimmie Rodgers wasn’t exactly the most dependable bread winner Carrie might have married.
So, I got some confirmation about Ray Griff. But…speaking of Six Sigma once again… it wasn’t Ray Griff that Cullen McAlpin’s uncle actually likes. Cullen McAlpin told had further email from his uncle and it was Rex Griffin, not Ray Griff. It’s actually Rex Griffin. Yes, it makes sense. Ray Griff and Rex Griffin sound alike in casual conversation. But…..Six Sigma means that Rex Griffin not only connects me to Cullen McAlpin but to more things in my country Music past in a couple of ways. Rex Griffin isn’t just anybody.
Born in 1912, Rex Griffin’s Everybody’s Tryin’ to Be My Baby has even been covered by the Beatles. I heard Won’t You Ride In My Little Red Wagon growing up. It was first recorded by Hank Penny and His Radio Boys, covered by Willie Nelson, and lots of other folks. Not bad for a Country Boy from Alabama.
I first learned about Rex Griffin because of Ronnie Pugh who wrote Ernest Tubb’s biography. Ronnie Pugh presented papers about Rex Griffin at the International Country Music Conference (ICMC) when it was first held in Meridian, Mississippi On 27 May 1988 Ronnie Pugh presented “Rex Griffin: Passing on the Rodgers Legacy.” The Bear Family released a 1996 Rex Griffin compilation The Last Letter. That’s BIG, BIG, BIG as Bear Family is world renowned for it’s Country Music releases.
Of course, Meridian, Mississippi is the birthplace and final resting place of “The Father of Country Music” Jimmie Rodgers. Meridian is also the home of the Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival. Ernest Tubb also performed at the Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival. Jimmie Rodgers influenced Tubb who maintained a relationship with Carrie Willliams Rodgers after Jimmie Rodgers’ death. Tubb also appeared at the 1953 inaugural celebration titled National Hillbilly Music Day. I remember seeing Ernest Tubb up close and personal in Highland Park performing near the Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Museum.
You shouldn’t be surprised that Ernest Tubb liked Rex Griffin and his music. Both were influenced by Jimmie Rodgers. Yes. Ronnie Pugh presented Ernest Tubb: The Jimmie Rodgers Influence at the very first ICMC in 1985. Tubb recorded a 12 song Rex Griffin tribute album Ernest Tubb Sings Just Call Me Lonesome and Other Great Songs by Rex Griffin. Tubb and Griffin cowrote How Can I Be Sure and I’m As Free As The Breeze. Jimmie Davis and Rex Griffin collaborated on I Told You So and I Loved You Once. That’s Governor Jimmie Davis of Louisiana, no less. Davis is credited with writing You Are My Sunshine as well as Nobody’s Darling But Mine. Unfortunately, Davis opposed integration.
One Six Sigma item hasn’t quite worked out. Cullen McAlpin’s uncle has been hard to contact. He’s in the military. Doesn’t communicate frequently and respond to emails. I really want to know the details of his love for Rex Griffin. It didn’t work out. Cullen McAlpin tried but couldn’t establish contact and put me in contact with his uncle. There’s a connection for sure. I know of Cullen McAlpins uncle. I know he’s a Rex Griffin fan. But, the in person connection with email and maybe ZOOM didn’t happen. All shouldn’t be lost, though.
Let’s do something else. Let me speculate on what might be contained in the Six Sigma connection of Cullen McAlpin’s uncle’s tie to Rex Griffin. Yes It’s hypothetical…Lee Greenwood used ‘hypothetical’ at a Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival performance and said it was a ‘college word.’ Then he sang Ring On Her Finger (Time On Her Hands). I might as well use ‘hypothetical.’ Whoa! There’s another unexpected Six Sigma connection. Lee Greenwood no less. Yes. Long before Greenwood’s connection to the President of The United States. Even before God Bless The U.S.A. Six sigma ties me to Lee Greenwood. So here goes the ‘what if”, the ‘suppose,” the hypothetical.
Cullen McAlpin’s Uncle is a southerner. He’s from a small town, and grew up with his father and uncle’s playing Country Music. They liked Merle Haggard and even Alan Jackson and Garth Brooks. But they also played some old songs by the Louvin Brothers and even Ernest Tubb. They particularly liked to sing Tubb’s Waltz Across Texas. Once in a while they even sang Jimmie Rodgers’ T for Texas Blue Yodel Number 1. Much of the new Country Music with the ‘Bro Country’ rap style and rock-ish background they “don’t cotton a bit to it.” We wouldn’t want to hear their thoughts on Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter. Rex Griffin really appeals to Cullen McAlpin’s uncle with his simple, straight- forward country sound. Of course, they would go to a George Strait concert in Texas A and M’s Kyle Stadium in a heartbeat. George Strait like Rex Griffin is ‘REAL COUTRY MUSIC.’
Yes. That is a ‘supposed’ hypothetical Six Sigma connection about Rex Griffin. Then again there is a definite connection from Cullen McAlpin to our communication about his uncle’s love for Rex Griffin. The hypothetical Lee Greenwood pattern fits logically. And all the other connections are real. Ronnie Pugh, the Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival, the International Country Music Conference…you name it..are all very real and make sense. I didn’t even tell more of the Country Music connections that I share with Cullin McAlpin. I couldn’t have predicted that I’d write an article about Cullen and his traveling with his father to see Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan. And, yes there is a Willie Nelson connection to Meridian, Mississippi and the Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival.
Pete Seeger sang Hold On (Keep Your Hands On The Plow). Lyrics mentioned Jesus and that the “United Nations makes a chain. Every link is freedoms name. Keep your hands on that plow. Hold On.” Well, we’re plowing in the Country Music field with a strong six bottom plow. It’s Six Sigma and 6 Degrees. Country music, just like our own lives, is filled with unexpected connections. They seem improbable. But they’re real and give our lives meaning with a set of relationships linked together in a mutual love. They’re a chain, Pete Seeger, that binds us together. “Hold On, Hold On” Country Music culture lives on. What comes round does indeed come round. Country On Ray Griff and Rex Griffin.
