Diane Berry & Company-Part 1
5|24|10
Filmed May 21, 2010.....Diane Berry and Company! Featuring Audie Shields!, Ben Hall, Jamie Bowles, and Kevin Kathey!
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Comments
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It is the one and the same.....Ben Hall from Okalona, Mississippi! I had lunch with him yesterday at The Country Music Hall of Fame. Russell and I were so happy to have met this fine young man when he first came to Nashville a couple of years ago. He is a great fiend and we feel like he's family. Not a better talent and you would be hard pressed to find that MUCH talent in another young man than what you find in Ben Hall.
Does your friend, Palmer, ever book country music singers in the club? If he does, have him call me. I would love to come and pick and sing. If he would like, it could be Ben Hall and me. We do a great duet together.
Let me know!
Diane
It really is a small world Diane. I belong to a guitar club here in Columbus, Ohio called Ohio Fingerstyle Guitar Club Or OFGC. Google that to find the website. It was organized by Palmer Moore to promote the thumb style picking of Chet Adkins, Merle Travis, Jerry Reed etc. Palmer goes to the Chet Adkins Convention in Nashville every year. He told me about meeting this fantastic 16 yr old Merle Travis style picker about five years ago by the name of Ben Hall. Palmer booked him to play for our club this past Thursday night. What a nice clean cut young man he was. I enjoyed his performance better than anyone that we have had. He is Merle Travis re-incarnated. I didn't put two and two together at the time but he has to be the same Ben Hall that plays behind you in the Videos on Rudi's web site. If so ask him if he knows Palmer Moore from Columbus, Ohio and tell him that we really appreciate him driving all the way up here just to perform for us. We hope to see and hear him again at the Chet Adkins Convention this summer.
It has to be a pleasure to have someone of his caliber to play behind your singing.
Keep on keeping on and take care and as Roy Rogers used to say,"May the good Lord take a liking to you."
Ted
Ted Christy
Why, Steve McDaniel is a really good friend of ours. He came into Rudi's almost every day for coffee and conversation. I've heard him sing. He's really good!
I know he and his wife lost nearly everything in the flood, bless their hearts. They're very sweet people.
Russell and I didn't get any flood damage. We live on a hill in Hendersonville and all the water was below us.
Many people weren't so lucky.
Nice website. Thank you for sharing. Your pictures aren't ugly! I like Bluegrass music. I worked with Grandpa Jones and Ramona for two years when I still lived in Arkansas. And I work with Roni Stoneman (from Hee Haw) now and then. She is a real hoot! She is a master on the banjo and she sings so pretty. She is a wonderful person with a big heart. I had lunch with her today.
Most everyone I've met in this business is a very nice person. There are always exceptions...but I don't dwell on those. There are enough great people to block out the rest!
Wow! Woman, you sure have been around. I would have killed to have done the things you have done. I am so happy for you and you are still doing the things I like to do.
At the present I am playing in a little acoustic band with a bluegrass flavor. We have a web site www.looselystrung.com. Check out our ugly pictures.ha ha. I am the one with the banjo.
I was just wondering. Did the flood cause you any problem? A friend of mind Steve McDaniel who used to come into Rudi's grew up with me in Garrison, Ky.
He got flooded really bad and lost nearly everything he had. You may know him. He tried to make the big time years ago. He did perform at Renfro Valley one time. He was always talking about you,Leon Rhodes, Jack Green and the old stars that came to Rudi's on a regular basis.
As always, keep pickin and singin.
Ted Christy
Yes, Ted. I know Tom T. Hall. The first time I was ever on the same show as Tom T. was in 1982 at Opryland. I worked in one of the shows and Tom T. came to us to film one of his weekly television shows. The band I was in at the time picked for him while he sang and I got to take a lead part on guitar on one of the songs. I was nervous, but thrilled. Then I worked on a show in Peterborough, England with Johnny Russell and Tom T. Hall was on the same show. The latest opportunity I've had to work with Tom. T. Hall was on one of Charlie Louvin's albums (titled simply, Charlie Louvin). Tom T. sang on one of the songs with us. Bobby Bare, George Jones, Elvis Costello and many others were also on that album.
I think we must be on the same page....you're right.
And I think you may have enjoyed growing up in Dardanelle, Arkansas like I did. My family was always well liked...we were always happy and I think it showed!
Diane
Wow! what a life you have lived. What wonderful experiences you have had and you are still in your prime. I could relate to everything you talked about.Roy Acuff came to my college years ago. The music majors who were musical snobs decided to go heckle and make fun of this hillbilly. Roy put on a great show filled with comedy. The music majors laughed so hard their faces hurt. They came away with a different point of view. They said they never enjoyed anything or had a better time than this.
A few weeks ago I went to the Southern Ohio Opry near Portsmouth Ohio. They have a great band. The drummer is Kenton Riley. He was Loretta Lyn's drummer and road manager for 27 years. He was in the movie Coal Miner's Daughter. The owner spotted me and ask me to get up and do something. I got up with my harmonica and chose to pay tribute to Roy Acuff by playing the Great Speckled Bird. That song is still a great crowd pleaser even though I can think of four songs with the same melody.
Last week I downloaded 20 hit tunes of the Louvin Rothers in my computer. The band I play in does the song Blues Stay Away From Me. I did and instrumental of Grandpa Jones's I Don't Love Nobody And Nobody Loves Me at a thumb picker's jam session last night. I was in Johnny Russel's store one time and ran into his bass player in the early 90's. You may have been playing with him at the time. Yes, I could relate to everything you said.
In your travels did you ever run into Tom T Hall? We played in the same band years ago before he went to Nashville. He was the disk jockey on WMOR Radio in Morehead Ky. when I was going to Morehead College. He had a lot of contacts and booked a lot of jobs.
I am sorry. I rambled too much but I wanted you to know that we are on the same wave length. I wish we could have grown up together in the same hometown. I would have enjoyed you, your mom and dad and family.
Keep on pickin and singin.
Ted
Ted Christy
Again, thank you. I enjoy playing guitar and singing. I grew up in a musical family. Daddy taught me to play guitar when I was 13 years old. Funny, it was my guitar playing that got me a lot of the jobs I've had with several artists...even before they heard me sing. I was sitting in Roy Acuff's dressing room in 1980 picking with Charlie Collins (Roy's guitar picker) and Grandpa Jones stood in the doorway listening. I played "Freight Train" and when I was done, Grandpa asked me to play it again. I did....and he hired me! That's also how I got my job with Charlie Louvin and later on with Johnny Russell. I ended up working with Johnny Russell for seven years.
I learned to sing harmony by listening to my Mama sing with Daddy. And the first song I sang harmony with them both was the old Delmore Brother's song "Blues Stay Away From Me". I am so thankful for Mama and Daddy and the life we had together with my sister, Gale, and brother Joe. We all played music and sang together. That is a blessing!
I do have two CD's that I am very proud of....you can find them here on the website.
Please write any time you feel like it, Ted. I love hearing from you and will always answer your letters.
Take care!
Diane
Gee! what a surprise. Diane I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to reply to this old country boy.
I've paid my dues and I know talent when I hear it and girl you have it. Guitar strummers are usually a dime a dozen but you caught my attention on the old video in the early 80's. Nice touch and a beautiful voice! You are still as pretty as ever. Keep promoting real country music and when you find a new spot I want to come hear you the next time I am in Nashville.
Ted Christy
Thank you very much for the compliments, Ted.
Whenever someone asks me what kind of music do I sing, I always reply.."All kinds of music...but everything I sing always comes out country!"
Seriously, Billy Sherrill (One of Nashville's most famous country music producers) asked me that question about 20 years ago and when I told him that everything I sing comes out country, he smiled real big and said "Ain't nothing wrong with that!" He gave me some very powerful compliments and I will always remember his kindness to me.
I love country music and I think it shows. I appreciate it when readers like you, Ted, tell us you like what you hear and see.
As long as James keeps posting the videos, we will keep singing!