Lester And Earl

(This one isn't actually a "Bible-based" poem, but since H. L. Gradowith is a great fan of its subject, and since some of you may be also, it is offered to the list.  I hope you enjoy it.)

With Lester and Earl on the stereo
In my Ford Truck down the highway I go;
Hearing them sing of the old childhood home
And wondering whatever made them roam.
Hearing Earl picking the five-string banjo
(Of a better picker I do not know),
The low lonesome voice of Lester rings clear
As he sings the songs that I still hold dear.
The Foggy Mountain Boys in the background
Join Lester and Earl to fill out the sound.
Remember the “Foggy Mountain Breakdown?”
Also “Till the end of the world rolls ‘round?”
The “Randy Lynn Rag” and “The Old Home Town”,
And the old instrumental, “Earl’s Breakdown”?
From “I’m Head Over Heels In Love With You”
On down to “Someone Took My Place With You”
The Carter’s “On The Rock Where Moses Stood”
And theirs again  “Pickin’ In The Wildwood”,
There’s the “Beverly Hillbillies” theme song,
(How millions have loved that one all along!)
“Dim Lights, Thick Smoke, and Loud, Loud Music’s” one
And the list, I know, could go on and on…
No fancy machines, and nothing unfit,
And anybody can listen to it.
It’s just simple music and good, clean fun,
And how I’d hate to have to pick just one…
Now Lester is gone, and Earl’s growing old,
Soon the last line of their story’ll be told.
But they take us back to happier years,
And help us escape our worries and fears.
The Osborne Brothers, and old Bill Monroe,
And Grandpa Jones, Carl Story, and Don Reno,
Chubby Wise, Tater Tate (still great today!),
Jim and Jesse, the sweet Molly O’Day;
Mac Wiseman, Roy Acuff, and Tex Ritter
(Now, Old Tex, -- he was a real go getter…)
There’s the Carters, and Kirk and Sam McGee,
The Stanley Brothers, they’re all great to me,
Merle Travis, Benny Martin, and the rest –
But Lester and Earl, to me, are the best.

H. L. Gradowith
11-30-2001

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