(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