Music in your home as a child?

Mark Lind-Hanson · From: Menlo Park, California, USA

The very first music I remember hearing is Johnny Horton's "Battle of New Orleans" over my dad's car radio.(I must have been about three or so.) My parents were pretty interesting musically- Belafonte, the Kingston Trio, & the Weavers all got a lot of play at our house: although my Dad's politics were way to the Right of those people. My mother loved classical music and invested a good deal of time & money on a
collection of classical stuff that was often played, also they listened to musicals like My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, and South Pacific a great deal.They took me to see the Nutcracker I guess when I was four and a half-
Music (and history) however REALLY began for me when the Beatles played Ed Sullivan, and I went to see "A Hard Day's Night" at the Kaimuki theater in downtown Honolulu with a friend... There was Elvis & the Supremes on the radio, & Richie Valens, but almost NOTHING really Happening until the Beatles shook everything all up. I had a babysitter a little later (after we moved back to the SF Peninsula) into the Byrds, & Rolling Stones, & heard those folks then (became a hugge Byrds fan)- And then I got into Dylan
(who I took to be a rock & roll person like Roy Orbison or Neil Diamond- never even HEARD any of that "protest" stuff till YEARS after it came out-
My folks also liked Cash & Haggard & we went to hear Cash one night at the Oakland Coliseum it must have been about 1972 or so-
My Dad had a preference for country stuff like Buck Owens & George Jones & Porter & Dolly & that kind of thing, though I was able to turn him on to the New Riders a little later... And me once I got into things, I was deeply into the SF 60's thing & everything & anything related, seeing as it was right there in my front yard so to speak...
I think the main support for my musical life came from my Mother who Always Knew I was going to be into music, but with my Dad it was a pure case of "you're on your own, on that one..."

John Steele (deceased) · From: Renfrew, Ontario, Canada

My father played the bagpipes.

-John

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www.ottawajazz.com

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

That explains a lot of things...

Burr Oxley · From: Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, USA

Both of my folks loved music, and while they never forced it on me, music was always present.

Mom played a bit of piano, and Dad played trombone as a kid. She was into classical and show music, and he was a lover of Big Band and (for lack of a better term) Upper Midwest music (polkas, schottisches, waltzes, etc.)

I think the thing that made me a lover of steel guitar music was Dad's "unconventional" instrument. He played Musical Saw, and as far as I'm concerned that sounds a helluva lot like a "steel guitar without amplification." He did a lot of Hawaiian music and Gospel on the Saw, and my family often sang hymns and the like while traveling.

And, of course, the music of the 40's thru mid-60's was just great music, very easy to fall in love with!

[This message was edited by Burr Oxley on 18 July 2005 at 05:41 PM.]

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Oh, geez... don't let my wife see this thread: one guy's dad played bagpipes, the other one's dad played musical saw... I'll never hear the end of this...

Rick McDuffie · From: Benson, North Carolina, USA

My Dad listened to Nat Cole, Ray Charles, Mahalia Jackson and Hank Williams, among others. Mom was partial to Rodgers and Hammerstein (South Pacific and Oklahoma, in particular). We also had a lot of Christian recordings (mostly serious baritone and tenor soloists singing hymns and gospel songs).

My mother played the piano very well (still does) and a lot of my early exposure was to whatever Mom was playing.

My loyalty to Led Zeppelin aside, I can still see my parents' influence in the music I prefer today.

Mark van Allen · From: Watkinsville, Ga. USA

As a typical child of the 60s/70s, my tastes ran to Clapton, Beatles, Led Zeppelin...
My Mom was a classically trained vocalist and didn't care much for anything else. But every Wednesday night she went to choir practice and my Dad would spin his "banned" records- Dylan, Odetta, Cisco Houston, Woody Guthrie, Buffy Sainte-Marie...
That stuff is burned into my brain. To this day I'm thankful for Choir practice and my Dad's eclectic taste.

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Stop by the Steel Store at: www.markvanallen.com

Ganey Arsement · From: Louisiana, USA

I may get a little flack from these guys for tooting their horns, but I have a lot of admiration for them. Here in Cajun country, musicians, especially accordion players, are a dime a dozen. It is easy to separate the ones with real talent and understanding from the ones who just want to jump on the bandwagon.

From birth to age seven, I had daily exposure to my great-grandfather who was an accordion player. He worked all day, six days a week, as a blacksmith and played for me every evening when he got home. On the weekends, he played with his band. He died when I was seven, and until a chance meeting with someone who played with him, I had no exposure to music until I was twenty.

Danny Cormier and Marty Broussard (both members of this forum) are people who I admire. Danny's father started at a very young age in Danny's grandfather's band. When the old man died on the bandstand, Danny's father took over. Danny had music in his life from birth, and that is the band he started in. Danny's father still runs the band, and his son now plays bass for him.

Marty, and his brother Tim, started playing when they were around thirteen and fifteen. Their parents drove them to all of their gigs along the Gulf coast while the other four children slept in the camper shell in the truck.

All of these guys have been musicians for thirty or more years and are of exceptional quality. When I think about the impact that my great-grandfather had on me in just the first seven years of my life, I wonder where I would be if he were still around.

Theresa Galbraith · From: Goodlettsville,Tn. USA

My dad played the Accordion.

David Doggett · Posted 21 Jul 2005 8:24 am

My Dad was an accomplished classical pianist - studied through grammar school, high school and college. He was a minister, and could play any hymn by ear in any key with full harmony. My mom sang a little classical music and church music. They had a big collection of old 78 rpm classical records. My Dad preferred Beethoven and Wagner; my Mom Puccini (Michael J., I played that Peter and the Wolf set over and over also). But they also loved the '30s and '40s pop stuff, like the Mills Brothers, and Broadway musicals. There were a few jazz records, from Dixieland to Big Band and a little modern jazz. They rarely listened to any music on the radio. I liked the classical stuff and the jazz, but got into R&B, rockabilly and rock'n'roll as a preteen in the late '50s (it was North Mississippi after all). In the '60s, folk music and country-rock led me back to bluegrass and country, which I had always heard, but never really listened to growing up. It was a neglected part of my roots.

[This message was edited by David Doggett on 21 July 2005 at 12:40 PM.]

Gene Jones · From: Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)

My dad was a song leader in the country churches where I grew up...and he, with my mother and two of my sisters, comprised a gospel quartet that performed in the churches in our southwest Oklahoma geographical area.

....since I couldn't carry a tune in a basket vocally, I started playing musicial instruments, guitars, fiddles, mandolins, etc....but it was never an acceptable compromise. \

...so in summary, my learning to play a steel guitar was essentially a rebellion agains't my upbringing and was always considered as such!

I have agonized about this for many years!

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www.genejones.com
The Road Traveled "From Then 'til Now"

David Doggett · Posted 21 Jul 2005 11:51 am

Gene, stop agonizing, man. I'm sure all that Gospel vocal stuff comes out in your steel playing. I hardly ever step foot in a church these days, but that church music comes out one way or another. Sometimes I hear pedal steel as like a liquid organ.

Bill Terry · From: Bastrop, TX

Bruce Chanel, 1962, "Hey Baby"... the first time I ever paid attention to the radio, which was pretty much all we had at home. That harmonica thing just sucked me in...

Pat Jenkins · From: Abingdon, VA, USA

I grew up with pop music in the home, Peggy Lee, Vic Damone, Frank, Dean, Sammy, Vicki Carr. I still love that stuff. I have always thought to go do an album of those great songs.

Pat

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www.pjsteelman.com

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