Photo by Bill Ivey

I've been concentrating on scanning my father's negatives this year after receiving a new scanner for Christmas; and yes, I've been busy. Only thing is, ya see the box to the bottom left? Each one of those envelopes contains the negatives of up to 36 exposures. Ooooof. This is a job! You can't tell, but I AM making progress. And, I'm finding some long-lost family shots to boot! This week, I switched over to scanning his photos.

L-R Bill Ivey, Faron Young, Tom 'Cat' Reeder 1970s

As many of you know, my father, by trade, was a photographer. His passion was country music. During the week, he would concentrate on his business, but when the weekends came, he and my mom were somewhere listening to someone. After befriending a local disc jockey in the late 1960s, Tom 'Cat' Reeder, the two were inseparable. Given carte blanche at the shows, Bill would not hesitate to get up close and personal.  Tom once said to a friend, "That damn Bill Ivey. He's always up in my face with that DAMN camera blinding me with that DAMN flash. But, thank GOD he is!" Yes, indeed. Thank goodness he shot all of those photos. Wonderful memories--now that I'm old enough to appreciate it all. A pre-teen? Oh how I hated having to go to all of those shows then. I was too young to be left at home with my brothers; so I went--kicking and screaming. Normally, I would sit in the car, listening to the radio . . . all night. (I, to this day, wonder how I didn't run the battery down? Hmmmm.)

There were times, however, when I did "participate." Here we are on someone's bus -- with mom and Bobby Stephenson. Look how styling my mom was. WHO KNEW??? lol

Tom signing a photo for Connie Smith. Me looking awkward. Who's the looker on?

Here, dad may just be cramping Jerry Lee Lewis' style. Note his bandaged hand. The Killer truly WAS a bad ass back then, and I loved it! Ahhhhhh, rebellion! YES!

"Mr. Lewis, Mr. Lewis, please LOOK at ME!" hahaha. I finally did catch his attention, fangirled and got his autograph and a photo with him. Hmmmm. I put the photo somewhere really safe, as this was quite a moment in my life. Can I find it? Nope. LOL

Different night, yet another bad ass,  Merle Haggard. Hmmmm, there's a correlation here, I think. (Check out his boots. Python, perhaps? DANG.) I shoulda grabbed him. HAHAHA. Never. Can you tell I was terribly embarrassed by just being there???!!

This one, I just had to throw in. I love this photo in so many ways. This was the usual scene behind the stage at the outside shows. Someone always had a complete bar in their trunk--that person would also be Bill Ivey. Look at the face on the beehive lady. If looks could kill. And the tall man next to her cracking up. Then, if you look to the left, the gent with a pipe has a tie wrapped around his head. And, of course, my mom, posing with a soft smile.

Now you see why I sat in the car and listened to the radio?!! These "old" people were having a good time! How embarrassing.

Labels: Childhood, Dad, Mom, Music