Excerpt From The Book

TILLMAN FRANKS
"I Was There When It Happened"

Chapter 1 - "It All Started With Roy"

Roy Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys. About the time Tillman Franks first heard them.

     When I was fourteen years old, I lay in bed with the flu. We lived in Cedar Grove, which was a little community near Shreveport, La. at the time. Today it is a part of Shreveport. I had fever and I felt bad, real bad. Back in those days there was little medicine and none of the so-called miracle drugs that we have today. I didn't know if I was gonna make it or not. But during that time of lillness, something happened that had a profound impression on the rest of my life.
     My daddy had a hand cranked Victrola. It was one of our treasured possessions. Since I thought I was going to die, I wanted to listen to a little music before the event happened. We had just got a new Columbia record of Roy Acuff singing Would You Care.
     I loved the sound of Roy's voice and the feeling he would put into a song. I played the record over and over. I would sing along with the record. I played that record so much when I was sick that I just about wore it out.
     At that point in my life, Roy Acuff, without even knowing it, inspired me to get into the music business. Prior to that, I always wanted to be a baseball player. I got around to even thinking that I could sing. Roy instilled in me a deep love and respect for country music.

Roy Acuff "The King of Country Music"

     And in looking back on my life in country music, the things I have accomplished would not have been possible without that influence from Roy Acuff. He also inspired Hank Williams and George Jones and countless others.

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