As many of you know, I was born in Palestine, TX but grew up in Paris, TX in Lamar County. Another Texan I’m sure you know is the legendary Oak Ridge Boy, Duane Allen, who also grew up in Lamar County. In fact, Duane grew up in Taylortown, TX which is less than 20 miles from Paris, TX. Duane and I are the same age. He was born April 29, 1943 and my birthday is October 11, 1943. With all that, maybe we should have formed a band in those early days but although I was often singing with my family, I was also working on cars as much as I could in my spare time so we never met in our early years. But since then we’ve become friends and when we get the opportunity to visit, we always talk about growing up in Lamar County. We both agree we were lucky to be brought up in that great place.
One other thing Duane and I share is a love of cars. I don’t know how many he now has in his collection but at one time he had some great, unique cars.
Here’s a photo of my friend, Duane and me, taken when we recorded a special Gospel Country’s Family Reunion show in Nashville a few years back.