Anita Garner - Musical Houses

Musical Houses

It's time to get serious about projects in progress. Tempus fugit and all. My manuscript to-be-completed,"Musical Houses," goes way back. I started it even before my book, "The Glory Road, A Gospel Gypsy Life" was published.

Once in a while I visit these stories and ask them, What are you waiting for? What do you need? Sometimes a story says, "I'm ready. Get me out of here."

I was recently introduced to a beautiful online literary magazine called "Salvation South" and shared a story from "Musical Houses" there. "The Only Lie" recalls a defining event that altered the course of my family's work in the Deep South during the 1950s. "Salvation South" named it their favorite prose of the year. Thank you for the honor.

sal

You can read it here.

https://www.salvationsouth.com/the-only-lie-anita-garner/

Have you ever asked AI a question about yourself? I did. I used the app, "Perplexity." I'm not sure how they know what they know but their information is a surprise, since I can't recall posting a description of this project.

"Musical Houses" is a forthcoming collection of stories and essays by Anita Garner, currently in progress with a working title. This new work is expected to follow up on characters from Garner's previous book, "The Glory Road: A Gospel Gypsy Life." Anita Garner is an accomplished author, broadcaster, and performer with a rich background in Southern gospel music. Her memoir "The Glory Road: A Gospel Gypsy Life," published in 2021, recounts her experiences growing up in a musical family that traveled across the American South as the Jones Family Singers. While specific details about "Musical Houses" are not yet available, it's likely that the book will draw on Garner's extensive experiences in the music industry and her Southern upbringing. Given her background, the stories may explore themes of faith, family, and the intersections of gospel and popular music in the mid-20th century American South. Garner's writing often focuses on the Deep South, food, and music, so readers can probably expect these elements to feature prominently in "Musical Houses" as well. As the book is still in progress, publication details have not been announced yet."

Nice work, Perplexity. "Musical Houses" is, indeed, a "forthcoming" (say it three times and it comes true) collection of stories and essays about a single event that changes the life of each character. Some of them were part of the musical migration from the Deep South to Southern California. I'm related to some of these people, but not all. Many of them know each other, some show up in more than one story and music weaves all the way through.

Another story from this collection, "Hank Williams Was a Friend of Mine," won a John Steinbeck Award and a Marin County Artist Grant. It hasn't been published yet, so no link is available, but up there at the top is the cover for my submission. But wait – let's ask Perplexity what it's about.

Anita Garner is a writer and broadcaster who won the John Steinbeck Short Story Award for her story "Hank Williams Was A Friend of Mine." The story reflects Garner's deep connections to country music and her family's musical heritage. The title of the story refers to Garner's father, known as Brother Ray, who prayed for Hank Williams every day. This personal connection between Garner's family and the legendary country singer adds depth to the narrative.

Garner's story is part of her broader work chronicling her family's involvement in the music industry, particularly in the realms of country, gospel, and early rock and roll. Her parents, Brother Ray and Sister Fern, were musicians and songwriters who played a role in the development of these genres in the mid-20th century.

I'm headed back to work now "with intention." The brief blog post linked below explains what that phrase meant to a fancy-talking Southern preacher

https://theagingofaquarius.com/ag_blog/good-intentions-southern-style/

If you're browsing around looking for other short pieces to read, I've been posting for years over here at a website I share with a broadcast buddy.

Stop by anytime. This link gets you to whatever is newest.

https://theagingofaquarius.com/ag_blog/

Available everywhere

Hardcover and e-book from

University of Alabama Press

Audio book from Blackstone Audiobooks

Order from your favorite bookstore or Amazon.

- Rosanne Cash -

"This is a story so central to the origins of country music: the marriage of Saturday night and Sunday morning, and the literal marriage of two musicians, sometimes at odds with each other creatively and personally. The song written by Fern Jones, "I Was There When It Happened" was performed around the world by my dad and the Tennessee Three, became the title of the memoir of Marshall Grant (the bass player in the Tennessee Three), and was revived yet again when I performed it every night on a recent tour I did with Ry Cooder. Anita Garner was 'there when it happened', and her book tells us what we ought to know."

- Dayton Duncan -

Writer/Producer of Ken Burns' Country Music

"The Glory Road" takes us to an important cultural crossroad of America––where gospel met rockabilly, and Saturday night collided with Sunday morning in the late 1950s in the Deep South. It's also a very personal family story of a deeply religious preacher, Raymond Jones, whose wife, Fern, had a big voice and even bigger musical ambitions. Anita Garner's recounting of her parents' lives––their tensions and travails on the "gypsy road" of tent revivals and recording studios––echoes one of her mother's most famous songs: "I Was There When It Happened."

—Michael T. Bertrand -

Author of "Race, Rock, and Elvis"

"The Glory Road" touches several bases: southern culture, family life, the evangelical ethos, commercial music, migration, and spousal relations. It will appeal to both a general and specialized audience."

—Burgin Mathews -

Co-Author of "Doc: The Story of a Birmingham Jazz Man"

"I'll admit I didn't know the music of Sister Fern and The Joneses until now. So, "The Glory Road" has introduced me to some exciting and important music. But, even more than that, the story itself will stick with me. I don't expect to forget these characters."

- From Numero Group on the re-issue of Fern Jones' 1950s Nashville recording sessions -

"Her voice was all Saturday night, delivered on a Sunday morning. Patsy on Jesus. Elvis without the pelvis. Fern Jones' only album, released by Dot Records in 1959, captured 36-year-old Sister Fern as she anointed church music with the same untamed energy that younger white Southerners were bringing to their rock 'n' roll. Produced by Mac Wiseman and showcasing crack Nashville session players Hank "Sugarfoot" Garland, Floyd Cramer, Joe Zinkan, and Buddy Harman fresh off their June 1958 session with Elvis, 'Singing A Happy Song' should've taken Jones from dusty canvas big tops to the Opry's storied stage. But with no 45 to flog, Jones instead sold nary a record and never did hear herself on the radio. Her fiery rockabilly gospel was a few shades too radical for the conservative, traditional, near puritanical public she played to anyway. 'Fern Jones: The Glory Road' collects her 'Singing A Happy Song' LP and cuts including 'Didn't It Rain,' from her 'The Joneses Sing' album, into one rousing package, rich with the details and imagery of a brief career spent tethered to the hard ground and gazing skyward. 'The Glory Road's' sound gnaws at the bit and stands in reverence, a runaway rockabilly tent show without a single drop of rain on the horizon."