Breakfast with Marty - Opryland Hotel - December 6, 1999

When we first got there, they seated all of us. We just sat and waited for a few minutes. We were hoping that they might have Marty's music playing since he was going to be the guest but no such luck. Once seated, everyone was given a piece of paper to write a question down for Marty. Of course, there were no guarantees that yours would get picked. There just isn't time to answer everyone's question. They then came and collected the papers and out came Charlie Chase.

He said "Good Morning" to everyone and made sure everyone had gotten plenty of coffee and were satisfied. He then said how it was a perfect time to have Marty as a guest because his new book had just come out. That made my day! Any little plug is bound to help sales. Not that it's having a problem selling. I'm so proud for him that it's going so well. Then he introduced Mr. Marty.

He came out there in all black. He looked great! They didn't waste any time. They got right to the questions. Whose do you think they picked first? My dad, Gary's. First, Charlie made the comment that people wanted to know different things about Marty and then "some people just don't care like Gary Renfro!" He asked Marty, "Wouldn't you rather be having breakfast with Lorriane Crook or Connie Smith?" Marty's response was, "Yeah, but you take what you can get." It was all in fun, of course. Another lady asked if she could run her fingers through Marty's hair. Charlie said, "I'll answer that, get on up here." Of course Marty didn't mind and it made the lady's day.

I wasn't planning on him getting to my question since he had already done one Renfro. He did but in a round-about way. He actually picked my niece Toni's question which was about him making a movie with Billy Bob Thornton based on "The Observations of a Crow." My question was also concerning ''The Crow." I asked him "Why a crow?" As he started to answer Toni's, Charlie said, "Maybe you should explain to those who don't know what The Crow is all about." It's the coolest story.

Marty told a story about how he had stopped at a gas station-Convenient Store type place and he saw this crow perched up on a telephone pole. He didn't think much about it at first until ten minutes later. That same crow was still sitting there. Marty asked a gentleman from the store, "Does that crow always stay perched up there?" The gentleman replied, "Oh, yes." Marty then thought, "What a cool idea for a song." Leave it to Marty to think of these things. I guess that's one of the things I love about Marty. He doesn't miss anything and he always makes something out of an experience. By the way, Billy Bob is thinking of making a movie based on The Crow.

Marty then talked about the book. Of course, he showed that picture of Connie that he took when he was twelve. He told everyone the story behind it. He then said, "Here's a picture of Johnny Cash grabbing June Carter's butt. I call this one ' Daddy Sang Bass, Momma Sang Tenor.' " Of course, everyone got a big laugh. There were some other questions that I can't recall at this minute.

After the question-answer part, Marty signed autographs. They did have copies of the book there and some t-shirts. When we got to him, Charlie Chase said something to us about being such long-time supporters of Marty. I then said to him, "I will always support this man." Marty, who always knows how to make my day, told us that he loved us and he said, "Y'all are in my heart." I told him there's not a day that goes by that I don't think of him. He then assured us that he wasn't quitting or as he put it, "I'm not going anywhere." They then had a buffet style breakfast with bacon, eggs, etc.

By Melanie Renfro, Goodlettsville, TN