“If you go to the
songwriting industry, the producing industry, the
artist industry or the publishing industry, you’re
going to run into Cowboy’s design along the way. He
was an original at every turn, and he never lost the
fun factor, the zaniness.
“I met Cowboy after Lester Flatt passed away (in
1979). I had been in Lester’s band, and now I needed
a job. I had a buddy named Danny Ferrington who was
building a guitar for Johnny Cash. I said, ‘I want
to go with you when you deliver that guitar.’ He
finished the guitar, and the delivery was at
Cowboy’s place on Belmont Boulevard. The door swung
open and Cash was playing Cowboy’s Gibson guitar and
singing ‘The Wabash Cannonball,’ while Cowboy was
dancing with a martini on his head. This was early
afternoon.
“The last time I saw Cowboy was about a month ago.
Me and (Country Music Hall of Famer, and Stuart’s
wife) Connie Smith went over late one afternoon and
knocked on the door. Cowboy’s lady, Aleene, let us
in. Cowboy got out of bed, wearing his Elvis Presley
bathrobe. I had out his guitar when he walked in the
room, and we jammed and sang songs, and he played
recordings he’d made down through the years. Some of
it was stuff we’d never heard. The last of it was
Johnny Cash doing ‘Guess Things Happen That Way.’
That day was all about songs and music and
friendship. I left there knowing it was a great way
to say goodbye.”
-- Marty Stuart
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