She Wants Moe, Moe, Moe!

                                                                                   By Scott Coner

                                                                            Nashville Recording Artist, Songwriter, Performer, and Author   


     Moe is one of those really cool people that you never anticipate meeting. He has a 60’s “hippy” vibe to him. I met him accidentally. I needed a place to practice with a few guys I have been working with in Nashville, but I wanted a place that had a bit of character. I find that when I work on music, my surroundings matters. I don’t like to be in a sterile environment for music or anything else for that matter. I spoke to a bass player in the studio one day, and he turned me on to “The Musician’s Co-Op” in the 5 points area of Nashville. As soon as I saw the place, I knew it would be a nice experience. 

 

     I think maybe Moe and I spoke on the phone before my first practice, but I honestly don’t remember. But, as I pulled into the lot outside the building, there he sat. He had longer wavy white hair and a beard. He was wearing an old army coat and blue jeans, and I half expected him to give me the peace sign. He just had the type of personality that makes you feel like you just met somebody pretty special. After our hello’s, he opened the door into the practice room. I smelled incense as I walked into room that offered all kinds of old art, music posters, and even Dr. Suess books. The PA was set up on an empty stage, and the sound of the room was as warm as a blanket. I liked it there, and we hadn’t played a note yet.

     Moe told me that in the mid 70’s he had spent time traveling the country as an actor. His one-man show was called, “I Believe In Music” and he mostly played in schools. He eventually ended up in LA with a little girl and took a self-imposed thirty- year break from the business. These days, his now adult daughter is living in LA working as a CPA, and Moe has been a “Nashvillian” since 1986. He has been one of those guys that stands just outside of the flame and has seen some pretty historic moments that most of us never get a chance to see. 

 

     “When I put this place together, I was working with and around a guy they called, 'Cowboy Jack'," Moe told me that Cowboy Jack had worked for Sam Phillips at Sun Records when Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee were beginning to emerge. He later worked with Waylon Jennings during the “Outlaw” movement in the mid-70’s. "Jack helped me put this place together.  Since I have been open, I’ve seen all kinds of artists pass through. Everybody from Todd Schneider, Wynonna, Trick Pony, Wanda Jackson  and Kacey Musgraves just to name a few." Moe told me that he hopes to develop a live streaming concept from the place soon. "This will allow the artist to be relaxed and keep things personal,” he told me. He went on to say, “You have to find the pulse of the song. The pulse is different than the beat.”    

     People like Moe are the souls that offer a different perspective. They are very different than the mannequins you endure near music row. He doesn’t have a hidden agenda he is into art and he loves people. He understands music and the need to allow it to breath. What I love most about Moe is the fact that he and I are from completely different worlds, yet we share the same perspective about the industry. He doesn’t put sound in a box. He understands that we all have something a bit different to offer musically and there is plenty of room to do that. 

So, we have worked in his facility three times now. Every time I pull away in my truck, the last thing I see is Moe’s big hippy smile. He makes me want to see the world from his perspective. He represents everything we should have tried to hold on to from the 60’s. That and maybe bell bottoms...

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Scott Coner is a country singer-songwriter who has worked in the studio with legendary artists such as Tanya Tucker, T. Graham Brown and Charlie Daniels. You can learn more about him and hear his music at his music page.         

Another Conversation with Beverly Gosdin

                                                                                  By Scott Coner

                                                                            Nashville Recording Artist, Songwriter, Performer, and Author            

   It must have been a hard hit for Beverly to walk away from being the wife of Vern Gosdin. From where most of us stand, it would appear that she had everything. She was married to one of the most beloved country music singers of the time. She traveled with Vern; she sang backing vocals for Vern, and in many ways, she was his manager. There was a very deep problem in their marriage, though, and she had reached the point where she could no longer stay in such an environment. I am going to leave this part of the story on the table for Beverly to tell in her upcoming book, though. Today, we are going to go in a bit of a different direction…

(Beverly and her parents)

     It was a brisk morning as she got out of bed in the darkness and grabbed her first cup of coffee. The house was silent, but she could sense there was a heavy frost outside. She felt miles and miles away from her former life. All was calm here. It was a new day, and she was at least an hour ahead of any resemblance of sunlight. She parked her truck at the edge of the woods and quietly stepped into a world of natural beauty far away from the wear and tear of the city. After about thirty minutes of walking through darkness, she arrived at her deer blind. This blind was special and close to her heart. Her brother and his best friend had designed this blind. It opened up like a large umbrella, and the sides dropped down like curtain walls. It gave the hunter room to move around and also to have more than one direction to monitor for deer or other game. “ I threw myself into hunting after being given the opportunity to promote my brothers “Pop Top Hunting Blind.” I know it seems odd to most folks, but I had grown up around hunting, and it seemed like a natural transition to me.” Beverly told me that around that time, she just wanted to be as far away from her old world as she could be. She said that being in the woods and being surrounded by the people that loved the outdoors and hunting gave her the opportunity she needed to breath and allowed herself to finally begin the healing process.

     Honestly, I was surprised when Beverly told me what she did to work through her divorce. In today’s world, everything that a couple has is cut pretty much right down the middle like a big slice of pie. “When I left, I walked out with the clothes on my back and a few of the clothes out of my closet and that was it. I didn’t want any of the things we had shared. I didn’t want a house or a car, and I didn’t want any money. I just wanted to be gone.” Beverly told me that her life began to slowly make sense while she was alone in those woods. The cool, crisp air and the quiet seemed to give her a chance to finally understand who she really was and not who she had allowed herself to become. “I began doing shows around the country demonstrating the hunting blind. I only wore RealTree camouflage in those days. Other outfits like Mossy Oak tried to give me endorsements, but I was a Realtree gal. I loved shooting guns as well as a bow. But I suppose I was partial to an open sight 30/30. I also had a 243 and a muzzleloader.” Beverly has much more to say about these days as well as others. She and I have talked privately, and I am of the opinion that most of her stories need to be saved for her book that comes out in the spring.

(Beverly on the cover of her ex husband's album)

     We are all different. We process pain and loss differently. I find that talking to Beverly Gosdin gives me hope in my own future. She has seen hard days and just kept going on. She didn’t let bumps in the road send her too far into the weeds. By being the wife of Vern Gosdin, I suppose she saw many of the finer things of the time. But she was smart enough to know that it took more than just “things” to make a home. She understood that if she stayed, she would never find true peace. She stepped out on her own and walked away from the sparkle and the glitz of Nashville. Her next stop would be a deer blind in the middle of the woods drinking hot coffee waiting on a buck. (Sounds to me like she would have been better suited for Hank Jr.)

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Scott Coner is a country singer-songwriter who has worked in the studio with legendary artists such as Tanya Tucker, T. Graham Brown and Charlie Daniels. You can learn more about him and hear his music at his music page.         

“Is it Raining at Your House?” A Conversation with Beverly Gosdin

                                                                                By Scott Coner

                                                                            Nashville Recording Artist, Songwriter, Performer, and Author   

     I spoke with Beverly Gosdin for a long time today. We talked about all kinds of things, but eventually, we talked about her late husband, Vern Gosdin. As I listened to her talk, I could easily detect the pain that still lives on today as she spoke of him. She met Vern in 1976 in a Georgia bar called, “Country Roads.” By that time, he had released three minor singles, and he was beginning to be noticed in Nashville as well as country radio. Vern saw something in Beverly that caught his eye, and by the next week, he began spending all of his time with her. She traveled with him wherever he went. As his star began to rise, she was right there beside him. Before we go any farther, though, let me just say that I have been a huge, huge fan of Vern Gosdin for years. But, at the same time, I am no expert about his music or his personal life. The following information is a report based on these conversations with Beverly. When these talks began, I had no idea this was going to be the direction things were going to go. 

     Beverly is a sweet, kind, and quiet lady. I can tell she has been through far more than she ever deserved, but she is strong, and she’s a survivor. For the last two or three weeks, she and I have talked off and on. Every conversation seemed to gravitate closer to what she really wanted to tell me. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure how we even bumped into each other. I had noticed she seemed to like some of my songs, and I had sent her a message once about a friend of Verne’s from his early days working on the west coast. She mentioned two of my songs, “Into the Clouds” and “When the Angels Cry.” I was very happy that she liked my music and I was even happier that she and I became friends. I just hated to hear about the allegations of abuse.

     Vern Gosdin was blessed with an angelic voice, but he was possibly a broken man. His childhood had been something he was never able to overcome, and it haunted him until his last breath. He gave us songs that touched our souls. He could sing about a broken relationship, and the listener would swear the song had broken Vern’s own heart. He was an artist. When he applied himself, he could literally take a country song to heights no one else could ever do. I truly believe he was on the same level as George Jones. I don’t know of any other singer to compare him to. He was special. But he was still possibly broken. “Vern was a very insecure and jealous man,” said Beverly. “We were at a party once, and he wasn’t confident enough to introduce himself to Willy Nelson, so he sent me to start the conversation and kind of bring him into it. I remember being at a restaurant with Vern and the waitress asked him for an autograph. After giving the lady his signature I could tell he was embarrassed. I told him, “From now on I’ll call you something else.” Vern said, “What will you call me?” And I jokingly said, “I’ll call you Dude.” He said, “Ok then, I’ll call you Dude too.” From that day on, we never used each other’s names. We just called each other Dude. For some reason, the name just seemed to stick with me, though, and everyone in the music business always called me Dude instead of Beverly.”

     The problem with being involved in music is that it often amplifies the good as well as the bad in an individual. An artist can find themselves somewhere just outside of reality, and if they aren’t careful, they move away from the rest of us. The pain that a singer often feels is re-lived through their music. They say you can hone in on where a comedian hurts the most through their comedic material. I think the same can be said about the music a singer works with. If this is true, then it is possible that Vern’s library of music tells the story of a man that hurt at a very deep level. His feelings painted a picture that the rest of us have been standing back marveling at ever since.

      Beverly said she endured nine painful years with Vern. She said she finally got to the point where she was actually beginning to fear for her life. “The verbal abuse became physical. The threats became believable. And the violence just became all too regular for me to deal with”. She told me that, “He had never tried to seek any professional help with his emotional problems. Instead, he self-medicated with everything from cocaine to marijuana”. All control was lost, and by the ninth year of their marriage, she told me she realized that she had no choice but to leave him. She said she still loved him, but he was only getting worse at every level. She moved back home to Georgia and let Vern have everything. She took no money. She took no furniture. She only took the clothes on her back, and she started with nothing. She tried to forget, but people recognized her. It seemed that his music showed up everywhere in her little world. Four years after leaving him, she had a complete breakdown. It was her body and her mind telling her it was time to re-boot. It was time to find a new life and begin looking forward instead of living in the not too distant past.

     Years have come and gone, and Beverly has only become stronger. She has allowed herself to be known a bit through social media and will soon begin the process of promoting a book about her life with Vern Gosdin. She told me how hard it was to revisit parts of her past that only held pain. She has had to allow herself to remember things she has tried to forget. Her goal has never been to tarnish the name of her late husband. But, she wants, to tell the truth. She wants, to be honest about the abuse she endured. She told me she wants to share her life in hopes that her story can help others.

     I believe that Beverly Gosdin is about to take her past and present and do something extraordinary. Her life story will encourage other women to reconsider situations in their own lives. Her story will promote strength. She will prove that even when there doesn’t seem to be any way out, there is always a means of escape. I have purposely only touched on her life story. I want you to read her book. I want you to know her. She has built her own legacy. After going all the way down, she found a way to rise again. 

She is strong.

 She is hopeful for her future.

 She is someone we all need to know about. 

She is Beverly Gosdin.

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Scott Coner is a country singer-songwriter who has worked in the studio with legendary artists such as Tanya Tucker, T. Graham Brown and Charlie Daniels. You can learn more about him and hear his music at his music page.         

Chiseled In Stone or Maybe Just Written In Crayon

  By Scott Coner

                                                                            Nashville Recording Artist, Songwriter, Performer, and Author  

    We all leave a legacy. So, I would imagine it is better to plan the one that we’d like to deliver rather than just leave a few faded memories. The choices we make right now inside of these very moments may be the ones that end up mattering the most. Where do you stand with the ones that matter most in your life? Do you still have time to talk to your parents? Have you let your friends know that they matter to you? Have you tried to do what has always lived deep inside of you? These are just a few of the things that come to mind when I consider what a legacy means to me.

     One of the things I love about my life is the people I get to meet. My wife and I have talked for hours upon hours with Carol Chase about her life. She was just a young girl when she arrived in Nashville with her own dreams. She had left a little town in North Dakota to build her legacy. Because of her inner strength, she has written music for legendary artists. She has worked with George Jones and Ronnie Millsap and many others. For the last 27 years, she has traveled the world with Lynyrd Skynyrd. Lately, she and I have been writing and recording together. All told, I’d say she has built a legacy successfully.

     Very recently, I have had a few phone conversations with Beverly Gosdin Knight. She is the widow of Vern Gosdin. She has told me about some of the hard times she and Vern endured during the early stages of their life together. She was right there with him as he gave the world some of the most powerful country music ever recorded. Through her eyes, we will soon be able to see the world she and Vern shared together. She has just finished her life story, and I believe it is going to be something truly worth reading when it hits the stores very soon. She is a strong woman that has built her legacy.

     I have a friend named Kenny in Nashville that owns and operates a successful studio. Lately, he and I have been working together on some of my music, and I have found him to be the kind of guy I need to listen to. He has worked on the west coast but was drawn to Nashville years back. The thing about Kenny is he digs into a song like no other. Several times over he has forced me to re-consider my delivery of a song with pretty special end results. My wife has had the good fortune of seeing me freak out as I have tried to re-learn a song that I wrote in order to put proper emphasis on certain words. Kenny has given me some of the best players on the planet to work with. (I’m talking over 100 million in sales type of players) He is strong enough to challenge me without blinking when I need to do better, and I respect that. But what I respect most is the fact that he has built his legacy squarely on what he has a special gift for. He has made a difference in a huge industry.

     In the coming weeks, I am going to begin writing more about these people as well as others. I want you to be given an insight on some of the things I see with my eyes. I have written weekly blogs for well over a year now, but most of them have been about me, or my opinions. I’d like to share some of my friends with you. I want us all to better understand just how important each of our lives truly can be. God gave us these heartbeats. He sent His Son down here to die for our salvation. I’d say the least we can do is live this time that we have to the best of our ability. We don’t know what’s around the corner.

     Again, each of us has something to share, something to leave behind. Soon, we are going to put a link up on my web site. It will be a place for you to share bits and pieces of your legacy and your life with others. I will do my best to bring good examples from my world. I would love it if you did the same. If we connect the dots, it’s pretty easy to see that we are all connected in this life.  

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Scott Coner is a country singer-songwriter who has worked in the studio with legendary artists such as Tanya Tucker, T. Graham Brown and Charlie Daniels. You can learn more about him and hear his music at his music page.