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.
Keep in touch!
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.
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