By P.A. Geddie
It’s hard to pick just 25 stories to highlight out of close to 10,000 we’ve published so far. My favorite part of all the articles over 25 years is learning about all the things — the history, the people, the places, the art, music, food, farmers, nature, special events, and so much more. My true favorite is the complete collection. Around every corner is a new treasure chest full of interest.
Nevertheless, here’s a selection of 25 stories. and collections of topics, that are interesting and meaningful to me. I would love to hear what your favorites are and why. Let me know.
Many of my picks here are about people who got their inspiration in East Texas and followed their dreams to wherever they took them. There’s also a trend of appreciating diversity and how sad, sometimes devastatingly so, when we don’t live and let live. Others highlight the importance of appreciating the gifts so many people here bring to the table.
1. Kacey Musgraves: Most Times on the Cover
Kacey Musgraves was only about 12 years old when County Line began 25 years ago, but even so, her name was already appearing on the pages. She was performing at local music festivals and even released an album in 2000 with friend Alina Tatum during their time performing together as the Texas Two Bits. It was about that time also when she started taking guitar lessons from local legend John DeFoore, who also encouraged her to start writing songs. She credits her time with him as “one of the most important things that ever happened to me.”
In 2007, she competed on the TV series Nashville Star, coming in seventh place. I believe it was that year that I invited her to a small festival in Van not too far from her home and she agreed. She and her band set up on a flatbed trailer and were ready to go at the advertised time. Unfortunately, the hundreds of people that had shown up for the festival went home before she started — it seems the parade was the only show those folks were interested in that day.
Kacey was not a happy camper looking out at five people sitting in the audience. I told her I would completely understand if she wanted to pack up and leave. But I also encouraged her, since she was already set up, to play a few songs, noting that those five people hearing her might be important in some way. She played a few songs and I never forgot her “show must go on” attitude and have seen it over and over again through her career. County Line writers were fans of hers from the start, following her career over the years and did a few interviews before she became universally famous. Read a few in this collection in the County Line archives.
• Musgraves, Country Music Future
• Musgraves Returns for Hometown Hang
2. The Legacy of Cattle Baron John Chisum and Jensie
This story unfolded layer after layer over a few years and I am still learning more through ancestors. John Chisum grew up in Paris, Texas, and became a famous cattle driver moving longhorns from Texas to New Mexico. During those years, he provided a home in Bonham, Texas, and financial support for his common-law wife, Jensie, a bi-racial former slave, and their two daughters Harriet and Almeady. Because of the pressures of racism of the time, Chisum never publicly recognized his wife and children and they were not mentioned in his obituary.
Chisum was involved with the famous New Mexico Lincoln County War, Billy the Kid, and many other notable people and events. His life is featured in film with John Wayne playing him in Chisum in 1970.
When Chisum’s granddaughter Eugie Thomas saw the movie that year, she helped author Russ Brown write a book telling her side of the story. Her mother was Almeady, Chisum and Jensie’s youngest daughter. Eugie’s father, Bob Jones, was a successful rancher for whom Southlake, Texas’ largest park, a road, and the city’s nature center is named. Their legacy is also very layered.
Interestingly, at some point, John Chisum was memorialized with a bronze star on the sidewalk of the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District. In October 2023, Bob and Almeady Chisum Jones were also memorialized there, decades later, not far from her father’s star.
Read more in this County Line article and throughout the archives.
3. The Orchid Lady of the Screen
Corinne Mae Griffith is another multi-layered story that has kept me coming back to see what else I can discover. She was born in Texarkana and became a popular star of the silent movies. When “talkies” started taking over the film industry, it ended her movie career, as she couldn’t sing and didn’t have a voice that matched her moves. Not to be held back, Griffith left her beauty behind and let her brain take over. She became a successful writer and amassed a fortune as an astute business woman, primarily in real estate.
One book, Papa’s Delicate Condition, was made into a movie starring Jackie Gleason in 1963. The story centers around the Griffith family in turn-of-the-century small-town Texas, and six-year-old “Corrie” that adores her eccentric, over-the-top father. Not amused by his shenanigans, his wife takes the kids and goes to her father’s house in Texarkana. Papa buys a circus and they all go to Texarkana and win back his family.
One of the strangest things about Griffith in her real life story is a period beginning in 1966 when she claimed she was not Corinne Griffith but the actress’ 20 years younger sister. She claimed Corinne died, and she took her place. This part of her life inspired the Tom Tryon novel Fedora, that was later filmed by Billy Wilder and released in 1979, coincidentally, the year of her death. Some of Griffith’s family are buried in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Texarkana, including her grandparents Anthony and Augusta Ghio, who have a great story of their own that takes place in Jefferson and then in Texarkana.
Corinne Griffith made her grand exit July 13, 1979, in Santa Monica, California. One of the richest women in America at the time, she left an estate of $150 million.
4. The Life and Legacy of Carroll Shelby
Writers LouAnn Campbell and Steve Freeman dove into the life of famous race car driver and classic sports car designer Carroll Shelby’s life for the January 2016 County Line Magazine. This was my first introduction to the son of a rural Texas mailman born in Leesburg between Winnsboro and Pittsburg in 1923, who went on to high acclaim with the design of the Shelby Cobra sports car and the ever-popular Ford Mustang. I love learning about new people and this guy was quite a character — smart, funny, ambitious, and his generosity is still serving the people of Northeast Texas today through a family foundation and contributions to students at Northeast Texas Community College. Read this article and search the archives for much more.
“My Hero” painting by Shelley Hoierman is the cover for the Tribute to WWII Veterans special issue. The original was purchased by Dairy Palace and donated to the county. It hangs in the Van Zandt County courthouse.
5. Tribute to Van Zandt County World War II Veterans
I was just into my second year of publishing County Line Magazine when I learned that the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor was approaching on a Saturday, December 7, 2001. Never one to glorify war, I nevertheless have a firm commitment to honor our veterans since getting to know so many of them during my years working at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Dallas. Men and women who are willing to stand steadfast in the ravages of war to protect those at home and a country they love, deserve all the respect we can offer. Many gave their lives. Others survived and came home and never talked about this most important piece of their lives.
A small group of veterans and businesses in Van Zandt County and I formed a committee and pulled off a mighty, meaningful project. First, I committed to a special edition telling as many stories of World War II veterans in the county as possible.
We could think of no better way to honor the men who served in the armed forces than to get our youth involved and let them hear and tell their stories.
We asked all seven schools in the county to participate and they came through with flying colors. I was so proud of the way the students embraced these heroes and listened to every word. As one student put it, “I’ve read about it in the history books, but it didn’t seem real until I met the men that were there.”
It was fulfilling to meet so many of the WWII veterans. Many of them were sometimes embarrassed to tell their stories, as if they were bragging on themselves. Many said this was the first time they had ever talked about their experiences. Most of them were overjoyed at the interest.
I ended up publishing 30 stories in that special edition and numerous more over the years. I also researched WWII and wrote about the many layers of that time. The issue included men from all branches of the service, women in the WAVES and on the home front, and many others who did their part for victory.
We also collected more than 80 videotaped interviews with the WWII veterans that were given to the Van Zandt County Library of Genealogy and Local History.
Because the project was getting great support from media, businesses, schools, and veterans organizations, and others, somewhere along the way, we decided to have a special USO Show type event on December 7. The horrendous attacks on our country that occurred on September 11 that year gave us pause, but we were well into the planning stages by then and our veterans weren’t getting any younger. So we persisted.
A very unexpected 1,100 people attended the event. It featured big band music, slide shows, skits for each branch of the military, the “Andrews Sisters,” “Bob Hope,” jitterbug dancing, and lots of saluting, and photographs of babies with the World War II heroes. Read a full review of the evening HERE.
Find the collection of stories from the December 2001 County Line and the project HERE.
6. Don Henley Returns to Cass County
I’m not sure how I ended up getting to interview Don Henley of the Eagles for our November 2015 issue but, as a long-time Eagles fan, I was pleased to say the least. I think our mutual friend and Henley’s former East Texas bandmate Richard Bowden probably did a little nudging that got Henley’s attention and his agent finally took my call and off we went.
It was the perfect time since Henley was releasing a new solo album with a salute to his East Texas roots. Cass County came about after several years of his thinking about doing something in-between Eagles touring on his own.
“Several years ago, I began to grow tired of the ‘new country’ music I was hearing on the radio. To me, it didn’t authentically reflect ‘the country’ or the people who live there. So, I decided to do a country-flavored album of my own — one that reflected the influences of the country music that I heard all through my childhood and my adolescence.”
He spent about five years working on it and released it in 2015.
“It’s not an exercise in nostalgia; it’s an exercise in perspective,” he said. “It’s good not to forget where we come from and it’s healthy to look at the whole picture — the good, the bad, and everything in between. By looking back over my life, through the creation of music, I can see how far I’ve come and how I got here. I can see pivotal moments in my life and the results of critical decisions that I made in those moments. It helps me to locate myself in the present and it helps me to map out the future.”
An impressive list of musical superstars contributing to the album includes Mick Jagger, Merle Haggard, Alison Krauss, Martina McBride, Trisha Yearwood, Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Lucinda Williams, and fellow East Texans Miranda Lambert and Lee Ann Womack.
The article covers times from his childhood to the Eagles and other issues important to him. At one point, he shares some great advice for young people in East Texas about following their dreams.
“Never let the fact that you’re from a small town shake your confidence or your belief in yourself,” he said. “Kids who grow up and go to school in the bigger cities may have some advantages, but there are many very successful people in America who came from small towns. Get a good educational foundation first, and then go out and work toward your dreams. Don’t be afraid to take a risk now and then as long as it’s a calculated risk. There will be failures and setbacks but those are just part of the process. Perseverance and belief in yourself are key. Your small-town values and your work ethic will serve you well. Nothing great is ever achieved without hard work.”
7. Cherokee Chief Bowles and the Battle of the Neches
I lived most of my time in the last 25 years next to the Neches River. I hadn’t been in the area long before I discovered the historic site of the Battle of the Neches and all the history that comes with it, including the story of Cherokee Chief Duwali Bowles. The first time I visited the site, I got goosebumps.
“Walking through the fields and trees alongside the Neches River in the southeast corner of Van Zandt County you can almost hear the battle cries, the gunshots, the horses’ hoofs pounding on the grass and dirt, sloshing through the river, and women and children running for safety that never came. The thought of the blood shed that day, July 16, 1839, is overwhelming. As one said when she visited the area, ‘You can feel the sadness.’”
There’s a lot of history between the half Cherokee, half Scottish Duwali Bowles who at 83 years old was representing American Indian tribes in negotiations over land with Texans Sam Houston, Thomas J. Rusk, and others. In the end, the Republic of Texas did not honor the treaty, and war broke out, resulting in the killing of Chief Bowles and many others.
The State of Texas erected a nice marble marker in 1936 to honor Chief Bowles where he died and telling their side of the story. Across the pasture, members of the American Indian Cultural Society — who now owns the grounds — placed their own version of the events of that day on a wooden marker. Every year on the Saturday closest to July 16, a memorial ceremony is held.
A bronze sculpture in Nacogdoches — created by artist Michael Boyett — honors the historic treaty between Texian general Sam Houston and the Cherokee leader Chief Bowles. The treaty, signed on February 23, 1836, granted the Cherokee the legal right to occupy land in East Texas. It also assured the neutrality of the Cherokee in the unfolding Texas Revolution, which allowed the Texian Army to concentrate its strategy solely on defeating the Mexican Army.
Nacogdoches residents Sam Houston, Adolphus Sterne, and William Goyens, all played crucial roles representing Texas in the negotiations, with Chief Bowles representing the Indian tribes. As noted above, the treaty was not honored.
The statue is at 700 East Main Street in Eugenia Sterne Park, on the south side of Main Street, just east of the square in Nacogdoches.
Read these linked stories and search the County Line archives to learn much more.
• Remembering the Battle of the Neches
• Ceremony Attracts Descendants
8. East Texas Helped Will Jennings Make It
I have a passion for movies. Watching them is the most relaxing thing I do for myself and I usually learn a thing or two. It’s got to be a good story and just the right music. I determine whether or not I’m going to continue watching a movie by the theme music at the beginning. If it reeks of violence, too much suspense, eerie tones, or “porno groove,” I’m out.
Watching the movie Titanic in 1997, the song “My Heart Will Go On” sung by Celine Dion carried that story from beginning to end. It hit all the feelings and seeing the lyricist Will Jennings receive an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Grammy Award for the song that year led to my doing some research and finding this amazing writer was born and raised in East Texas.
Then I learned he wrote the lyrics for many other songs that had touched me and the rest of the world deeply, like “Tears in Heaven,” which Jennings co-wrote with Eric Clapton after Clapton’s four-year-old son’s tragic death. Clapton started the song with the first verse but asked Jennings to finish it for him and the two collaborated to get it done.
I was also a big Steve Winwood fan and found that much of the soundtrack of my cruising days in an old blue Camero, including “Higher Love” and “Back in the High Life Again,” were written by Will Jennings.
We began noting the accomplishments of Jennings in the County Line early on and then in 2013, my brother, Tom Geddie, got to interview Jennings from his home in California. In this article, he talks about the influences of growing up in East Texas on his songwriting success and his process and much more.
“We lived mainly in the country, near town, and spent a lot of time fishing and hunting,” he said. “You don’t say it was real beauty when you look back on it, but there was a certain freedom in everything that was going on with that. I appreciate almost everything that goes around, and has some beauty to it.
“The first house we lived in, between Tyler and Kilgore, was next to a cotton gin and it was almost like living in the wild,” he said. “There’s some kind of feeling that goes into you. I suppose that’s because you are not dominated by machines, but by what kind of day it’s going to be. Is it going to be hot or cold? Are we going to get some birds or not?”
A few years ago I heard Jennings moved back to Tyler near family. An alumni and former teacher at Tyler Junior College (TJC) and then Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, he received a few welcome home events and awards. At the opening of TJC’s Rogers Palmer Performing Arts Center in 2021, the center’s “Carole and Will Jennings Lobby” was named in their honor. The Carole and Will Jennings Lobby also houses a rotating exhibit of his memorabilia and awards from his songwriting career, including two Oscars, two Golden Globes, three Grammys, and many others.
Last year Billboard announced the closing of a deal where All Clear Music and Fuji Music Group jointly acquired Jennings’ extensive catalog. While the terms of the deal were not revealed, Billboard said the “catalog carried a valuation in the range of $60 to $70 million.”
In May 2024, the East Texas Symphony Orchestra and singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell joined forces to pay tribute to him at Rogers Palmer Performing Arts Center at TJC. Jennings was not able to attend but was represented by family.
Will Jennings passed away at 80 on September 6, 2024, in Tyler, Texas.
9. Taking the High Road with Sully
“Roots and Wings” is an underlying theme with most everything I do. It comes from a quote by Johan Wolfgang von Goethe, “There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.”
I’m always looking for inspiration from people who do the right thing, going beyond their comfort levels often to do what it takes to make a difference. I hope our stories inspire children and adults in our region to know that they too have the capacity to make a difference and to follow their dreams.
When I interviewed Sully Sullenberger for our January 2021 issue, we were still in the throes of the pandemic that interrupted all our lives. We needed heroes to do their jobs well and do the right things for humankind, not for their own self interests. Heroes who make us laugh when we really need it. Heroes who live exemplary lives and inspire us to do the same.
My visits with Sully certainly inspired me to be better, to move through the good times and bad with confidence and integrity, and to be the hero of my own story.
Most everyone in the world knows about the famous safe landing of a passenger plane, US Airways Flight 1549, on the cold Hudson River in January 2009, commandeered by Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III. Little did I know until a few years later that his flying and leadership skills began in rural East Texas.
“In many ways, all my mentors, heroes, and loved ones — those who taught me and encouraged me and saw the possibilities in me — were with me in the cockpit of Flight 1549. My entire life led me safely to that river,” he says.
Read the full article to learn about his upbringing in Grayson County, Texas, and how his love for flying began, about his career, and the movie starring Tom Hanks simply titled Sully about the landing. He’s written books on leadership and “what really matters.”
“It’s what we do for each other,” he says. “There are rights and responsibilities of citizenship. It’s not the winner-take-all world that some who are motivated by their self interests believe. There are things we owe to each other. Civilization isn’t possible without it. My ultimate message is we’re all in this together.”
10. Opal Lee: Grandmother of Juneteenth
Another proud East Texan, is Opal Lee, who got much of her inspiration and determination in her birth town of Marshall, Texas. She became the “Grandmother of Juneteenth” for her work in getting the important historical date made a federal holiday. And by the way, she did that in her 90s.
Juneteenth, a name used for June 19, 1865, commemorates the day the Texas enslaved people received word that the Emancipation Proclamation had actually freed them two and a half years earlier.
I got to know Opal Lee first when Lisa Tang interviewed her for the May/June 2022 County Line and have followed her since. Read details of her crusade, her time in Marshall, including graduating from Wiley College, and other articles in the archives that bring surprising full circle moments.
• Opal Lee Walks Juneteenth to Victory
• Ceremony Brings Juneteenth Grandmother Home
11. Remembering Karen Silkwood
Writer Madison Payne told us the story of Longview native Karen Silkwood and interviewed her children for the November 2014 County Line Magazine. It was the 40th anniversary of nuclear safety whistleblower Silkwood’s suspicious death. She gained national attention after voicing concerns of health and safety issues at the Kerr-McGee nuclear facility in Crescent, Oklahoma. Her life was the subject of a motion picture titled Silkwood, released in 1983.
Meryl Streep portrays Silkwood in the movie with a supportive cast that includes Kurt Russell and Cher.
We’ve stayed in touch with her family and this year did an article update for the 50th anniversary of her death. Silkwood, the movie, was only available through DVD until this year when Hulu began streaming it. Several documentary segments came out this year as investigators continue to try to piece together the truth.
Silkwood rests in the Danville Cemetery in Kilgore, with members of both her mother and father’s side of the family.
• Remembering Karen Silkwood. 2014
• Silkwood: 50 Years Later. 2024
12. Welcome Home Ceremonies Honor Vietnam Veterans
Besides publisher and editor of County Line Magazine, I own a communications company called Geddie Connections. When someone comes to me with a project that interests me, I enjoy helping them making it a success through a variety of communication channels, including the County Line and through other media outlets and promotional strategies.
When Mandy Kennedy approached me in 2022 to tell me she and her team were bringing “The Wall That Heals” to Sulphur Springs that November, I was all in. It’s a replica of the monument in Washington DC, built to honor the warriors of the Vietnam War — both those whose names are on the wall who died in service to our country and also to those who survived. Organizers say the wall is a gesture to all Vietnam veterans to let them know that the country cares about them and as a nation, we all continue to heal from the wounds of that horrible war.
I interviewed a few Vietnam veterans and their stories touched me to the core. We cried together and laughed and listened to the songs of the time that were often the only good things that got them through their days. They had never seen the wall, not this traveling one, or the one in DC, so it was a very emotional time for them. Read about this project and their stories in this County Line article.
13. Spend Healing Time with Ruthie Foster
Singer-songwriter Ruthie Foster has performed in the Upper East Side of Texas more than a few times in the past 25 years. I was fortunate to catch a few shows and would hear little bits of information that led me to believe she had East Texas roots but it wasn’t until I interviewed her for our March/April 2023 issue — as she’d just released her album Healing Time — that I got the full story. As I write in the article, Foster’s energy wraps around audience members like a warm quilt on a cold and rainy day. Her passionals Texas blues and Americana vibe brings a sense of peace to listeners that makes them feel everything’s going to be okay.
She’s also quite inspiring, bringing Maya Angelou’s famous “Phenomenal Woman” poem to life in song that empowers the female species.
Foster was born in Mineola and surrounded by musical talent from the beginning. She moved with her mother to Gause, Texas, and spent much of her childhood in East Texas with her dad and extended family.
Her shows are authentic experiences that she says include her family as it gives her a chance to speak for them.
“I’m giving you a part of my family, a piece of East Texas and next to the Brazos River. There’s Big Mama, PawPaw, Aunt Sugarlump, and my mother they called Puddin’. My heritage. I bring everybody with me. I’m a better songwriter, better overall performer, and better person because they are with me on stage.”
One of the venues Foster played a few years ago was the Beckham Hotel in Mineola. Her father shared many good aspects of growing up in Mineola, she says, and sometimes quietly speaks about the indignities of the past as well.
Back in his day, the esteemed Beckham Hotel served the railroad industry and other travelers beginning in the 1920s for several decades. Those of African descent were not allowed in the building, except perhaps as servants.
Decades later, Foster was booked to play there and she asked her father to come with her for a sound check a few hours before the show.
“Walking up the stairs, my dad’s walking behind me, and he stops halfway up,” Foster says, asking him what’s wrong.
“He said, ‘I need a minute. As a Black man, I was never allowed to go up these stairs.’”
This struck a chord with her as the reality of racial divide so close washed over her.
“That was the first time hearing my dad talk about it,” she says. “Here’s my dad telling me about the real history from his eyes of this particular building.”
Thankfully, that building received many healing vibes from musicians like Ruthie Foster since those early years when people were mistreated. Read more about her in this County Line article and in the archives.
14. The Art and Influences of Biggers and Criner
In the summer of 2022, County Line Magazine was honored to sponsor an exhibition at Tyler Museum of Art titled, Student/Teacher: Works by Charles Criner & Dr. John Biggers. I was already familiar with both of their works and remarkable stories and took this time to dig deeper.
Dr. John Thomas Biggers, PhD, established and chaired for 34 years the Department of Art at Texas Southern University in Houston. In 1988, he was recognized as the Texas Artist of the Year. During his teaching years, he garnered a reputation also as a major African-American artist of the Southwest.
From 1950 to 1956 he painted four murals in Texas communities, one of which was a 1954 commission by the Naples school board in Morris County in the Upper East Side of Texas to honor Professor Phineas Y. Gray as he was retiring after 30 years in the district. As Dr. Biggers got to know Professor Gray, he decided to paint a mural related to Gray’s Master’s thesis on the history of African American education in Morris County schools.
Biggers completed the 22-feet-long by six-feet-tall muslin painting in 1955 titled “History of Negro Education in Morris County, Texas.”
What happens next to the mural is both sad and a bit of a miracle. The mural hung in the Carver High School library for about 15 years, inspiring countless numbers of young people to embrace heritage and hope. As the district grew and schools integrated and combined with other districts, Pewitt Consolidated Independent School District inherited the building and it became the elementary school. To accommodate younger children, the ceilings were lowered. The mural no longer fit the space and was moved into storage under the band hall. After several moves, it ended up in an audio-visual shed where it stayed for about 20 years.
When former students who had attended the school in the mid 1950s started asking about the mural, a search was done and it was found in the shed in good condition considering the climate. The painting was patched up a bit and reinstalled in the school library.
The mural inspired elementary students there for about 25 years. In that time began to deteriorate.
In 2015, when executives at North Texas Community College (NTCC) in neighboring Titus County found out about the mural, they approached the Pewitt ISD about restoring the work and taking steps to preserve it. They also asked to move the mural to the college campus where the public could see it. The school district agreed.
Joining NTCC administrators and Pewitt ISD officials in a joint effort for conservation of the mural was the Tyler Museum of Art. The painting’s restoration took about one year and costs were paid by a private donor in the amount of $105,000. Before landing in its present home at NTCC, the mural was taken to Tyler Museum of Art in 2017 for a brief exhibition.
Since then it remains in the climate-controlled room at NTCC built specifically for the mural and is available for public viewing along with other works by Dr. Biggers.
Charles Criner was a student of Biggers at TSU and credits this teacher with helping him find his voice. Born in Athens, Texas, Criner began drawing as a young child and often uses family members or people and places close to him as inspiration. His art reflects activities he experienced growing up, from children playing on abandoned railroad boxcars, to one of his favorite hobbies — fishing. He also shares scenes influenced by his trip to South Africa and his own cultural heritage.
Learn more about these two talented visual storytellers in this County Line article.
15. Susanna Clark: Artist, Writer, Muse to Texas Songwriters
As a big fan of singer-songwriter Guy Clark, I’d heard him mention his wife Susanna a number of times and her beloved Atlanta, Texas, where she was born and spent her childhood. In the spring of 2021, a film on Guy’s life was produced called Without Getting Killed or Caught. The documentary is narrated from Susanna’s perspective by Academy Award-winner Sissy Spacek, a fellow East Texan who grew up in Quitman, a short distance away as the crow flies from Susanna’s hometown of Atlanta.
The title comes from Guy’s song “L.A. Freeway” that favors small towns to the false allure of big cities.
“Pack up all your dishes / Make note of all good wishes / Adios to all this concrete / Gonna get me some dirt road back street
If I can just get off of this L.A. freeway / Without getting killed or caught /
I’ll be down the road in a cloud of smoke / To some land I ain’t bought /
Oh Susanna don’t you cry, babe / Love’s a gift that’s surely handmade /
We’ve got something to believe in / Don’t you think it’s time we’re leavin’.”
Yes, she’s that Susanna. Forever immortalized in a classic.
Far from standing in the shadows of Texas’ most famous songwriters — including the couple’s best friend Townes Van Zandt — Susanna was their muse, their light, the angel of mercy with the golden touch. She also created her own extraordinary work. Her spirit forever flows through timeless art and music she breathed into life in her 73 years on earth.
Susanna passed away in 2012 and part of her ashes were scattered in Atlanta, Texas. Guy passed away in 2016.
I was fortunate to find and interview Susanna’s niece Sherri Talley Lemaire, who inherited her aunt’s important things. Find out so much more about this special story in this County Line article.
16. Hollywood Screenwriter Kris Hunt Embraces Nuanced Texas Characters
What I loved about interviewing Kris Hunt is his commitment to get Hollywood to see the East Texas he grew up in — not one full of “hicks” they like to portray, but the truth that people of this region are nuanced.
“People from our region,” he says, “are just as likely to be worldly, educated, or otherwise well rounded. Some Texans may wear worn-out clothes, have strong country accents, and drive old trucks. But they also may speak four languages, play the piano, and tell you all about fine wines.”
Cowgirl’s Last Ride is his latest screenwriting project still in production. A Hollywood Reporter article dated October 23, 2023, shares the scoop.
“More than 30 years after she made her most famous dash across America in Thelma & Louise, two-time Oscar winner Geena Davis has lined up another wild road trip movie with Cowgirl’s Last Ride.
The comedy adventure was originally announced back in 2019, but has now taken shape, with Scoot McNairy (Argo, 12 Years a Slave), Julia Sweeney (Saturday Night Live, Pulp Fiction) and Jill Scott (The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Get On Up) joining the cast and HanWay Films launching sales at the upcoming American Film Market.
Described as a “comedic odyssey set against the vast landscapes of rural Texas,” the story follows retired Texas cowgirl Fay (Davis), who escapes her Dallas nursing home and journey’s back towards her native East Texas, first in a stolen pickup truck then on a horse, on a ride of rediscovery to reconnect with her former self, all while in hot pursuit by her more conventional — and deeply concerned son Randall (McNairy).
Read more about Kris Hunt from his East Texas to Hollywood days in this County Line article.
17. Artist Captures Faces of Newgate Homeless
Anup Bhandari of Longview was one of those amazing people who made the world a better place in a big way before his life was cut way too short. We first presented Bhandari in the May 2011 issue of County Line, learning about his colorful art that he shared in galleries and shows throughout Northeast Texas.
He was already giving back, donating paintings for good causes for local nonprofits, as well as for the Japanese tsunami victims and Nepali school children. Then, he let us know in 2011 that doing an art project with the homeless was also high on his list of “life’s bright possibilities” he wanted to accomplish.
He took his idea to Newgate Mission, a center that serves needs of the homeless, low-income, and marginalized populations of Longview. He taught art classes there and more and more of those in need started showing up to take them and they created a growing body of artwork he called the Healing Art Project.
By the time I interviewed him and featured him on our March 2019 cover, he was well into the project and had just published a book featuring self portraits by the homeless artists.
Bhandari used his art skills to help homeless people express themselves and to show society that the homeless, though too often unseen, are not invisible.
“They have vision and a voice, and are no less deserving of love and respect,” he told me.
In 2016, Bhandari received an inaugural award, the Anup Bhandari Award for Exceptional Kindness and Dedication to the Newgate Community.
Sadly, Bhandari, passed away at the age of 40, on March 10, 2020, after suffering a cardiac arrest that left him with an anoxic brain injury.
In the foreward of his book, The Faces of Newgate, are the words “Unity Starts With You.” They served as the inspiration for a mural created in 2021 to honor Bhandari and his work for the importance of shared humanity.
The Healing Arts Project at Newgate Mission continues today.
• Artist Captures Faces of Newgate
• Longview Artist Explores Possibilities
18. Two Families—One Heart
As half of the duo blacktopGYPSY, I began getting to know singer-songwriter Andie Kay Joyner and her phenomenal fiddle-playing best friend Heather Stalling in 2009, as they started playing at Moore’s Store and The Forge in Ben Wheeler. I was living there at the time and my place often served as the “green room” where more than a few memorable parties took place. I quickly became a big fan of their music and even more loved the human beings they are. I was honored to invest in their 2011 album titled Whirlwind, and things seemed to be going well for them and their full band touring Texas and surrounding states.
Andie Kay discovered a few years earlier that she had a blood disorder called hemochromatosis. She thought she was following doctor’s orders to keep it in check, but in early 2016 she was told she had irreversible heart damage, and later discovered liver damage as well. A heart and liver transplant became her only hope. On Saturday, September 3, her organs started shutting down and her surgeons said she was within hours of death. Sunday, September 4, they hooked her up to an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine that took over pumping her blood to give her severely damaged organs a rest and the family held on to hope that a donor would be found in time.
The next day, they were advised a match was found for both organs.
Andie Kay underwent an 18-hour surgery to replace her damaged organs, becoming UT Southwestern’s first heart and liver transplant, joining the ranks of only four other Texas medical centers to perform the complicated surgery.
Her body seemed to accept the new organs right away and she began her long road to recovery. She started thinking about her donor “hero” almost immediately.
“Tubes and lines coming out of my body and I’m lying there, curious about who this is inside of me that’s keeping me alive,” she said.
After a period of time dictated by the Southwest Transplant Alliance, the donor’s family and Andie Kaye were notified about each other. She wanted to meet them as soon as possible but let them set the time that was right for them.
Her donor was a young man named Steven Dominy from Kirbyville, Texas, who had a loving family and three children. After many phone conversations with Steven’s sister and his oldest daughter, Reagan, an in-person meeting was set up.
I was honored to be among the small group invited to witness this incredible time, with Steven’s daughters listening to their dad’s heart inside Andie Kay, and the exchange of lots of hugs, flowers, gifts, and thoughtful conversations. Reagan invited Andie Kay to stand in for her father as her escort across the football field on her upcoming high school Senior Night.
There’s so very much more to this story. Please read it and remember how important it is to take the time to say “yes” to being an organ donor. Andie Kay is doing well today. She got married and continues to share her beautiful music and enjoy a relationship with her donor hero’s family.
• Keeping the Beat for a Blacktop Gypsy
• Music is Full Time Job for Blacktop Gypsy
19. The Legacy of Tex Ritter
I learned about the singing cowboy Tex Ritter growing up in a household with a country and western musician. My dad played Tex’s records and I’m sure we saw a few of his old movies from time to time, although most of his work was done way before I came along.
I think everyone was proud someone from a tiny town in East Texas could make such a big name for himself.
For his contribution to the recording industry, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Museum in Oklahoma City in 1980, and received numerous other accolades throughout his life, not to mention has his own museum in Carthage, Texas.
That’s a pretty good legacy right there. But Tex and his wife Dorothy Fay had two sons, one of which became a pretty famous actor himself, John Ritter. I enjoyed all of John’s silly antics on Three’s Company and some of his later work. I could sense he was down to earth and could feel his Texas roots.
John was in a sitcom, 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, when he passed away from an aortic aneurysm in 2003, the same thing that killed his father.
Tex and John became the first father and son duo to get stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
John’s children are actors and musicians too, continuing the legacy. In an interview with John’s daughter Carly, she shared stories with me about her father, siblings, famous grandfather, and the museum that honors him in his Texas hometown. She likes singing some of her grandfather’s songs.
Read this article to learn much more about this family that continues to do good work and carry on the family legacy.
20. Martindale’s Acting Passion Started in Jacksonville
Interviewing the award-winning actress Margo Martindale from Jacksonville, Texas, was so much fun. In my cover story appearing July 2016, I start with, “There’s something sweet and saucy and wise all at the same time about Margo Martindale that makes people smile when she enters a room. It’s like she knows something amusing others can’t quite see just yet and they eagerly wait for her to let it out in her friendly East Texas accent and make the world a better place for a few moments.”
The very successful actress talked to me about some of her film roles and about growing up in Jacksonville and the thing that struck me most is how she described her hometown and her neighborhood in Manhattan with very similar feelings.
“Her small town upbringing reminds her a bit of the Upper West Side of Manhattan neighborhood where she’s lived now for 30-plus years, she said.”
“My block is small town America. It’s a real community. We share births and deaths. Very sweet. We sit on the stoop and before you know it, there’s a party.”
That’s what my time with her felt like too — a party, but a small one where everybody cares about and looks out for each other. Made me want to pack my bags and go sit on the stoop with her and get as much of that Margo Martindale vibe as possible.
Read the full interview in this article.
21. Blake Neely Scores in Hollywood
I interviewed Paris, Texas, born and raised Blake Neely for our March 2015 issue. He learned at an early age that composing music for film was his calling and had good encouragement from teachers and family to follow his dreams. He’s racked up a long list of successful credits in film and TV projects including Everwood, three Pirates of the Caribbean, King Kong, and The Last Samurai.
Neely has composed the music for more than 40 television series, including The Mentalist, You, and The Flight Attendant (which earned him a 2022 Emmy Award for the theme. See him accepting the award in this VIDEO). A 2024 project is the TV series Masters of the Air, a companion to Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010).
Read more about him in the County Line archives.
• Blake Neely Scores in Hollywood
22. The Legend of Wild Willie
It’s a tale of a man that took a hillside at the edge of the “world’s largest flea market” in downtown Canton, Texas, and turned it into an 1800s pioneer and western-themed mountain town.
Wild Willie, Calamity Jane, Teton Ken, the Buffalo Girls and many others had a good thing going for a while, entertaining thousands of shoppers each month. Then an avalanche of events took down Wild Willie’s Mountain.
Willie began to live beyond his means and quit taking care of vendors. Financial struggles and regrets that he’d let so many people down, ultimately led him to take his own life at the end of 1997 in ultimate Old West fashion — he hung himself.
23. Kyser Capo Strikes a Winning Chord
With a long line of musicians in my family, I decided at age 12 to teach myself how to play the guitar. I still play the same six chords I learned then. Equally limited in my voice range, it was the Kyser capo that changed my world. When I put one of those on the end of my guitar, I could change the pitch and play many songs with those same six finger placements on different frets.
I don’t recall exactly when I was introduced to the capo, but by the time I started going to Kerrville Folk Festival around year 2000, I ran into hundreds of guitar players from all over the world using a Kyser capo. There were a few other capo brands, but overwhelmingly, most guitar players were using the Kyser.
Being so popular I assumed they were made in some massive factory somewhere in New York or Boston or maybe Germany for all I knew. Then somewhere along the way I heard they were made in East Texas and the hunt was on!
I found out there is a person named Milton Kyser who invented this popular capo and he did so in Canton, Texas, where they are still being made today.
He was awarded a patent for his Quick-Change® capo in 1978 and converted his garage into a design and production workshop, what he calls his first “factory.”
Milton’s health was declining in 2013 when I sat down to interview him along with his grand-niece Meredith Hamlin, who did most of the talking.
He was still coming into his office most days during that time and very excited about the products he invented and shared more than a few with me.
Milton Kyser passed away January 23, 2014, at the age of 80. The company continues under Meredith’s leadership still today in Canton, Texas.
• Kyser Capo Strikes a Winning Chord
24. Legendary Broadcaster Tom Perryman
Myself and others have written numerous articles about legendary DJ Tom Perryman in County Line Magainze over the last 25 years and I also wrote a book because he’s just that interesting and then some.
In the summer of 2001 I was planning a 1940s USO-type show with other local citizens in Canton, Texas, town to take place on December 7 — the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. (See Story #5 above for more on that project). We were working very hard to contact World War II veterans to be our honored guests at this event. I sent out press releases to newspapers, radio and TV stations. Several people told me of a DJ on a Tyler radio station that was heavily promoting our event during his show that ran from nine to 11 a.m. I wasn’t listening to radio much during those years because I was tired of hearing the same “cookie-cutter” songs over and over by people I didn’t know whose voices all sounded boringly alike to me. But I did want to hear our event being promoted so one morning curiosity got the better of me and I tuned in to KKUS 104.1 The Ranch.
The first thing I heard was a booming country voice saying, “You cain’t cuss a cat in here without gettin’ hair in yore mouth,” followed by several minutes of tales of his life among talents including Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and Elvis. As he began to play a Jim Reeves tune that took me back to childhood, I knew I was hooked on this breath of fresh air.
Tom and his wife Billie and I became good friends. Both gone now, but never forgotten. Read much more about them in the County Line archives and find the book, Keepin’ It Country: 60 Years With Legendary DJ Tom Perryman on Amazon.
• Legendary DJ Tom Perryman Dies
• Remembering Elvis in East Texas
25. Matthew McConaughey: A Long Way From Dazed and Confused
Getting the interview with Matthew McConauhey for our January 2014 cover story was a big deal for us. Interviewed by Elizabeth Branca exclusively for County Line Magazine, this one is a good lesson in “timing is everything.” His movie Dallas Buyers Club had just premiered and our hammering his agent for an interview paid off. It was fun to hear him talk about his strong East Texas connections.
“I haven’t checked in with my people back in East Texas in a while,” McConaughey says,” but who I am today has a lot to do with who I was and growing up there.”
His philosophy on “vital motion” stretches back to his youthful days in the East Texas countryside.
“If the sun’s out, you gotta be outside,” he said, “and if the TV was on, Mom came in and turned it off.”
He remembers her advice, “Don’t watch somebody do it — do it yourself,” and admits that her “can do” spirit helps him with his job as an actor.
Read more about his East Texas influences and career in this article and others including the release of his book Greenlights in the County Line archives.
