MY FAMILY HISTORY OF MUSIC

Playing my Ibanez bass

I decided to tell the story of how I became a bass player in the church band and, like a lot of stories that start at the beginning, I thought I would go back 9 years before the beginning. I was born in February of 1957, the 6th child of Raymond (Pete) and Ruby Edmonds. Growing up, my Dad had only one hobby and that was playing music with family and friends. Dad played with his four brothers and a brother-in-law. He played with coworkers and people he met around town. He worked at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant and seemed to know almost everyone around, including his friends from the Moose Lodge. I think about how only the men played music. Although Dad had 9 sisters, only the men sang and played. Dad had a younger brother that became very talented playing the banjo.

I have no idea how Dad got started playing music. I have lots of questions I now wish I had asked Dad before his passing in 2000. His father, my grandfather, played banjo but my Dad was really talented. He played guitar, mandolin, fiddle and was very talented at all three and he played by ear. He had no musical training. My Mother and Dad both went to school in rural areas 20 miles from one another and neither had access to high school. Although they were very smart, both of them repeated 7th grade because there was nothing else for them to do. They took jobs at a very young age. So how did my Dad become so talented? I wish I could answer that question. Whenever Dad was playing with others, you could hear and see his abilities. I never listened to him play and thought that others were more talented than he was. He was also an entertainer. He would always tell a few jokes and throw in some funny stories between songs. This is a picture of James Covey and the Virginia Partners taken on March 15, 1948. This is my Dad on the right in the white shirt and tie at age 18. What a handsome young man. Years ago people wrote down the date on the back of the picture, thank goodness for that.

James Covey and the Virginia Partners

What I remember hearing was this band was very good and they played at schools, bars, community centers and live on radio. They also had recorded 78 speed records. The oldest records came out as 78 revolutions per minute, then newer ones 45 and then 33 1/3. Live radio shows were common back in the 40’s and 50’s. I envision it like the scene from “O’ Brother Where Art Thou” where George Clooney and the band played at the radio station out in the “boonies.” As Dad’s band grew in popularity, some of the band members wanted to go to Nashville where they hoped to make it big. My Dad was one of those who wanted to go, but all the members had day jobs that provided for their families. Some band members felt that it was too big of a risk to quit their good paying day jobs to chase a dream making music. Jobs were often very hard to find. So on Saturday May 15, 1948, you could see James Covey And His Virginia Partners live at Newbern High School for 50 cents or 25 cents if you were a student. What a deal! Notice this is the same photo that they had made two months earlier.

My Dad shared one story with me about his need for a job beforeI was born. A friend drove him down to Bassett VA, where a furniture factory would often hire people on the spot. Dad said he was just standing in front of the building when the boss came out and said “who wants a job today?” His friend grabbed Dad’s hand and up it went before others responded. They both were hired. Dad said that he was told that he would be paid $1 per hour but not to tell anyone how much he was being paid or they would fire him immediately. So the work was hard and the hours were long. He said an old guy across the assembly line from him asked him every day how much they were paying him. But Dad needed this job so he would not say. He later found out that the old guy was making $0.95 per hour after working there for many years. Dad understood then how the factories were taking advantage of their workers.

There was always a guitar in the house when I was young. Dad had a J45 Gibson that was his prized possession. He didn’t want kids to mess with his guitar but he showed my brother and I a few chords. One night Dad was playing outside and he backed up his car, driving over the case. He was greatly relieved to learn his guitar was not in its case.

My brother playing Dad’s J45 with all my sisters at Christmas

My brother Grey was 11 years older than me. He had a couple guitars he had purchased while working and he moved out of our house at age 17; I was only 6 at the time. Grey was drafted into the military but then joined the Air Force and spent time in Vietnam where he played guitar in clubs at times. When he finally received his papers to come home, the bar owner gave him the guitar from the bar in which he had played. The guitar had song titles and some lyrics carved into it. My brother refused to take it saying that others will need a guitar to play but the owner insisted. The owner promised to buy another guitar for other soldiers to play. My brother was so proud of that cheap guitar from Vietnam because of all the memories.

So what about me? I’m going to get to that, just bear with me. As I grew older, Dad still didn’t like me playing his J45 but he seemed to tolerate it a little better. Dad would do all kind of crazy guitar riffs. I remember asking him how to do that and Dad would do it again at full speed and I would respond, “thanks Dad.” Two times at full speed didn’t teach me much. Dad was really talented, but his teaching skills and patience were limited. So I learned a few chords and life moved on.

In the 6th grade, I found out I could take band so I quickly enrolled. Before long I had a trombone. I wanted to play trumpet, but I think the director had too many trumpet players and need some trombone players to fill out his band. Oh well, I was the first chair trombone player for years and learned what I could about music. Marching band was fun and the trombones were always out front leading the parade. I attended all the football games, including away games, participating in the half-time shows, and had a group to hang out with in school. Life was getting better. I eventually became part of the Jazz Band and played in Jazz Band competitions as well.

Before you know it, I graduated high school, entered the working world and met Karen. When I worked at Wade’s Grocery, one of the guys had a used Yamaha guitar for sale. I was excited to buy that guitar from him. As life moved on, Karen and I were raising our kids and doing life and making a little more money. I came across a guy who had a D35 Martin guitar for sale. I remember taking Dad with me to purchase it. Dad knew guitars and I didn’t want to purchase a guitar that had problems. So we looked at it and when the seller walked away for a moment, I asked Dad if I should I buy it. He said if I didn’t buy it, he would. I had done well finding a nice guitar and buying it at a fair price.

So I continued to learn a few songs here and there and learned some new chords as well, but in order to really improve I needed to have a group of musicians to encourage me and to learn from. I didn’t have all the musical friends that my Dad had.

We started going to church in the mid-1980’s. Our church had a piano player and an organ player. Years later, we became members of a contemporary church with a contemporary band. Wow! this was different, and they had guitar players who were very talented. So life goes on. Then several years later, after the kids were grown and out of the house, the bass player left our church. Weeks later, the backup bass player took a job out of state. No bass player – interesting, so after weeks of not having a bass player on Sunday, I inquired about the position. If only I knew how to play a bass… I did know that the bass had 4 strings that were the same notes as the top 4 on a guitar, only octaves lower, so hopefully that information would help me. So I borrowed a bass, because buying one would be useless if I couldn’t get past the audition. Then the band leader gave me three songs to learn. So for 3 weeks, I played those songs over and over until I had done everything as well as I could to prepare for the big day.

Audition day! So I showed up at band rehearsal on Thursday evening, and the band played the songs for the upcoming Sunday. When they were done tweaking the songs, it was time for me to play. I was very nervous, but I knew I had worked hard and playing more by myself was not going to help me grow my skills. So we played. I felt that I had done well, but then my opinion didn’t count. I packed up my borrowed bass and the band leader said they would discuss how I did and get back to me. So I headed home, thinking that if they were pleased with how I did, I would get a quick call. If they were not pleased with my performance, then it would take some time for them to discuss how best to tell me I didn’t make the cut. You know it’s best to be sensitive on how you deal with these matters. So the minutes clicked by, one hour then two. Finally the phone rang. The leader said I played all the right notes, I kept time well, and didn’t seem to have any issues with one song that was in 6/8 time. They were quite surprised how well I had played because they all knew I had only been playing bass for three weeks. “Welcome to the band” the leader said. Yeah! Those were some sweet words.

Church band where I began playing bass (I am at the far right)

It was time to buy a bass guitar. My daughter Kim’s husband Paul had a nice 4 string bass but he wanted a 5 string bass so I purchased his Ibanez. Great choice! I don’t know exactly what day it was when I became part of the band. I wish I had a picture with a handwritten date on the back, but it’s been over 10 years now and I’m still having fun. I enjoy the practices as much as, maybe more, than playing before the church. At the first church I played, we rehearsed every Thursday and played every Sunday unless we were out of town. Our old church would occasionally open the service with a Rock and Roll song that related to the message. I remember playing Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way” and the Pastor’s message was Don’t Go Your Own Way. We played Bon Jovi’s “Livin On A Prayer” that had a rocking bass part, and many rock and contemporary Christian songs. Once we played Mumford and Sons’ “The Cave” that had a banjo part and I used my Dad’s banjo. I remember trying to learn banjo chords and a friend Gregg told me just to crank up one string a couple notches, then I could play guitar chords on a banjo. I would have never thought of that. I remember him grinning while telling me that it wasn’t even against the law.

I played at my daughter Kim’s church in Roanoke for several months

Dad had purchased a banjo many years before I joined the band but when he decided to sell it, he seemed surprised that I wanted to buy it. It had been in the family a long time and I saw no reason to let it leave us. Dad accepted Christ in the 1990’s and began taking his guitar to church to sing and play. He also learned to play some songs on the church piano. He seem to think if an instrument had strings, including a piano, that he should learn to play it. I have played with some amazingly talented people over the years and I am grateful for the many fun opportunities. I am also grateful for the opportunities I had to play with my Dad. I still play with some of the people from that first church band where I auditioned. There is so many layers and ways to look at music. I remember talking to a talented guitar player and he didn’t seem to care much about the notes he was playing in a song. It was more of a numbers thing with him. If he started at a guitar string and fret, he knew where he could go and what frets he needed to avoid. And my Dad knew a lot by just being able to hear and play what he just heard. I think even the most gifted musicians are able to continue learning new things regarding music their whole life.

Sunday morning at Belmont Christian Church, Christiansburg VA

I hope I can continue to play in the band for years to come and I wish my Mom and Dad could see me play now. You never know exactly where all the roads in life will take you, but I have found a lot of happiness and met a lot of great friends along this musical path. And this story isn’t completely finished. I have a grandson, Christophe, learning to play piano and a granddaughter, Marie, who is playing alto sax. I have other grandkids who have shown musical interest, so there are lots of future possibilities. So we will all have to wait and see what roads and opportunities the kids take. I hope you enjoyed my story and found it interesting. If it has encouraged you in any way, let me know. I would love to hear from you.

That’s me playing bass on the far left at Belmont