I Was Born One Morning....

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The “Birthplace of Country Music” Museum had a two-for-one special for me. I’ll get to the meat of the museum later, but for a moment I’ll talk about Mr. Ernest J. Ford. This year is the centennial of Tennessee Ernie Ford’s birth. He was born in Bristol, Tennessee on February 13, 1919. To commemorate his lasting legacy there’s a temporary exhibit honoring him at the museum (which is normally dedicated to just the “Big Bang of Country Music”). A short video shows his TV show (for which he received one of three Hollywood Walk of Fame stars [the other two are for radio and recording]) and plays clips of the wide variety of music he recorded. Needless to say, it begins with his classic “Sixteen Tons,” which people who don’t know country music (or Tennessee Ernie for that matter) at least know the title of (or the answer to the question, “what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt!”) know. Also on display are album covers, his 1964 Grammy for gospel, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom he was awarded by Ronald Reagan. One thing not mentioned was the fact that he was the one who told eastern Tennessee about the attack on Pearl Harbor. (That fact is on the “country music walk” in downtown Knoxville, in front of the building that used to house WROL, where Ford worked as an announcer.) Ford was also inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame shortly before his death. There’s a clip of his induction, announced by the Oak Ridge Boys. “Bless your pea-pickin’ heart” was Ford’s sign-off saying, and it became a catchphrase that’s still popular today. He sure made Bristol proud!