You must be smart to succeed in the music business

In Country Music this does not always mean you must be book smart. 

I was told for example that “Stringbean” (David Akeman) one of the beloved stars on the popular TV show HEE HAW, couldn’t read and write.  His wife Estelle would read out loud his lines off camera a couple of times and he would memorize them and deliver his segment perfectly from nothing but pure memorization. Then there is the Country Music star with a dozen top ten records that ordered everything off the menu in restaurants by pointing to the picture and telling the waiter I’ll have that as he pointed to the item.  His education was so limited that he couldn’t write down the lyrics to the songs he wrote on a piece of paper and thus all his songs were in his head even when it came time to record them.  Yes you must be smart to succeed in the Music Business or else have a lot of smart people all around you that you trust.  It is a pity all throughout the years that some of the less educated artists have been managed by ruthless money grabbing con men.

– The Music City Ghost [File#18] 2015