In His Own Voice

Wow. It's gorgeous. Are you excited? Or do you still get nervous?
I'm excited about it and a little nervous, too. My sister's going to be here, and I haven't seen her in a couple of years. She's never seen me on the Opry before. She's my oldest sister; she's 89 and she's never flown before. She's flying down for this. She's on the new album; she wrote a song. She writes gospel music.

Speaking of the new album, there's a song by Johnny Cash on it, "Committed to Parkview," which he wanted you to sing. Tell that story.
Johnny wrote that back in '81. Johnny was over somewhere in England, and [producer] Marty Stuart had taken some tapes of my stuff with him. Him and cash was listening to it. John said, "I got a song to take to him; I think he'll record this because I think he was at the same hospital I was in, Parkview." He gave Marty a copy of the tape. Marty took it home and it got lost somewhere in his office. Three or four years later he told me the story and said, "I can't find that song. I've looked everywhere for it." [Laughs] I threatened him about it: "You better find it." And he did. Boy, I loved the song.

And Dolly is coming out to sing with you tonight. What does that mean for you?
She's probably the most important person in my life that I wanted to be part of the show.

So there are no bad feelings between you?
There wasn't really ever no bad feelings between Dolly and I. When you get two attorneys together you got a problem. Dolly's attorney and my attorney both wanted to make money out of the thing. So they're going to find all kind of things that can stir up trouble. I never stopped loving Dolly, and she didn't me either, because we were both smart enough to know what was going on. We had a very simple arrangement between the two of us, so we finally talked about it and said, "This is crazy, people thinking we're enemies when we're really not." She's wrote ["I Will Always Love You"] for me! That ain't the kind of song you write for somebody if you didn't like them.

You got James Brown to play the Opry in 1979. What were your thoughts when you heard he passed this year?
He was a wonderful entertainer, boy. He was top-drawer. I went to go see him one time across the river from New York City. I was going to play there on a Sunday. And I went in a day early and I went to their show. It was James Brown, Fats Domino, Little Richard. I mean, it was heavy-duty. It was a knockout show, so good. I got to meet James that night. I went backstage after the show was over and I told him I was a big fan of his. I didn't talk to him again for over a year. I got to thinking about the Grand Ole Opry and having him as a guest sometime because he's such a brilliant entertainer. I knew he'd knock the audience out. I called him and he said, "Hell, I'd love to do that." I told James he'd need to do two or three Hank Williams songs. I said, "Sing a couple of pretty ballads and then get into some of your own music, like 'Get Up Offa That Thing,' 'Papa's Got a Brand New Bag.' But before you get into it, get them prepared." He was just outstanding. It's one of the things I'm most proud that I've done.

You used to have quite the reputation as a ladies' man. Do you have any vices still?
[Laughs] I'm not like I once was. I slowed down a whole lot. I never drank any in my life. Never have. Just never liked the taste of whiskey, and beer I don't care for at all. I never got into drugs; I seen what it's done to a lot of people. I been on the straight and narrow all my life. I used to run around a lot with women. I enjoyed that. I had a good way with them. But I don't do that like I used to. I'm not really serious with anyone right now. I got some grandkids, and I kinda got into them. I took one of them to California on a couple of trips with me. The other one I took to New York with me. And I write a lot of songs, a lot of music. I enjoy writing now, because I can spend a lot of time doing it.

© 2007