Читать книгу Live Forever - Mylon Le Fevre - Страница 15

One of my very first memories on planet earth is looking out the back window of my daddy’s 1947 Cadillac.

How could the sky be so dark and the stars be so bright at the same time? I used to wonder. It was just a

kid’s question. Nothing deep. I had no idea it captured the story of my future. As a little boy, rocking along

every night on those endless, lonely, two-lane roads, watching the white lines disappear under the red glow of

taillights, I never dreamed I was headed toward a darkness that would almost destroy me...and a light so bright

it would one day save my life.

I didn’t think about those things back then. I just took the days as they came. Growing up “on the road,” I

figured everybody’s parents were musicians; that it was normal to eat at a truck stop every night after the gig,

then travel to the next town to sing again. Touring with my family from concert to concert, and church to

church — from Memphis to Charlotte, Atlanta to Dallas, Tampa to Louisville — I spent most of my childhood

crisscrossing the Bible belt of the Old South. I don’t suppose there is a little country town with a high school

gym or singing hall where my family didn’t sing about Jesus.

While other kids’ parents bought station wagons, mine bought an old Greyhound bus, took out the seats

and replaced them with La-Z-Boy recliners that doubled as beds. Man, I thought that was cool — especially

considering our family’s rustic roots. In the 1920s, The Le Fevre Trio had traveled by horse and buggy. My

father, Urias, my Uncle Alphus, and my Aunt Maude landed their first big break after bouncing 60 miles

down a dusty dirt road to sing on the famous Grand Ole Opry radio show. When they finished singing, the

show’s sponsor, Purina Chow, paid them two live chickens and a 50-pound sack of Purina Chow!

From then on, by bus or by buggy, it seemed the Le Fevres were always going someplace to sing. That’s

actually how my parents met. My father saw my mother, Eva Mae, for the first time when he went with his

Bible school quartet to the North Chattanooga Church of God, in Tennessee. My grandfather, the Rev. H.L.

Whittington, was the pastor. Momma, a musical prodigy at 8 years old, had started playing the pump organ at

the church when she was so small she needed help to reach the foot pump. She was self-taught on the piano.

Daddy decided at this very first meeting, he had met his future wife. He told his brother, Alf, he would marry

her as soon as she came of age. Dad stayed true to his word and in 1934 Mom and Dad were married. While

they attended Lee Bible College, Mom took Aunt Maude’s place in The Le Fevre Trio and sang about heaven

until she moved there 75 years later.

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