lished my book on their Marshall Tucker En- tertainment imprint.
That book was about Marshall Tucker, right? Largely, but it also covered many of the other stars from our area like Artimus Pyle, Mar- shall Chapman, Garfeel Ruff, Esquerita, David Ball - on and on. Charlie Daniels kindly wrote the foreword and Doug wrote the intro- duction. I was tickled to death.
I’ll bet. So how did these other books come about? I found out about this press called Lulu. Of course, there are dozens like this now, but back then they were the only one. You create your book and upload it. They print them as orders come in. It works very well. I have done three books with them: Outlaws, Rebels and Renegades Volumes I and II, which col- lect all the Southern rock and Outlaw Country interviews I have done; and The Brown Box, a tribute to the old Greenville Memorial Audi- torium.
The last place Skynyrd played before the tragic plane crash. Yep. And the place you and I both saw so many, many great concerts. That book was a labor of love.
And you did an e-book? Yeah. A short one. I saw writers like Stephen King and Joe Hill tossing out these really short stories and selling them as e-books for 99 cents, so I decided to do one about my ex- periences during the 70s as a fan of the band KISS. It’s called First Kiss.
KISS? Pretty crazy coming from the “Ambassador of Southern Rock.” Well, I never have been a one-trick pony. My musical tastes run deep and wide. From Kate
Bush and David Bowie to Pink Floyd, Merle Haggard, Larry Carlton, Miranda Lambert, Otis Redding, The Ramones, The Beatles... obviously Delaney & Bonnie, and of course my all time favorite band is still The Allman Brothers Band.
It must have bummed you out when they retired this year. Yeah, well. The time had come. I still wish they had gotten Dickey Betts back up there for the final concert, just for us old school fans. But that last show was blazing hot, and we still have all the other projects from Derek, Gregg, Warren - all of ‘em.Lots more great music coming. The road goes on for- ever.
How did you hook up with Mercer Uni- versity Press? I got lucky! I had read and enjoyed Chuck Leavell’s Between Rock and a Home Place, as well as Willie Perkins’ No Saints, No Saviors. Honestly, with all I have gone through these past few years, I can’t even remember the first time I wrote to them and pitched the idea for Prisoner of Southern Rock. I had been writ- ing this memoir off and on for years. The original title was going to be It Seemed Like a Good Idea at The Time. [Laughs] Then all of my Southern Rock stuff started happening, and I added all of those tales into the mix. I was thrilled that Dr. Jolley accepted my pro- posal, and even more thrilled at how it turned out. I love those people.
And your foreword from Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton. How did that hap- pen? I asked him one night while we were texting at 1 a.m. my time. He said sure. I had just met him the year before while covering his band The Boxmasters, and we became pals. He’s really a down to earth guy. And loves music as
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