Jeremy L. Berg

“This show is very personal,” I said after walking onto stage wearing a black cowboy shirt with white cowboy hat. “We’re going on a 75 minute journey through the country hits of the 20th century, but more personally, a trip into my childhood memories.”

After putting together a theme show of a tribute to Bob Dylan this winter and spring, this summer I’m playing the soundtrack of my childhood – literally. Many of the songs evoke a concrete memory or pay tribute to my parents in some way.

This past Friday’s performance at Lake Minnetonka Shores was special because Mom and Dad were in the audience to hear my stories and memories. The show is unique because I am not playing my music as much as theirs. And they were surprised to hear some of the random memories that got deeply lodged in the memory bank of their little musical sponge of a child.

A definitive photo that captures my early childhood is of me lying in a bean bag chair by the record player with big headphones on listening to their records. I’m about 3 years old (see photo). Music was not a side hobby or an add-on feature in our home; it was an ever-present reality permeating all of it. I would eventually form some of my own tastes and embrace newer music in middle and high school, but my first 10 years of life have Mom and Dad’s music as a wholesome and happy soundtrack.

And so the trip through my childhood memories begins with Dad entering the kitchen after a hard days’ work, smelling mom’s homestyle cooking and breaking into Hank Williams’ “Hey Good Lookin'” (1951) and dancing around lime green kitchen together with Wheel of Fortune on the TV in the background. A happy memory.

Dad would occasionally pull a little classical guitar out of the closet, and try to pick the melody of “Wildwood Flower” (1928). He would then sing “You Are My Sunshine” (1939) and “Beautiful Brown Eyes” (1937) to his three blue-eyed children and green-eyed wife. These are some of the old songs that begin my show, songs recorded in the 1920s-1950s by The Carters, Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, and Hank Williams.

My show spends the most time in the 1950s and 1960s doing songs by Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Glenn Campbell, Merle Haggard, and Kris Kristofferson. Then my little lady, 10-year old Abigail, steps out in her cowboy hat and steals the show and many hearts singing “Stand By Your Man” (1968) by Tammy Wynette and a duet of “Jackson” (1967) by June Carter and Johnny Cash. Abby then ushers us into the 1970s becoming Dolly Parton and singing “Jolene” (1973) and “Here You Come Again” (1977) before I do Willie Nelson’s 1975 hit “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.” Here’s a montage of Abby moments:

Before there was Weird Al, there was Tom T. Hall’s children’s album. We LOVED his song “Sneaky Snake” about a root beer drinking snake and I remember listening to it in the little basement “bar” in our house that was gone by the mid-80s. As I was putting the final set together Friday morning before the show, I started playing “Sneaky Snake” in the garage as my 13-year old, Peter, came home from basketball. Hearing the song, Peter burst into the garage yelling, “I love that song!” So, I added it to the set last minute — the show now becoming not just my childhood soundtrack but also my own kids.

For 80s hits, I performed “Amarillo By Morning” (1983) by George Strait, “Forever and Ever Amen” (1987) by Randy Travis which my parents used to request at wedding dances back in the day, because they liked to two-step to it as well as embracing the message. They will celebrate their 50th anniversary this August! “I’m gonna love you forever and ever, forever and ever, amen” indeed.

Then I took us into the minor key doing “Highwaymen” by the supergroup Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. The song transports me to the backseat of our 1985 blue Chevy Caprice wagon, drifting in and out of sleep on the way home from Grandma and Grandpa’s in Western Minnesota. The album cover with the four country stars’ faces on Mount Rushmore is vivid in my memory and the song’s lyrics and performances were transfixing and a bit eerie for a 6 year old as four ghosts — an ill-fated highwayman, sailor, dam builder, and Johnny flying his starship “across the universe divide” — all singing out from the grave, “I’ll always be around and around and around and around and around.”

Alan Jackson transports me back to the early 90s, and conjures up the smell of wood stain, polyurethane and watching mom staining the woodwork. “Mom was seemingly always painting and staining something in those days,” I said before breaking into “Don’t Rock the Jukebox.”

Mom and Dad go dancing every Sunday afternoon, and winter in Texas. They love to waltz and recently told me one of their favorites is Ernest Tubb’s “Waltz Across Texas” (1965) and so I performed it for them on Friday. Abby ran off stage to their seat and dragged them up front where they waltzed together across the front of the chapel as I played their song. A special moment I will cherish.

Music is one of the greatest and most personal gifts we pass on to our children. In many ways, songs become a deep part of ourselves and to share a song is to share a part of our soul. This is why the “mixed tape” and “burned CDs” phenomenon was so special, as you create a special mix of songs to give to your sweetheart. Trust me, I wore out the tape in the mixed cassette Keri gave to me when we first started dating. And I read (and over read) messages into every lyric of every song she put on there!.

So, I have given my parents an assignment this summer to give me a list of their 20 favorite and/or most meaningful songs of all time, and tell me what makes it special. I look forward to seeing which songs evoke powerful memories and stories for them.

Abby ended the show sneaking in a 21st century song by Taylor Swift, a very touching song about she wrote for her mom and dad about her childhood memories. If you want to see a tall, grown man cry, play this song around me. The music video is even better, as it features real home video footage of Taylor and the memories she’s singing about. Grab tissue and watch it below.

The most emotional part of the show for me was playing Alan Jackson’s version of “Precious Memories” (1925) for my Uncle Gary who is battling cancer and going to meet Jesus soon. In a hospital bed, as our body begins to shut down, we lie there (hopefully) with pockets full of precious memories, like unseen angels, filling our soul and gently walking us home to Eternity.

I put on my pastor hat for a 1-minute sermon, suggesting that memories can work in both directions. Not just pulling our hearts back to happy memories of the past, but also inviting us to imagine and yearn for the happy reunions with lost loved ones in Eternity. Memories are the closest thing we have to a Time Machine, so hop in, buckle up and watch precious sacred scenes unfold.

PRECIOUS MEMORIES

Precious memories, unseen angels,
Sent from somewhere to my soul.
How they linger, ever near me,
And the sacred past unfolds.

Precious father, loving mother
Fly across the lonely years
and old home scenes of my childhood 
in fond memory appears

I remember Mother praying
Father too, on bended knee
the sun is sinking, shadows falling
but their prayers still follow me

Precious memories how they linger,
How they ever flood my soul.
In the stillness, of the midnight.
Precious sacred scenes unfold.

Precious memories fill my soul.

FULL SET LIST:

*Featuring Abby

Fulsom Prison Blues – Cash 1955
You Are My Sunshine 1939
Wildwood Flower – Carters 1928
Beautiful Brown Eyes – R. Acuff 1937
Young Love – Sonny James 1956
Hey Good lookin – H. Williams 1951
I Fall to pieces – Patsy Cline 1961
Waltz Across Texas – E. Tubb 1965
*Jackson – Cash & Carter 1967
*Stand by your Man – T. Wynette 1968 
Mama tried – Merle Haggard 1968
Sunday Mornin Comin Down – Kristofferson 1969
Gentle On My Mind – G. Campbell 1967
Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain – W. Nelson 1945/1975
Sneaky Snake – T. T. Hall 1974
*Jolene – Dolly 1973
*Here You Come Again – Dolly 1977
Amarillo By Morning – G. Strait 1983
Highwaymen 1985
Forever and Ever Amen – R. Travis 1987
Don’t Rock the Jukebox – A. Jackson 1991
Precious Memories – A. Jackson 1925
*The Best Day – Taylor Swift 2008