Another "celebrity" I got to know was Walt Robertson. I've never forgotten when I was a brash kid of about 17 when, during a hoot, he took me into an empty room and spent a half hour teaching me the guitar part to "In The Pines." He sure didn't have to do that, but for some reason he did. We became lifelong friends.

I'm thinking that one aspect of this music that tends to separate the jerks from the "nice people" is their respect, or lack of it, for the music itself. I well remember a wonderful half hour I spent with Merritt Herring, years ago, trading different versions of songs we knew in common. bob