Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. Ingram Cecil Connor III spent the first 12 years of his life in Waycross, Georgia. After his father's unfortunate and untimely death during Christmas 1958, his mother moved Gram and younger sister, Little Avis, to her former home in the Snively family orange groves

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. I've certainly enjoyed most of the jobs I held while accruing those coveted Social Security earnings that I rely on now that I'm retired. Several of them were customer service jobs—I sold stamps at the front counter of the Waycross Post Office from 1993 to 1998; an

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. There are notable geographical areas down south that foster the creation of legendary music. Rick Hall put together FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama; and with the Swampers, he created some of the finest hits in the world. The same held true for Macon, Georgi

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. Growing up in the Baby Boomer generation, children in the 50s and 60s were afforded luxuries beyond what our parents and grandparents dreamed of. Television sets replaced the big radios in living rooms and dens across America—but we never stayed glued to the boob t

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. Clothes make the man...naked people have little or no influence on society. —Mark Twain, quoted in More Maxims of Mark. Johnson, 1927 I've heard the opposite—clothes don't make the man; though, it seems, growing up in the Fifties and Sixties, I was exposed to music

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. I've said it before; but it bears repeating. Waycross, Georgia songwriters have a unique 'something' that sets them apart from others. It's not that I think we're better than anyone else. I don't quite know what it is; but, I can tell you when I hear it. In 2003

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. When I threw the 1st Annual Griffin Guitar Pull in my backyard the weekend following Thanksgiving 1998, I had no idea it would turn into a popular, little outdoor music festival 21 years later, paying tribute to the musical legacy of Waycross, Georgia's hometown boy

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. Jim Lauderdale, the King of the Americana Troubadours, strummed an Epiphone copy of Gibson's Dove acoustic guitar in the corner of my living room. Patty Pfister, fiddle player for Tampa's Crabgrass Cowboys, was sawing away in a frenzy right next to him as he sang “

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. Throughout my musical years, people have constantly reminded me who I remind them of. Back in the 70s, it was Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees—I'll take that. In 1976, I strolled into Hoagie's Bistro, across from Valdosta State College; and the owner, Mickey Gilbert,

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. April 7, 1998, brothers John and Bill Smith and I woke up in Nashville, Tennessee to the news of Tammy Wynette's passing. The three of us had been in Music City peddling our original songs to anyone who would listen. It was the last day of our trip; and, it started

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. James Cocke sat in Waycross, Georgia's Hickory Wind Music Store, smiling at all the friends, family, and curiosity seekers who had come to hear a story or buy an autographed copy of his self-published book, Cocke Tales: Memoirs of a Redneck Hippy. I was reminded of

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. It's the dream of every parent for their children to have more and better opportunities for success in life than they themselves had. My son, Connor, 25 years ago today, came into our lives as a preemie baby, guided by angels on a wing and a prayer. Weighing in at

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. Judge Ben Smith, Jr. was married to Lynn, a beautiful, petite Florida girl. Together, they raised four children—Ben III, Bill, John Randall, and Evelyn. All the Smiths are talented souls. Ben III is a master craftsman and woodworker; Bill and John Randall are exce

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. Larry Purdom strolled up to the microphone to welcome the 8,000 plus in attendance at Waycross, Georgia's Memorial Stadium. It was the night of October 19, 1991—Game 1 of the World Series featuring the worst-to-first Atlanta Braves versus the Minnesota Twins. It w

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. On a Friday night during the summer of 1998, my wife, Lynne, and I rode to downtown Waycross and Whitfield's, a three-story bar, where you could be sure to run into a bunch of old friends. I did run into one fine musician, the late Charles McClellan, who, upon leav

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. Spent the New Year in the van – 40 father had no plan Held the boy child in my hand – love I've come to understand – “High I Was” by Uncle Dave Griffin “You have a very sick lady in there. We're doing what we can to stabilize her” were the words coming out of the m

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. Throughout history, certain small Southern towns have ingrained themselves in the cultural hearts and minds of people around the world. Whether it be through the townsfolk, born or raised there, who went on to fame and fortune—or a hallowed building, whose spirit l

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. The first time I ever heard a pedal steel guitar, I was about four years old, listening to Daddy's Hank Williams records. I must've been drawn to that haunting, melancholy sound because, by the time I was 19 and had grown up listening to The Beatles, Rolling Stones

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. I wouldn't trade anything for growing up in the South Georgia Bible Belt. We were raised up to know the difference between right and wrong. Sunday School, Training Union, and Wednesday night Prayer Meeting—my family was regular attendees at Calvary Baptist Church.

Tail of the Weak is a series of insights and musical memories from the mind of Uncle Dave Griffin, singer/songwriter and founder of the Annual Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute Festival, from Waycross, Georgia. It's as friendly as a faded childhood memory. As warm as that old familiar coat at the first sign of a new winter. As nostalgic as a Dreamsicle from Dot & Duncan's, melting on your bare knee in the back of a pickup truck, down Memorial Drive. The friendly, familia