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. In 1968-69, my sophomore year at Ware County High School, I struck up a friendship with Robbin King, a fellow classmate in Band and Biology. We shared a lot of common interests—music, sports, and sound upbringings. Robbin was the youngest of several siblings raised

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 was the evening of January 18, 2016 when I got the news that Glenn Frey, founding member of The Eagles, had passed away. I was just walking out the door, heading to play the Annual Lee-Jackson Banquet for the Waycross, Georgia Sons of Confederate Veterans chapte

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. Much like springtime rejuvenates the soul, the first crisp, cool days of Fall does the same after a long, hot Southern summer. As far back as I can remember, those first crisp, cool days always moved into Waycross at the same time the fair came to town. The 1st Ann

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. I reckon I always knew, deep down inside, what I was gonna do with my life. I just had to cull through the chaff to get to the wheat. So, upon high school graduation, I lit out to Statesboro, home of Georgia Southern College, in September of 1971. I aced my 2:30 p

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. I love you in a place where there's no space and time I love you for my life, you are a friend of mine And when my life is over --- Remember when we were together We were alone and I was singing my song for you - “A Song For You” by Leon Russell My good friend and f

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. In 1998, I was still employed by the U.S. Post Office selling stamps to the public. Lawyers, secretaries, accountants, bankers, farmers, blacks, whites, Latinos, food stamp recipients, stamp collectors, housewives, and one transvestite that I know of—well, he's the

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 caught the music bug in 1971 during my senior year of high school. No matter what I listened to, that bass guitar just kept jumping out of the speakers at me. Billy Ray Herrin, my old neighbor on Mount Pleasant Road, or “Doghill” as my Uncle Vance called it, had