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. After The Beatles' commanding debut performance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, throwing a band together in American neighborhoods was about as common as learning how to crawl underneath your school desk during a Civil Defense nuclear drill. Ten years later, Billy

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. From the time I was old enough to utter the word, Hank—I was listening to the haunting sounds of the King of Country on my daddy's record player. Daddy had a varied collection—Vic Damone, Guy Lombardo, Patti Page—but it was his country music records that still reso

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. After a week at the underground Checkmate club, the Down Home with Eddie Middleton entourage pulled out of Little Rock, Arkansas late Sunday afternoon with our Bumble Bee shades strategically placed as we headed east to Music City USA and the Cockpit Lounge. We didn

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. After dropping out of the Electronics Program at Waycross-Ware Vocational-Technical School in October 1975, I packed my red and white VW van and headed west to Valdosta, Georgia to realize a dream-come-true—playing music on the road for a living. Homegrown, the 5-pi

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. By the time I entered my senior year of high school in 1970-71, I had become a full-fledged audiophile. I had yet to pick up a guitar; but I was forking out my job earnings left and right, building up quite a handsome collection of record albums. In the summer of 1

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 day was June 4, 1992. It was a sobering experience to know that we had been “illegal aliens” for three days in Funky Nassau. So, as we prepared to leave the island, I bought two more expensive cans of Coke and we proceeded to the shoreline rocks, where we open

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. Today's Tail of the Weak represents the one year anniversary since I began a series of insights and musical memories. I can say that, when my old Doghill buddy, neighbor, and book author himself, James Cocke, proposed that I should start blogging in July of last ye

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. During the Summer of Sam, folks in New York really had something to worry about. I suppose whether or not to go disco dancing with a killer on the prowl was a pretty weighty decision to make. Down in Valdosta, Georgia at the King of the Road, the motel where Down

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. Desperado, why don't you come to your senses You been out ridin' fences for so long now Oh, you're a hard one — I know that you got your reasons These things that are pleasin' you — Can hurt you somehow — “Desperado” by The Eagles Don Henley had the idea and unfinis

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. Spring break 1998 was in full swing for schools across the south. John and Bill Smith were full time Georgia educators. John taught high school English at Pierce County in Blackshear, Georgia. Bill taught music at Sallas Mahone Elementary in Valdosta, Georgia. Bot