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. Down Home Band with Eddie Middleton was glad to be back in Panama City at the Sheraton on the Beach. It was our fourth time returning to the lively nightclub on the beautiful Gulf Coast of Florida. Tuesday afternoon found the band—myself on rhythm guitar, Joe Shear

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. Back in the day—when my generation of club-hoppers used to hop—there were a number of places where young men and women could meet, mingle, dance, and drink. Your Night Out, out the Jacksonville Highway; Little Knights on Knight Avenue; Steve's Pine Room just over 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. To blog or not to blog. That is the question. I questioned my old Doghill buddy, James Cocke, when he posed the question to me back in 2016. I knew I had some things to impart, having lived a nomadic childhood as the son of a 20-year Air Force veteran—with homes

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. Hey, diddle, diddle! The cat and the fiddle—The cow jumped over the moon The little dog laughed to see such sport—And the dish ran away with the spoon – English nursery rhyme. Author unknown. c. 1765 Man, those early nursery rhyme writers surely must've been high o

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. Over the course of my life, I've listened to a lot of music. In the early years, it was my daddy's expansive record collection—albums by Hank Williams, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Patti Page, and Guy Lombardo; 45 rpm records of Marty Robbins, Webb Pierce, Johnny Cash, 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. Of all the things she could give me—to outlast all time It was the joy of a sweet boy so fine – “Mother of my Son” by Uncle Dave Griffin During the Christmas season of 1998, I wrote a song dedicated to my wife, who five years earlier had given birth to my one and on

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 that fantastic phenomenon of the universe—that moment in space and time—of which Leon Russell was the master—when you're magically transported way back to the exact place where you heard a certain song for the first time. As sure as my name is Uncle Dave Griff

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. Well, he's the first cross-dresser in Waycross And for this small town, that's news And when he gets in front of a toilet—my God, that man's confused -“Shame on the Shim” by Uncle Dave Griffin Back during my stamp-selling days at the Waycross, Georgia Post Office, 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. There is an annual fact of life for men over 50—just as sure as filling out and filing a 1040 tax form come April—and, if you're smart, you'll be paying a visit to a doctor who specializes in that most-uncomfortable practice of “The Finger Wave”. Prostate exams ain'

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. Almost half a century has passed since I crossed the stage of the Waycross City Auditorium to collect my diploma as a 1971 graduate of Ware County High School. Looking back on it, I wasn't fazed or unfazed with all the pomp and circumstance surrounding me. I was e

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. My stupid heart is banged up and broken—torn all apart but keeps on keepin' on -“My Stupid Heart” by Ty Manning Tyrus J. Manning III is a good friend of mine. We share a lot of the same characteristics. We're both bearded wedding officiants—he performed my wife's a

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. Like everybody who had a fairly normal life as a child, Easter memories hold a special place in my mind. My earliest recollections are of two songs I used to hear played on our record player at home—“Easter Parade” written by Irving Berlin—and “Peter Cottontail” co

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. From the time I was a little boy staring up at that blonde, acoustic guitar laying on the top of a chifferobe in Grandma and Granddaddy Carter's Hoboken, Georgia, farmhouse bedroom, I should have known that music was going to be a force in my life. Not a whole lot

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. “Daddy, I want to learn to play the guitar”. That's what my 15-year-old daughter, Megan, said to me in 1998. Fearing her obsession would be over just as soon as she broke a nail, I hoped for the best; and, on a piece of notebook paper, I drew out diagrams of the 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. I was raised predominantly a Methodist, but I have traveled so much, mixed with so many people in all parts of the world, I dont know just what I am. I know I have never been a non-believer. But I can honestly tell you that I don't think that any one religion is 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. My fascination with art began at an early age when I would sit on Daddy's lap in Tripoli, Libya as he sketched the face of a cowboy—I was fascinated with them too—underneath a wide-brimmed hat. Mama was talented as well with the ability to draw and create beautiful