One Important Factoid left out Regarding my adopted home

[Kay Thompson Fields]

I believed I had about covered eastern Tennessee lifestyle and culture, but I left out a really important aspect of life here...Most of the locals have no clue who Jerry Jones is...Football is so not on their radar..What is BIG on their radar is music.. Almost every local I have met and chatted with either plays an instrument, is in a band, choir.etc...These are not musical novices either..When I worked part time at Christian Outlet Center one of my co-workers was the fabulous Benjamin Whitehead.. He is a founding member of the band Cutthroat Shamrock( relax a Cutthroat Shamrock is a flower)He plays, guitar, mandolin, and kick drum.. So with my snoobish big city attitude I inquired if I could hear his music anywhere(thinking him a wannabe).. He sad,"Surely try Amazon or u tube".. To my surprise and subsequent delight I found him.. Ben is in his early 30"s and is married with 3 children under 3.. Yes a set of twins almost a year old.. We found each other very good friends..He is also an artist and did all the band"s artwork, album covers,posters,etc..He is also hilarious... For Halloween he dressed as a ballerina and wore this to work at Christian Outlet..He honored me by giving me some of his artwork and a vinyl album he had done.. He did the cover art on the album...He is no longer in the band.. If you should watch a u tube clip.. He is the one with the whiskey and cigarette voice...He also carves soap and is an excellent pumpkin carver...Growing up local he learned to do things like be an expert yo-yo guy and is excellent with a puddle jumper... When Avery came last Thanksgiving Ben fascinated and amazed him...We had to go to Knife Works to get him a case knife so he could practice soap carving...I was thrilled Avery could meet someone so different from the men he already knew..Ben is the grandson of an old time Baptist preacher...Storytelling is an art form here..Ben"s grandfather was going to preach at a tent revival.. He had his two nephews with him who were also preachers.. He told them if anyone began speaking in tongues to let him handle it...So sure enough this woman gets up and begins her clicking and popping.. Ben"s grandfather waits a moment and then shouts out in his best loud Baptist preaching voice"Praise Jesus, this lady just gave $10,000 to the church".. She sat down quickly