Music has been a part of my life since I can remember.
I guess I should go back to before I was born and show how it affected my life even then.
My father was a wonderful musician that played eight musical instruments and had a voice like an angel. As a young lad he fell in love with music and learned to play his guitar out in the barn where he would be alone. Everything he did, he did by ear, but could play a song after hearing it only once.
During high school he was asked to play with the Jimmy Rogers (Old Blue Yodeler) Band in the summer. His guitar sounded so good that Mr. Rogers asked him what he had done to it. He told him that he had carved a special bridge for it and he was asked to make one for Mr. Rogers. He did, and there is a letter in the family archives thanking him for it and telling him how much better his guitar sounded.
I intend to go to the Jimmy Rogers Museum someday and see if his guitar there has a hand carved bridge. However, the tenor banjo was his favorite instrument and Mr. Rogers purchased a brand new "The Gibson" banjo and presented it to my Dad. This banjo is now in the Mississippi Music Hall of Fame
During the depression, he and his family travelled all over North Mississippi putting on shows in various towns. There was not very much money around then but people were starved for entertainment and could come up with the nickel it took to buy a ticket. Town leaders were so happy to open the school auditoriums to them just to give the people something to do. My dad’s whole family was part of this endeavor.
Everyone in the family was involved: my grandfather played the fiddle (southern for violin), my aunt played the piano, my uncle was a "black faced" comedian and my grandmother sold tickets at the door. My uncle said that they made so much money that they actually had a spare tire for their old car. I still run into people that saw them perform and can tell me how good they were.
Their act was mostly musical in nature with an occasional skit involving my uncle. My dad played by ear so the songs were the ballads of that time. In 1933 their act was interrupted as my Dad was invited to play in the Mississippi pavilion at the Chicago World Fair. The only catch was that he had to get to Chicago on his own and with the depression in full swing he refused to take family money to buy a ticket.
He got a friend that fiddled and they hitch hiked to Chicago and back. Each night they would stop in a town and see the mayor or sheriff and offer to play for a dance for supper and a place to sleep. He said they were never refused.
Shortly after returning to Mississippi Dad formed a group named the Four Aces. The tickets said "Featuring Charles Baldwin, Well known guitar and tenor banjo Artist" (I do have one of the original tickets in my possession).
His music actually plays a part of my being here. The first time my Mom ever saw him he was performing and sang three songs. He sang: "Isle of Capri;" "Baby Face;" and "I’m looking over a four leaf clover." She says that she fell in love with him that night while he sang. They married in 1936 and I came along in 1938.
His music actually kept him safe during WWII. He was classified 1-A but the government hired him (as a civilian) and sent him to Meridian, MS, Naval Air Station as activity director and entertainer. He said that he was responsible for the Physical Training of the troops and put on a show four nights a week for the troops and their families.
After he left there, he took a job at Smith Bakery in Mobile, Alabama. As a route driver and supervisor he went to work at midnight and got off at 9:00 am (bread was placed at the store door before it opened).
However, these hours served another purpose. It allowed him to drive to New Orleans on Friday afternoon and entertain at Pat O’Briens restaurant on Friday and Saturday nights.
It was during this time that my favorite activity was travelling back and forth from Mobile to Pontotoc, MS. During the entire trip I could just lie in the back seat and listen to my Dad as he sang all the way.
In late 1952 he came home and informed me that he had quit at Pat O’Briens.
What he told me was one of the great memories of my life. He said: "You are now fourteen years old and are starting to get involved in lots of things. I want to share those moments with you and can’t do it from New Orleans." He then produced airplane tickets and tickets to the 1953 Sugar Bowl Game as our first of many outings together.
In 1955, we moved to Corinth, Mississippi, and he again became involved in Music. We joined a small country Baptist church and he became choir director. It was worth going to church just to listen to him sing the old country gospel music. I fully believe the angels stopped singing to listen when he started. He did this until 1965 when he had a major heart attack. He moved back home to Pontotoc to be closer to his family in his last years.
Soon after Dad’s move, the new director asked me to join the choir. When I next saw my Dad I asked him what he thought and he advised me not to join the choir. I asked him if it was just too much work and practicing and he told me "no, you just can’t carry a tune".
My dad’s heart finally gave away in 1972 and he is now singing in heaven. I miss him terribly and sometimes I just close my eyes and can hear him singing.
Janie Moser © June 2008
As told to me by Charlie Baldwin
