But in those days – in the mid-’50s, early ’60s – there was less than 300 radio stations that were playing country music and a lot of that wasn’t full time.

Or in the early days we didn’t have the bus, we had a station wagon.

But now I’ve been in the arena for 47 years and I stutter less today than I did in those days.

So when I leave here at the first of the year it’ll become… well, it’s already open on Sundays as a church. But it’ll be a full-time church.

I’m gonna do between 75 and 100 dates. A lot of it will be in Laughlin, Nevada; I’ll be there for two weeks. And I’ll work some casinos here and there, and the fair dates.

But Patsy, she was a great, great girl. And Brenda Lee is a wonderful person, and her mama Grace. I’ve known those folks for years and years and years.

Well, no, you can prepare it all you want, but I’d still stutter.

And I began to tell little anecdotes that had happened to me, and people would laugh. And I began to like that, you know. But I knew that, ’cause I’d do that in school, but...

But the teacher would let me sing, you know. She’d take me around to different classes and let me sing. And I could sing without stuttering.

Well, you know, back then there wasn’t many albums, it was the singles. You sold singles.

And I got to know Red Foley well. And I got to know Lefty really well, he was a great guy.

I didn’t get to meet Hank Williams. I was in the Air Force on Okinawa when he passed away.

You have to insulate yourself – I’m talking about from everything, people can be talking to you and you won’t hear ’em – that’s how you write a song. And I haven’t been able to...

And I had to take care of a little dog too named Suzy. It was the promoter’s wife’s – Judy Lynn’s – it was her dog. And one of my duties going on the tour...

I have a painting up in Washington, D.C. at the House of the Temple for the Scottish Rite, and those prints are selling for $250.

You know, being an entertainer is partly being on the road, and a lot of your songs come from the road.

And then, when I started to school, I found out I couldn’t talk.

I remember li’l ol’ Hank Jr. – he was just a baby back in them days, you know – but he used to hang around. His mama would bring him around. He was just a...

And they turned around and leased it to The Assembly Of God Churches – their headquarters are in Springfield, Missouri. They leased it to them for the first year. Then, after the first year, they...

I’ll do about 13 shows in Branson next year, and I’ll be performing at the Grand Palace.

And you know, we’d go to church. We were Baptists. And every now and then there’d be a tent would set up, and it was the Holiness folks. And we liked their music.

I’m not retiring.

But I’ve got a lot of ideas, I bought me a ranch in Florida and I still have my farm in Ashland City, Tennessee so I’m gonna spend a little time at each one of...

I’ve got a sock drawer full of songs that I’ve started but, you know, I’m doing two shows a day here and it’s just hard to sit down and finish them.

But if you put a script up in front of me to read, or a cue card, I couldn’t do it without stuttering.

No, my son’s a songwriter and he does that.