Then, his brother died and he took responsibility of raising Marilyn and he dropped out of playing music, other than at home and for places where people knew him, and it brought a stability to his life.
Here is part of a long interview I had with him when I was in the States last week. It will probably end up being several posts. He was relaxed, talkative and had just gotten back from playing at a wedding reception in DC where he and Marilyn were very well received.
Tondeleo: So, Doc, when you were playing with different bands, you said that usually people didn't know how uneducated you were...
Doc: Silence is the dumb man's friend. When I'd keep my mouth shut, aint no one know'd that I didn't know too much or that I didn't talk too well. I just kept my mouth shut mostly, and played a good rhythm guitar, bass or drums and sometimes piano. They don't care if you ain't much on conversin'.
Tondeleo: I know you played in different local bands and then went through a rough spell and lived on the streets and kind of hand to mouth for a while.
Doc: Yeh... I was depressed and things weren't goin' so good. I stayed out west in Wyoming for a while tryin' to get my thoughts together. I had a little money saved up and some money from a settlement but I gave a lot of it away and helped some family members an' relatives.
I ain't much on money. Like I ain't never been into havin' a money collection. I'd rather have a friend than to have a hundred dollars in my pocket. An' money ain't much good if you ain't happy.
I left Wyoming, and went to Senatobia, MS. Lived off Peyton Road with a buddy of mine what I met in Memphis. Memphis is a hour or so north of Senatobia. Stayed in Memphis for a while. Went to North Carolina, Goldsboro. Was in Kentucky for a spell, staying in Nicholasville, outside of Lexington. I like Kentucky real well and want to go back there one day. Played a bit of music there and worked in body shops.
My brother up in Maryland passed an' he'd wanted me to look after his daughter Marilyn. That was my call to duty an' I took it real serious. I had to prove myself to the Department of Socialist Services what meant no unemployment, no runnin' around and to clean up. I went all clean cut like a office boy. No beard. No mustache. No long hair. Squeaky clean.
You got to look like the people you want to impress. Wanna impress office boys, you gotta look like them.
It's worth it to me to be able to do what my brother wanted and to raise Marilyn. She's 22 now, but says she's 18 sometimes. She ain't no 18, but she says a lady never tells her real age.
Tondeleo: Didn't Marilyn get you back to playing music in public again - like isn't she kind of paying you back by getting you out of the house?
Doc: Yeh. We always sat around in the evenin' playin' music or I was teachin' her about life, but I didn't want to take her to no bars. She don't need to be around that. Once she hit 18, she was old enough that she wanted to play out at family reunions and barbecues and festivals and such. So, we started goin' wherever people asked us to.
Then I had to borrow a cell phone. Got my own now. Had to get 
email too. I am tryin' to move ahead real slow, but am movin' again in playin' music. Got some of my guitars shipped up here from Bristol one at a time as I would get money orders and send them to Ace down there. Just got my dobro back up here in September. Some places only want acoustic an a regular guitar just don't cut it for me. Had to have the dobro. But Marilyn has got me to get circo-lating and percolatin' again. I probably owe her.
They's a lot of good musicians out there, Tondy. A lot of them. I ain't that good, but I'm easy to deal with pretty much and I will show up if I say I will.
One thing with Marilyn is she also got some of the church folk from her church to talk to me when I would get the blues and that would help a lot. They helped me reconnect with the Lord, so that is a good thing. I ain't perfect and the Lord knows it, but I ain't what I used to be an' I probably aint what I'm gonna be, neither.
