WEBVTT - Ep. 405: Revisiting Jerry Clower 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:07.880 On this New Year's Eve, I'd like to go back 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:12.440 into the Bear Grease archives to a unique standalone episode 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:17.560 about Southern comedian Jerry Clower. Something about the holidays can 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:20.480 make us nostalgic, and I've been thinking about this one, 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:24.360 which originally aired a March twenty third, twenty twenty two. 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:28.840 That seems like so long ago. Man, the years just 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:32.960 kind of roll by. I vividly remember that I drove 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:36.800 eight hours just a few days before this episode aired 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:42.200 to meet with Jerry Klower's former neighbor in a Mitt County, Mississippi. 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:47.120 After we called the town hall and asked if they 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:51.160 knew anybody that knew Jerry, and sure enough, they gave 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:55.560 us this fella's name. Even on that trip, stopped by 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:58.720 to talk with old Brent Reeves, who was on this 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:04.560 episode who you met Jerry Klower, and had a great description. 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:05.080 Of meeting the man. 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:08.399 I really think you're going to enjoy this one, and 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:10.479 I just want to take him in and just thank 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:13.880 you all so much for the support of Bear Grease 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:19.160 in this country life and Backwoods University in twenty twenty five. Truly, 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:21.480 it's the honor of my life to be able to 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:25.200 bring this podcast to you every week, and I want 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:27.800 to wish you a happy new year, and I look 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:33.000 forward with eager expectation for twenty twenty six, and I 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:36.520 know that we are going to continue to uncover great 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:41.320 American stories. So happy new Year to everyone, and I 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:45.520 know that you're going to enjoy this episode about Jerry Klower, 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:48.240 a true Southern legend. 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:51.720 What did it look like? 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.480 It was red red suit. It had on the lapels 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:58.440 like a lapel. The stitching was white, so it stood 0:01:58.440 --> 0:01:59.040 out against that. 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:01.960 Yeah, white boots, Yeah. 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:04.400 And red pants. Had a big white belt with a 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:07.520 belt bucal size of a Studebaker hubcap. And he had 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:11.200 an embroidered coon on the on the left lapel. Really, yep, 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:12.480 coon face right there. 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:17.040 On this episode of the Bear Grease podcast, we're diving 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:20.239 deep into Southern culture and identity to get a view 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:24.800 from the captain's chair of Jerry Klower's mind. Does that 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:28.480 name ring a bell? Jerry was thrust into national fame 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:31.120 in the nineteen seventies when a story he told about 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:35.720 coon hunting topped the country music charts. I'm interested in 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:40.200 those odd places where rural culture, and specifically hunting, touches 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:44.160 the main stream. Old Wilson raws bridge the gap with 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.120 this book where the Red Fern Grows, and Jerry did 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:51.360 it with comedy about hunting varmints. He's been gone for 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:53.959 a long time, but I was able to go meet 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:57.000 up with his old neighbor in East Fork, Mississippi and 0:02:57.120 --> 0:02:59.560 a Mitt County, and he'll give us a behind the 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:02.799 scenes looking to who Jerry was, and some of it 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:06.440 will surprise you, and believe it or not, Old Brent 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:11.600 Reeves met Jerry Klower and saw his famed gold Cadillac 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:16.200 that Brent swears was as long as the battleship. Trust me, boys, 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:18.520 you're not gonna want to miss this one. 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:22.720 It was beyond my comprehension that somebody in my family 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:26.960 didn't know him, because the stories that he told were 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:30.600 stories that I could identify with as far as how 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:31.280 he grew up. 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:43.600 My name is Clay Knukem and this is the Bear 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:48.640 Grease Podcast where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, search 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:52.400 for insight and unlikely places, and where we'll tell the 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:56.560 story of Americans who lived their lives close to the land. 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:02.920 Presented by FHF gear, American made purpose built hunting and 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.480 fishing gear as designed to be as rugged as the 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:07.800 places we explored. 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:17.599 First of all, I want you to know that I 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:22.920 come from Route four Liberty, Mississippi. Now that's twelve miles 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:28.080 west of McComb, Mississippi, sixty five miles due northeast of 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:32.440 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and one hundred and sixteen miles due 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:36.840 north of New Orleans, Louisiana. It was there that I 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:38.880 first saw the light of day out of a Mitt 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:42.240 County September the twenty eighth, nineteen hundred and twenty six. 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:44.000 I was born there. 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:55.920 If you recognize that voice, many assumptions could be made about. 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:56.880 You and your history. 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:00.800 You're likely over the age of thirty, have tie to 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:04.240 the Southern United States, are a fan of old country music, 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:09.200 and I could likely guess your political leanings. Throughout any 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:12.839 culture in the world, there are insiders who represent a 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:14.240 sector of the population. 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:16.400 These people are significant and. 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:20.240 Carry the values of their people, but their interpretation of 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:25.279 those values is amplified through time. My friend Steve Brunella 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:27.839 recently said that if you can ice fish in your state, 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:32.000 that state isn't in the South, and I completely agree 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:35.919 with that. From a geopolitical boundary standpoint. But I'd like 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:39.479 to add a second layer of analysis. If your family 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:45.119 listened to Jerry Klower, you're likely culturally Southern, and I'll 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:48.760 make a definitive statement. If you don't know who Jerry 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:54.520 Klower is, you aren't Southern. I'm sorry, or you've been 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:58.520 locked out of Chicken Cooper your whole life. We've been 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:02.040 talking about hunting raccoon with hounds and exploring the cultural 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:04.560 impact of the book Where the Red Fern Grows. We've 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:08.960 pontificated on that time coon hunting did a tomahawk dunk 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:12.480 on mainstream culture and they loved it. I'm looking for 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:16.560 patterns on how to positively portray rural life to a 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:20.520 sector of the population that may not understand it. Wilson 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:23.120 Rawls did it with his book, and we'll see that 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:27.560 the brilliant humorist Jerry Klower did it by telling a 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:28.520 human story. 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:30.680 You see, Jerry was. 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:34.720 Catapulted into the national spotlight in nineteen seventy one because 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:37.440 of a short tale he told about a coon hunt 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:41.680 in Mississippi. The story was so intriguing producers from New 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:45.520 York City traveled to meet him with, in Jerry's words, 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:49.680 a pocket full of money in the following contract launched 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:54.400 the forty five year old fertilizer salesman into immediate stardom. 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:58.839 Jerry wasn't a musician, but recorded twenty seventh full length 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:03.240 recordings through MCA Records, producing two gold albums and a 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.080 platinum record, and he became a member of the Grand 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:10.480 Old Opry, wrote four books and hosted multiple television shows. 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:14.120 Jerry's first album made more than ten million dollars in 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:18.080 the first ten months and stayed in country's top twenty. 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:19.560 On the chart for thirty weeks. 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:25.600 Author Willie Morris said Klower's comic art demonstrates the richness 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:28.800 of the spoken language in the South in all its 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:33.280 inwardness nu once in Sweep, he described it as extravagant 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:34.040 Southern talk. 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:36.360 Jerry would become known. 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.280 As the Mouth of the South, and in a time 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:43.520 of racial upheaval, he was outspoken in his support of 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:47.960 racial integration and support of African Americans. Jerry has been 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:51.600 gone since nineteen ninety eight, but I traveled to East Fort, 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:55.040 Mississippi in a Mitt County to meet with Jerry's longtime 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:58.880 neighbor and fellow East Fort Baptist Church member, mister John Newman, 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:01.800 who will help us under rivaled Jerry's life and comedy. 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:05.840 Mister John is a clean shaven, handsome feller in his 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:10.360 early seventies, with a headful of white hair, midleinked sideburns, 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:11.720 and a worn pair. 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:12.440 Of leather boots. 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:16.480 But most importantly, he knew Jerry well and loved him 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:20.960 like a brother. So Jerry he was born in nineteen 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:24.000 twenty six. He passed away in nineteen ninety eight at 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:25.200 the age of seventy one. 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:26.440 What do we know. 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:29.840 About his early life that probably had some impact on 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:30.880 just who he was? 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:33.839 Tell me about his early history just as a kid. 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:37.840 Jerry was born during some real hard times in the 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:41.480 history of the country. Depressions were pretty common. We went 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:44.280 through two of them, went through a couple of World wars. 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:49.280 Jerry and his brother Sonny, both served in World War Two, 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:52.480 and his mother told me that one of the saddest 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:55.360 stories that she could relate to in regard to her 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:57.760 children in that at one time both of them boys 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.520 were missing. They didn't know where they were. She prayed 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:02.679 that God would look out for him bring him back 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:05.080 home safely, and he did. But Jerry was brought up 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:08.680 in some pretty tough times. His mother was the sole provider. 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:11.680 They didn't have a lot of the luxuries of life, 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:13.839 just like a lot of people, a lot of us 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:16.280 that were lived in this part of the country that 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:19.400 grew up in the south, then some pretty tough times. 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:24.040 Jerry said that his county was so poor people couldn't 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:26.800 afford to sin, and that he ate so much slick, 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:29.520 shiny boiled ocre that when he was a boy he 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:32.960 couldn't keep his socks up. Once, when asked if he 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:36.040 hadn't been poor, if he would have achieved what he did, 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:40.880 he said, quote no, because I probably would have been arrogant, 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:42.800 and I wouldn't have had a coon dog. 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:49.440 He was a joy to be around. He loved everybody. 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:52.280 He never let his fame or his fortune go to 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.840 his head. Many times, different occasions he would call me 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:58.240 up ask me what I was doing. This was after 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:00.200 he had moved back into the East Folk commune to you 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:02.280 then said John, come on over, we're gonna put on 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:03.959 some coffee. I want to tell you about where I 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:06.880 be and who I saw. But everywhere he went, anybody 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:08.839 that he had in contact with, and Jed and you, 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:13.120 a lot of people he knew people all over the country, politicians, athletes, 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:16.679 people from every walk of life, business characters, so many 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:19.240 people that he knew he had an influence on. 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:21.680 Now tell me how you knew Jerry. 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:25.480 I knew Jerry when I was just a small child. 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:28.240 Jerry was a few years older than me at the time. 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:32.080 He lived in Yazoo City and became a fertilizer salesman 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:36.800 there for Mississippi Chemical Corporation. And it was just by coincidence, 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:40.560 an accident, as Jerry has told me before and has 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:43.040 he related in some of his stories, he kind of 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:46.680 backed into show business. But he was always a big talker. 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:51.160 He was a good salesman. He had a lovable style character. 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:54.320 If you met him, you never forgot him. And I 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:57.640 think he was on a sales pitch over in Texas 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:00.160 and somebody asked him, said, Jerry, with the talent that 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:02.440 you've got, you need to use that you owe to 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:03.080 Michael Record. 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:05.960 So Jerry was selling fertilizer. 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:08.840 He started using just some stories just to kind of 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:09.920 loosen people up. 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:12.800 That's right, I mean, just like he actually would as 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:13.640 a sales peach. 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:16.840 And somebody heard it and said, you are so funny, 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:19.320 and the guy. The guy said, Hey, I want to 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:22.559 record you tell one of these stories, and he did. 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:26.720 In nineteen seventy one, at the unlikely age of forty five, 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:31.800 the fertilizer salesman recorded his first comedy album titled Jerry 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:36.920 Klower from Yazoo City, Mississippi Talking with Lemon Label out 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:40.160 of Texas. The album was a series of stories of 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:43.800 Jerry just talking. Each was titled like a song on 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:46.680 an album, and they sold over eight thousand records for 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:50.960 five dollars each, and some radio stations started playing it, 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:54.079 and then he got the attention he needed. 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:57.480 The next day, I got a telephone call from New 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:01.760 York City, said, mister cly why, I'm vice president of 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:05.760 a major record company. You have some talents, and the 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:09.360 next time you're in this vicinity, eh, would you drop by. 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:11.680 We'd like to talk to you. I said, I ain't 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:15.520 never gonna be in that vicinity. I said, man, you 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:18.079 don't leave, yes, Zoo said in Misssippi, and just drop 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:26.840 by New York. If y'all want to see me, you 0:12:27.000 --> 0:12:31.120 gonna have to send for me. Two days later the 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:31.960 phone rang. 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:35.840 The Decca label would sign Jerry to a recording contract. 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:39.320 The album would later become one of his two gold 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:42.600 record albums, selling over five hundred thousand copies in just 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:45.400 one month. A gold record is one that sells over 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:49.360 a half million albums. If you remember Robert Morgan's quote 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:53.680 from our Boon series about how most great artists, explorers 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:55.680 and writers do the best work of their life in 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:59.800 their thirties, you'll see that that must not apply to 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:06.120 fertilizer salesman. Well, that's what's so interesting is that he 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:08.920 he didn't get into it until you know, he wasn't 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:11.839 born into it. I mean he was, it was later 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:14.360 in his life. But that's very rare, I would say 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:19.520 it is. Usually people have show business in their targets 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:23.560 from a young kid. That's something they pursue. That was, Yeah, 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:26.200 he backed into it. It wasn't what he was trying. 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:27.520 To he did. He backed into it. 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:31.720 And then so he this guy recorded this record or 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.520 recorded him telling some country story. Do you know what 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:37.360 story it was, by chance that he told Originally? 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:40.760 Yeah, I think it was Knock him Out, John, Oh, 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:42.520 really it was the cooner story. 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:43.080 Okay. 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:47.720 Here in lies the reason we're talking about Jerry Klower. 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:51.880 His all time most popular story was about raccoon, honey 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:57.160 with hounds. Very interesting. We'll hear more about this story later. 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:00.920 I've heard it said that he was he was a humorist, 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:05.200 not necessarily a comedian, which you know, to me, you know, 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:07.839 just to say to say someone's a comedian just means 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:10.080 that they're funny, which I think he would, you know, 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.400 qualify for that. But the way he described himself, as 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:15.760 he said, I don't tell funny stories. 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:17.680 I tell stories funny. 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:21.240 And that's what I'm so struck by as I've listened 0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:24.560 to so much of his stuff, is that the stories 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:28.760 are often just kind of it's it's the normal life 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:31.160 of it that sometimes is what's so interesting. 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:34.360 But he has this cast of characters that he always 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:34.760 goes through. 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:38.080 So almost all his stories, all his all his routines, 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:39.640 have this cast of characters. 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:41.240 Can you name most of them? 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:47.040 Well, that was mysell. There's Eugene R. Dale, rayn Nell Burn, 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:51.840 Ale m Al new Gene, Eugene, Uncle Verceey, Ain't pet 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:56.480 old man Zysh. That was my great grandpa, mister Versy. 0:14:56.720 --> 0:14:58.080 Quite a few of those characters. 0:14:58.280 --> 0:14:59.640 And so were those real people. 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:01.720 Some of them were that I know of, and he 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:04.280 used their real names or not. In some instances he 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:05.880 did tell me what. 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:08.200 You know about some of those characters and some of 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:10.280 the some of the things that he talked. 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:13.720 About, well, one in particular to my great grandfather. 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:17.440 The story mister John is about to tell is the 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:21.960 real story that Jerry titled The New Chandelier, and you 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:25.160 can listen to it on any streaming platform. It was 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:28.760 included on Jerry Klower's greatest hit album. 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:33.680 The Magno Electric Association had just begun to establish rural 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:36.320 electric service here in our county, was back in the 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:39.280 late forties. All you had to do was sign up, 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:41.920 be willing to pay for the poll to be put up, 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:45.160 and electricity run from that pole to your house and 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:48.120 they took care of everything else. So they had notified 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:50.720 our church that while they were in the community, they 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:54.200 would be glad to provide our church with electrical service. 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:57.800 So the church had a business meeting monthly business meeting, 0:15:57.800 --> 0:15:59.640 and it was brought up said, hey man, look at here, 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.920 here's a golden opportunity for us to have electricity lights 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:05.200 at our church, and we need to think about this. 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:08.560 It was brought up and voted on that we go 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:10.800 ahead and let them put up the power polls and 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:13.880 have electricity. And the moderator, which was a pastor, said, 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:18.280 is there any amendments or is there any discussion before 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:21.520 we vote? And my great grandpa said yeah, he had 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:24.560 something he would like to share. But before that, one 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:26.400 of the ladies in the church said she thought it 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:28.840 would be a marvelous idea for the church to go 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:32.320 ahead and get a chandelier since we was gonna have electricity. 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:36.280 As the amendment was brought up, my great grandpa stood 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:37.680 up and said he was against that. 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:42.440 The moderator said, is there any discussion? And Uncle Versy 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:47.280 that better, said, sir, I'd like to speak. I want 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:50.680 all of you to know that if we gonna buy 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:55.320 a shandelier, there ain't nobody in our church got enough 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:59.080 education that when we order it from Seis and Roebucket, 0:16:59.120 --> 0:16:59.960 they could spell it. 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:05.680 Then if we ordered. 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:09.200 The chandelier and it got here, there's nobody in our 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:16.400 church it knows how to play it. And what I'm 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:20.119 concerned about is we don't need to spend this money 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:25.320 on no schandelier as bad as we need lights in 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:25.879 the church. 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:33.400 So that actually happened, happened. I'll be there. 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:37.040 But then technology wasn't like it is today. Most people 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:39.399 had never been no further than fifty or sixty miles now. 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:43.280 They weren't exposed to education like we are today, didn't 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:47.119 have access to advancements in technology, and he didn't know 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:51.560 right he was speaking his heartfelt convictions where he honestly 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:52.280 did not know. 0:17:56.040 --> 0:17:59.640 In this story, Jerry told it almost exactly as it happened, 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.960 but he told it funny. And because many of the 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:06.520 stories were true or almost true, they were relatable and 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:10.240 showed the character of the people, all the while poking. 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:11.920 A little fun at the stereotypes. 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:14.919 But because Jerry was at the wheel, because he was 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:18.160 one of us, it was okay. It made us feel 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:22.320 okay about being Southern and strangely, maybe even a little 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:26.399 bit proud of our quirks. You know, the South seems 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:31.800 to be known for these big characters like storytelling, and 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:34.480 maybe if you're deeply embedded, and it's hard to see 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.280 that maybe in other places it's not as it's not 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:42.240 as prominent. But was Jerry surrounded by people that were 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:44.800 like him? And I know nobody else made it in 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:48.439 show business, but was he impacted probably by people that 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:51.360 taught him how to tell stories and be funny. 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:54.440 I think a lot of that just came to him naturally. 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:57.159 He associated with a lot of people that were of 0:18:57.200 --> 0:19:00.119 the same character make up that he was. I guess 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:02.760 in regard to that, they just did not have the 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:06.800 people orientation to be able to express themselves and connect 0:19:06.840 --> 0:19:10.120 with people the way he did. Yeah, but I don't 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:13.800 think that Jerry ever realized until he got into show 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:16.800 business the impact that he did have on people. 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:21.600 Yeah. 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:25.560 I think there are three components to Jerry Klower. Number One, 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:29.720 he was undoubtedly gifted at collecting stories and delivering them 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:35.639 in unreplicatable, funny and compelling ways. However, number two, no 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:38.560 man is an island, and I believe he would have 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:41.720 learned components of his storytelling when he was a boy 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:45.480 by listening to others in rural Mississippi. I'm sure he 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:49.280 collected dialects and picked up on where to put the emphasis. 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:52.040 He learned how to use sound effects and put it 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:56.800 all together to create this unique style. And that brings 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:01.640 up number three. Jerry Klower's style well affected the way 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:06.040 the South would and still does tell stories. Up until 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:09.040 researching this podcast, it had been a while since I 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:12.919 listened to Jerry years. Actually in some of his stuff 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:16.439 I had never heard. Coming back into his comedy, I 0:20:16.560 --> 0:20:22.600 clearly saw his cadence style, dialect, mannerisms echo through the 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:27.000 way that people now tell stories. He helped interpret for 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:32.800 us what was funny. You know a lot of people 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:37.640 that our comedians are extremely intelligent number one, and are 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:42.719 extremely socially aware. For him to be able to find 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:47.480 the nuance of funny stuff inside of his everyday culture, 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:50.119 the stuff that other people were like walking right past, 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:55.240 I mean, just shows what an alert, aware, intelligent guy 0:20:55.280 --> 0:20:55.639 he was. 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:56.560 Would you agree with that? 0:20:56.640 --> 0:20:59.919 I would, Jerry. He had a way of relating to people. 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:03.200 He was a very comical person, but to me, knowing 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:05.520 him as well as I did, he appeared to me 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:08.800 to be a lot more ease in a private climate. 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:09.200 Yeah. 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:11.879 We've been to his house on numerous occasions, and he 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:14.159 was a lot more comical because I think he was 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:16.600 a lot more at ease with people that he knew 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:19.520 and in a setting that he was familiar with you. 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:23.239 Or his church, So he was more funny when he 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:23.879 was with people. 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:28.560 Oh yes, definitely, definitely. One thing that I've always been 0:21:28.640 --> 0:21:32.480 quite proud of. My wife had got a master's degree 0:21:32.560 --> 0:21:36.040 over William Carey Cottage, and Jerry gave her this plaque 0:21:36.160 --> 0:21:38.480 in recognition of it, and it's from the Knock Him 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:43.040 Out John Foundation. He gave this to my wife. When 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:45.560 he gave this to her, he told her how proud 0:21:45.680 --> 0:21:49.200 he was of her. And he looked at me and 0:21:49.240 --> 0:21:51.239 he said, you know, it's a miracle that you were 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:54.760 able to accomplish, make the Deanes list, these honors that 0:21:54.840 --> 0:21:57.480 you have received. It was a miracle. And with what 0:21:57.520 --> 0:22:00.520 you have to put up with at home, I knew 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:03.080 he was making reference to me. I said, Jerry, let 0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:06.119 me tell you what a miracle is. I said, I 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:08.760 can't sing, and I know that. And I said I 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:11.000 know you can't either, because I done sit with you 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:14.359 before in church and other services. And you can't sing. 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:16.600 I said, you couldn't carry a tune in the bucket. 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:18.840 And I doubt if you know the difference between a 0:22:18.880 --> 0:22:21.880 guitar and a piano. Yet you had been inducted into 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:25.120 the Grand Old Opry. That's what you call a miracle. 0:22:25.240 --> 0:22:27.280 And he grabbed me around the neck with his right 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:29.639 hand and with his Bible cleanched in his left hand, 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:32.160 and he looked up in the heavens and tears run 0:22:32.200 --> 0:22:35.480 down his face and he said, John, ain't God good. 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:36.680 Ain't God good? 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:39.320 So it was a real moment for him. 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:42.639 It was just while you were trying to be funny 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:45.800 and just and said, you know, making a joke about 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:47.760 him not being able to sing, but being in that 0:22:47.840 --> 0:22:50.600 Grand Old Opry. It impacted him just in that moment. 0:22:50.680 --> 0:22:55.760