Page 92 - July ONLINE VERSION

mored me. He was playing “Me and Bobby
Frank Criss
sketch by Bill
Criss
ZGP: Let’s talk about something you
wrote in 2013 titled, “The Muted Singer.”
BC: I wrote that back when I was still driving a
truck. I did eighteen wheels for twenty-five years.
I have been to every state except for Delaware and
South Dakota. You’d be in the middle of the night
going down the highway, listening to the sound of
the tires on the asphalt and so, it kind of felt like a
song to me. It got me thinking that everyone feels a
musicality to the events of their life.
ZGP: Tom Petty said in a 2015 interview
that he felt he had a conduit to a musi-
cal energy. Do you understand what he
means, and do you agree?
BC: Yes, I absolutely agree with that. It is what
drove me to music. My dad, George Frank Criss, Sr.,
owned several sawmills “GF Criss”. My parents were
divorced when I was young, but my mom returned
to Mississippi and worked as a waitress. There are
videos of a six-year-old that plays better than me.
I never considered I could do that, but I’ve loved
music so much that I could feel that rhythm. So,
when I met Ricky Deaton in early 1977, he would
go around to parties and bring his acoustic guitar
and I’d pick up a coffee can and beat along with it.
One day Ricky said, “Man go get some drums.” It
occurred me then, “why not.” I realized I could play
them a little bit and it built my confidence opened
up a whole new world for me.
ZGP: I remember one time being at a par-
ty and Ricky and Vicki Deaton was there.
Ricky was playing the guitar and he hu-
92 www.zoegracepublishing.com
ZGP: What about the instrument you
McGee” and allowed me to try and sing
along. It was the first and only time I sang
that song without a karaoke machine.
BC: Oh yeah, Ricky was a super nice guy, Vicki, and
his brother David, just good as gold. When I moved
back here in 2012, I immediately hooked back up
with Ricky. We played gigs again with Mike Hogan.
So, it was tough when we lost Ricky. By 2013, I was
playing some with Chuck McGill and Paula. Our
friendship went back some thirty years. Chuck was
at the bandstand when I bought my first or second
drum set, from Chuck. I’d go by the Bandstand from
time to time and once he was doing the Bandstand
Review thing with Tyler Goodson, Colton Parker,
and Paula (of course) and Katie their oldest daugh-
ter and later their youngest daughter Emily. So,
when Chuck allowed me to bring my percussion
box to play with them it was great. Chuck was an
amazing musician but also an outstanding person.
Back in the day Chuck and Paula had the “Paula
Bridges Band.”
ZGP: Yes, I had the great pleasure of not
only seeing the Paula Bridges Band but
with her was the legendary Carl Perkins. I
think they were playing at an old bar here
in town called, “Tremors.”
BC: Yeah, I was able to be in the Paula Bridges Band
up until Chuck passed away. It was quite difficult
losing Chuck and I’m grateful for all the amazing
times. I was playing with them while still driving a
truck. I would work my vacation time so I could get
into town on Fridays and play with them. We were
playing then at T.J. Mulligans.
ZGP Magazine
actually play? It looks more like a wooden
box instead of a drum set.
BC: I play the drums but the instrument you are
talking about is Cajon; the ‘j’ is hard because of
word’s Spanish origin. The word translates into
English, “box.” So, it is a percussion box with snare
wire across the top, inside. I love playing the Cajon
as much as the drums, if not more so. The Cajon,
even in its compact size can deliver the musical
goods.
ZGP: Let’s talk a little about music and
its potential for the betterment of humani-
ty? Can music unite humanity?
BC: It could if people would allow it to. The cli-
mate has become so politically poisoned. I mean I
remember instances of being ridiculed in the early
70’s because of my Marine uniform and service.
After the service, I ended up becoming part of
the era’s counterculture. Today, people seem to be
digging in a little deeper and taking more cement-
ed positions. I have lost friends in today’s hostile
political polarization. Even when the country was
filled with a variety of tension, including politics, I
never lost friends over being on separate sides of an
issue. Today, you risk expressing your opinion and
lose friends or keep it to yourself. It is a challenging
balance and I’m somewhere in the middle.
However, I look for the ‘goodness’ in people because
it can make all the difference. Are you willing to
help a person in need, regardless of their pollical If you visit Jackson, Tennessee, be sure to
beliefs? There are decisions being made politically take in a show. There is plenty to keep you
that I do not agree with, but it does not create hate entertained here, whether a theatre buff or
in my heart. There is an individual awareness of
being alive and being aware of being alive. Human you require the power of live music, where
awareness that gives us the stories that we call our you are sure to run into the talents of Bill
history. When we look back over our individual and Criss.
collective histories, we will find good and bad. But
the coolest thing is people sharing things that are In Jackson, Tennessee, as in the popular
inspirational and uplifting. television theme song, “Cheers,” everyone
ZGP: What if tomorrow all the music we knows your name. This is especially true if
know, and love, was gone? you are Bill Criss. Just ask any Jacksonian
BC: Well, I’d still be writing my thoughts down. No about Bill, and you will genuinely find that
one would be whistling on their way to work. Music the man behind the musical myth is true.
is just part of us, not just the ones that make it but
those who listen to it. We are all musical, if we can
play or not, music is a part of everything.
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