The Parsons Family gets more press….

If you saw where I was raised in the tiny community of Sugar Grove, Virginia, where our nearest neighbor is about 1/2 of a mile away, then you would be really surprised at all the attention us Parsons’ seem to get in the media these days… 

http://radioproject.org/archive/2009/0209.html

This story isn’t really about my family completely, but it does include an interview with my Mom, Virginia Parsons. The story is about Wayne C. Henderson, a pretty important guitar builder who is just over the mountain from where I was raised. He’s a friend of the family and so when a friend of mine, Ben Hubbard, wanted to journey back to the old home place to do a story for his graduate school project, well, Momma put him up and pretty much vouched for him – which you really need when you are an outsider coming around with your semi-imposing recording equipment… 

Ben actually had visited Sugar Grove before. When we were freshman in college at Northwestern University, Ben decided, at the drop of a hat mind you, to ride along with my family and me during the holiday break for 13 hours from Chicago to Virginia to see what it was like. I suppose he was checking to see if I was telling the truth about being a hillbilly! He got along just fine and so when he wanted to come back to do this story, my Momma welcomed him. Now Ben is roaming around somewhere near the Gaza Strip for the Associated Press…. a far cry from southwestern Virginia!

What I love about this radio documentary is that Ben managed to compose it in a way to give justice to all the people participating. I cry every single time I hear my mom talk. And when my dad’s recording fades in towards the end, I can’t take it. I am mentioned and so is my younger brother, Oscar. And it is just nice to have this little snippet of family history available for everyone! 

jennifer parsons and wayne c henderson

It is also an extraordinary story about Wayne’s way of life… his passion and simplicity. He has really a good model of business. He’s old fashioned and does things in a way that makes him happy… the most important thing?

Take a listen and you will see what I mean…

And here’s a picture of me with Wayne when I received my Henderson for Christmas a couple of years ago..

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