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John D. Loudermilk |
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| John D. Loudermilk (aka Johnny Dee) was born in 1934 in Durham North Carolina. The son of a carpenter and housewife, his dad could neither read nor write. He grew up in the industrial south, which is to say, he was surrounded with tobacco processing, cigarette manufacturing, and textile mills. Loudermilk learned to play guitar at the hand of his mother and was otherwise influenced by the gospel music exposure in his early youth. In his words; "singing to the accompaniment of stringed Instruments, horns, tambourines, hand clapping and the big bass drum was my first conception of music." His parents were involved with the Salvation Army and of course he became involved too as a youngster. As a teenager he was influenced by the soulful sounds Fats Domino, Ivory Joe Hunter and Lloyd Price. But, then caught the "classic guitar bug" for awhile. After high school, while working at a local television, he wrote a poem about a teenage love gone bad and a young mans efforts to apologize for his behavior. The poem was "A Rose And A Baby Ruth." He later put music to it and found an opportunity to play and sing it on a local television program. The station received several calls asking about the song. One of those callers was a student from nearby University of North Carolina ... his name was George Hamilton IV. That song launched the career of John D. Loudermilk (writer), George Hamilton IV (artist), Joe Tanner (arranger, musician), The Bluenotes (artists). John went on to write some real classics, many of which have transcended time and genre. A few years ago I got to see John D. perform many of his songs at the Nashville Songwriters Association annual festival called "Tin Pan South." It was a real treat to hear the man himself sing his music! | |
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