Tucker

  I was at home one afternoon in 1980.  At the time, I wasn't working and was taking care of my parents, as they took care of me.  My father had a heart condition, and my mother couldn't take care of him by herself.  I was watching TV in the den, when the phone rang.

 I answered it, and the voice on the other end said that he was Marshall Tucker.  Well, my first thought was the band.  When I was a student at Anderson College, the Marshall Tucker band was starting out and needed an auditorium to rehearse.  The college let them play during a free afternoon to get ready for a gig.  It was a closed rehearsal, but I did get to listen to their music, because I had the reins of the auditorium.  It was pretty good.  

 The voice on the phone said that he tuned pianos and needed help.  I then realized who the voice belonged to.  It was the man who lent his name to the band.  The real Marshall Tucker was pretty famous as a pianist and tuner.  He was blind and played by ear.  He used to live in Spartanburg where the band was from.  His reputation was one of exactness and the ultimate professional.  After my shock that he would call me, I had to tell him that I didn't play the piano.  When I was in seminary, I took a music directing course, where I learned where middle C was on the piano.  In years before that, I had played handbells in church and kind of knew the notes on the treble clef.  And, if you gave me 30 minutes, I might be able to pick out the melody of one sheet of music, but I just didn't play the piano.  Especially, to his standards.

 There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and then Mr. Tucker said that he must have been misinformed.  He told me that he was sorry that he had bothered me.  I was flattered that he had called me.  I don't know for sure who told him about me, but I have a suspicion that it was a neighbor down the street who knew Mr. Tucker.  It would have been cool to work with him.  He passed away in 2023 at the age of 99.  He touched a lot of lives with his music.  I talked to humble greatness that afternoon.