Terry Maher, Country Singer
dum spiro spero
SONG THANK GOD FOR SMALL MERCIES,
WROTE BY BRITISH SINGER/ SONGWRITER STU PAGE
Ok I know it's a bit of a cliche when people say that they were brought up listening to the songs of Hank Williams,
but in my case it's true, and this is how it all started.
I was born in the docklands of
and general cargo around the world. The docks and the streets of Pillgwenlly, or Pill as it was known was my playground,
and although we were just kids we had probably more education in the ways of the world than most other kids,
(pill was a tough old place) At that time, mid fifties, my uncle Kenny was the only one who had a real radiogram,
and on sunday mornings he would raise the front room window, and all the kids would sit outside my nans house and listen to his records,
I dont know where his collection of old 78s came from, but there were the records of Jimmy Rogers, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and of course Hank Williams,
and many other old time Country Music singers, unfortunately I can't remember there names but they all had a profound effect on the way I was to live my life.
I suppose it was then that the seed was planted in my street urchin brain that would lead me to become a Country/singer Songwriter.
One day I was about 8 or 9 years old, and I was playing around the quays at the docks when I spotted an old spanish type guitar floating in the water, it had probably been thrown over board from one of the many ships, and without thinking I just stripped of and swam out to get it. I brought it back to the bank only to find that the arm was broken away from the body, but to be honest it was probably the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and I can still remember the thrill of holding it to this day, and better still it was mine. Now being very young and not knowing anything about carpentry I took this broken peice of wood home and decided to fix it, so out came the hammer and some rusty old nails, a bit of hammering here and there and the arm was back in place, I did'nt have a clue about the strings so some old fishing gut was tied in place, and there it was. my very own, very wet but very beautiful guitar. I spent hours banging away at this finely tuned instrument, and when the arm became loose through my frantic efforts at strumming, a smack with the hammer would soon put it right.
Years later at the age of around 20 or so I had learned guitar from the imortal guitar learners guidebook (BERT WEEDONS, PLAY IN A DAY) I think every body who ever picked up a guitar at that time had a copy. I had been doing the rounds of the local working mans clubs around the valleys of South Wales, learning the trade and paying my dues so to speak, those days it was just a guitar, and if it happened to be a half decent club there would be an organist and drummer to accompany you, sometimes very badly, can you imagine asking an old organist, stuck in his ways if hew knew any Hank williams or Tom T Hall,,,, forget it. You were always on with another act of some sort, from strippers to fire eaters, I remember one guy lying on a bed of 6 inch nails while members of the audience walked over him, I did,nt get the point really!. Anyway, another thing, there were no Country Music Clubs those days, and the nearest thing on the radio was a programe called Country meets Folk, so it was very hard to get hold of the songs. By this time I was married to my late wife Jenny and had two young boys to support, so I was always doing someting or other to make ends meet, but I always played my Country Music.When the two boys Sean and Michael had reached their teens I decided to have a go at the showcase at Pontins Breen Sands, I was lucky enough to be taken on by Bob Chappel and began to work the Pontins country circuit, this time the backing was far more advanced ,,, I had a Drum Machine,,,, and to be honest even the use of this electronic drummer was sometimes seen by the purists to be NOT COUNTRY!!!. I was lucky enough to work alongside some of the top British and American acts of the day. ( Its funny how the harder you work at something the luckier you get, by this time I had been playing Country Music for 20 + years.)
WORKING AROUND THE COUNTRY CIRCUIT I MET UP WITH MANY BANDS AND SOLO,S, ALL WERE GREAT PEOPLE, WITH TIME TO SIT AND TALK, ONCE AGAIN I WONT GO ON WITH NAMES, THAT COULD TAKE ALL, DAY, BUT ONE OF THE BANDS I MET WAS STU PAGE AND HIS BAND AT THE TIME "REMUDA", WE WORKED QUITE A FEW SHOWS TOGETHER, AND THEY USED TO STAY WITH JENNY AND MYSELF WHENEVER THEY WERE IN THE AREA. ONE DAY I TOLD STU I WAS RECORDING A NEW ALBUM, AND WAS LOOKING FOR SONGS, HE PROMPTLY SAT DOWN AND WROTE THE SONG "THANK GOD FOR SMALL MERCIES" I WENT ON TO RECORD IT AND CALLED THE ALBUM BY THAT NAME. TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT, THE ALBUM WAS DOING WELL, AND RECIEVED QUITE A BIT OF INTEREST IN THE STATES, I WAS OFFERED TWO OPPORTUNITIES TO GO OVER THERE AND MAKE A SECOND ALBUM, BUT UNFORTUNATELY, JENNY WAS TAKEN ILL, AND I STOPPED MOST OF MY WORK TO TRY AND CARE FOR HER, JENNY DIED IN 1993, AND MY WHOLE WORLD COLLAPSED. LOOKING FOR SOME KIND OF COMFORT I TURNED TO THE BOTTLE AND ENDED UP LOSING EVERYTHING. JENNY AND MYSELF HAD BOTH KNOWN A LADY CALLED VERONICA WHO USED TO GO TO OUR LOCAL COUNTRY CLUB WITH HER SON STEPHEN, ONE DAY OUT OF THE BLUE SHE CALLED ME TO ASK HOW I WAS DOING, SHE HAD HEARD I WAS,NT DOING TO GOOD. IT WAS A CALL THAT CHANGED MY LIFE AROUND, BECAUSE SHE WAS THE ONE THAT GOT ME OUT OF THE SITUATION I WAS IN, THE FIRST THING SHE DID WAS TO GO AROUND THE LOCAL PUBS AND TELL THEM NOT TO SERVE ME ANY BRANDY (I was doing two bottles a day) I WOULD GO IN TO A LOCAL BAR AND THEY WOULD JUST PUT A BOTTLE AND GLASS ON THE COUNTER, WITH NO CHARGE. THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE HELPING, BUT I KNOW NOW, THAT NO MATTER HOW WELL INTENDED, IT DID ME NO GOOD AT ALL. YOU MAY THINK THAT ALL THIS IS A BIT PERSONAL, BUT, I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED IN SAYING IT LIKE IT IS, SOMETIMES PEOPLE DONT LIKE THAT, IF NOTHING MORE, I LIKE TO THINK AT LEASTI AM AN HONEST GUY.
A NEW BEGINING,,, OK SO WHERE DO YOU GO WHEN YOUR AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PILE. ANY POSITIVE THOUGHT IS A BONUS, AND ANY STEP FORWARD IS A STEP UP. I HAD NO GEAR, A LOT OF IT HAD BEEN STOLEN, OR SOLD, I HAD NO VAN, THE ENGINE HAD BEEN COOKED BECAUSE THE GUY WHO HAD BORROWED IT FOR A FEW MONTHS HAD,NT CHECKED THE OIL, MY STUDIO WAS GONE, I HAD NO HOUSE, I WAS LIVING IN A CARAVAN, I HAD BEEN BURGLED THREE TIMES, AND I HAD A BROKEN WRIST WHERE I HAD BEEN JUMPED ON BY A COUPLE OF GUYS WHO THOUGHT I HAD MONEY (how wrong can you get)
SO WHAT DID I HAVE,,,, I HAD THE SUPPORT OF TWO PEOPLE THAT BELIEVED IN ME, VERONICA (BONNY) WHO HERSELF WAS GOING THROUGH A HARD TIME, AND AMERICAN COUNTRY SINGER SONGWRITER JERRY HANLON, WHO GAVE ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO SING ON NOT ONE, BUT TWO OF HIS ALBUMS, AND ALTHOUGH I STILL HAVE,NT MET HIM, I WILL ALWAYS BE GRATEFULL FOR HIS WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT AND ADVICE.
NOW ANY COUNTRY ACT WILL TELL YOU HOW DIFFICULT IT IS TO GET WORK IN THE CLUBS ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY BOOK 12 MONTHS OR MORE IN ADVANCE, AND IT WAS EVEN HARDER WHEN THERE WERE STORIES GOING AROUND THAT I HAD FINISHED WITH COUNTRY, I HAD MOVED ABROAD, AND I EVEN HEARD THAT I HAD DIED. ALL THAT I HAD DONE BEFORE MEANT FOR NOTHING SO IT REALLY WAS BACK TO SQUARE ONE, BUT THE FIRST JOB WAS TO GET A PA SYSTEM AND GUITAR, OH, AND THEN I HAD TO GET A RECON ENGINE FOR THE VAN, THAT WAS A MERC 407 AND THEY AINT CHEAP.
I CONTINUED PLAYING LOCALLY AND TAKING THE ODD GIG AWAY, I DID A BIT ABROAD, I WROTE SONGS, AND I MADE A FEW ALBUMS. I WAS THERE AT THE BEGINING, I AM STILL HERE, 40 YEARS OF PLAYING ,SINGING, AND WRITING COUNTRY SONGS, I HAVE ALWAYS SAID, TO PLAY COUNTRY YOU HAD TO HAVE LIVED A LITTLE, AND DIED A LITTLE, AND I HAVE CERTAINLY BEEN THERE, AND WORE THE TEE SHIRT. DOES THAT MAKE ME A BETTER SINGER ? OR PERFORMER ?,,, I DONT KNOW,,, THAT IS NOT FOR ME TO SAY, THAT IS FOR OTHER,S TO COMMENT UPON, ALL I KNOW IS, NO MATTER WHAT WAS THROWN AT ME, I DID,NT GIVE UP, OR SELL MYSELF OUT,,,,,,,,,,I KEPT IT COUNTRY....
Terry