Three Chords and the Truth
A Music Memoir
By Dennis D. Price
© 2022
I first heard the phrase “Three Chords and the Truth” a few years ago. It was coined by a country music songwriter by the name of Harlan Howard. (He wrote, among many other songs “Heartaches by the Number”, recorded by Ray Price [no relation!] and “I Fall to Pieces”, recorded by Patsy Cline.) He coined the phrase to describe many of the country music songs which consisted of three chords (the I, IV, and V chords) in a particular key. Not sure about the truth part, but it is an intriguing quote. Harlan’s words did not quite fit me because when I learned chords on the guitar, I started out learning four chords. More about that later.
What follows is the truth…to the best of my recollection!
My earliest memories of music or guitar playing, or singing was listening to my dad (Basil D. Price) sing and play. He was a country music fan. He often talked about listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio when he was young. He played the guitar and banjo. I think sometimes he had played with a couple of others at some square dances in earlier years as well.
I remember in the late 1950s he brought home an electric guitar. It was a Gibson Les Paul, Jr solid body guitar. He had purchased an amplifier, also. I just now realize that since that day, I don’t think I’ve ever been very far from a guitar of one kind or another—nearly 65 years!
I was fascinated with my dad playing the Gibson and singing songs. A couple of the songs I remember best were “Old Shep” and “Cowboy Jack.” “Old Shep” would always make my sister, Debbie, cry. And I was always sad to know that Cowboy Jack wanted to make up with his girlfriend, but when he went back to where she was, he learned that she had died just a few days before. My dad probably sang some happier songs, but those two songs were memorable.
My dad enjoyed listening to Tennessee Earnie Ford. We had an album of hymns that Tennessee Earnie Ford sang. The album contained a “hymnbook” that one could use to sing along.
Somewhere along the way, my dad said, “If you learn how to play the guitar, I will give you the Gibson.” More about that later.
Not sure whose idea it was to take piano lessons. Either my brother, Greg, and I wanted to, or our parents wanted us to. So, for at least a couple of years (maybe more), we took piano lessons from Gladys Williams. She was the organist/pianist at our church. We learned the notes and how to count and some songs. The piano lessons did not really stick with me, probably because I didn’t practice enough. But I do remember a couple of things. In one of the books there was a duet of the song “She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain.” One part was for the student, one part was for the teacher. I learned the student’s part, and I also learned the teacher’s part. I can still play the teacher’s part if someone wants to play “She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain”! The other memorable thing about piano lessons was the one recital that I was in. It was held at the Presbyterian Church in Greenfield. My piece that I memorized was “Mexican Jumping Beans.” I can still play that song, too! I guess if I wanted to know more songs by heart, I should have been in more recitals!
When I was in fifth grade, I started taking cornet lessons from the band teacher, Mr. Ruble. I still have the Conn cornet from those days. I didn’t get very far with that endeavor either. After a couple of years in band I decided not to continue.
I think it was about this time that I started learning the guitar. I couldn’t get my fingers to play the chords very well, so I figured out how to play the guitar by note. Since I had piano and cornet lessons, I knew the notes. All I had to do was figure out where those were on the guitar. I got pretty good at playing by note. This skill has come in handy if I need to find out the melody of an unfamiliar song.
At this point, I need to tell the story of learning a unique song when I was about eight years old. Even before I could play the guitar, I was intrigued with Leroy Van Dyke’s song, “The Auctioneer.”[1] My Uncle Dub (My dad’s brother—George Washington Price.) had a 45 rpm record of the song. It was on the Dot record label. I played it several times at my grandma’s house and then asked my uncle if I could borrow it. He said yes. I took it home and began the slow process of writing the words down. I would put the record on the record player and listen to a few words. I would write them down and then start the record over. It took a long time – especially trying to write down the auctioneer’s chant. When finished, I memorized it and began to sing it. I’ve been singing it ever since.[2]
We spent a lot of time listening to music. We had albums by Roger Miller, Jimmy Dean, Merle Haggard, and the Smothers Brothers just to name a few. I listened to “King of the Road” and “Big Bad John” so much that when I sing them, I use the same timing, the same inflections in the songs that were on the records.
I finally started to learn the chords on the guitar when I purchased a 33 1/3 rpm record: “How to Play the Guitar.” It used four chords and taught different ways to strum that progression. Here are the four chords I learned: G, Em, C, and D7 and followed along on the record. I played the record so much that if you mention anything about this to my sister, Debbie, she might get violent. She hated hearing the four chord exercises day and night!
Many songs can be played using the chord progression I learned on the record. I learned different chords if I really wanted to play a song outside this key and progression. I specifically remember learning the F chord because I wanted to play “The Green Beret”, a popular song at the time.
At a 4-H meeting my brother, Greg, and I sang and played “Running Bear” as a special number. I played the guitar and Greg played the bongo drums. This would have been a routine forgotten event had it not been for Les Sample. Les, who was an insurance agent and at one time the Rockbridge grocery store owner, was at the meeting as a guest speaker. When he heard us, he invited us to sing at a Greenfield Lion’s Club meeting.[3] We accepted the invitation and had to learn three or four more songs!
My mom was certainly not in favor of our taking this gig. She said, “You boys have both quit band and Mr. Ruble is a member of the Greenfield Lion’s Club. What will he think?” My dad calmed her down and said, “Let them do it. It will be good for them.” I think mom had to take a nerve pill or two because she was so nervous about it.
That led to our singing at many Greene County events. Greg graduated to a drum trap set and I played the Gibson Electric Guitar. We sang at elevator dinners, Pork Producers banquets, Cattlemen’s Associations, and other events. We had to learn even more songs! At one event the Greenfield High School Band “opened” for our act! (At least they played first!)
I signed up for High School Chorus my junior year. I was sort of forced to do so because I had failed a subject and had to make up the credit.[4] Mr. McCarty, our choral teacher, began the year teaching our bass section how to sing bass. He did that by passing out church hymnals and going over hymns that had easy bass lines. When I sing the bass part of hymns today, I think about how I learned to do so. Not sure teachers could get away with using hymns like that today. It’s too bad, because it was a pretty good teaching method.
Mr. McCarty was part of a folk singing group called “The Simple Six.” A few times, he asked me to play the guitar with the group. And another time, I accompanied the chorus with my electric guitar as they sang in a concert in the Greenfield High School Auditorium. Larry Pembrook played the bass. This picture was in the school yearbook. Mr. McCarty was a big encourager and a huge influence on my life.
At the end of my senior year in high school, I was voted the most talented male in my class. I was pictured with the Les Paul Jr Gibson my dad had purchased and was now essentially mine since I learned to play it. The picture also featured my leather guitar strap which had my name on it. I think my brother made it for me. The strap looked like straps that the country stars wore. I was country when country wasn’t cool. (To quote another song.)
After graduating from high school, I enrolled in McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois. I signed up for McKendree Choir and the McKendree Chapel Choir. The choir rehearsed four days a week in Eisenmeyer Auditorium at McKendree. The Chapel Choir which consisted of sixteen voices, rehearsed once a week for the weekly chapel service. Mr. Glenn Friener was the director. Iris Jahn was also in the choir, and I remember meeting her right there in Eisenmeyer Auditorium early in the semester.[5]
I was a member of the bass section, and I sat by Jeff Jahn, Iris’ brother. We made a good team because he was good at being on pitch and I was good at timing.[6]
McKendree had a program called “Deputation Teams”. Churches would often request McKendree students to come and lead worship services or other events. We were to also talk about McKendree to possibly recruit future students. This group morphed into about eight of us forming a music group called the King’s Kids. After this group was formed, we were not officially part of the deputation team program. However, people knew we were all students at McKendree College.
The King’s Kids consisted of Jeff and Cathy Jahn, Alan Rhein, Greg Price, Julie Jahn, Kathy Large, and Iris and me. We traveled all over southern Illinois singing at churches and camps. Jeff played the guitar. An upright bass was played by Greg and sometimes by Kathy. While our singing was mostly off campus, it was interesting that during one of the McKendree Choir concerts, Mr. Freiner invited the King’s Kids to do some songs during the college concert.
A couple of notable things about the King’s Kids. We were asked to come to Knoxville, Tennessee and sing at Second United Methodist Church there. The pastor, Rev. Robert Walker, (a graduate of McKendree) had heard us at Beulah Camp that summer and invited us to come to his church and sing.[7] The other notable event was being the music group for the Southern Illinois Annual Conference. This conference, which was held at McKendree, lasted a few days and we were supposed to be “on call” to provide music when there was a break in the business sessions. We also did a concert one of the evenings.
While I majored in English, I did take several music courses at McKendree. I took music theory and class piano. This is the truth: in class piano I learned about the three chords in each key! The I, IV, V chords. I was grateful to learn this and some other things that allowed me to at least play some things on the piano. I always tell people that I don’t know how to play the piano, but I can play the guitar on the piano!
After Iris and I were married and our first son, Tim, was born, there was always music in the house. When Tim would take a nap, Iris would always play a record. If music was playing, Tim would sleep. When the music stopped he would wake up!
For Tim’s first Christmas (when he was six months old), I bought him a plastic guitar. When he got a little older, he would play the guitar and sing “songs”. Someone would offer a subject, and he would make up a song. (A foreshadowing of the 10-word songs of Harvest fame!) One time he played the plastic guitar so long his fingers started to bleed. Iris felt bad that he had hurt himself that way.
The rest of the boys were also interested in music. They all liked to sing, and we often sang in the car on trips. Jedd was a good dancer and had some graceful moves as he listened to “Hooked on Classics” when we lived in West Frankfort. It was in West Frankfort that Tim sang his first solo in church.
I continued to play the guitar and Iris and I sang at church and some other places. Over the years, Iris and I have sung at church worship services, special Christmas services, church picnics, Senior Citizens groups, Rotary Clubs, and church youth camps.
Somewhere along the way, Toby, our second son wanted me to show him some chords on the guitar. I showed him the chords and progression that I started with. While we were working on that, Tim came over and wanted to learn, too. I showed them both.
Subsequently, all four of our boys learned how to play the guitar. Two of them essentially make their living playing the guitar and singing. Toby taught himself the 5-string banjo and the bass guitar. Tim, Jedd, and Jackson are pretty good at the piano.
I must have been a pretty good teacher, because most of them have surpassed my musical abilities.
Iris also plays the piano – especially chords on the piano. She recently figured out chords for the entire Methodist hymnal and can play at church if needed. She also can figure out some complicated music. One of the songs she plays is “The Last Date” by Floyd Cramer. It’s really good!
In 2001, during Greene County Days, the barn tour portion of that annual event featured our farm’s nearly 100-year-old barn. My brother, Greg, suggested that perhaps we could do a concert for people who would be around that weekend. We called it the Price Farm Jamboree and it has continued for the last 21 years.
For the last fourteen or fifteen years, one or more of our grandkids are part of the concert. Ruby, Emma, Macy, Caleb, and Molly (listed in birth order!) are all great singers! They all have great stage presence. Here are some of the instruments that have been played by our grandkids during the Jamboree: drums, bass guitar, mandolin, guitar, ukulele, violin, and kazoos!
Iris and I recently attended a Bill Gaither Christmas Concert. He and the Gaither Vocal Band have a song called, “And the Song Goes On.” I gratefully think about that when it comes to our family. From previous generations in my family and Iris’ family, a love of music was handed down to us. We did our best to share it with our kids. It is exciting to see the next generation—our grandkids also embrace the gift of music.
That’s my music memoir! I’m grateful to God for the gift of music and the opportunities to share it with others. The song goes on!
Addendum
Well, the song goes on…and so does the story! After I finished this year’s Christmas writing, I remembered a couple of other things to add to my “music memoir.”
When I was the Associate Pastor at St. Matthew United Methodist Church in Belleville, IL, I oversaw the Wednesday night elective class ministry. One fall, I decided to offer an opportunity for people who played the guitar to get together to play informally. I named it “Guitars Galore.” Several – maybe six or seven of us started out in the group. After a few weeks, added four or five more. In addition, to adding the guitar players, other people began to attend just to listen to the music. We had an audience! There were so many who were there to listen that we had to move to a bigger room. After a few weeks, we were asked to play for one of the church services. We were also surprised that some other groups wanted us to entertain during some events at the church!
The other thing that I wanted to write about was the recording of a CD – “The Songs We Sing.” Iris worked hard to arrange the 20 songs that ended up on the CD. Our daughter-in-law, Suzanne, helped with securing the licenses for the songs. It was recorded in the spring of 2004 at a recording studio in St. Louis. Our sons, Tim, and Jackson played instruments and provided additional vocals. Jackson’s friend, Theo Harden, was an instrumentalist on the CD as well.
The CD contained some hymns, and some songs that I have written about such as “The Auctioneer Song.” One song on the CD is Ray Stevens’ “Mississippi Squirrel Revival.” In the mid 1980s, our son, Toby heard this song on the radio. He set up a tape recorder and listened for a few hours for the song to be played again. He recorded it and said, “Dad, you have to hear this song!” I did. I learned it and sang it for the New Life Club (a Sr. Citizen’s group) at St. Matthew United Methodist Church. I’m still singing it! It is my most requested song among the “Songs We Sing.”
[1] The Auctioneer Song was released in 1956. It topped the pop charts and sold 2.5 million records.
[2] I was singing the Auctioneer song someplace a few years ago and someone in the audience evidently knew LeRoy Van Dyke. A few days later I received an 8 x 10 picture of LeRoy with the signed inscription on it that said: “To Dennis. Keep on singing!” I was really surprised.
[3] I may have written about this in some earlier writings—not sure. In any case, this is a big part of my musical journey.
[4] You can read all the details about that in my Christmas story in 2014: “An Excellent Failure.”
[5] For further details about meeting Iris and our subsequent relationship can be found in my 2010 Christmas story—“How I Met Your (grand)Mother”
[6] I didn’t know it at the time, but Jeff and Iris’ dad, Elmer Jahn, was a great musician. He played the piano by ear. So, music also ran deep in her family. Iris taught Jeff how to sing bass when they were younger. Iris wished she could be three people, because she could hear at least three parts of every song in her head. She still sings harmony by hearing those parts. In addition, Jeff and Iris also were musical entertainment for groups in the Mulberry Grove, Illinois, area.
[7] Rev. Robert Walker had served as pastor of the Troy United Methodist Church while he was a student at McKendree College. I served the Troy United Methodist Church for 29 years (1988—2017). In the early 1990’s, I invited Rev. Walker to preach a revival for us at Troy UMC.
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