Category: Uncategorized

August 9, 2026

Go to Memphis…turn left…

Katrina broke my heart in the fall of 2005. The year before I had a difficult departure from the publishing company I was a part of. The music industry was changing, and the ‘small city’ vibe of Nashville was vanishing. I had been in Music City a quarter of a century, having made the move on August 15, 1980, without knowing a soul there. I had a good run in Tennessee, but I started thinking about going home to Mississippi. In fact, in looking back through my journals, I found a couple of entries EIGHT years prior to my move back, wondering what it would be like to ‘go home.’ What would I do when I got there?

Delta State University, my alma mater, was at the beginning of establishing a recording program, and the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences contacted me about interviewing for the Director’s position. Long story short (I’ll write that one another time), I got the job. So, with the help and blessing of my dearest Nashville friends, I had a big ‘ol yard sale, climbed behind the wheel of a packed 26’ U-Haul truck, and headed home on August 9, 2006…20 years ago today.

I drove west to Memphis on I-40, turned left and headed south on Highway 61. As I crossed that state line into Mississippi, it felt like I had never even been gone. I was home, driving down the same highway I grew up on, albeit a different stretch. This time it was the Mississippi Delta, 100 miles south to the town of Cleveland, originally known as Fontaine.

I brought back everything I had learned about the music business and put it into play developing the Delta Music Institute (DMI) Then when the time felt right, I passed the torch and looked for new ways to be in the ‘crosshairs of my giftings’ within the community.

I don’t think there’s an adequate measurement to express how grateful I am for the love and support that Cleveland, the Delta, and Mississippi has shown me since coming back home 20 years ago, so I figured the best gift I can offer to celebrate the occasion is to return full circle to what I was doing when I left Mississippi so long ago…set up a piano in the corner of a bar and play some favorite songs….which bar? Bar Fontaine, of course.

Here’s a song I wrote that I sometimes refer to as my ‘benediction’ to Nashville…it’s called “I’m Outta This Town.” No, it wasn’t recorded in Music City…it was recorded in the fabulous DMI Fighting Okra Studios at Delta State. What an opportunity…thank you, Cleveland, for such a ‘fountain’ of blessings…(see what I did there?).

July 30, 2026

“…one is silver and the other gold.”

If you were ever in Girl Scouts, like Dianne and Angela were, then you probably remember that old tune and the truth it holds.

In this current age of electronic communication, the practice of exchanging handwritten sent-through-the-post-office Christmas cards seems to have dropped off considerably, but not for Dianne and Angela.

Dianne, from southeast Mississippi, and Angela, from southwest Mississippi, met as first semester freshmen at Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi, in the fall of 1963. They were housed in the same dormitory, Helen White Hall, on the small campus of the Presbyterian affiliated school. Even though both had received a strong foundational education from their respective public schools, they found the rigor of freshman English, college algebra, and required Old Testament a bit much, not to mention that the allowed interactions for female student life in 1963 felt more like a convent than college.

The two students bonded over their common homesickness and misery and left Belhaven after only one year, but in the winter of 1964, when the cost of a first-class postage stamp was five cents, they began exchanging Christmas cards. Between them they exchanged news of happy and sad times, deaths and divorces, job relocations, children and pets. Since 1964, there has not been a single year that a holiday card from each of them has not arrived in the other’s mailbox during the sacred season of Christmas.

For Angela, an opportunity recently presented itself for a trip to southeast Mississippi and so she reached out to Dianne (by mail, of course) with an invitation to meet up for a handmade milkshake at an old-time soda fountain at the local drug store in Dianne’s hometown.

After 62 years of Christmas cards, the two young college freshmen, now carrying four scores of years each, hugged each other for the first time since they lived on the same floor of Helen White Hall so long ago.

At a small formica topped table, conversation began to flow while Dianne sipped a vanilla shake, and Angela enjoyed a chocolate one. The ladies in the back of the store came up front to take pictures and revel in the beauty of such a rare sight. Joy filled every heart in the shop, including one of the regulars from the ‘old men’ crew who came in for afternoon coffee and wanted to know where the out-of-town visitors were from.

As sweet as the handmade milkshakes were, they couldn’t match the sweetness of an old friendship that has stood the test of time and distance.

” Make new friends, but keep the old…”

July 14, 2026

It’s time for the Major League Baseball All-Star break, so I thought I would mark the occasion by sharing a song I wrote several years back called “Diamond In The Rough” to honor the memory of Dave “Boo” Ferriss, long-time legendary baseball coach for Delta State University and two-time All-Star for the Boston Red Sox, where he was Rookie of the Year in 1945. During that historic 1945 rookie campaign, the right-handed pitcher from Shaw, Mississippi, posted a 21-10 record, threw five shutouts, and led the American League with 26 complete games.

Boo led the American League with a 25-6 record (.806 winning percentage) in 1946, and was the winning pitcher in the fourth game shutout of the 1946 World Series (4-0) vs the St. Louis Cardinals. His career win-loss percentage was .684, and he held the AL record for most consecutive scoreless innings to start a career (22 1/3), a record that stood for 63 years. He was indeed a gentleman and a ‘diamond in the rough.’

July 4, 2026

I just got back from a toasty walk to our local farmer’s market to purchase a locally grown tomato for my regular summer meal of a tomato sandwich along with a big piece of sweet watermelon. Our little town was quiet, peaceful, and beautiful this morning, and after I returned and cooled off under the ceiling fan, I pulled up the text of the Declaration of Independence on my iPad and read all of it out loud, something I’m not sure I’ve ever done. I highly recommend it…words seem to fall a little differently when read aloud.

As I continue to scratch away at a multi-media storytelling project about my musical journey, I began to review some old journals this week to hunt for stories that might make the cut. So far, it’s been a mostly wonderful trip down memory lane…such as this entry from 42 years ago:

July 4, 1984…”We had only a three hour layover in Los Angels, and a two hour layover in Honolulu. Then a long flight down across the Pacific. We were to change planes in Auckland, but the fog was so thick we got to fly on into Christchurch.”

Christchurch, New Zealand, where I would spend six weeks as a background singer on a television show called, That’s Country! Before cell phones, personal computers, e-mail, streaming…I was halfway around the world on this date 42 years ago, but that’s a story for down the road.

I’m happy to report that the Big Front Porch website is in the process of being ‘refreshed,’ and as mentioned in a previous email blog, I’m going to be moving over to this page on Substack for blog posts. I plan to migrate my MailChimp list over to Substack, so please, do me a favor…if you’d rather not follow along, feel free to unsubscribe to the MailChimp list…hopefully, you’ll stay on board and bring a few friends with you for the occasional, non-regularly scheduled posts:)

Don’t forget to ‘be sweet!’ Enjoy this picture from That’s Country! back in 1984…TW

The end of the Easter Octave is here, and I hope each of you will continue to be filled with wonder and awe and joy and gratitude at the marvelous, mystical, monumental Resurrection of Jesus, the Christ…Alluluia!

I see that my last blog post was early January! My apologies for being a bit out of touch…I took a digital media break during Lent, and my primary focus from December until now has been to help my sister relocate to the Delta. She made it, but I’m sure feeling the ol’ saying,  “I’m not as young as I used to be”…particularly when it comes to moving! But God sent grace upon grace and friends offered practical and spiritual support for the journey, and for that I am truly grateful.

The spring flowers were amazing…the cycle of life beginning again…farmers in the fields, big tractors on the roads, flood waters rising and falling in the big River…life in the Delta:)

But this week I am facing the loss of a friend within that cycle of life…not one of flesh and blood, but one that is solid and stoic, never wavering in purpose since we met years ago when I moved back to Mississippi.

A 100+ year old oak tree that shades the back side of my house is sick and dying…large dead limbs already threaten my garage, and my big friend is beginning to lean a little…I began to feel concern in my spirit about this six or so months ago, but I put off calling the tree man until yesterday. He pronounced his somber diagnosis and I knew he was right. I feel a deep sadness about the loss of such a majestic part of our creation, but comforted in knowing that another tree will be planted, take root and grow to offer its gifts to future tree lovers.

Thank you, old friend…you are a study in true faithfulness.

From the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church in New Jersey, I found this Prayer for the Celebration of the Great Oak Tree written by Michelle Ortega in 2016, a beautifully piece with which to honor the Great Oak in my own back yard.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.____Isaiah 61:3

“We gather today with a psalm of thanks and praise for the life of this Great White Oak. Though one day soon its physical body will be gone, it gifts a legacy of wisdom to us all.

This Great Tree emerged from a seed within an acorn, something small enough to be held within a child’s palm.

Let us hold each beginning, no matter how small or seemingly impossible, with great care and wonder, knowing that with each planting is the hope for something beautiful to emerge from hidden places.

The roots of this tree grow deep through the earth, anchoring the trunk to its origin, receiving nourishment from where it exists.

Let us also take root in the good soil of faith, family and community that we too may flourish, thriving wherever we are placed.

The branches of this tree stretch far and high, providing shelter and life for animals, birds and insects, shade for our skin and oxygen for our lungs released back into the air.

Let us reach as far and wide to our neighbors, to welcome them in when they have need and welcome them home when they return, and to fellowship with them in times of lament, rejoicing and rest.

The tree has decorated our landscape through countless seasons.

Bare and twisted branches wildly flail through winter storms, or sweetly collect snowflakes as they drift to the ground;
Tender shoots energize us in springtime renewal;
Jewel-tones rustle on warm summer evenings;
And yellows, reds and oranges pop and float like confetti over our heads in the autumn.

Let us acknowledge the need for beauty in our world, and to be bearers of beauty with our thoughts, hearts and hands.

This tree connects us through the generations to our history.

Let us remember that we each have a role, in great observable acts and in secret, quiet connections, in the stories that are woven through us.

But God, we also see that no matter how long it lasts, life here on earth is limited by the Great Mystery You place within us from the moment You create us.

While the life of this Great Tree has come to a close, in this time of great dividing lines, of violence and suffering, the symbol of the life of this tree unites us to witness an ancient Truth, a truth that points us both to an origin and something eternal, a force that is greater than our present circumstances.”

Until next time, friends….pax…

Tricia

It’s a COLD day in the Delta with the prediction of some snow later in the week….which always makes me feel like a kid again:) I know, I know…it’s difficult to get around in, particularly in this year of our Lord 2025, where the #1 Rule is:

DON’T. FALL. DOWN. 

I bet I know 10 people who, in the month of December alone, fell and broke either a wrist, a leg, or a hip. Friends, let’s do all we can to abide by this rule…

It was a busy Christmas season with a good many church and non-church musical obligations, so the season seemed to fly by faster than usual. I didn’t put up as many decorations as I usually do, but that made it a little easier to put the decorations away yesterday (remember…there were TWELVE days of Christmas to celebrate!). Which brings us to today…Epiphany...which means ‘to reveal’ or ‘to make manifest.’ The wise men found Jesus and FELL DOWN (the only acceptable kind of falling down) to worship Him.

I was going through some old sheet music in my piano bench and came across a piece I had forgotten about. Written in my own hand (no computer program back then), only two years from the completion of a master’s degree in music theory/composition, was a Christmas/Epiphany song I penned back in 1981 and sent out as my Christmas greeting. 

Looking ahead for 2025, I’m hopeful to complete a ‘refresh’ on my website, ‘downsize’ my social media contacts, and get started on an audio or video podcast about my musical journey. So  be patient and please stay tuned.

“Wise Men Still Adore Him”.…

Be well, friends. All is gift.