Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story(156)

For that reason, I want to thank Tyler Jones, my graduate assistant who hung in until this book was done, who helped me make sense of more than a hundred pounds of paper and a billion blips on a computer screen. He also sought out people who remembered Jerry Lee Lewis as more than a rock-and-roll star and boogie-woogie man and country giant. I thank him for every word. I wore him out and moved on to Elizabeth Manning, the next assistant, who helped day after day.

I thank Judith Lewis for the fine iced tea. I thank Cecil for fighting the Giant. I thank Frankie Jean for the story of the graveyard.

There are books on my own shelf that have been almost bibles for the golden age of rock and roll. That writers like Peter Guralnick and Colin Escott would take time to aid in a project like this is a source of unending gratitude.

I need to thank several individuals who provided insight into Ferriday, Louisiana, including Stanley Nelson, Judith Bingham, Hiram Copeland, and Glen McGlothin. I appreciate the music shared by Gray Montgomery, YZ Ealey, and Hezekiah Early, and the glimpse into the history of the little church on Texas Avenue from Gay Bradford, Doris Poole, and Gwen Peterson. Many thanks to David Beatty, Donnie Swaggart, Pearry Green, Graham Knight, and Kenny Lovelace for sharing decades of memories about Jerry Lee. I thank Phoebe Lewis for her early help in getting this whole train running.

I thank the people of the University of Alabama, who have given me a beautiful place to write.

I thank Cal Morgan, my editor, for tolerance and for ignoring the fact that he knows ten thousand times as much about Jerry Lee as I do even now and should have written this damn thing himself. And thanks to him, too, for the music. I just thought I liked Jerry Lee Lewis. Then I heard “That Lucky Old Sun.” My God.

I thank my agent, Amanda Urban, for not skinning me alive during my constant whining. I am fortunate to be in your company again, and again, I owe so much of my writing life to your guidance.

I thank the pioneers of rock and roll. What a joy.

I thank, again, Dianne, and Jake, for their support and their tolerance, and of course their own contributions to the contents of this book. They are native Memphians and know this geography, its people, its stories, and its soul.

But also I thank the countless writers who came before me and gave me insights and avenues to pursue, and also good stuff to read. They are listed, as many as I could remember, in the bibliography that follows. Thank you, all of you, for the foundation. I am sure I have left out many people, because there were just so many of them, so many who followed him, loved him, worshipped him, or just listened to him, like me, wishing they could play something besides the radio.

And, as odd as it feels, I thank the alchemy of the World Wide Web, which put so much of Jerry Lee’s lifetime of work at my fingertips, and made it possible for generations to see what all the uproar was about. Because of it, people can dial up the past and see him as the young, dangerous man. They can see him age, see him growl, see him climb the piano and hurl the bench and, mostly, hear the music, the wonderful music. I have always been dismayed by the Web, somehow, because of its silliness. Now I finally know what it is really for.

From Jerry Lee Lewis

I want to dedicate this book to Mamie and Elmo, who were the best mama and daddy a boy could ever have, and with God’s help made me what I am. Without their love and their gift of music I would still be in Ferriday today . . . and there would be no Jerry Lee. I hope my mama was right and I will see them both again someday.

To my papa and grandma Herron and to my papa and grandma Lewis: I never knew how much I loved them till they were gone. They were my buddies and I miss them very much.

I want to thank my wonderful wife and soul mate, Judith, who came into my life at just the right time. She started out as my caregiver and now she is my everything, and without her and God I would not be here today. Now her love and affection make my life complete.

To my sisters, Frankie Jean and Linda Gail, who have both supported me and my music from the very beginning. Frankie Jean has done a great job telling my life story to everyone who visits Ferriday; and Linda Gail has opened more shows for me than I can count, and there is no one I’d rather have warming up the crowd. I love you both very much.

To my son, Lee (Jerry Lee Lewis III) and his wife, Debbie, thank you for always caring and loving me, and for giving me a wonderful grandson, Jerry Lee IV. He is my only grandson and he makes my life complete.

To my only daughter, Phoebe . . . all grown up but still my baby girl, I love you.

To my sons in heaven, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jr., and Steve Allen Lewis, I love you both and you are always in my heart.

Next, to Rick Bragg, who besides being a great writer, has more patience than anyone I have ever known. He did a truly amazing job putting my life onto these pages, and he somehow got me to remember things that I hadn’t thought about in years. Thank you for never pushing me too hard. I love you, buddy.

To all the Lewises, Gilleys, Swaggarts, Calhouns, and everyone else from Ferriday who helped and supported me. To all my nieces and nephews, I love all of you. Family has always and will always mean everything to me. And to Rev. David Beatty, my cousin and my prayer partner, thank you for all the years of praying with me and for me.

To my new family, my wife’s, and now mine, the Coghlans: Pete and Donna, Carolyn and Ronnie, Charles and Marida, Gene and Cathy, James and Julia, and the children, Tiffany, Ronnie, Dakota, and Kolton. I’m so lucky to have such awesome people in my camp, I love you all.

To the great Kenny Lovelace, my lead guitarist for almost fifty years now, and the best sideman an old rock and roller could ever ask for. Thanks for stickin’ with me. I wish we could do another fifty years together. And to the rest of my band, Buck Hutchenson, Robert Hall, and Ray Gann, you always make me better onstage.