The Stage | Vern Gosdin by Teresa Wright is part of a series of short stories about touring with “The Voice” Vern Gosdin in his 1983 “If You Gonna Do Me Wrong, Do It Right” tour.
One moment etched in time for me was related to the tight harmonies that Vern and all of us loved to do.
It had been about 6 months after the tour, and Vern was coming down to Opp, Alabama to do a show.
He invited Carla and me to attend! We went up to Opp, and he and Beverly, his wife, were excited to see us.
Vern was onstage and invited us to come up and sing a little bluegrass with him.
We were up on the stage and he turned to me and asked me “What would you like to do?”
I said, “Well, what do you guys think about If You Needed Me"?
Vern said he loved that song.
He turned to me and whispered the key he would do it in, which was not the key I normally sang it in. I transposed that song right there in my head on the spot and played guitar!
The song turned out great and the crowd loved it.
When leaving the stage, Vern was so appreciative and said to the crowd how much he had enjoyed Carla and me on the tour.
He went on to says he had never in his life heard such good high harmonies besides Emmylou Harris.
I was so humbled and on cloud 9 after that! Thank you Vern Gosdin for that forever moment.
After the show, Vern wanted to go to the bus to play us a demo track that he and Max D. Barnes wrote.
It was chilling. The name of the song was “Chiseled In Stone.” This was before it became a top hit for Vern!
We were history in the making and didn’t even know it.
Here’s a video version of Vern singing his hit “Chiseled in Stone” -