Who Is RICK FRANKLIN ?

The story begins .... and if I had to put a title to it, that would have to be "Born on the Bayou."

"I was born, six gun in my hand ..."

Not really, but it's a great opening line, and I tip my hat to Bad Company for it. No, I was born in the Naval Hospital at Pensacola, Florida, where my dad (who passed on a few years back) was a young Marine Officer in Flight school. He was out soloing while my mom was in the hospital gasping and screaming while I forced my way out of the chute. I was an instant hit with the hospital staff: I had so much long black hair they called me Elvis. But the real musical experience didn't start 'til 2nd grade where my folks, back in Pensacola for a 2nd time with my dad now as a flight instructor, enrolled me in a private school with a good music program. They had me singing harmony in 2nd grade,

But the plot really started to thicken in 6th grade. There I was, in Southern California in the late 60's, my dad was off to Viet Nam, I had a crew cut and no idea about what was happening all around the country.

Just before the end of that school year my teacher announced “We’re going to have a class party this Friday. We’ll have a record player and food.” Immediately, one of my friends named Jay, yelled out “I’ll bring the Creedence !!!”

What ??? I had no idea what he was talking about. So that Friday rolled around, and I was ready to find out what my friend had been yelling about a few days earlier. The first record put on the record player had this album cover ... blurry images of 4 people, surrounded by mottled greens and blues and black, and four guys with moustaches and long hair on the back; and then the sound started. Mind you, this was on a cheap school record player with no external amplifier and speakers, no subwoofer. But there it was, a looooooooooooong fog horn, and then this oscillating electric guitar singing out with a 7th chord that immediately sounded like there was trouble, and then the crack of the snare, thud of a kick drum, and crash of the cymbal and then the whole band was in, making this clear, driving sound, with Doug Clifford's classic snare triplets followed by the splash of the crash cymbal at the end of every phrase, and then after a few perfect seconds of absorbing it all, a guy (John Fogerty) started yelling, or was it singing, or was it both at the same time … “Now when I was just a little boy, stand up to my daddy’s knee…”

I was transfixed, what was this ??? That’s when I knew what I wanted to do with my life. Little did I know the how cruel and demanding a mistress the guitar is: the twists and turns, failures, and successes, and ultimate blessings it would bring, but like it or not, that day, I became a guitar player, although it would still be another year before I actually touched one.

Now for the unfortunate, deprived people reading this, who have no idea what I'm talking about, the band is Creedence Clearwater Revival (Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, John Fogerty and his brother Tom Fogerty (RIP)), the album is Bayou Country, and the song, that I still maintain is one of the clearest, most balanced songs ever recorded, is "Born On The Bayou".

And this concludes Chapter 1.