My father played the Steel Guitar for Freddy during his Pittsburgh, PA. stop over at The Twin Coaches while on tour supporting his hit, "Before The Last Teardrop Falls" back in the '70's. They hit it off together and Freddy was quickly referring to my father as "brother". This is where I met the man who would become a legend, backstage, doing two shows a night at a country music venue in western Pennsylvania. Unfortunatley, my father did not continue on tour with Freddy, despite Freddy's persistence, but they did stay in touch for a little while thereafter.

Later in life, and every now and then, I would see Freddy's name on a marquee somewhere, or see him featured in a magazine or on television, and I would just smile and flash back to that magical night that I met him, where I watched him perform from the side of the stage, flawlessly. I, of course, have pictures of him and I together as well as an autographed 8 x 10 from those performances...which I will cherish.

Freddy was one of the great ones. He far outlasted many artists of his time and it was very obvious that he enjoyed what he was doing. He will be greatly missed by everyone that not only knew him persnoally, but also by those that met him briefly or by those that were touched by his music.