Former Nashville radio superstar Gerry House –a guy I admire greatly — is out with a book on his life and career, and there are stories and references throughout to the stars and drug use and drinking too much.
Those references in the book, “Country Music Broke My Brain,” are sometimes funny, sometimes moving.
– Johnny Paycheck, Gerry says, “was in rare form” before a TV interview one day: “He was so wired I thought he was gonna burst into flames at any second.”
– Gerry talked about one of his favorite singers (whom Gerry didn’t name) who quit drugs cold turkey after an afternoon of smoking marijuana next to the ocean with a chimp trainer and a chimp: “Man,” the singer explained to Gerry, “once you’re smoking grass with a monkey on the beach, you know it’s time to quit drugs and try something else.”
– “I also once told Keith (Urban) how much I admired him for facing up to his ‘problems’ and doing something about ‘em,” Gerry wrote. “I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been. He worked hard to get his priorities where they should be, and that takes an enormous amount of courage.”
And then there was Gerry quoting Tanya Tucker about her post-show use on her tour bus.
“You’re pumped full of adrenaline and excitement and there’s nobody there to share it with. That’s how I got into trouble. Something – anything – to either keep that feeling going or to make it go away,” Tanya told Gerry.
“There you are in a bedroom on a bus, bouncing down the road, and you turn to something else.”
Gerry adds: “Tanya wasn’t making an excuse or justifying anything. She was just explaining, from one friend to another, what it’s like.”
I had the chance to interview Gerry for The Tennessean, for a story coming out Sunday (March 2) on the Portfolio section cover.
And for this blog, I asked Gerry about this empathetic view he seems to have of substance addictions.
“I probably drink too much wine myself. But I’m OK,” he started.
“Some people get blamed for addiction, like they’re doing it on purpose. It’s like depression,” he says.
“Everybody says, ‘Get over it.’ ‘I can’t. I’m depressed and you’re depressing me more by telling me to get over it! Leave me alone.’ [Addiction] is the same thing.”
So where did the empathy and understanding come from?
“I was never around addiction. It wasn’t in my family. But I’ve known so many people who’ve dealt with it. It’s so hard. And when they break through to the other side, I really celebrate it,” he said.
Gerry adds, grinning, “If somebody said I could never drink wine again, I don’t know whether I could do it. I would have to have a long discussion with somebody: Tell me again why I can’t. Explain it to me again?”
You can get a copy of Gerry’s book, “Country Music Broke My Brain,” at www.gerryhouse.com.
Thanks for your time and for sharing your talents with us for decades.
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