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Low, I will be with you always

God is so good to Christians. All we have to do is just ask and there it is.

I’m not talkin’ about things we want. I am talkin’ about things we need — like pontoon boats and big screen TVs.
I prayed and I prayed for God to give me those and sure ’nuff he did. Of course, I have to keep them at my neighbor’s house.

I can use them anytime I want to day or night, but I think they are starting to see through the sleepwalking routine.
One thing He does bless us with is travel mercies, especially preachers and singers, maybe it’s because we ask for them more often.

Now I have traveled every way possible except dog sled. I have always traveled in the finest cars money can buy — Ford Pinto, Fairmont Stationwagon, Chevy S-10.
I have never been much for heights — this really came to me on my first plane flight. It’s not the heights that bother me so much — it’s the fall followed by the splat.
I was working for Bill Monroe and had to change planes four times on a trip across country. Each time I changed, the plane got smaller and smaller and smaller. They folded me into that last one.

I’m glad I didn’t have to go any further on that trip. My next step would have been flapping my arms with red birthday balloons tied to my back.

On another fateful flight, I was on what I call a puddle jumper — when you first see those planes you’re not sure if it will get across a puddle before falling. I was returning from the Michael Jordan Celebrity Golf Tournament in North Carolina. The plane seated about 16 people and we could not have squeezed in one more. We had wall-to-wall soap opera stars, prime-time actors, comedians, football and basketball players and their folks.

What none of us knew was a series of tornadoes was about to welcome us to the not so friendly skies.

It was a few minutes into the flight when we suddenly fell. After collecting everything that was once below our belts from around our ears, everyone released their held breath.
One friend, Chris Castile, from the sit-com “Step by Step” seemed unscathed by the sudden change. Flying fascinated him, and he was watching closely as the pilot compensated for the problem.

The wind whipped us every which way right, left, up and down. I looked around, saying a silent prayer through my gritted teeth as I held the arms of my seat for dear life.
I have never heard screams like that in my life.
After I stopped yelling I realized I wasn’t the only one. You would never imagine football players could make that much noise.

I believe with the Lord’s intervention through the pilot’s skill we sailed on through the bad weather. The Lord blessed us and we all made it to the ground safely. We could not have had a better ride at Disney. That is probably why we were all smiling when we set our feet on the ground.

That is one reason I am not that fond of flying. Besides, it says right in the Bible we should keep our feet firmly planted on the ground. It says “Lo(w), I will be with you always.” It does not say a thing about high.
From the comedy routine “Travel Mercies,” by Randall Franks, used by permission of Peach Picked Publishing.

Film DVD – Randall Franks – Still Ramblin’ plus Trail of the Hawk – Ramblin’ “Doc” Tommy Scott

16498f5a1f4257ce9721b478a7f5a200Still Ramblin’ plus Trail of the Hawk – Randall Franks hosts and directs

$25



Randall Franks hosts and directs Still Ramblin’ plus Trail of the Hawk
The story of Ramblin’ “Doc” Tommy Scott America’s Last Real Medicine Showman

Hosted & directed by TV star Randall Franks – Still Ramblin’ follows Ramblin’ “Doc” Tommy Scott’s unique career from the foothills of Georgia to stardom through interviews, rare photos, and never before seen film footage and western Trail of the Hawk

Randall Franks, Tommy Scott and his Hollywood Hillbillies, Frankie Scott, Sandra Scott, Gaines Blevins, Eddy Williams and Luke McLuke. Yancey Lane, Betty Jordan, Dickie Jones, Lafe McKee among others.

Ramblin’ “Doc” Tommy Scott’s (1917-2013) Last Real Old Time Medicine Show reached its 110th year in 2000 and celebrated on PBS in 2001 for with the release of Still Ramblin’ plus Trail of the Hawk.
The documentary “Still Ramblin’” gives a unique look at the life of America’s Last Medicine Showman. It follows his career from the foothills of Georgia to his days at the Grand Ole Opry and in Hollywood. Through interviews, still photos and never before seen film footage, writer/director Randall Franks includes greats like Roy Acuff, Stringbean Akeman, Sunset Carson, Carolina Cotton, Col. Tim McCoy Charlie and Bill Monroe, Lash LaRue, Minnie Pearl, Al “Fuzzy” St. John, Curly Seckler and many more.
“I just got the video back. Watching it brought back so many great memories of good times and old friends,” Scott said.
“Still Ramblin’” also features the digitally-restored anniversary edition of the western drama “Trail of the Hawk” featuring the music and comedy of Tommy and his Hollywood Hillbillies, Frankie Scott, Sandra Scott, Gaines Blevins, Eddy Williams and Luke McLuke. “Trail of the Hawk” was the directorial debut of Academy Award nominee Edward Dymtryk. The film, which was based on a James Oliver Curwood story, also featured western stars Yancey Lane, Betty Jordan, Dickie Jones, Lafe McKee among others.
Franks said, “It took us 2½ years to complete this project but it was more than a century in the making.” Franks, a former co-star of TV’s “In the Heat of the Night,” hosts the project which will run in PBS syndication around the country.
“All my life, I heard of “Doc” Tommy Scott. I had the pleasure of meeting him around seven years ago and have since been a guest star on his stage show. He is surely one of America’s greatest treasures,” he said.
Actor Tommy Barnes of Nashville has worked on countless projects including Tom Hank’s “The Green Mile.” He edited “Still Ramblin’” at his High Moon studios. ”It has an abundance of rich pictures . There was so much amazing color home movie footage,” Barnes said. “As a western fan what impressed me the most was that Tommy had home movie footage of his daughter playing with Lash LaRue. As a child, I sure would have liked to have done that.”
In 1936, Scott joined “Doc” Chamberlain’s Medicine Show, founded in 1890, when it rolled through Toccoa, Ga. When Chamberlain retired, he gave Scott the medicine and the show. As one of country music’s first generation of stars, he began recording for RCA in the 1930’s.
He performed as a regular on some of the South’s biggest radio shows from WWVA Wheeling, West Virginia to WSM’s Grand Old Opry in the early 1940’s joining stars like Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Bill Monroe, Ernest Tubb and Pee Wee King. Scott said, “We played live on many stations and by transcriptions on the powerful Mexican stations like XERF Del Rio, XEG Monterey, Old Mexico.”
Like many of the stars of his era, success came from a combination of factors: the new medium of radio beamed their live performances all over the country; the popularity of new hillbilly records which started in Atlanta in 1923 with Fiddlin’ John Carson and film “Soundies” which showed fans what their favorite singers from radio looked like on the silver screen.
He benefited from all of these mediums, but his most lucrative medium was touring with his stage show. Scott said, “We kept the show on the road almost 350 days a year.”
Scott’s stage show has taken many names in it’s long history. The Georgia Peanut Band and The Hollywood Hillbillies are a couple of them. He has even run several shows at one time featuring different stars. It is this dedication to the public that has put his show in more different towns than any other entertainer. He has walked on stage for more than 29,000 performances in front of more than 25,000,000 paid admissions.
In the days when westerns were king of the silver screen, fans could have not only seen him on screen in musical films like “Southern Hayride,” “Hillbilly Jamboree,” and “Hobos and Indians,” but for their 25 cents admission children catching a Saturday matinee at the Wink Theater in Dalton or the Tivoli in Chattanooga could have seen him live and in person with his whole show. “We played so many of those theaters, three to five shows a day. Sometimes more than 200 in one year,” he said.
Scott’s status as a treasure is evidenced by many accolades, including his recent nominations for the National Heritage Award, his 1976 placement in the Country Music Foundation’s Walkway of Stars and the 1996 – 2008 Georgia Music Hall of Fame exhibit, the museum’s largest.
Scott, who counts appearances on television with Johnny Carson, Oprah Winfrey, David Letterman and Walter Cronkite, was also a pioneer in that medium hosting two of television’s first country music shows, “The Ramblin’ Tommy Scott Show” and “The Smokey Mountain Jamboree.”
With over 500 recordings to his credit, his chart success with included three titles “Rosebuds and You,” “Dance With Her, Henry,” and “Mule Train.”
He wrote around 300 of his recordings including “Rosebuds and You,” recorded by numerous artists, and the bluegrass standard “Rainbow of My Dreams” popularized by Lester Flatt. While Lester Flatt, of Flatt & Scruggs, is considered the author of “Rollin’ In My Sweet Baby’s Arms,” Scott said, “Lester and I many times had a friendly discussion about who adapted the folk song first.”
In the seventies, when Suffolk marketing launched selling albums on television, Tommy Scott, Boxcar Willie and former Scott show alumnus, Slim Whitman reached an audience of millions in their homes.
Scott’s unique career spanned eight decades.

Music DVD – Concert of Celebration

Concert of Celebration DVDMusic DVD – Concert of Celebration

$25 Donation


Share America Foundation, Inc. features in the 2012 release a cast of music stars and legends Starring Randall Franks with Guest Stars (In order of appearance) Paul Brown, The Marksmen Quartet, John and Debbie Farley, Ramblin’ “Doc” Tommy Scott, and Luke McLuke, Curly Seckler, Charlie “Peanut” Faircloth with the Trust Jesus Singers, Chubby Wise,  David Davis, Johnny Counterfit, Gary Waldrep, Barney Miller, Jeff & Sheri Easter, Bill Monroe and The Blue Grass Boys, Butch Lanham, Doodle and the Golden River Grass,  Dale Tilley, Jesse McReynolds, Johnnie Sue, and Nelson Richardson. Two Hours of Entertainment, 29 Musical Performances including these favorites and more:
Ain’t Gonna Study War ♫ Amazing Grace ♫ Grandpa Was A Farmer  ♫ How Great Thou Art ♫ Wayfaring Stranger ♫ Crying My Heart Out For You ♫ You Can’t Stop Time ♫ Lord, I Am Coming Home ♫ When the Saints Go Marching In ♫ Golden Slippers ♫ Farther Along ♫ The Way Is In God’s Hands ♫ The Other Side of Heaven ♫ Cripple Creek  ♫ In the Garden ♫ Swing Low, Sweet Chariot ♫ You Better Get Ready ♫ Back Up And Push ♫ When They Ring Those Golden Bells for You and Me ♫ What a Friend We Have in Jesus ♫  The Old Gospel Ship ♫ Meet Me in Heaven ♫ I Want to Go There

Two Hours of Entertainment, 29 Musical Performances featuring a host of stars raising funds for the Share America Foundation, Inc. available for a $25 donation.

Randall Franks – An Appalachian Musical Revival – Live at the Ringgold Depot

AppalachianwebRandall Franks – An Appalachian Musical Revival – Live at the Ringgold Depot

$18 Donation

An Appalachian Musical Revival Live at the Ringgold Depot
Share America SAF101  (2008)
Randall Franks
With Four Fold, Buddy Liles, The Marksmen Quartet, Barney Miller, The Smoky Mountain Boys, The Southern Sound Quartet, The Testimony Quartet, Voices Won, Walnut Grove Bluegrass Band, The Watkins Family, Garrett Arb, Brady Hughes, John Rice, Deborah Taylor, Calvary Strings, Mt. Peria Baptist Church Male Chorus, Ringgold United Methodist Church Chancel Choir
Must Be A Reason – Randall Franks with The Watkins Family
Everywhere I Go – The Testimony Quartet
Old Country Church – Walnut Grove Bluegrass Band
Going Home – Four Fold
Uncloudy Day – Garrett Arb and Randall Franks
When God Dips His Pen of Love in My Heart – Ringgold United Methodist Church Chancel Choir
Walkin’ Along the Old Church Road – Garrett Arb
You’re Never Alone – Buddy Liles
An Appalachian Musical Revival Live at the Ringgold Depot con’t.
Way Down Deep in My Soul – The Marksmen Quartet
Wagon Tracks – The Marksmen Quartet
Jesus Loves Me – Brady Hughes
Have You Heard the News – Mt. Peria Baptist Church Male Chorus featuring Mose Lumpkin
New Manna – Calvary Strings
Ten Thousand Years – Barney Miller
The Glory Train  – John Rice and Randall Franks
This Is the Day the Lord Has Made – The Southern Sound Quartet
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing – Deborah Taylor
Back Then – The Smoky Mountain Boys
Roll Back the Stone  – The Watkins Family
In the Garden – Randall Franks and Voices Won

Share America Foundation in association with Crimson Records presents Randall Franks and list of music stars at the 2008 for An Appalachian Musical Revival Live at the Ringgold Depot to raise funds for the Share America Foundation, Inc. Donation of $18

Stirring Up Additional Success with a Southern Flavor by Randall Franks and Shirley Smith

Stirring_Up_Additional_SuccessStirring Up Additional Success with a Southern Flavor by Randall Franks and Shirley Smith

$18 plus $5 S & H



The Catoosa Citizens for Literacy revamps its popular cookbook Stirring Up Additional Success with a Southern Flavor offering a variety of choices from celebrities and Catoosa County residents.
ShirleySmith

Shirley Smith

Entertainer, actor, author and syndicated columnist Randall Franks, “Officer Randy Goode” from TV’s “In the Heat of the Night,” co-authored the project released 2009 with Shirley Smith welcoming celebrity friends from music, movies and television, to raise funds for Catoosa County’s Learning Center near Ringgold and its programs.
Franks previously served as Catoosa Citizens for Literacy chairman and co-chairman and is currently a taskforce member. The organization coordinates the Learning Center.

The collection features recipes from more than 100 of the south’s personalities, politicians, performers from television, movies, country, bluegrass and Southern gospel music, as well as members and supporters of the Catoosa Citizens for Literacy and students of the Catoosa County’s Shirley Smith Learning Center located just outside Ringgold.

Catoosa County artist Cathy Cooksey created a special paintings for the cover.

The Catoosa County Learning Center, on the Benton Place campus just off Battlefield Parkway, offers free day and evening GED classes The Catoosa Citizens for Literacy provide $160 towards the test fee to Catoosa County residents. Reading and math tutoring are available. Free childcare is available. Free transportation is available.

Smith, who is the Learning Center executive director, is excited to find a new worldwide avenue via the internet for the fundraisers.

“These books are wonderful collections which reflect the people and places in Catoosa County and recipes from not only the celebrities but from the students, teachers, volunteers, supporters and CCL taskforce members which helped uplift the lives of so many families in Catoosa County,” Smith said. “The books share stories of the Learning Center including numerous student successes. Anyone should want to make one of these  part of their family keepsakes.”

Stirring Up Success with a Southern Flavor by Randall Franks and Shirley Smith

Stirring_Up_Success__Stirring Up Success with a Southern Flavor by Randall Franks and Shirley Smith

$18 plus $5 S&H


The Catoosa Citizens for Literacy releases its popular cookbook Stirring Up Success with a Southern Flavor offering a variety of choices from celebrities and Catoosa County residents.

ShirleySmith

Shirley Smith

Entertainer, actor, author and syndicated columnist Randall Franks, “Officer Randy Goode” from TV’s “In the Heat of the Night,” co-authored the two projects released initially in 2003 with Shirley Smith welcoming celebrity friends from music, movies and television, to raise funds for Catoosa County’s Learning Center near Ringgold and its programs.

“These make a nice Christmas gift especially if you have a family member included in the original books and didn’t get one the first time,” Franks said. “Friendship is a wonderful gift and I am thankful to all my media friends who graciously donated recipes, words of encouragement and photos to help us raise funds for the Learning Center. Now through the internet the gift can keep on giving to change lives.”
Franks previously served as Catoosa Citizens for Literacy chairman and co-chairman and is currently a taskforce member. The organization coordinates the Learning Center.

The collections feature hundreds of recipes from more than 100 of the south’s personalities, politicians, performers from television, movies, country, bluegrass and Southern gospel music, as well as members and supporters of the Catoosa Citizens for Literacy and students of the Catoosa County’s Shirley Smith Learning Center located just outside Ringgold.

Catoosa County artist Chuck Frye created special paintings for the cover.