Stan Hitchcock´s “At The Corner of Music Row and Memory Lane” is a book that recants the many paths he has journeyed on, covering a span of over four decades from the 1960s and through the 1990s, in this book of some 50 plus chapters of stories, his travels records the ins, the outs, ups and downs on what it has taken this ´Little Giant´ to not only make it in the country music business, but also this book serves as a testimony, a profoundness of character about of Hitchcock, who in the words by Poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850) once said, “The best portion of a good man’s life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.” I strongly believe those who have had the opportunity to feel the touch of his ´country wand´ – will emphatically agree with me, Stan´s humble reminisces of those days gone by, are undoubtedly factual artworks of truth.
Written in a true storyteller style, this book, also packaged graphically with an eye of robust flavor, beckoned me to read it and although it is not one of those literary masterpieces I had to digest in my higher learning years, those with chapters half the size of “At The Corner of Music Row and Memory Lane”, however Stan´s book gave me a feeling of intimacy. I could see the youngster in myself swaying back and forth in the porch swing; looking out over hills and valleys of a colorful sea of greens, blues and yellows; flows of warm air caressing my skin not covered by my usual white undershirt attire; the intermingling of chatter among my best friend with a few of the Stan´s greats as they are now, and him telling about “The Road” (Chapter 34) when touring with Loretta Lynn and Doyle and Teddy, aka the Wilburn Brothers.
There is one male area in life I don´t usually convey openly, but “At The Corner of Music Row and Memory Lane” has served as a reminder for what the man in me felt. It has renewed my knowledge with the self-assurance that I have a heart and I had a friend in Him, when the boy in me in 1994 on Father´s Day was confronted with a passing of my Dad, my mentor, confidant, do no wrong advisor, and dearest best male friend, which shattered my whole self into a million pieces. And there is another that deals with what men do, one which I know Stan and I can share with the public that has been said by Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) polish-born British writer, sailor and explorer: “I don´t like work, no man does, but I like what is in work; the chance to find yourself, not for others, but what no other man can ever know.”
In concluding my review, I certainly recommend this book to be certainly on file at the Tennessee State Library for historical content; in fact on every public library´s must purchase list. I am also confident this author´s “child” can easily appeal to Dolly Parton´s “I Will Always Love You” country song crossover “pop” readers of biography and history, and I somewhat have this invisible feeling, the book´s publisher will strive to immortalize Stan on the big screen and should have a selection of good friends in “lo-o-o-w places” to cast.
Review by Ben Rayman