Greg Freeman and Babbie Mason on the set of Babbie's House, February 7, 2008
On February 7, 2008, I performed two of my own songs, "You Are" and "Between the Lines," on Babbie Mason's television talkshow, Babbie's House, in Atlanta. Introducing me to her television audience, Babbie said, "Today's guest is a fine singer, a beautiful songwriter with a heart that is so tender toward the things of God, and it all comes out in his songs." Babbie is a tremendous artist and songwriter, and I was stunned by her remark! The following day, I ventured to Nashville where I attended the Gaither Homecoming concert at downtown's Sommet Center with a VIP pass courtesy of Bill Gaither.
A view of Greenville's Reedy Falls
I was born in 1974, and have spent my entire life residing just outside of Walhalla, South Carolina, a small foothills town situated about forty five minutes from Greenville and two hours from Atlanta.
As diverse as my interests, Southern Edition has become a culmination of all that characterizes the American South. Through this publication, I hope to expound on the region's culture, history, politics, commerce, agriculture, music, art, architecture, travel, gardening and food. And I'm thrilled that a variety of individuals, ranging from best-selling authors and Grammy Award-winning musicians to college professors and high school students, are enjoying my writing.
In addition to publishing Southern Edition, I have written for the groundbreaking, award-winning New Georgia Encyclopedia (a publication of the Georgia Humanities Council and University of Georgia Press), the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture (published by the Central Arkansas Library System), GospelMusicUpdate.com (an online publication of the Judy Nelon Group in Nashville), Carolina Gardener and the Draft Horse Journal.
As a singer and songwriter, I have co-written songs with multiple Emmy winner Cheryl Rogers (a producer for the Grammy-winning record, Tribute: The Songs of Andraé Crouch), and performed on Babbie Mason's television talkshow, Babbie's House, on two different occasions: February 7, 2008 and May 5, 2010.
An avid gardener, I grow various perennial flowers, herbs and vegetables. My collection includes a few botanical gems like the native lily, Lilium michauxii, and Wisteria frutescens 'Amethyst Falls', an introduction from my neighbor, Bill Head. But I am most enthusiastic about my daffodils. A member of the American Daffodil Society, The Daffodil Society (UK) and the Georgia Daffodil Society, I have bulbs from three different continents, including some exciting seedlings from renowned American hybridizers Stephen J. Vinisky and Dr. Harold Koopowitz. I have exhibited winning blooms at the Atlanta show, and have started hybridizing in earnest. Since I have much to learn, only time will tell if my efforts produce anything of merit!
Horses have been an obsession of mine since I was a teenager. A life member of the Belgian Draft Horse Corporation of America, the organization devoted to registering and promoting Belgian horses, I have owned a limited number of Belgians over the years, including Congressman, Jr., the Grand Champion stallion at the 1977 Indiana State Fair (one of the nation's most competitive draft horse shows). A virtual walking encyclopedia of such useless information as pedigrees and show records, I now own only a single mare: Cowden's Coleddie Sasha. Bred by my long-time friends, Robert & Elizabeth Cowden (Pittsburgh-based owners and breeders of champion Belgians), I had anticipated raising some foals from this quality, well-bred mare, but it appears that the costly breeding expenses and a depressed market for draft horses will hinder my efforts to rear another Willowhurst foal in the near future.
My other interests include the visual arts (creating and, collecting), reading, watching classic movies, exploring small towns, touring southern historical sites and hiking.
Greg Freeman, Editor SouthernEdition.com
For the authoritative New Georgia Encyclopedia, I have contributed entries on Atlanta's historic Ebenezer Baptist Church and the 200-year-old publication Grier's Almanac as well as biographies on country star Travis Tritt; black gospel diva Dottie Peoples; contemporary Christian singer Babbie Mason; blues singers Francine Reed, Precious Bryant and Ida Cox; and southern gospel legends Hovie Lister and Lee Roy Abernathy.
Chronicling the show and breeding career of the famous Belgian draft stallion Nesbitt's Misty River Ben (above), my feature article "Remembering Nesbitt's Misty River Ben" appeared in the Winter 2002-03 issue of the Draft Horse Journal.
Devoted to historic daffodil cultivars in the South, my article "A Heritage of Daffodils," was published in the December 2005 issue of Carolina Gardener, a publication I regard as the region's finest gardening magazine.
Greg Freeman and Calvin Newton, Gaither Homecoming Concert (Give It Away tour), Nashville, February 8, 2008
Backstage at the Gaither Homecoming Concert (Give It Away tour) in Nashville on February 8, 2008, I met Calvin Newton (b. 1929), a notable southern gospel vocalist and real-life prodigal son. Newton, the subject of Dr. Russ Cheatham's book, Bad Boy of Gospel Music: The Calvin Newton Story (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2003), once sang with the Oak Ridge Quartet (later to crossover into country and pop as the Oak Ridge Boys), the Blackwood Brothers and the Sons of Song (an innovative group comprising Newton, Don Butler and Bob Robinson). He also served time in federal prison, was once a formidable boxer (knocking out an opponent in less than 30 seconds!) and has quite a testimony to share. At the Gaither show in Nashville, Calvin just latched onto me and made me feel like an old friend. Standing there in the hallway backstage, he introduced me to everyone he could . . . Ernie Haase, Wes Hampton, Don Light, Bill Carter, Barry Jennings. I was blown away. He would look at someone and say, "Let me introduce you to Greg Freeman. He sang on Babbie Mason's show yesterday!" This photograph, by the way, was taken backstage by Joyce Martin Sanders of the Dove Award-winning trio, The Martins!
Greg Freeman with Carol Fay Ellison, Loveless Café, Nashville, February 2008
In this photograph, I am pictured with the Loveless Café's celebrity "Biscuit Lady," Carol Fay Ellison, who appeared on numerous television shows including the Martha Stewart Show, Ellen DeGeneres Show and NBC's Today and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Carol Fay died prematurely at the age of 48 on April 5, 2010. The Loveless Café was the subject of a November 2007 Southern Edition article, From Their Kitchen to Yours: Recipes from the Loveless Cafe, Nashville.
An enthusiastic collector (with discerning taste, but a very limited budget!), I own an eclectic mix of art and antiques. My collection includes oil paintings by New Orleanians Miriam Ragan, Sean Childs and Phil Thomasson (who, in January 1995, was carjacked in New Orleans' Central Business District and senselessly murdered); a figure sketch by Isabel E. Hazz (mother of Marilyn French, noted feminist and author of The Women's Room), completed in the late 1920s when she studied at Brooklyn's Pratt Institute; The Naked Ape, a bronze sculpture by J. Hamilton; and pottery by Charleston ceramicist Kris Neal and Georgia folk potters W. J. Gordy (1910-1993), Wayne Hewell, Grace Nell Hewell and Nathaniel Hewell.
Greg Freeman inside the Fuqua Orchid Center at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, March 2004
While major awards have been elusive and I have yet to win with a collection, my single stem entries have fared well at the shows. Jonquil-type daffodils remain my favorites. In 2006, I won first, second and third with 'Quail', 'Kokopelli' (pictured above) and 'Trevithian' in a competitive class of all-yellow hybrid jonquils at the Atlanta daffodil show.
One of my most prized daffodils, 'Crackington' is a magnificent double of British origin. It has been incorporated into my hybridizing efforts. In 2009, one of my 'Crackington' blooms was a contender for "Best Bloom" at the Georgia Daffodil Show in Atlanta.
Pictured as a weanling in 1996, Willowhurst Bentley was a son of my first Belgian mare, Clifton's Susie Q. This colt was sired by Remlap Coleddie, an outstanding stallion belonging to Robert and Elizabeth Cowden at the time.
Willowhurst Bentley, pictured at three, was leased and eventually sold to Mrs. Paul Knepp & Sons, Montgomery, Indiana. In Indiana, he sired several crops of foals before being auctioned to a buyer from Mississippi.
Quite a contrast to the awkward teenager in the previous photo, this picture shows that Cowden's Coleddie Sasha has matured into a beautiful mare. Impeccably bred, she was a maternal granddaughter of the champion mare Constance Mardy. She comes from a significant female line that produced champions like Remlap Constance Edie Johne, Remlap Constance Sarah and Oak Grove Jane.
Cowden's Coleddie Sasha, a Remlap Coleddie daughter, was acquired as a weanling in 2001. Bred by Robert & Elizabeth Cowden, she is a paternal sister to Willowhurst Bentley.
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Southern Edition
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"Article Title," Southern Edition, the date on which you retrieved the article and the Southern Edition URL
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"Forty Years Later: Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,"
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Contact:
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PUBLISHED WORKS
Nonfiction Articles
"E. M. Bartlett (1885-1941)," biography, Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, January 11, 2010.
"Tracy Lee Lawrence (1968-)," biography, Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, November 3, 2009.
"Eva Mae LeFevre's Life and Legacy Celebrated in Atlanta," GospelMusicUpdate.com, May 26, 2009.
"Roberta Evelyn Martin (1907-1969)," biography, Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, August 19, 2008
"Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site," civil rights history, Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, August 19, 2008
"Collin Raye (1960-)," biography, Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, August 19, 2008
"Gaither & Friends Make Nashville Stop On Give It Away Tour," GospelMusicUpdate.com, February 27, 2008
"Hovie Lister (1926-2001)," biography, New Georgia Encyclopedia, January 11, 2008
"Babbie Mason (b. 1955)," biography, New Georgia Encyclopedia, November 16, 2007
"Precious Bryant (b. 1942)," biography, New Georgia Encyclopedia, November 2, 2007
"Dottie Peoples (b. ca 1950)," biography, New Georgia Encyclopedia, November 2, 2007
"Lee Roy Abernathy (1913-1993)," biography, New Georgia Encyclopedia, Ocotber 5, 2007
"Travis Tritt (b. 1963)," biography, New Georgia Encyclopedia, March 10, 2006
"Francine Reed (b. 1947)," biography, New Georgia Encyclopedia, February 10, 2006
"A Heritage of Daffodils," feature story, Carolina Gardener, November/December 2005
"Grier's Almanac," history/media, New Georgia Encyclopedia, October 7, 2005
"Ebenezer Baptist Church," civil rights history/religion, New Georgia Encyclopedia, September 23, 2005
"Ida Cox (1896-1967)," biography, New Georgia Encyclopedia, March 26, 2005
"Remembering Nesbitt's Misty River Ben," feature story, Draft Horse Journal, Winter 2002-03
"Draft Horses in the South," feature story, The Southeast Horse Report, November/December 2001
Opinion Editorials
"Church needs to look inward at problems," Greenville News, Tuesday, April 21, 2009
"South Main properties could have fit in plan," Greenville News, Friday, March 12, 2004
Peaceful Cove by Phil Thomasson
A river scene by Sean Childs
Greg Freeman and Bill Gaither backstage following the Gaither Homecoming Concert (Lovin' Life tour), Greenville, April 24, 2009
Here I am backstage with my friend, Bill Gaither, at the Greenville Gaither Homecoming Concert (Lovin' Life tour) on April 24, 2009. While talking with him literally minutes before his appearance on stage, Bill pleasantly surprised me by telling some people standing nearby that I'm a good writer. What a great compliment from a great man! This photograph was kindly taken by Bill's road manager, Deana Warren, who went out of her way for me. The concert was incredible, like all Gaither concerts, but this one was unique in that it featured former Blackwood Brothers tenor Bill Shaw. Bill and Gloria Gaither had taken the Shaws out to dinner prior to the show, and it was great of Bill to include Shaw in the second half of the show. Shaw's performance prompted a standing ovation.
Greg Freeman Joins Bill & Gloria Gaither and Friends for Eva Mae LeFevre's Homecoming Service, Mount Paran Church of God, Atlanta, on May 21, 2009
Gospel music pioneer and legend Eva Mae LeFevre (1917-2009) was truly one of a kind, and I count it a privilege to have called her my friend for a number of years. A great encouragement to me, Eva Mae praised my singing and songwriting and told me in 2004 that I have a "very bright future." She will be missed by me and so many others!
On May 21, 2009, family, friends and fans assembled at Atlanta's Mount Paran Church of God for Eva Mae LeFevre's Homecoming Service. Speakers included Eva Mae's sons, Meurice and Mylon (writer of "Without Him"), Dr. Paul Walker (Mt. Paran's pastor for 37 years), Dr. David Cooper (Mt. Paran's current Senior Pastor) and Eva Mae's friends Jane Cox, Mark Fuller (also her pianist) and Bill & Gloria Gaither. I was honored to sing with Bill Gaither and a 60+ member choir that included some of gospel's best and most beloved: Mary Tom Speer Reid, Ben Speer, Naomi Sego, Sue Dodge, Ann Downing, Bob & Jeannie Johnson, Karen Peck Gooch, Joel & Labreeska Hemphill, Greater Vision, the Hayes Family, Calvin Newton, Lari Goss, Janet Paschal, Les Beasley, Jeff & Sheri Easter, Mike Allen, Joe Moscheo, the Nelons, the Rev. Johnny Minick, Judy Nelon, Reggie Saddler Family, Jonathan Wilburn, Sarah DeLane, Tim and Mary Alice Lovelace, Gene McDonald, Willie Wynn, Michelle Davis and more. The incomparable Stan Whitmire accompanied the choir on the piano.
Greg Freeman with members of the Blind Boys of Alabama
(Left to Right: Greg Freeman, Ricky McKinnie, Bishop Billy Bowers and Ben Moore)
On September 22, 2009 my friend, Pastor Rod Lyda, and I drove down to Augusta for the Blind Boys of Alabama concert at Augusta State University's Grover C. Maxwell Performing Arts Theatre. Blind Boys drummer, vocalist and road manager Ricky McKinnie is a friend of mine, and Rod and I were able to enjoy some time backstage interacting with Ricky and the other members, including the group's venerable patriarch, Jimmy Carter! The Blind Boys of Alabama are a multiple Grammy- and Dove Award-winning act that has taken gospel music into the mainstream arena. They are particularly hot in Europe. In February 2009, the Recording Academy presented the group with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. The morning after the Grammys, I phoned Ricky and caught him just as he was checking out of his hotel in Los Angeles. I apologized for calling at an inconvenient time and quickly congratulated the guys, but Ricky replied, "It's great to have fans, but it's better to have friends." Needless to say, these guys have plenty of both.
For the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, I wrote biographies of country singers Collin Raye and Tracy Lawrence and gospel legends Roberta Martin and E. M. Bartlett as well as the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site entry.
Greg Freeman with Jimmy Carter, a founding member of the Blind Boys of Alabama
When my buddy, Rod Lyda, and I met with the Blind Boys before their March 19, 2010 show at the beautiful Smoky Mountain Peforming Arts Center in Franklin, North Carolina, the group's legendary patriarch, Jimmy Carter, had not arrived at the venue. As the Fairfield Four made their way to the stage some twenty or thirty minutes later into our backstage visit, I told Ricky McKinnie we'd better go take our seats, and I asked him to say hello to Jimmy for me.
Meanwhile, Rod and I returned to our auditorium seats and enjoyed the Fairfields. Following an intermission, the Blind Boys were led out on stage. Jimmy praised the Fairfield Four for being pioneers in gospel music. He then thanked Franklin for showing so much love to the Blind Boys during the short time they'd been in town. And, before the group even sang the first note, he said, "I understand my good friend, Greg Freeman, is here. Boy, come see me before you leave tonight!" Everyone laughed because he said it as if I was in trouble or something!!! Afterwards, Rod and I enjoyed a nice visit with Jimmy backstage. Jimmy and I had become good friends, and his recognition of me from the platform was surprising, but very special. I think he's one of the coolest guys (and funniest characters) in gospel music.
On May 7, 2010, I had the privilege of spending time with the Blind Boys again. I hung out with them at the Doubletree Biltmore Hotel in Asheville prior to their performance at the Lake Eden Arts Festival in picturesque Black Mountain, North Carolina. The guys invited me to ride with them to the venue, and I spent my entire evening enjoying a behind-the-scenes Blind Boys experience. These guys are a lot of fun. You should hear some of the hilarious things they tell on Billy! And, whatever you do, don't ever believe everything Billy tells on me. I did not throw him in a chair!!! (Lol!)
Greg Freeman with Babbie Mason and Dr. Charles Novell on the set of Babbie's House
Here I am with my good friends, Babbie Mason and Dr. Charles Novell, on the set of Babbie's House on May 5, 2010. I sang my song, "I Am Your Servant," and Babbie joined me on Mylon LeFevre's "Without Him" in memory of our friend, gospel legend Eva Mae LeFevre. Charles Novell accompanied us on the piano. Now residing in the Atlanta area, Charles has enjoyed a long, distinguished career in gospel music and is best-known for his Novell Music School in the Cincinatti area.
A daffodil blooming in early December? Absolutely! This is one of several seedlings I have from Orchid and Clivia authority and noted daffodil hybridizer, Dr. Harold Koopowitz. His daffodil hybrids include 'Itsy Bitsy Splitsy' and 'Sammy Girl', the first pink-blooming tazetta-type daffodil. Utilizing Narcissus viridiflorus, the green-flowering, fall-blooming daffodil species from Morocco, Gibraltar and southern Spain, as well as its descendants, Dr. Koopowitz has produced an array of green/green-cupped fall- and winter-blooming daffodils that have garnered international attention. Pollen from the above flower was frozen in December 2009 and put to good use in the spring of 2010. In a few years, I will hopefully have promising seedlings of my own that possess green coronas.
