07
Aug

END OF AN ERA

Written by Don Reid on August 7th, 2011 Posted in General

 

Marshall Grant died today.  He was 83 in years but twice that much in wisdom and experience.

We got to know M.G., as he affectionately became known to us, on our first date with the Johnny Cash troupe, March 8, 1964 –Canton, Ohio.  And it didn’t take more than the first night for us to see who was truly in charge.  Marshall, an original of John’s Tennessee Two, played the bass on stage but off stage, he ran the show.  He booked the hotels and airplanes.  He made sure the shows started and ended on time.  He took care of all the little and big problems that arose in a tour whether it was ten days long or three weeks long.  Marshall was the Majordomo; the General; the go-to-guy.  And when we left the troupe eight and a half years later to start our own organization, we lamented many times that we would only be complete when we found ‘our Marshall’. 

We never did.  Not until another decade had passed and Marshall and John had some problems that couldn’t be solved and they parted ways.  Having kept our friendship alive with both, we went by Marshall’s house in Mississippi and picked him up and took him on a few tours with us just to renew old times.  In no time at all, he went to work for us.  He became our agent; our road manager; our closest confidant.  We finally had ‘our Marshall’.

He set all our dates and traveled every mile with us on the bus and in the air.  When we signed on to do the TV series in the 90s on TNN, he co-produced the shows with us and he was the guy who stood in front of us in all our dealings and the one everyone had to answer to.  He gave us  room for creativity while he watched over the facts and figures.  We trusted him like he was blood kin. That relationship lasted for 20 years until we decided to hang it up in 2002.  Marshall hung it up, too.

He was first a friend – the best.

He showed us the ropes in the early days.

He was like a big brother who never let you out of his sight.

To say I/we will miss him is a gross understatement.

I feel something inside me has taken flight today that I’ll never feel again.

I could tell a thousand stories here, but I don’t have the heart for it today.  Maybe another time.

I loved him dearly.

          DR

                      -Sunday August 7, 2011   – 6:15pm