(buzzy electronic music) (ambient electronic music) - [Announcer] "A Conversation with Jerry Clower."

Talking today with noted Yazoo City humorist Jerry Clower is Ron Frasier of WRBC in Jackson, Mississippi.

- Yazoo County, Mississippi, the Queen of the Delta, home of folksy folks, neighborly neighbors.

Famous for oil, cotton, catfish, one turtle-hatching farm, Casey Jones, a few old coon hunters thrown in for good measure, and the man with me in the studio today.

He's the man what tells the story of the coon-huntin' party.

Now that's the tale that, what catapulted him into the limelight in this country.

You know, success never happens overnight, and for Jerry, his apprenticeship as a storyteller ran for 17 years from a fertilizer salesman to the country's top humorist.

Jerry, welcome, it's nice to have two ol' Yazoo City boys together here today.

- Woo, shoot this thing.

(Ron and Jerry laughing) - Well Ron, I'm proud of you, bless your heart.

I moved to Yazoo City, you was 12 years old.

- I think that's right.

- And I kinda watched you come up in Dixie Youth baseball, and then you left, and you've amounted to somethin', and I'm proud of you.

- [Ron] Well, I've kept up with your career, and it's a pleasure being here, and an honor being here with you today.

- Thank you, sir.

- I wanna ask you first, I mentioned humorist.

A lot of people would call you a comedian.

You distinguish between a humorist and a comedian, don't you?

- Well Ron, I think a comedian tells funny stories, and a humorist tells stories funny.

You know, I don't have any writers, nobody is sitting in a place, and a battery of people thinkin' up sharp little one-liners for me to say.

And I know some world-famous comedians who have at least 20 writers on their staff.

And certainly I'm not knockin' them.

They're beautiful people, and they do a great job.

But I'm an opportunitist in that if I have any talent, it's a talent to remember.

And I just remember playin' gator at the swimmin' hole, and when the streakin' thing come out, I said, "Well, that ain't nothin' new."

We used to play gator at the wash hole and streak, and so I made up a story about that.

And I remember when we used to go coon huntin' and other things, and so I feel like I am more of a humorist than I would be a comedian.

- Has your show business success changed your lifestyle in any way?

- Well, it's changed my life style because I drive a bigger car than I used to drive, and I give more money to the First Baptist Church than I've ever given before.

And me and Mama's got a little more money than we've ever had, and for some people to say, "Oh, no, "it hadn't changed me a bit," it would be lyin', and everybody'd know I was lyin'.

As far as my Christian convictions and my Christian home and lovin' my friends, nothing's changed.

Me and Mama can't sleep in but one bed at a time, and I haven't built a big house any bigger than I had than when I was a full-time fertilizer salesman.

My schedule has changed, my kids have had to make some adjustments because kids see me on television, and they'll see them at school and say, "I saw your daddy on the Dinah Shore show" or somethin' like this.

And it's, I never go anywhere anymore that I'm not recognized.

This is an adjustment that I have to make.

I went to New York recently and went to get off the plane, and a lady said, "Did you bring your Rook cards with you?"

Well, she had seen me on television doin' a commercial for these people.

But my lifestyle as far as Jerry Clower from Route Four, Liberty, Mississippi, overeatin' and that sort of thing, I hadn't changed at all.

- I'm gonna ask you a question.

Now I'm sure all of our audience would ask you if they were here.

I myself am interested.

I've attempted to record a few records.

I've had four records, and I just finished releasing a fifth.

Everybody wants to know, how do you get a start in show business?

How did you get your start (Jerry laughing) in recording?

- Well, I'm the worst fella in the world to ask how to get started in show business.

A lot of young people write me and say, "Jerry, will you help me get started "in show business?"

Well, Ron, I literally backed into show business.

I got out of the Navy, went to Southwest Mississippi Junior College.

They taught me how to play football.

I got a scholarship at Mississippi State, I got a degree in agriculture.

I got me a job with Mississippi Chemical Corporation sellin' fertilizer.

I developed tellin' country stories in order to improve my sales technique.

And I did this for 17 years.

And four years ago, I was down at Point Clear, Alabama at the ol' Grand Hotel, and somebody said, well, it was Roy Hatton from Jackson, Mississippi.

Roy was there.

And after I had finished doin' a show for the dairy convention, sellin' fertilizer for Mississippi Chemical, he said, "Jerry, why don't you make a record?"

I said, "You're crazy."

He said, "You ain't got nothin' to lose."

So about a month later, I was in Lubbock, Texas, and I was doin' the same thing for Mississippi Chemical out there to the Feedlot Association.

And a guy echoed the idea, a radio personality said, "Why don't you make a record?"

I said, "Well man, you're crazy."

But he said, "Well man, you ain't got nothin' to lose.

"You gonna tell these stories anyhow."

So the next time you speak to a group of farmers, I'll tape it, and he did.

And Music Corporation of America, MCA, who have such artists as Elton John, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Ricky Nelson, and Jerry Clower, now, flew to Yazoo City, Mississippi in a jet airplane and said, "You have some talent, we've heard you work.

"We'd like to put you on the MCA records."

Well, eight months later, it sold a million dollars worth, and I've made three more since then, and they've been bestsellers.

And wham, I was the number one country comic in '73 and '74, was voted by the show business people.

And I remember the Grand Ole Opry, and it's just like a fantastic dream to me.

A guy kinda dared me to do it, and on a tongue-in-cheek dare, I've done it, and it happened.

So that's the way it happened, and I didn't pursue it.

I just backed into it.

- Prior to this, had you ever dreamed or, as a kid, dreamed of being an entertainer?

- No (laughs), I dreamed of bein' a man what would run the road grader.

(Ron laughing) I used to sit on the front porch and see the fella come down the gravel road, a-runnin' the road grader, and I thought that was the finest job and probably the highest payin' job that anybody could ever have.

And I'd run behind the road grader and sit on the back of it and would look up toward heaven and say, "Lord, one day if I had a big job like this, "runnin' a road grader on a gravel road, "I sure would be happy."

And if you'd have told me 10 years ago that this would have happened to me, I'd have said you a mental case.

It's just somethin' that did happen and, but I'm a very simple fella, Ron.

I think one of the problems that we have in show business and everything else, people try to make simple things complicated.

And this is my pet peeve.

I get up every morning, and I pray a very simple prayer.

"Lord, I ain't gonna work for You today, "but Lord, I want You to know that I'm on Your side, "and You ain't never made a mistake.

"And You're not gonna make a mistake with me."

"So inasmuch as I have turned all of my hangups "over to the One what was hung up for my hang ups, "I'm not gonna go through life bitin' my fingernails "and wonderin' and worryin'.

"Whatever happens to me, I'll give thanks to You.

"Regardless what it is, I'll give thanks, "and have faith, and keep goin'."

And that's the philosophy I had when I backed into show business, and I prayed that same prayer this mornin' when I got up.

I don't know of nobody what's any happier than me, and I go through life lookin' forward to tomorrow, and I just live one day at a time.

- That's great.

Jerry, I had a similar dream as a kid.

I wanted to drive the mosquito truck, sprayin' the mosquitoes around.

- (laughs) Amen.

Yeah, Mayor Applebaum up at Yazoo City, skeet that smoke.

Yeah, I've whupped a many a young'un wantin' to run in that smoke and get suffocated.

"Boy, you get outta there," mm (laughing).

- One of the first questions asked me when somebody says, "You know Jerry Clower?"

I say, "Yeah, but he knows me more than I know him "'cause I left long before he got to know me."

Did you really play football?

- Yes (laughs), that's the number one question I'm asked.

Minnesota State Fair or Canada, Hollywood, "Jerry, did you really play football "like your record says?"

Answer's yes, I didn't play in high school because I finished high school with seven other folks.

There wasn't but eight of us in the senior class.

And I went to a little junior college at Southwest Mississippi Junior College, and they were patient with me and taught me how to play.

And I went on up to Mississippi State and played up there.

And I got a degree in agriculture while at Mississippi State, and now as a sports devotee, I tell some football playin' stories.

I got a little routine about how I walked up on the campus and suck myself up and showed my physique, and the football coach said, "Son, who are you?"

I said, "I'm a football player, "and I'm fixin' to play here at this school."

And he said, "I'll give you a half scholarship "just lookin' at you, "but tell me quick, what position is it that you play?"

I said, "I am the man, ow, "what run with the football."

(laughing).

And that's on one of my records, and being a sports devotee, I do some sports awards banquets occasionally, and I enjoy this, too.

I'm a sports fanatic.

I don't like it because they made the ruling about the Mississippi State cowbells.

I want that repealed, if at all possible.

I'll abide by the final ruling because I'm a law-abiding citizen and a Christian, but until we have an appeal, I'm gonna fight it and don't think it's quite fair.

- Good question there.

How come they never brought it up when State was losing?

- Well, that's a good question, yes.

Kind of a sore subject with me.

I don't know why, you know.

.....I stole a tea cake one time when I was a little boy, and my mama caught me and whipped me.

But she didn't tell me I had to do without tea cakes the rest of my life.

Now us Mississippi State folks abused the privilege at the Auburn game.

We really did, but the next three ball games, we said, "We sorry.

"We won't do it no more."

But what did they do, they say, "Ain't good enough.

"You got to give up the cowbells forever."

And I just think they ought to warned us and then controlled any kind of noise just like they controlled the noise at any other stadium.

- Jerry, you mentioned the Minnesota State Fair.

How are you received in the north?

- Well, this is one of the happy things about my show business career.

Ron, would you believe that I just finished a tour in Boston, Massachusetts, Cleveland, Ohio, and Washington, DC?

The crowds were tremendous, the reviews in the paper, you'd have thought my mama wrote the review in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland Ohio.

Washington, DC with Merle Haggard, oh, I have never been prouder to be a Mississippian while at Washington, DC because people would come out to the theater-in-the-round, and Sonny Montgomery and the delegation from Mississippi, the congressmen all came one night, and that thrilled me to death for the producer of the show at the theater-in-the-round to get up and say, "We've never had this many congressmen "to come to see an act on this stage, "and we've had the top entertainers in the world."

And it just thrilled me to death that all of the people from Mississippi would come and bring other congressmen with 'em.

And but people would come up to me and say, "Oh, what a fantastic show" out at the Smithsonian Institute the artists from Mississippi.

And it's the same show that the Arts Festival is bringing to Jackson, Mississippi.

And I've never been prouder to be a Mississippian when I've seen the lineup of Pearl Bailey and all of these fine people that they gonna bring for the Arts Festival.

But I am received in the North.

There's no more North, South, East, and West in show business, forget it.

There's just no such thing.

And if there's no more North, South, East and West in show business, downtown WHN, a 50,000 watt Clear-Channel radio station in New York City, started all country music, their rating went from 14th to two in the city.

Country artists have never had it so good.

52% of all the recordings made in the world are made in Nashville, Tennessee.

So I am received in the North, it's beautiful.

And if I'm received in the North, I would like very much to get a crusade started where there's no more North, South, East, and West in anything, just one great big America and everybody lovin' one another.

- Jerry, you're recognized as a country artist.

Now you're on the Grand Ole Opry.

Before you got into show business, were you an advocate, did you like country music?

- Yes, I really did like country music.

I was a Conway Twitty fan, a Loretta Lynn fan.

I like all kinds of music, I really do.

But my favorite brand of music is country music.

And you know, a country music fan, you very seldom ever see him criticize anybody else's music.

It's the other people who say, "Aw, I can't stand that stuff."

And actually, a lot of people love country music, and they don't know it is country music.

I was in Huntsville, Alabama doin' a show and was having breakfast at a restaurant, and a waitress walked up to me and said, "Mr. Clower, I saw you on Hee Haw.

"I recognize you.

"And I love you, but I don't like that country music."

Said, "Man, what I love is what's playin' "on the loudspeaker now, listen at that beautiful music."

And you know what it was?

It was Henry Mancini, but he was playin' "Release Me," a country classic.

Engelberb Bumpem-dinkem wasn't nothin' until he recorded "Release Me," a country song.

- [Ron] That's right.

- [Jerry] So the answer's yes, I did love country music before I got to be a country artist.

- The first time you stepped onstage at the Grand Ole Opry on the same stage that Hank Williams, Hank Thompson, Bob Wills, Roy Acuff, the greats of country music, what ran through your mind, do you remember?

- Yes, I remembered as a little bitty boy at Route Four, Liberty, Mississippi that several years, I prayed that we'd clear enough money at the end of a crop year that we could go to Nashville and see the Grand Ole Opry.

And I never did make it.

But to be asked to be a special guest star on the world famous Grand Ole Opry, the first time I ever saw the Grand Ole Opry, I performed on it.

And as I stood offstage and started to walk out there, I remembered how I had wanted to go so very badly.

And then November was a year ago to be invited.

"Jerry Clower, you just been in show business two years, "but we'd like to give you an invitation "to become a regular member "of the world famous Grand Ole Opry.

"50 years old, 64 members, "you'll be the 64th member to join.

"Would you like to join?"

"Oh, my soul."

I said, "I would like to join, "and I am a regular member."

And then to go back in November and be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, and I remembers I stood backstage.

I remember what went through my mind then.

This was about the time that it suddenly dawned on me what was happening to me.

Up 'til then, I was, well you know, folks say, "Well, Jerry, you're fixin' to be a star."

And I'd "ha, ha, ha" and see if I could sell a 50-ton car of fertilizer.

But as I was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, I remember I put my wife, put my arm around my wife, and I said, "Darlin', things have done happened to me, "but I want you to know is, kids at age 13, "when me and you walked down that aisle together "in that church "and both become Christians together, "you the main most one then, "you've been the main most one in my life "every day of my life up 'til now.

"And I'm fixin' to be honored out here, "but darlin', you're still the main most woman."

And she still is, by the way.

Me and Mama's been married 27 years.

- 27 years, Jerry, there's something very unique about you as an entertainer, especially as a humorous comedian, what have you.

All your material is clean.

That's a bit unusual for the comedians of these days.

- Well, I'm glad you brought that up because, very frankly, when I recorded my first album, I was told unless I put a little risque vulgar material on the record, I'd never be known nationally.

Well, all of those people that give me that advice, they have never been known as national as I have.

I have a letter from Billboard.

I'm not gonna sit here and brag, but I'm gonna tell you some facts, I'm gonna answer your question.

Billboard wrote me a letter, and said, "Jerry, you are the first artist "ever in the history of show business "to put a talkin' record in the top 10 in the nation "in the country charts."

And I've made four albums.

There's not a risque, vulgar word on none of 'em.

And those four albums, as of last January the 1st, collectively had sold $4 million worth.

And word's got out that I'm clean.

Like you mentioned the Minnesota State Fair.

I did the Minnesota State Fair, the largest fair in the world, with Jerry Reed and Roy Clark a year ago.

This year, I did it three nights because the mamas and papas what brought their little girls didn't have to jump up in the middle of the show and take 'em out because they was embarrassed over somebody bein' vulgar tellin' vulgar stories.

And I'm human enough, and I like the fact that I have defied the experts.

Jerry, you a talker.

No talker can be popular unless he's got a vulgar repertoire.

I've proved that to be an outright lie, and I sure am proud, too.

- We're proud of you for it.

- Amen.

- Oh, the stories you tell, are they about real people, and if so, do you use the real names of these people?

(Jerry laughing) - Well, the stories I tell are about real people.

I change some of the names of the people for obvious reasons.

And the stories I tell are all almost true.

(Ron chuckling) - Will any of the experiences you're going through now be the subject, a topic of future tales?

- Yes, you know, the Lord's so good to me.

I was doing "The Mike Douglas Show" in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was sitting in the Green Room.

And a lady come walking up, and I knowed she was a female as to how her dungarees is fittin' when she walked in.

And I stood up and offered her a chair, and she said, "You sit down.

"I mean, sit down."

And I said, "Darlin', what's wrong?"

"Sit down.

"Anybody that ought to have enough talent "to be on 'The Mike Douglas Show' "ought to know what we do in a, "you sit down."

And she was the leadin' woman libber in all the world.

And when I got through talkin' with her, I later put it on a record, and it stayed in the top 20 in the nation for 34 weeks.

So every time I go out, I see somethin' that'll remind me of somethin' to give me a story.

Like the streakin' story.

I'm doin' a show in Chattanooga, and a TV personality met me at the airport.

"Welcome to Chattanooga, Jerry.

"You have a Christian family.

"What do you think about the new fad streakin'?"

I said, "New fad?

"How come you city folks callin' that new?

"Country people been doin' that all their life."

And I thought of the gator at the swimmin' hole and us boys skinny dippin', you know.

But we had a lookout lookin'.

If anybody come, we'd a-got overalls on.

We didn't believe in streakin', and we'd play gator.

And we'd select us a gator.

And she said, "Well, if you streaked, "what did you call it?"

I said, "Runnin' nekkid."

(laughing) (Jerry and Ron laughing) But you didn't run by no public road, and we didn't believe in streakin'.

And I put that on the record, and it also sold well.

So I see things quite often that reminds me of somethin' that I did when I was a kid.

And I put it on a record, or I may see somethin' before I leave Educational Television here today.

I saw a woman a while ago with a pair of denim overalls on, but the bottoms of 'em was built like a dress.

Now ain't that somethin'?

I'd hate to, woo, have her chop cotton all day in that dust, you know, without no britches legs on.

(Ron laughing) I'm gonna have to check with her before I leave from here.

I may get me another record right here, today.

(Ron laughing) - [Ron] What about new records, Jerry?

What do you have in planning?

- [Jerry] Well, about, a few weeks ago, in Picayune, Mississippi, I recorded a brand new album called "Live in Picayune."

And a woman's club, woman's civic club in Picayune, Mississippi, and I want all the women to listen to this.

In this time of negativism and sour faces and the world's goin' to the dawgs, the Woman's Civic Club in Picayune, Mississippi called MCA records, said, "Look, we excited about Jerry Clower "doin' an album here."

Said, "what?"

"Man, yeah, we'll get the high school auditorium.

"We'll sell tickets, y'all come."

My manager went out with them ladies.

Their enthusiasm had Picayune boilin' like a big Alka-Seltzer.

And we recorded our album down there because the enthusiasm of these ladies were catching.

And it caught on and wham.

We recorded it.

I think it's gonna be one of the better things I've ever done because I felt at home with these people in Picayune.

And the album is "Live in Picayune," and it will be released June the 1st on MCA records.

- Jerry, have they ever tried to, they, I mean your producers, have you move into another area, maybe singing just a little bit in your act?

- Yeah, they have talked to me about this, but you know, the night I did the Grand Ole Opry for the first time, Bill Anderson, a superstar in country music, a boy that wrote the song "City Lights" that Mickey Gilley's got a hit on right now, called me off to one side.

He said, "Jerry, don't let 'em change you."

He said, "You just like a breath of fresh air "to come on the scene.

"And what you do is so different.

"Don't let 'em talk you into changing."

I did "The Mike Douglas Show" with Pearl Bailey, the superstar who the Arts Festival is bringing to Jackson.

And my, what a nice lady.

And when I finished the show, she warned me, she said, "Jerry, don't you let 'em change you.

"They'll bring you to Hollywood "and try to make a Shakespearean actor out of you."

And she also wrote me a letter after she got home and sent me her book.

And when I saw where a superstar of her caliber was gonna be featured here at the Arts Festival, it just thrilled me.

But there hadn't been a lot of pressure on me.

In fact, MCA was talkin' the other day to my manager, and one of 'em said, "We need to do "a little different with Jerry.

"We need to maybe let him do a patriotic thing."

And all of the big executives around the table, it got to the vice president in charge of all country product.

He said, "Listen.

(laughing) "Jerry's recorded four albums.

"They all four national hits.

"Until he has one that ain't a winner, "y'all better leave him alone."

(Jerry and Ron laughing) And, you know, that's what Jake Gaither said about Bob Hayes.

They told Jake Gaither one time, Florida A M & N said, "He runs pigeon-toed and runs leaned over.

"And coach, if you'd correct this, "he may even run faster."

He said, "Well, I told some folks "until somebody outrun him, "not to fool with him."

(laughing) So the MCA's told me until we have one that don't sell real good, they won't fool with me.

And it's beautiful, I like that.

- Let me ask you this.

We're talking about the Grand Ole Opry.

You've been doing state fairs.

You don't do nightclubs.

- No, I won't ever flat make the statement that I will not do a nightclub because I may, on some occasion, feel that I need to get into a certain nightclub to express a view I have that I'd like for somebody to hear it.

But I don't work nightclubs.

I just feel like it, that my image as a family entertainer is not, I'm not this kind of entertainer.

I could have the opportunity to work a lot of 'em, and it would be a challenge to make 'em laugh.

But so far, I have had plenty of work, and for near about for every show we do, we turn down another one.

And I certainly wouldn't wanna sit here with a holier-than-thou attitude and a pious look-down-your-nose at folks who do work nightclubs.

I certainly don't do that because I know some Christian entertainers who have a deep Christian conviction that they gonna work anywhere they get booked, and they may preach a little while they're there.

They may carry the Good News into a place that they think it ought to be carried.

But up 'til now, I had an hour showcased at The Horn in the Hollywood, California where some TV producers could come in and see me.

And that is a nightclub.

And I walked in and went 20 minutes and walked out.

But I, to answer your question, and it ain't a big deal, but I haven't worked in the nightclubs.

- You as a person, as an individual, you're a big advocate of educational TV, like we're on right now, aren't you?

- Oh, man, I reckon so.

And near about every time I come by Educational TV or watch "Sesame Street" with my children, I have to do a lot of prayin' to keep from gettin' just furious because, you know, the bigots and the racists in the state legislature wouldn't fund Public Television due to the fact that little black children and little white children played together so peacefully on there.

And apparently, they had been tellin' some kids that you couldn't do this.

And my older children were robbed of the privilege of watchin' "Sesame Street."

Can you conceive grown, adult people wantin' to, and you know how hard it'd have been for me to have got that off my television if I didn't want my kids to see an integrated show?

(fingers snapping) That's how hard it'd have been.

I got a little Katy, four years old.

She can sing the A-B-C's all the way through and count to 100 'cause she watches "Sesame Street."

And for years, we couldn't watch it in Mississippi because it was an integrated show.

But thank God we makin' some progress, thank God we is being funded now.

And the minute the legislature even thinks about not fundin' it, there's enough phone calls and letters hits their desk down there that you'd have thought that the world's comin' to an end.

Hallelujah, we got us an Educational Television Association, or whatever you call it now.

And I'm so proud, and every chance I get, I watch "Sesame Street" myself.

(laughing) And the Forum show that they have with the legislatures.

Man, I love it, I done found me a new hero, Congressman or Senator Ingram from Hattiesburg.

I watched him on this TV show one night.

Woo, that young fellow impressed me.

And I'm about ready to turn this country over to some of the young people I know.

It's the old politicians that's been messin' up lately.

It hadn't been them young ones.

And I think maybe I'm about ready to turn this country over to some of the young people I know.

- Jerry, we've made the complete circle here today, from beginning all the way, from the start of your career around about where we are right now, keepin' on a serious subject.

Let's go back to Yazoo City for just a moment - All right.

- before we close out.

How do the people that knew you before you were Jerry Clower, entertainer, react to you as a person nowadays?

- About the same, and for this, I am eternally grateful.

I catch people in Yazoo City when tourists come through, and they'll say, "We saw Jerry Clower "on 'The Mike Douglas Show'," or "We saw Jerry Clower on a CBS special.

"He lives here."

"Well, you show us his house."

And some of the people who love me and know me will actually discourage them comin' to the house.

They'll say, "Well man, he's been off on a tour.

"He hadn't been with his family much.

"I'll show you his house and let you get a picture of it, "but don't bother him no longer than you have to."

And I walk down the street and people say, "Hello, Jerry" now.

(buzzy electronic music) - [Announcer] This has been a conversation with Mississippi's finest humorist, Jerry Clower.