Big Joe's Studio
A veteran radio broadcaster and award winning producer,"Big" Joe Marshall has dropped anchor in beautiful Sonora California. Still having a ball with an audience everyday and still thankful to be behind a microphone after 30 years. "Music is my life, music is my story. Every entry of my blog comes from where the music takes me."
Friday, February 16, 2007
"Miss My Family'
Writer: Joe Marshall
I WAS BORN IN CALIFORNIA
RAISED IN MISSISSIPPI
SOMEHOW YOU'VE STUMBLED
UPON THE STORY OF ME
AND MY FAMILY
MY DADDY WAS A MARINE
MY MOM A SOUTHERN BELLE
IN 1970 THAT MARRIAGE
WENT TO HELL
LORD OH LORD
SO DID MY FAMILY
GOT THREE OLDER BROTHERS
YEA, THAT MAKES FOUR
IT'S BEEN YEARS
SINCE WE ALL LAUGHED
BEHIND ONE DOOR
OH LORD I MISS MY FAMILY
YEA I MISS MY FAMILY
I MISS MY FAMILY
MISS THE WAY
IT USED TO BE
THERE'S MY MOMMA
WITH ALL HER BOYS
LIVING ON GOODMAN STREET
LORD OH LORD I MISS MY FAMILY
BROTHER JOHN PASSED AWAY
CHRISTMAS A YEAR AGO
SINCE THAT MOMENT LORD
I HAVEN'T LET GO
HE WAS MY FRIEND, MY KIN,
HE WAS MY FAMILY
BROTHER RICHARDS IN FLORIDA
GOT THREE BOYS OF HIS OWN
A WIFE THAT DOESN'T LOVE HIM
I PRAY HE'S NOT ALONE
HE'S MY FAMILY
BROTHER GARY'S THE OLDEST, HE LEFT HIS WIFE
NOW HE WIPES HIS TEARS AWAY,
CAUSE OF HIS EMPTY LIFE
LORD OH LORD
WITHOUT HIS FAMILY
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DAYS
THE PAGES OF MY LIFE
AS MY YEARS FLY BY
THEY FADE INTO THE NIGHT
LORD OH LORD
I MISS MY FAMILY
I MISS MY FAMILY
I MISS THE WAY IT USED TO BE
THERE'S MY MOMMA WITH ALL HER BOYS
LIVING ON GOODMAN STREET
LORD I MISS MY FAMILY
I MISS MY FAMILY
I wrote this tonight. As you can see it's a work in progress, pretty much like my life. My family's been on my mind this week. My son graduated boot camp, my wife's been out of town all week, my Mom is depressed and lonely and my brother Dicky is having serious relationship issues. As crazy and dysfunctional my family seems, I find myself grasping for whatever years I have to share with them in this life. We're all so spread apart right now and sometimes that's tough.
Tonight as I sit here in Northern California, I miss my family.
J
Thursday, April 20, 2006
COOL CHANGE
Time for a cool change
Monday, March 20, 2006
PULL THIS THING OVER

I WANNA PULL THIS THING OVER
By
Joe M. Harrelson
Seems I've been driving most my life
Going from one place to another
but right now
I wanna pull this thing over
I've been on the road since I was seventeen
Chasing too many women and not enough dreams
but right now
I wanna pull this thing over
I want to pull her in and lock her down
I want to stop for awhile and look around
tonight
I wanna pull this thing over
Somewhere down this road I bumped into you
I finally hit my brakes and now I'm through
so right now
I'm gonna pull this thing over
I'm gonna pull her in and lock her down
I'm gonna stop for awhile and look around
tonight
I'm gonna pull this thing over
If I told all the stories of my lovelife in this blog, none of you would believe it and understandably so. It's a sorted array of women from every walk of life, that I managed to connect with somewhere through my travels. Why I went through so many is hard to say, but Lordy mercy I'm lucky to be alive.
I'm lucky to have made it through the one from Jasper Alabama. She was 36 and I was 21, she was not only my girlfriend, she was also the vice president of the radio station I was working for at that time in Knoxville Tennessee. I had no clue what my young body was in for with this one, but for some reason I couldn't say no. It ended up being the most life changing, traumatic two years of my life.
Cat was certifiable and suffered from multiple personalities. Of course I did not know this until about 6 months into our crazy relationship. Driving down the highway, she would start speaking in tongue, which I thought was just part of her religious upbringing, Bam, lalalalalalala, I had no idea what to think. I just tried to keep the car on the road. I tried not too freak out too much. I had noticed alot of wild behavior, but I thought that was just her life and I was along for the ride. I knew she took alot of pills and I was so young, I never asked too many questions. I mean come on, here's this hot older woman, calling me her boyfriend, she was in radio and my boss, what could go wrong?
Where do I begin?
She took me home to meet her Mom and Dad back in Alabama. There, I learned more about this woman than I ever could have imagined.
About 50 miles before her parents place, she tells me she's been keeping something from me and now she had to tell me. She had a son, he was 14 years old and he was different, and I would meet him soon, because he lives with her parents.
Mike was different, physically. He had glaucoma in both eyes, a birthmark that covered 90% of his face that went all the way through to his brain, and one arm and leg were much shorter than the other. Mike was the sweetest kid you'd ever want to meet. Needless to say, I was in shock, I had never been around anyone quite like this before. Mike was in high school, a very intelligent young man. He cherished his Mother, he was so happy to see us when we drove up to the house. For six months I never heard Cat mention his name one time and then wham! Here it comes........
Mike was the child of Cat and her brother and because of the family's religious beliefs, she had the baby. The story was, that Cat's brother raped her on the kitchen floor when they were teenagers and that's how she became pregnant. Her brother by the way, I also learned on this trip, was in prison. Close to the end of this relationship, Cat was recieving letters from her brother, him telling her in graphic detail the sex acts he wanted to indulge in with her. I was on a slow train to nutsville by this time and working my way toward the brake.
Then there were here parents, Opal and Bill. The father once formed a gospel band with his family and they were pretty successful. Cat was the main attraction when she was a teen, she had the greatest natural singing voice, soulful and pure and actually had a number 1 gospel record. However, these days Bill would spend hours in his shed recording flatulence and creating songs of his "work"! Yes, exactly what I said. I kid you not, I could never make this stuff up.
The story continues.....
We were living in Nashville and I was working for a radio station part time and a hair salon full time. Cat was trying to break into the country music scene and wasn't working at all, but she had pretty good connections with Warner Brothers, but her uncontrollable behavior let that dream slip away. Missing auditions, not returning calls, she really burned alot of bridges and I felt so sorry for her. I knew she had been acting a little more out of control than usual and then things really started to happen.
She would eat only toast and wheat germ, she did this for weeks at a time. She'd go out and stay gone for days. Some nights when she finally showed up, she wasn't alone, she'd bring home men and women, sometimes both. Her "appetite" was extreme at times. Remember, I'm 21 years old and thinking that we're together, soul mates is what she called us, but this can't be right, but I hang on a little longer.
I found her under the bed one morning, she heard the song "Flesh or Fantasy" by Billy Idol sometime during the night, somehow that triggered her to believe the devil came into the bedroom and raped her, and she was so frightened, she crawled under the bed. She had been there all night. This was starting to happen 2 or 3 times a week, bad dreams, walking the floor, speaking in tongues. Lithium, Nardil and a few things not prescribed, do not mix well with Jack Daniels and brandy and she was not about to give up her booze. This was the beginning of the end as they say.
The relationship ended about the same time her brother was released from prison. He had been out 2 months and was at home one afternoon free basing cocaine. The torch he was using exploded, he caught himself on fire. He jumped through a window and ran and fell into a ditch and put himself out. Witnesses said they saw him get into his truck and drive to a Shell station near the interstate about a mile away. When he exited the truck, skin was falling off of his arms and face. He burned over 90% of his body. The last time I saw Cat was at the hospital the day her brother died.
10 years after Cat & I said goodbye, I was working in Birmingham, managing a traffic service for radio and television. I received a call at the studio one day and it was Cat. She heard me on the radio on her way home from work, she said she knew it was me and had to call. She wanted to let me know she was now okay.
She managed to get her medication right finally, she quit drinking and she went back to school and is now a RN in Birmingham. She told me she was happy and that she had a baby girl and Mike comes to visit often.
That was the last time I talked to Cat. I'm happy she made it through the storm.
As for me, that was just one relationship. I don't think I will share too many other stories about the women I've met through the years. I shared this one because I wanted you to see how extremely out of control another life can be, and how that life can overcome the worst part of living.
This experience taught me a powerful lesson. It taught me that sometimes you just have to stop and pull this thing over.
Friday, March 10, 2006
GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS
Sunday, February 19, 2006
ARIZONA RAIN

Blowing dust of fear, blinded by the pain
I didn't know
The sweetness of a soul
Til I looked in your eyes
and I lost all control
Loves as Sweet as Arizona rain
I rememeber the first time
time and time again
I will remember
The Arizona rain
Desert skies are beautiful
over barren mountain range
But the sun can burn you
So you're numb to any change
My heart was empty
As an endless sea of sand
til your love came to tempt me
And you held out your hand
Loves as sweet as Arizona rain
I remember the first time
Time and time again
I will remember
The Arizona rain
Words and Music
by
Joe Harrelson/Randy Darbone
There's this one picture I've drawn for as long as I can remember. The picture is of a desert highway heading into the sunset. It's a quick picture, one line across a page, a big curve for the sun, and a couple of lines for a two lane road and a mountain on either side of the road. I can draw it in about 20 seconds. After drawing this picture for 20 some odd years, something amazing happened to me. I saw my picture come to life looking out the windsheild of my car.
For many years of my life I was not in a good place. I had made many bad choices which caused me and others in my life grief and hardship. I was at a crossroads and had very few options. Death and jail were two of those options and neither really appealed to me. The other option was to jump in my old 82' Z28 and hit the highway and head west. So I chose what was behind door number 3.
I had a friend in Arizona at the time, his name is Randy, he was also in radio and we met about 10 years prior in Mississippi. He worked for a country station in Yuma Arizona and had told me their classic rock station was in need of some help. That was all I needed to hear. I had this one chance to get my life back and headed down a road I had never been, hoping, praying this is where I needed to be. I found the answer to that question, even before making it all the way to Yuma.
The picture I've been doodling all my life is right here in front of me, the mountains in the background, the long winding 2 lane highway with this breathtaking sunset at the end, I could see the cactus in the distance, this was it! I never had a more calming moment in my life.
Arizona gave me a new beginning that I've never taken for granted. I live in Alaska today, but I will always remember that Arizona rain.
Night,
Joe
Sunday, February 05, 2006
IN YOUR ROOM
Sunday, January 15, 2006
TRAVELIN' MAN


Sunday, January 08, 2006
IF HEAVEN
IF HEAVENThursday, January 05, 2006
WHEN I GET WHERE I'M GOING
"When I get where I'm going ....On the far side of the sky.....The first thing that I'm gonna do is spread my wings and fly
I'm gonna land beside a lion and run my fingers through his mane or I might find out what it's like to ride a drop of rain"
This song was released about a month ago. The artist is Brad Paisley, the album, "Time Well Wasted", I recommend you buy it today.
Working for a music driven radio station I have the opportunity to listen to songs over and over again. Sometimes that can be a good thing and sometimes that can be a bad thing. Take for instance " Achy Breaky Heart" by Billy Ray Cyrus, that was a bad thing. I wanted to commit violence against others everytime I had to play that song. Don't get me wrong, I believe it had it's place in country music and Billy Ray released much better music in the years after Achy Breaky.
Brad's new song "When I Get Where I'm Going" will be one of those songs that'll stay with me for along time. In a good and bad way. I love the song, I love Dolly singing harmony and background, but never did I expect it to mean so much to me when I was enjoying playing the song on my show these last few weeks.
We played the song at my brothers memorial 2 days ago. It hit me like a ton of bricks. My brother now will be able to ride that drop of rain, he'll be able to do all the things in our physical life we could never imagine doing. I love the fact that music touches me in this way, I love the fact that it can bring tears and laughter in my soul in less than 4:00 minutes. I shed tears missing my brother but I laugh knowing he can run his fingers through a lion's mane. Is that cool or what?
Brad Paisley releases a song less than a month ago, and it's already being used to honor those we loved and lost, now that's a powerful song. Thank you Brad.
Thinking of my brother tonight as I blog away about the music we shared and loved. Grieving sucks. But it's a process I suppose we all have to go through in our lives. I don't think I'm very good at it.
Hug your loved ones tonight.
Joe
Saturday, December 31, 2005
GO REST HIGH ON THAT MOUNTAIN

"I know your life on earth was troubled And only you could know the pain
You weren't afraid to face the devil You were no stranger to the rain
Go rest high on that mountain Son, your work on earth is done, Go to heaven a shoutin Love for the Father and the Son
Vince Gill wrote this song about his brother that passed away. It has always touched my heart, but never more than today.
Yesterday I came home for lunch and found my sweet brother John had passed away in his sleep. He was 42. It was the saddest day of my life.
John lived in pain for the last 20 plus years ever since a terrible motorcycle accident that cut off part of his foot. He also suffered from scoliosis that continued to curve his spine throughout his life. A staph infection about a year after the accident, caused his partial paralysis.
But none of this ever kept him from being the best part of our family. John was a good, decent man that only wanted to be loved and accepted and every member of our family cherished every moment we had with him. He was the center of our family, and he will forever be in my heart.
I'm happy for him because he's up there running now. He always wanted to run and pass the football and now I know that's exactly what he's doing.
I have never been more sad than I am right this minute. Losing John is the biggest loss in my life and I don't know what to do, think, feel. I want to scream, I wanna hit something, I wanna cry.
John thank you for being my brother, thank you for giving me 40 years with you and your unconditional love, thank you for coming to me in Tennessee and living with me. thank you for keeping all those crazy things we did a secret that only brothers could know about. Thank you for going to Wal Mart with me the day before Christmas at 6:30 in the morning, that was the best time, we laughed so much. Thank you John for sharing your love of music with me, thank you for loving me like nobody will ever love me again. John I sit here tonight crying every few minutes going through every emotion over and over again. I wasn't ready for you to go anywhere man, I wasn't ready.
John thank you for coming to Alaska to live with me for these last 5 months. You told me every other day how happy you were here and how peaceful life was since you moved here. That did my heart so good I hope you know that brother.
I am lonely without you. I am devastated that you were taken from me. I am angry that you had to suffer so. It was hard to see you in your torment and pain. But that's not how I will remember you
I will always remember you full of life and warmth and kindness. I will remember the laughter and the love. I will remember the precious time we shared. I will remember your vitality and your grace.
Your death left a gaping hole in my life. But hard as it is to be without you, I take comfort in the knowledge that you are at last in peace.
John I love you, I miss you terribly, but I know now you're no longer in pain, now your work on earth is done. I can't wait to see you again and I promise we'll pass that football for as long as you want. I love you Johnny, I love you.
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
SEAGULL
Those are eleven of the most soothing words I've ever heard. Today I need soothing.
1974 Bad Company was huge! Songs like Bad Company, Cant Get Enough, Movin On & Rock Steady were anthems to a million kids and I was one of those kids. I was only 9 at the time, but my love for music was already there.
"Seagull" takes me away to someplace quiet and Lord knows we all need quiet sometime.
I remember when I was 4 or 5 and the babysitter would want us kids to take a nap. We all fought like hell, "why oh why must we take a nap? " Today I would give you a hundred bucks if I could take a nap.
Today I wanna be a seagull.
"Miss My Family'
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I WANNA PULL THIS THING OVER By Joe M. Harrelson Seems I've been driving most my life Going from one place to another but right now I wa...




