Strangest job I had in Florida--and one of the nicest --was with an all-white country-and-western band. All-white, that is, except me. They called themselves the Florida Playboys. Can you feature that? The Deep South, 1948, a black dude playing piano in a hillbilly band? Well, it happened. And I'm glad to say that it happened to me. I met this guy at the Arthur Smith Music Store in Tampa. That's a place where I hung out and fooled around with the instruments. I can't remember the cat's name, but he was one of the Playboys… He knew I could play piano, and… his band needed a piano player. Was I interested? Course I was. It was money, wasn't it? So he took me over to meet the rest of the band. I sat in with them, and they immediately heard that I could play their style of music. They offered me the job and I grabbed it. I was a Playboy... [I]t was a tight band. There was a regular guitar, steel guitar, a couple of fiddles, a string bass, drums, and me on piano. We played all the country hits of the day--"Kentucky Waltz" and "Anytime." And every once in a while I'd get to sing. I remember doing "Waiting All for You." But my main work was on piano, even though I also learned how to yodel. I'm sure part of the reason [I was accepted as a member of a white country and western band] was 'cause I could play the music right… I could do country music with as much feeling as any other Southerner. And why not? I had been hearing it since I was a baby. << less