Frank, I think I owe quite a lot to Utah Carl. He is likely the reason that I, my sons, my cousin, all play guitar professionally today. Utah Carl's sister Willa Wendt was my aunt. She was married to Herb Wendt, my mother's brother. We're all from northern Michigan. Aunt Willa and Uncle Herb would come north to visit in the summers during the 50s and 60s. They both played guitar, and I'm sure that Uncle Herb's inspiration was from Utah Carl and Aunt Willa. Uncle Herb would sit all of us young nephews and nieces on the porch and sing sad songs like "Ol' Shep" and "Dad Gave My Dog Away" until he had us crying. Despite that, my cousin Kenny Rich and I got guitars at the age of 14 and started playing. Kenny and his band, "My Friends" signed with Motown's Rare Earth label and released a single in the 70s. Aunt Willa would bring Utah Carl 45s for us. She made many of the clothes he wore while performing. Many of those costumes were still in her closets when she died. She also co-wrote and sang on "Never Meant For Me", Carl's single on the D label. She was immersed in his life it seemed. So I was disappointed that she was not even mentioned in Carl's obituary in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame posting. Nor was his brother George. My wife and I visited Uncle Herb and Aunt Willa a few times during the late 70s and 80s, right after Carl died. We'd sit up 'til all hours of the morning playing, singing and drinking Buckhorn. George, Roberta, and Jimmy, Johnny and George Jr,. all stopped by. As would my brother Dale, a painter, who lived down there during those years. Uncle Herb had an 8mm camera and shot a lot of footage of both his family and the Beach family. Aunt Willa gave it to me, just before she died, probably not knowing what it all was. As I reviewed it, most was Beach family stuff. Utah Carl in parades, Utah Carl posing with Ernest Tubb, and Hank Snow (probably coinciding with their visit mentioned in the article), etc. Those were fun times. Denny Gramza
