VIEWS

When Gwyneth Paltrow appeared on Inside The Actors Studio, she said: "Actually, what really inspired me was 'Free to Be You and Me.' " There was a surprising burst of applause from the audience. "I used to lie on the bedroom floor and sing all the songs and act all the parts and imagine what all the characters looked like. I loved that."

 

Yes, that’s me with Minnie Pearl at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. My first job in television was as composer/music director for Feeling Good, a PBS show about health, aimed at adults and produced by Children’s Television Workshop. We used songs and sketches, just like Sesame Street. I composed songs for many pop and country singers. We made two trips to Nashville. I had composed songs for Johnny Cash, Charlie Rich, Charley Pride, and many others, and we videotaped them at the Grand Ole Opry. For Johnny Cash, we used his band and as I sang the song for them their pencils got busy with the unique notation of Nashville musicians.

 

This photo shows me with my wife Cantor Cathy Lawrence, an extraordinary singer, wife, and friend.