Some
people are born
with
silver spoons in their mouths.
Lenny Trawick was born
with a guitar pick in his hand
and he wouldn't trade that pick
for all the silver spoons
in the world.
"My whole family played and sang," he said. "We sang gospel music and my mother taught me to play the guitar when I was about five years old. Pickin' and singin' was a way of life for us and I wouldn't trade it for anything."
Although his background was in gospel music, that was not Trawick's only love. During his coming of age, he entered the age of Rock n' Roll and formed an FFA band with Dewitt Dawkins, Judson Vaughn, Jimmy Ellis, Mike Swindall and Kenny Stewart.
"As far as bands go, we weren't band," Trawick said with a smile. "We played different kinds of music--the kind high school kids liked. After Mike and Kenny graduated, we had a little four-piece rock 'n roll band and played for a couple of years at different places. And we weren't bad either."As an adult, Trawick played in bands that played a mix of music, but mainly country and often with the popular local band, SideKick. In "later" years his interest in music turned to blues. His band, Street Feet Blues, played all across the South from New Orleans and Jackson, Mississippi to Atlanta.
"We were regulars at Poplar Head Mule Club in Dothan and Foghorns in Panama City.
"But after a while I got tired of being on the road all the time and the late nights," Trawick said. "I didn't get tired of the music, but when we stopped playing on the road, I just stepped away from it for a while."
Trawick got off the road and stepped away from pickin' and singin' but he didn't exactly break his guitar strings. He continued to pick and sing from time to time, but in 2002, when the "We Piddle Around Theater" in Brundidge opened its doors, Trawick was there picking and singing the old gospel songs that were his beginning in music and picking up a few new tunes along the way.
"I had a great time being a part of 'Come Home, It's Suppertime' and just really became involved in community theater in Brundidge," he said.
The window coverings at the theater are works of art by local artists and Trawick, a sign artist by trade, contributed the theater signs and also a painting of a boy and his dog to the project.
In the spring of 2003, he made a huge contribution to the folk-life play. He wrote an original musical score for the play that drew raves from theater-goers.
"I had a great time writing the music," he said. "I love to write music and writing music to support the stories in the play was a challenge and a lot of fun."
To write songs about folk-ways, such as sitting up with the dead, making moonshine whiskey and picking blackberries, Trawick had to reach in his back pocket, so to speak.
"I lived a lot of these things," he said, laughing. "I had a great time writing the songs but really had a hard time writing about sitting up with the dead. But it's a fun song about a serious subject and that's the way the stories are. They are about hard times but told in a fun and entertaining way. I'm having a good time writing music again."
Trawick wrote several "serious" songs for "Come Home, It's Suppertime," including a couple of gospel pieces.
Carrie Barrow literally blows the audience away with her voice and Trawick's "I Found My Way Home." He is writing an album of gospel songs especially for her.
"Right now, I'm just having a great time writing songs and I'm looking forward to the fall production of 'Come Home' and perhaps writing a new song or two for it," he said.
