RED, WHITE & YOU #10 (June 29, 2026)

Somebody asked me to write a short biography of myself for the upcoming fall political campaign. I sat down at the keyboard and
after about an hour and a half I still didn’t have a single word on the page. I'd been thinking of all the wonderous things that had
occurred in my life.

When my two brothers and I were young, my father, Harry Weger, was a rather well-known country music performer. It’d be true to say that was back when country wasn’t cool yet. But it sure was starting to get that way.

Our early life was filled with country music shows across the country states — at fairs and rodeos and schoolhouses...just about any kind of place that had a stage. And the artists who appeared on the shows were up-and-comers you might have heard of — people like Marty Robbins who hit it big with a song called “El Paso” -- and a bluegrass band called Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, who hit it big with a TV show — “The Beverly Hillbillies” — and Porter Waggoner who had this new girl singer on his show, real cute little thing named Dolly Parton.

I loved music and played saxophone in the school band. And I had learned to play the guitar and sing harmony on my father’s show
which was playing a lot of performances around the country. We played Fairs and NCO clubs, auditoriums, package shows, and those
kinds of venues.

One of our big memorable ventures was operating Billi Monroe’s Brown County Jamboree in Bean Blossom, Indiana, in the late ‘60’s
and early 1970’s. It was — and is — one of country music’s legendary show places. My father and mother operated the place for Bill
Monroe during the early days of the first Bluegrass festivals, along with Bill Monroe’s brother, Burch.

The Jamboree would run a live stage show on Sunday afternoons and early evenings, every week from early spring until late autumn.
And as winter approached, the season would end. The talent came from the Grand Ole Opry, just about a 3 hour drive up to Bean
Blossom.

Country music was beginning to get more popular across the country, especially folk and bluegrass music. It seemed a bluegrass
festival would be a good idea and so it was launched. And Katy, bar the door!!! Nobody could have ever imagined the unbelievable
number of hippies with banjos and fiddles who showed up to play bluegrass music in little ol? Bean blossom, Indiana! Yes, people knew
that Bob Dylan was singing folk songs in Greenwich Village and Peter, Paul & Mary were on national TV singing ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’...but holy cow! There must have been a thousand pickers standing around playing bluegrass music day and night with no place to house them and no way to feed them. And the Blue Grass Festival was underway! But it all worked out and the entire music
industry headed in a whole new direction called ‘Folk Music.’

Yes, indeed, my family was entertaining in so many ways.

One year the West Vigo Band Boosters wanted to book a country music show for a fundraiser, so my dad lined up a popular Grand
Ole Opry act, The Wilburn Brothers -Teddy & Doyle. They were hot at the time, and the tickets were selling well.

The Nashville agent called my dad and said they had a new girl singer who had just arrived in Nashville, and they would like to add her to the show. My dad told him the auditorium wasn’t big enough to add another artist to the show. But the booker said they wouldn’t charge her fee, they would just bring her anyway to give her some experience since she was new in town.

On the night of the show the big bus arrived at West Vigo and I was so excited. I loved the Wilburn Brothers, and I was anxious to meet the new girl singer. I was waiting in front of the school when the bus pulled up and the musicians got off. Teddy and Doyle Wilburn and their famous steel guitar player, Don Helms, who had played for Hank Williams, and a couple of other band members, and the bus driver. But no girl singer. Heck! I just hopped up on the bus and sitting there in the second row was the girl singer, with big pink sponge rollers in her hair. And she was sewing fringe on the dress she was going to wear on stage that night. It was the girl singer...hurrying like crazy to be ready for the show.

It was LORETTA LYNN!

When she took the stage that night in the West Vigo High School Auditorium, she absolutely rocked the place! She got encores and the audience did not want her to leave the stage! We forged a friendship with her and played quite a few shows with the Wilburn
Brothers and Loretta. She was country through and through. She sent us postcards as she traveled, and her humanity shined in every
word.

My father also had the first show on WTHI-TV. It was June 19, 1954. His program signed the station on the air. It was called “THE
BIG 10 WESTERN FEATURE.” it was a western show and my dad sang and played the guitar and he was called “The Bronco Buddy.”

He had a ‘BRONCO BUDDY CLUB?’ and kids could send in and get a membership card. It was a very big deal. Kids used to go to the TV station and when it first started it kind of got out of hand with kids going to the station. The police had to come to stop traffic on Ohio Street. Television was a very big deal at that time. There was a bakery - BON TON BAKERY - that made Bronco Buddy Cakes.
Eventually, the station hired Jerry Van Dyke from Danville, Illinois, to host a live dance show with Rock & Roll music to follow the
Bronco Buddy Show and it was a big time!

During that time, the Bronco Buddy Club ran Gene Autry movies and Gene Autry came to Terre Haute and along with Gail Davis, who played Annie Oakley on TV. While Gene Autry was in Terre Haute, he came to our house to get
some hay for his horse, Champion. Daddy always laughed and said, “Our horse, Cherokee, would never say ‘neigh’ if Champion needed
hay!”

Playing music on the road was a wonderful part of my life. It taught me how to meet people and talk to the public. And how to be funny
and enjoy life. But it would be very small part of my life.