[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Page 21382]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          AMERICAN MUSIC MONTH

  Mr. ALEXANDER. A few years ago, a New York Times story reported that 
``Lamar Alexander grew up in a lower, middle class family in the 
mountains of East Tennessee.'' The article so offended my mother I 
found her reading Thessalonians to help deal with what she regarded as 
a ``slur on our family.''
  ``We never thought about ourselves that way,'' she told me. ``You had 
a library card from the day you were three and a music lesson from the 
day you were four. You had everything you needed that was important.''
  I was 4 years old in Maryville, TN, a town of about 10,000 then, when 
my mother took me to Maryville College to learn how to play the piano. 
One of the college professors loaned us a battered upright piano which 
sat in our living room for several years. Every day before school, I 
would bang away on Czerny, Bach, Beethoven and Mozart--and throw in a 
little Jerry Lee Lewis when I thought no one was around to correct me.
  I participated in annual piano contests sponsored by the National 
Federation of Music Clubs. I played in the Maryville High School band 
and played piano at revival meetings while my father--who had a 
beautiful tenor voice--led the singing.
  After working during the day as a law clerk in New Orleans for Judge 
John Minor Wisdom I played trombone, tuba and washboard in the band at 
Your Father's Moustache on Bourbon Street to earn a little extra money.
  When I walked across the State in a winning campaign for Governor I 
took four students from the University of Tennessee marching band with 
me. We performed as Alexander's Washboard Band dozens of times from the 
back of a flatbed truck.
  As Governor, I could think of only one way to unify our State that 
was made up of so many different climates, political beliefs and 
people, and that was our music. From the Carter family in Bristol, to 
Music City in Nashville, to the blues and gospel of Beale Street in 
Memphis. Tennessee can be said to be the home of American music.
  As Education Secretary in the first Bush administration I was asked 
to be the Republican speaker at the annual Gridiron Dinner, a press 
gathering where public careers are made or broken. When I found that 
Texas Governor Ann Richards was the Democrat speaker I decided that was 
not a contest I was likely to win. So instead of speaking, I wrote some 
lyrics to country music songs and sang and played the piano.
  Music has been throughout my life a source of inspiration and joy. I 
suspect that is true for most Americans. It is a rare American who does 
not have some story about how music has made our lives richer and more 
interesting, how it has changed our moods, brought out the best in our 
character and even sometimes helped us earn a living.
  So I am proud to join with the Senator from Illinois and co-sponsor 
this important resolution declaring American Music Month. Our music is 
an integral part of the American character, and we should celebrate it.

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