Memories from the Homestead: Pioneer treasures—Tommy Nallie [Part 5, conclusion]

     It's really something, looking back at how everything has happened. From the sad turn of events regarding Tommy's illness to his passing on August 4, everything always lines up in God's perfect timing. Three weeks from now on October 4, 2025, will be the 40th anniversary since I watched Tommy and the Sons of the Pioneers the first time, right here in Branson. A little over a mile from where I grew up. I am extremely blessed, and I'm beyond thankful for everything.   

     I want to conclude this series celebrating Tommy by providing a look back at how my opportunity to join the Sons of the Pioneers really happened. 

The Sons of the Pioneers on March 7, 2018. Seated left to right: Ken Lattimore and John Fullerton. Standing left to right: Paul Elliott,  Dusty Rogers and Tommy Nallie. (Photo courtesy of John Fullerton)

Let's go back to 2017 for a moment. I had a busy year; my Western Round-Up Show came to an end that summer in late July. After a 17-year-run, it was time to let it go. I still had plenty of work musically. I had my own band, Blue Valley Trail, and we had quite a few road dates regionally. I finished the year doing 53 performances at the Shepherd of the Hills in their Christmas Cowboy Chuckwagon Dinner Show, “Christmas on the Trail.” I did a total of 213 performances in front of 20,202 people. I released a new album on the Western ballads of Marty Robbins, which had taken three years to complete.

On Monday morning January 15, 2018, I had spent about an hour chopping firewood, trying to stay ahead of the cold weather. Around 10:45 a.m., I came inside. Luanna and I, both with a cup of coffee, relaxed in the living room while I took a break for a bit. At 10:56 a.m., my phone rang. It was Tommy Nallie.

"Hey there, Tommy," I answered. "Morning, John. Hey, I need to talk to you about something," Tommy stated. "How would you like to be the new baritone voice and rhythm guitar player for the Sons of the Pioneers?"

Honestly at that very moment, everything froze. I slightly choked up and still managed to give him my answer, "absolutely, Sir," I stated. 

At that point, Tommy gave me a few of the particulars, who had left the band, who else was joining, and the hunt for a fiddle player.

 The other guy that accepted the offer to join the Pioneers several days prior was Dusty Rogers. Wow, all three of us reunited, back onstage together again, this time, carrying on the 84-year tradition that Dusty's dad Roy Rogers had started with Bob Nolan and Tim Spencer in late 1933. Anyway, that was Tommy's phone call. The whole conversation was less than five minutes. Tommy stated he would be in touch, and he would see me in several days to discuss things further.

On the morning of January 17, Tommy called to see if I was free the next day to meet somewhere in Branson. We agreed on Chik-fil-A there at 607 West Main. So, at 12:45 p.m. on Thursday, January 18, Luanna and I met Tommy in the parking lot up by the front door.  

"Welcome to the Sons of the Pioneers," Tommy announced, as I shook his hand. I can still show you that exact spot where that happened and the booth where we sat inside while having lunch and talking Pioneers’ business. I had a few hundred questions or so it seemed, discussing all the upcoming rehearsals and road dates. There would be 65 total shows. We sat there and visited until 3:30.

 Going back through the list of Sons of the Pioneers members, I figured it out that Dusty was the 44th member of the band, and I was 45. Dusty and I were excited for rehearsals. There was a lot of work to do. Our first road date together was less than two months away.

The first rehearsal was at Tommy's house, the morning of January 23. Just Tommy, Dusty and I. For the next three days that followed, tenor vocalist Ken Lattimore, who had been with the Pioneers since May of 1998, came up from Marshall, Texas, and we put in four to six hours of vocal work, through January 27.

Fourteen more rehearsals took place from early February to March 7. Our first rehearsal with the new fiddle player Paul Elliott took place on March 5. The vocal trio was Dusty at the middle voice, Ken at tenor, and me with the baritone part and rhythm guitar. Tommy went to stand-up bass, and Paul's fiddle playing was shockingly identical to the styling of the group's first fiddler, Hugh Farr. Our sound was fresh but still vintage, and the arrangements were no different than they were fifty and sixty years earlier. We worked up one of our favorite Pioneers’ recordings, "Blue Prairie," and gave it the same treatment it was known for when introduced in 1935. Haunting and eerie with a slow hoofbeat tempo.

March 15, 2018, in Yuma, Arizona, was our first Sons of the Pioneers performance with this new configuration. It was a sellout with 500 people. We were all nervous. I didn't eat anything after breakfast. We opened our set with "Way Out There" and had a ball. The crowd loved it. The rest of the year saw us doing performances in Kansas, Texas and a Canadian prairie tour in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. We did a two-month run in Branson at the Shepherd of the Hills.

 It was Tuesday, September 11, 2018. We walked out onstage for our first Shepherd of the Hills performance. Dusty was out for the week, so my other hero, Luther Nallie, came back and sang with us for those five performances. That first show was so exciting. My stomach was in my throat the whole time. I couldn't catch my breath. I fronted the whole thing, emcee chores and all. It had now all come full-circle. I was performing with my musical heroes in my hometown, on a property that my family had been involved in since the late 1930s. Family and dear friends were in the audience. That particular performance will always remain in my memory, a truly historic moment in my career of over 4,700 performances at that time. It was beyond wow. Luther cornered me in the dressing room after his fifth performance and told me, "You're right where you ought to be, son." I will always treasure that comment.

We finished out 2018 performing in California, Oklahoma, Kansas and Wisconsin. The 2019 road trips were absolutely phenomenal, including my first performance on the Grand Ole Opry, Dusty's first too, Tommy's second appearance. We did not only one Canada trip, but two June performances and October performances. Driving through southern Alberta in the Canadian Rockies is truly amazing.   

The memories are piled high indeed. Tommy Nallie indeed has been the greatest. Definitely one of the finest guitar teachers ever, who always took the time to stop me when I played the wrong chord, and show me the proper voicing. He believed in my method of teaching Pioneer harmony, which isn't any different than how Lloyd Perryman did it. It never failed and it has worked for every individual just like it did in 1949 when Lloyd quickly had to teach parts to a new member - a guy named Ken Curtis, introducing him to over 400 songs in five years.

Tommy showed no signs of sickness onstage this year. He gave it more than 100 percent onstage, even though the last trip he did from June 20 through June 25 was a lot for him physically. No one knew, not even us close to him, how serious things really were. Our hearts were shattered. 

At Tommy's memorial service in Texas on August 11, the four of us in the Sons of the Pioneers sang a few of his favorites. One of the old hymns that Tommy had heard Lloyd Perryman sing on a 1941 transcription record we felt was most appropriate, a tune called "What Wonderful Joy." Tommy talked often of the song. He and I both had discussed our love of the tune over the past fifteen years. The lyric on the chorus in two parts goes like this:

"A wonderful home (glorious home) in that mansion is mine, where Jesus now lives and I shall see, oh it is mine, glory sublime. Oh, yes, I will go, with its glories to share, with Him up there, what wonderful joy to be with Him there."

We know, Tommy, you are up there singing in the hallelujah choir. 

Thank you, everyone for allowing me to share these treasured memories, and again all the thoughts and prayers have been so greatly appreciated. The Sons of the Pioneers go back on the road this weekend. There is definitely an empty saddle in our corral.

Happy trails, everyone!