The Gatlin Brothers on Life, Jesus, and Their New Album, "The Pilgrimage"
The Gatlin Brothers, Larry, Steve, and Rudy, sat down this morning for a chat with the I-Man, and tried to fit in on the Fox Business Network. Having just sung their song "All the Gold in California," Larry wondered why someone would sell their gold for dollars.
"Do me a favor," said Imus. "Shut up and sing."
Imus and Larry go way back to what we'll affectionately call the I-Man's "lost decades" of the 1970s and 80s. "On two or three occasions back in those years, when we weren't exactly living at the foot of the cross, we crossed paths," said Larry, who, like Imus, is now drug and alcohol free.
Caught off guard by this trip down memory lane, Imus wondered if the three Gatlin brothers always get along, because Larry "seems like a long day."
"We get along extremely well," said Rudy or Steve Gatlin.
They got their start when Larry, the oldest, was just six years old and nobody was quite sure if Rudy, the youngest, could even talk. But their Aunt Nell urged their mother to enter them in a talent contest in Abilene, Texas, and so she did.
"We won first place in the six-year old division," Larry boasted. "We were the only ones in the six-year old division."
Their winning song all those years ago was "Feeling Mighty Fine," about heaven and joy and the lord, leading Imus to wonder if the brothers Gatlin loved the Talladega Nights baby Jesus (weighing 8.5 lbs), or "the grown one who caused all the trouble."
"We're more partial to the grown one," Larry said. He paused, and asked, "What kind of question is that?"
The Gatlin Brothers' latest album is called "The Pilgrimage," and one of the songs has special meaning to Larry, to whom Johnny Cash "was kinda like a big brother."
During a recent car ride, Larry's son, named Joshua Cash Gatlin, had asked his father what was wrong with country music today. Larry explained it was just different, but that, as a country music family, they should root for "the kids."
"We have to understand something," Larry had told Josh. "The world, country music, Nashville—nothing will ever be the same because Johnny Cash is dead and his house burned down."
And thus the song, "Johnny Cash is Dead and His House Burned Down" was born. Imus wondered if the Gatlin Brothers would play it today, to which Larry replied, "We didn't come here to get a haircut."
-Julie Kanfer
Reader Comments (1)
Talking about the man above.....please Julie.....put a countdown clock on this site...
IT can't be long before Jenna knocks Mr Imus flying off his stool
Doug from Canada