It was indeed Don who invented the "slip note" playing style that was picked up by Floyd Cramer. Don got his first songs published by Hill and Range -- a hugely successful song publishing company founded by by Austrian-born Julian Aberbach and his brother Jean, who were close personal friends of Reeves' ladyfriend and guiding influence, Bea Terry.
Don reflected some years ago, "A shrink I was seeing (for my suicidal depression when I was 19) stated, after I had given him a recording of some of my work, that in his opinion the only reason I wanted to be in the music business was to get out of doing any REAL work. Maybe he was right. I still sit at the keyboard and PLAY. Anyway, I owe him. It made me mad enough to set my jaw and go after success in music. Thinking back, I don't think he was doing that well himself. He was about 200 pounds overweight, a heavy cigar smoker, and I can never remember him cracking a smile in a year and a half.
"I am now...deeply and enthusiastically involved in songwriting again, after a long lull. I was in my 50s, with more than 40 chart level songs and a hit record under my belt, before I finally gave up the idea of going back to the University of Chicago and finishing pre-med and going on through medical school to become a psychiatrist. At long last, I now think of myself as a songwriter, not an aborted pre-med student/potential jazz piano recording star/classical music composer-conductor/concert pianist/etc etc etc.....gone awry. I guess it's about time." Don Robertson
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