I have almost finished the Killen book. William Doyce Killen -- AKA (Buddy) B Nov. 13, 1932 ... D Nov.1, 2006 had an amazing musical career that spanned longer than most.

I would like to make a few comments here on the Forum of what I found for all our good friends here.

Buddy can be said to have met and worked with every artist that ever hoped to be a star in Nashville in the golden years of the 1950's and 1960's. Everyone from signing a struggling 14 year old Dolly Parton to playing bass for Hank Williams. A very interesting story how he met Roger Miller and helped with his career. This also included Patsy Cline. The rest of the list is far too extensive to list here, but it included everyone.

And of course I could not wait to read his connection to Jim Reeves which was in the middle of the book. I must say I think Buddy who claimed Jim to be the best friend of anyone he ever worked with, could have told a more positive story line. Buddy seemed to center on Jim's troubling mood swings and spoke quite a lot of Jim weakness for women in vivid detail. There were some other interesting stories but nothing already put into print. This covered about 5 pages. Buddy did not mention he was a co writer for "The One That Got Away" despite his name along with Jim's posted in the Bear book. He also only says he played back up on some of Jim's recordings and on stage. Never confirmed he was a member of the "Blue Boys" which I always wondered about. The odd part is that the rest of the same chapter dealt with a guy named Joe Tex, someone to be a lesser known singer. This covered 8 pages.

Nothing more until a few further chapters on, Buddy talked about the plane crash. Here I found a few glaring mistakes that I found troubling to say the least. First he says Jim was returning from Batesville on the same day he went there. Buddy got the date of the crash wrong, saying it was on Aug. 1st. and that Jim was 39 years old. All incorrect. He says he was one of the first to the crash site and his observations in detail were most graphic.

Other than a few mistakes, the book I still feel was a good read. An incredible amount of information of most (if not all) of the stars back in the day. It kept me interested and never wanting to stop reading, the hallmark of any good book.