At the time of this picture I had already received the Lord Jesus Christ and was seeking His direction for my life.  Shortly after this we were playing at Groh's in Belmar and I was singing "Georgia On My Mind", a song I'd sung many times, for many years.   A verse in the song says: "Georgia, Georgia, No peace I find."  At that moment God spoke to me, right on the bandstand of Groh's, and said, "Why are you singing about that, when you ought to be singing about the peace that you've found."   That night I told the band that I was quitting.

   The problem was that we had a big engagement coming up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  If I quit now that would hang everybody up and I didn't want to do that but I didn't want to hang God up either and I knew He wanted me to quit.  So I decided to make the Grand Rapids trip and then quit.  That decision made me very uneasy and I prayed all the way to Michigan.  Just outside of Grand Rapids a cloud began to form on the horizon in front of the van and out of it Jesus appeared to me, beckoning me with his hands to come closer.  I couldn't stand it any longer.

   When I arrived in Grand Rapids I called the Shamrock Lounge and told them I wasn't coming to the gig.  They could come and get my equipment and use it but I wasn't going to set foot in that place.  I knew I had to obey the Lord even though it meant letting my friends down.

   It was at this time, David Heth was at the Shamrock to see the Jaywalkers, and when they discovered that he played the organ they asked him to fill in for me.

   Some months later I received a phone call from my good friend Ray Dahrouge telling me of the tragic news.

Local Band Shared A Goal With Danelectro: Hitting It Big

"I Finally Made It Big - Thanks Lord."

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