Sheb Wooley also lived near Casitas Springs off the Ventura, CA coast where Johnnie Cash lived in a place called Oak View.
I was a nine year old boy back then and my parents knew both Wooley and Cash. I have a picture of me on Cash's knee.
This was 1968.
I'd love to see that photo. I got to hang out with Saint Johnny Cash and Sheb, pics at http://www.electricrecordings.com/aapics.html
Sheb was one of the funniest guys I ever met. A funny story that didn't make the cut in the book was after the interview I went out for a late lunch with Sheb. He got in the car, I started it and I heard some high-pitch squeeling. I thought it was my car as I've had some serious car problems on the book adventure (this was a new one though). I asked Sheb "Can you hear that?" He said "No". I shut off the air conditioner, the radio, and it was still squeeling.
After driving for some time, I leaned back towards the back seat to see if it was coming from the rear speakers and as I did, I realized the sound was coming from Sheb's left hearing aid. If he wasn't deaf before, he was for sure then.
Sheb passed away 3 years ago this week, he was one of the coolest guys you could want to meet. He had an alter ego "Ben Colder" in where he released a number of records. I never really got it and never talked too much about it with him. A year later my fridge was sweating a bit and I had to adjust the temperature to "colder" and I got the joke "He's Ben Colder".
I admit this wasn't the first time I didn't get the joke until some time afterward. With a lot of Roger's humor (and sometimes other characters from the book), it took some time to 'get it'. Part of the charm of Roger. Many of his friends told me it would sometimes take months for them to get Roger's joke and that audiences would laugh all the way home after a Roger show because they start getting what Roger said.