I have a question, though. How did you get Merle Haggard for your first interview? Why didn't you start with one of the "lesser-known" friends?
And more importantly, how did you talk him into it? For everyone after him, you could mention "Merle Haggard" in the message to open a few doors. But how did you get that first one?
First off a huge THANK YOU to Nita for taking the time to do this review. It's so appreciated and nice to know that there are other Roger Miller fans out there that know that this man was one of the most interesting characters in the history of entertainment. I'm amazed that more people don't know it, there should be TV specials about Roger, movies and tons of forums on this amazing character.
My wife and I were chatting about it this morning that even if another book was never sold, the book has touched some people's lives and there is a sense that all those years of work was worth it. As sad as it is to lose so many of the legends I was lucky enough to spend time with, there is a sense of pride that the book captured many stories that would have gone untold for the fans of Roger and the interviews themselves if the book wasn't published.
Regarding the Merle interview, I landed that the same way I got to meet Johnny Cash. I just used the power of seeing it happen in my mind's eye. I read some books on the power of positive thinking and visualization and it works. I think there are 100 examples in this book alone on how the power of visualization can work. Wayne Dyer really helped through his words of wisdom.
What happened was I just moved back to Winnipeg from Vancouver and I saw Merle was playing in Grand Forks, North Dakota. As I did when meeting Saint Johnny Cash, I told my family and a few friends that I was going to meet Merle Haggard this weekend and do my first interview with him for the Roger Miller book. They asked me how I was going to do that and I told them I'd let them know when I got home.
I just saw it in my mind's eye that I was going to meet him and talk to him about my book idea. I didn't "try" to meet him, I think that's people's biggest mistake in making goals happen, they "try" - either you do it or you don't. You have to say to yourself I KNOW I can do this, for some reason if you even say to yourself "I THINK I can do this", there is an overtone of failure built into that.
Anyway, I went to the concert, spoke to the merchandise people, asked who the road manager was, introduced myself to him, told him about my book (not concept, just the book I was working on). Luckily, he didn't ask "who else you talked to". He introduced me to Merle, Merle was great, he said absolutely that he'd talk about his friend Roger. I didn't even know before hand if they were that close, so I was lucky that they liked each (if the book was on Waylon, I don't think Merle would have spoke to me). Afterwards, Merle gave me his phone number and said to keep in touch, which I did a little but I felt like he was just being nice so I haven't spoke to him in a while. The thing with celebrities is when they say "keep in touch", you really don't know if they're just being nice.
From there on with the interviews, I used an old sales technique of assumptive selling, I never called someone and asked if it would be possible to do an interview, I'd just asked when would be a good time to meet with them and do an interview. For the most part, it worked.
Having Merle Haggard as the first interview probably convinced me the most that I could interview anyone I set my mind to meet up with. And it helped when I told managers and publicists that I already interview Merle. I also knew Waylon Jennings a little and his crew from some shows I did so I knew I could meet up with them and a few others I had contact with like Marty Stuart and some of the Branson guys.
The lesser knowns came from me talking with the 'big names' - they'd tell me, you know who you should talk with is.... and I'd track them down.
Thanks for asking!
Lyle
www.doitwithstyle.com