stephenie.livingston@gaflnews.com



"I was raised in the Arkansas cotton fields like Johnny Cash," Luraville's Lonnie Jolson said proudly. Jolson, with family and friends in Lafayette County and beyond, has lived among some of country music's most influential musicians. Names like Hank Williams Jr., Loretta Lynn and Molly Hatchet come up routinely in conversation.

Jolson grew up as a migrant worker, picking cotton in Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and elsewhere.

"My mother raised me, and that's all she knew was working on a farm," said Jolson. "We went where the work was."

Jolson says they usually lived in migrant camps, living in tents.

"Sometimes the camps were full of bad types of people, outlaws and thieves," said Jolson. "Most of the time, however, you were surrounded by the best people you could ever hope to meet."

Jolson describes himself as a "modern day gypsy."

"It was a rough life," he said. "When I discovered I had real talent, I realized I could make a lot more money playing music than picking cotton."

Jolson's family moved to a migrant camp in Immokalee when he was around 16, at about the same time as he bought his first guitar.

"At first I just jammed with friends, soon I started playing at the local clubs and stuff," said Jolson. "I would use a fake ID to play at the bars. I can remember getting fired from playing at one bar because I was underage."

Still, it wasn't long before a record company got word of Jolson's unique style, and before recording a complete album, he was sent on a whirlwind tour of Europe.

"I played in Paris, France, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, even Bulgaria. Yeah, you'd be surprised how much Europeans loved county music back then. Country stars were big. They even listened to old stuff like Hank," said Jolson. "They're a different breed over there."

It was in the early 80s that Jolson released his first true album in Nashville, with the help of Charlie McCoy. Over the next few years he opened for Alabama, the Allman Brothers, Molly Hatchet and the Bellamy Brothers, among others.

Jolson calls his style of music "country honk." The term comes from the title of a Rolling Stones song, a country version of "Honky Tonk Women."

"It's somewhere between the Stones and Hank Williams, with a little ZZ Top thrown in there," said Jolson with a chuckle. "Ask any musician and they'll tell you they love all genres of music. All of it is good to me. A good song's a good song, you know what I mean?"

Most of Jolson songs are about Florida and nature, places he's lived and people he's known.

"I always enjoyed writing about the land," Jolson said. Jolson has an album called Gator Tails and writes songs like Swamp, You've Sure Been a Woman to Me.

"My favorite song of mine is called Million Dollar Log," said Jolson. It's about a log outside of a bar in Immokalee. Locals joke that a millions dollars worth of wine has been drank sitting on this particular log. Some hobo was telling me the story one day, so I decided to write a song about it."

Jolson has collected countless stories during his country music career. One of his favorite memories concerns Loretta Lynn's son, Ernest Ray.

Ernest Ray wanted to escape the media coverage that surrounded his family after the release of "Cold Miner's Daughter," a movie based on Loretta Lynn's life.

"He came down to Florida and lived in my home for four months while playing in my band. I liked to call him Erl," said Jolson." Loretta would call the house to check on him and I'd call out 'Erl, your mama's on the phone'."

When another son of Loretta Lynn's died, a popular magazine called Jolson asking for Loretta's contact information.

"They offered me a full layout in their magazine if I'd give up her phone number," Jolson said. "But I refused. I wasn't going to give them that woman's phone number when she had just lost a son."

Today Jolson lives in Luraville just outside of Lafayette County. Jolson and his family have lived in the area for 11 years now. His new band, The Lonnie Jolson Band, is based in Live Oak and already playing live at several venues around North Florida. The band's songs are currently being played on several radio stations in Florida, and they hope their songs will continue to be picked up by more local radio stations.