Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Ketchum is back on the road
Singer battles back from bouts with MS, paralysis
WEST CHESTER » Country music star Hal Ketchum is back at it after five years away from the stage, aznd will be on stage for an Oct. 26 concert at Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center.
Ketchum has topped the charts several times and is a Grand Ole Opry member. He will bring his acoustic show to the friendly confines at Uptown!
More than half a decade after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and experienced bouts of paralysis and blindness, Ketchum has released a new album, “I’m the Troubadour.”
When asked what he might say to fans who are having a tough go of it, Ketchum said that he sympathizes.
“Chin up,” he said during a Thursday afternoon phone interview from Texas.
Ketchum then quoted a poem penned by his mother who is a breast cancer survivor.
“Ain’t no use to sit and whine, ‘cause the fish ain’t on your line, bait your hook and keep a-tryin’, keep it going.”
The 64-year old pointed to noni juice, a Tahitian flower extract, partly for his nerve regeneration and recovery.
“It’s the silver bullet for me,” he said. “I slug it.”
Many of Ketchum’s songs deal with love.
He said he is happy to have found his best friend, his baby sitter and “wife number five or six,” Andrea Ketchum.
“It’s been a wonderful ride,” he said. “I’m not much, but I’m all I think about.”
Ketchum recovered in a cabin in Wimberley, Texas.
“I didn’t write, didn’t’ perform,” he said. “I was just laying low.”
As his health improved, Ketchum returned to writing songs.
“The key for me was getting up every morning and having something real to do,” he said. “Some days, my hands don’t work as well as they should.
“I’ll get a little wobbly on occasion, but I just keep on going.”
Tickets for the Thursday Oct. 26 show may be purchased at www.uptownwestchester.org or by phone at 610-356-2787 or the box office at 225 N. High St.