Chance encounter with music legend

In 1967 I was 13 and during Christmas break I took the Greyhound to Kelowna to visit a friend. The bus ride was uneventful until on the way back to my seat a gentleman who was sitting behind me said, “Hello son, care to sit down and talk for a while?” I accepted and we began to converse. He spoke of growing up in the American south and before I knew it we were in deep conversation.

I asked him why he was in Canada and he said that he’d heard how beautiful it was. He spoke of his love of Elvis Presley and how he had decided early that music and songwriting were all that he wanted to do with his life. My stop was just ahead and I realized I hadn’t asked his name. “My name is Tony Joe White, son,” he told me.

I thought nothing more about it until a few years later when I heard Elvis singing Polk Salad Annie and the radio announcer mentioned the songwriter’s name — Tony Joe White. This encounter on a Greyhound was the beginning of my love for dialogue with people and I went on to interview hundreds of famous musicians.

Tony Jo White died Oct. 24 of a sudden heart attack at 75 and I will forever treasure those few hours we had on a bus just talking about the beauty of song and life.

Mike Bezzeg, Calgary