Andy Griffith ''became somebody'' when playing the trombone

One day, a slide trombone changed it all.

We all know that Andy Griffith was a skilled musician. Anybody who has seen him pick up a guitar on The Andy Griffith Show has seen the ways his Southern charm can light up a melody. Not everybody knows, though, that it was actually a different instrument altogether that changed Griffith's path forever. 

Rewind, if you will, to the year 1940, and we'll find ourselves in Mount Airy, North Carolina, where a young Andy Griffith is about to make a life-changing discovery. At the time, the 14-year-old Griffith was considering a career in the church, where he intended to be a preacher. However, the music he heard at the Haymore Memorial Baptist Church excited him so much that it genuinely altered the way the rest of his life would play out.

"When I was 14, I got a slide trombone from the Spiegel catalog and had no idea what to do with it," Griffith told the Baraboo, Wisconsin News Republic. "We didn't have a music program in my school in Mount Airy."

What was a young trombone owner to do? With the right equipment but none of the know-how, the new instrument would've been useless. Luckily, a family connection led the young Griffith to Rev. Ed Mickey, a local pastor who taught boys how to play horns.

"He didn't know about slide trombones, but I had a book that came with my horn," said Griffith. "When I first got that horn, I tried to pick out 'The Old Rugged Cross.' I don't think I got it, but I approached it. He said 'Leave this book and come back next Wednesday,' I did and he started teaching me. Within two months, I played a solo in church. It was great." 

With just that tiny taste of the limelight, Griffith's career aspirations shifted. Performance became his outlet. Moving a crowd became his number one priority.

"When music came into my life, with the trombone and the singing, I became somebody. That is, I became an individual, where an athlete is a real individual or a fine student is a real individual." 

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3 Comments

CuratoryG 10 months ago
I'm just now catching up to these facts, I used to watch this show waking up, when I was in high school, as they were repeats, back in the late 90s.
Bapa1 10 months ago
Everybody knows trombone players get all the chicks.
Runeshaper 10 months ago
Wow! Goes to show how what seems like 1 small decision can change one's life so drastically.
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