"You Can Say That Again"
- It took 25 years for Johnny
Rodriguez's career to come full
circle - back to making the kind of honest country music that
he and his fans always enjoyed. To accomplish this he had to
come right back where he started. To Roy Dea, a producer,
and a friend who recognized the natural un-blemished talent
many years ago. Was it fate that would bring these two back
together for a final good-bye? I don't know. But I don't think
Roy or Johnny would have had it any other way.
Roy started his career many years ago at Mercury working
with Jerry. The first artist he produced was Johnny Rodriquez.
on a single, "Pass Me By If You're Only Passing Thru." And
like the opening and closing of a book..it had a beginning and it
had it's end. But it had been a good career with both highs and
lows. I guess Roy summed it all up once when he said,
"I have gone where I wanted to go, and I have been where I
wanted to be." Roy was such a good picker and bass man, in his
own right. How I wish he had hit a few licks on this session.
From a high school band with Jerry Kennedy, to the strip in
Bossier City with Dino Zimmerman, to Nashville and the
establishment was a long winding road. But like he always said,
when asked why he didn't display all his plaques of achievements
or recognition, "That's past. It's what happens next that counts."
- - Donnis Dea Coleman
Left to right: Dino, Roy, Steve Oliver, Bill Harris,( studio engineer)
Dino Zimmerman, Roy Dea,
Leon Martin, (who is my
"x" and my daughter's biological
father) and Larry Henley,
who is
the composer of "Wind Beneath My Wings."
All are from
Shreveport, Louisiana, our hometown.
