Down in Orburndale: A Songwriter's Youth in Old Florida

Braddock retains enormous affection for his Florida upbringing, back in the midtwentieth century when "Florida was still Southern," oranges were more essential than tourists to the state’s economy, and every small town seemed to be populated with actual eccentric characters right out of a Southern novel—like Bobby’s father, twentyfour years older than his mother, with a voice that was "a cross between Foghorn Leghorn and W. C. Fields." Braddock’s sensory memory of his childhood infuses his storytelling with the sights, sounds, smells, and significance of everyday living. When he tells tales of playing rock ‘n’ roll music in the Deep South of the early 1960s, readers experience some of the decade's most significant moments from a different perspective (for example, his band was in Birmingham, Alabama, when the Ku Klux Klan murdered four little girls). Along the way, he battles depression, hypochondria, and panic disorder, marries, and finally finds his true calling.

Rednecks, religion, Florida, oranges, swamps, politics, racism, love, sex, illness, family, murder, and dreams—all fill the pages of Braddock’s compulsively readable ode to his youth. But it is music, above all else, that drives the story, providing a soundtrack for a life lived large. AUTHOR BIO: Bobby Braddock grew up in Florida, traveled the South as a rock 'n' roll musician, and became a songwriter in Nashville in the mid1960s. Many of his songs, such as "DIVORCE," "Golden Ring," "He Stopped Loving Her Today," "Time Marches On," and "I Wanna Talk about Me" are country music standards. In 2001, he embarked on a new career as a producer, discovering singer Blake Shelton and making several number one records with him.