Greg Freeman and Babbie Mason on the set of Babbie's House, February 7, 2008
On February 7, 2008, I performed two of my own songs, "You Are" and "Between the Lines," on Babbie Mason's television talkshow, Babbie's House, in Atlanta. The following day, I ventured to Nashville where I attended the Gaither Homecoming concert at downtown's Sommet Center with a VIP pass courtesy of Bill Gaither.
A view of Greenville's Reedy Falls
I was born in 1974, and have spent my entire life residing just outside of Walhalla, South Carolina, a small foothills town situated about forty five minutes from Greenville and two hours from Atlanta. With a passion for music and a love for writing, I have been influenced and inspired by the work of a variety of individuals (most of whom are Southern!), including gospel recording artists Michael English and Jessy Dixon; songwriters Thomas A. Dorsey and Andraé Crouch; authors Celestine Sibley, William Ferris and, to a lesser extent, James Agee; and playwright Tennessee Williams.
As diverse as my interests, Southern Edition has become a culmination of all that characterizes the American South. Through this publication, I hope to expound on the region's culture, history, politics, commerce, agriculture, music, art, architecture, travel, gardening and food.
In addition to publishing Southern Edition, I have written for the groundbreaking, award-winning New Georgia Encyclopedia (a publication of the Georgia Humanities Council and University of Georgia Press), the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture (published by the Central Arkansas Library System), GospelMusicUpdate.com (an online publication of the Judy Nelon Group in Nashville), Carolina Gardener and the Draft Horse Journal.
As a singer and songwriter, I have co-written songs with multiple Emmy winner Cheryl Rogers (a producer for the Grammy-winning record, Tribute: The Songs of Andraé Crouch), and performed two self-penned songs in February 2008 on Babbie Mason's television talkshow, Babbie's House.
An avid gardener, I grow various perennial flowers, herbs and vegetables. My collection includes a few botanical gems like the native lily, Lilium michauxii, and Wisteria frutescens 'Amethyst Falls', an introduction from my neighbor, Bill Head. But I am most enthusiastic about my daffodils. A member of both the American Daffodil Society and Georgia Daffodil Society, I have bulbs from three different continents, including some exciting seedlings from renowned American hybridizer Dr. Harold Koopowitz. I have exhibited a few prize-winning blooms at the Atlanta show, and have started hybridizing in earnest. Since I have much to learn, only time will tell if my efforts produce anything of merit!
Horses have been an obsession of mine since I was a teenager. A life member of the Belgian Draft Horse Corporation of America, the organization devoted to registering and promoting Belgian horses, I have owned a limited number of Belgians over the years, including Congressman, Jr., the Grand Champion stallion at the 1977 Indiana State Fair (one of the nation's most competitive draft horse shows). A virtual walking encyclopedia of such useless information as pedigrees and show records, I now own only a single mare: Cowden's Coleddie Sasha. Bred by my long-time friends, Robert & Elizabeth Cowden (Pittsburgh-based owners and breeders of champion Belgians), I had anticipated raising some foals from this quality, well-bred mare, but it appears that the costly breeding expenses and a depressed market for draft horses will hinder my efforts to rear another Willowhurst foal in the near future.
My other interests include the visual arts (creating and, collecting) and antiques, and I also enjoy exploring small towns, touring Southern historical sites, hiking, reading and watching classic movies.
Greg Freeman, Editor SouthernEdition.com
For the authoritative New Georgia Encyclopedia, I have contributed entries on Atlanta's historic Ebenezer Baptist Church and the 200-year-old publication Grier's Almanac as well as biographies on country star Travis Tritt; black gospel diva Dottie Peoples; contemporary Christian singer Babbie Mason; blues singers Francine Reed, Precious Bryant and Ida Cox; and southern gospel legends Hovie Lister and Lee Roy Abernathy.
Chronicling the show and breeding career of the famous Belgian draft stallion Nesbitt's Misty River Ben (above), my feature article "Remembering Nesbitt's Misty River Ben" appeared in the Winter 2002-03 issue of the Draft Horse Journal.
Devoted to historic daffodil cultivars in the South, my article "A Heritage of Daffodils," was published in the December 2005 issue of Carolina Gardener, a publication I regard as the region's finest gardening magazine.
Greg Freeman and Calvin Newton, Gaither Homecoming Concert, Nashville, February 8, 2008
Backstage at the Gaither Homecoming Concert in Nashville on February 8, 2008, I met Calvin Newton, 78, a notable southern gospel vocalist and real-life prodigal son. Newton, the subject of Dr. Russ Cheatham's book, Bad Boy of Gospel Music: The Calvin Newton Story (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2003), once sang with the Oak Ridge Quartet (later to crossover into country and pop as the Oak Ridge Boys), the Blackwood Brothers and the Sons of Song (an innovative group comprising Newton, Don Butler and Bob Robinson). He also served time in federal prison, was once a formidable boxer (knocking out an opponent in less than 30 seconds!) and has quite a testimony to share. At the Gaither show in Nashville, Calvin just latched onto me and made me feel like an old friend. Standing there in the hallway backstage, he introduced me to everyone he could . . . Ernie Haase, Wes Hampton, Don Light, Bill Carter, Barry Jennings. I was blown away. He would look at someone and say, "Let me introduce you to Greg Freeman. He sang on Babbie Mason's show yesterday!" This photograph, by the way, was taken backstage by Joyce Martin Sanders of the Dove award-winning trio, the Martins!
Greg Freeman with Carol Fay Ellison, Loveless Café, Nashville, February 2008
In this photograph, I am pictured with the Loveless Café's celebrity "Biscuit Lady," Carol Fay Ellison, who has appeared on numerous television shows including the Martha Stewart Show, Ellen DeGeneres Show and NBC's Today and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The Loveless Café was the subject of a November 2007 Southern Edition article, From Their Kitchen to Yours: Recipes from the Loveless Cafe, Nashville.
An enthusiastic collector (with discerning taste, but a limited budget!), I own an eclectic mix of art and antiques, including this vase by Charleston potter Kris Neal. Other pottery pieces in my collection include works by noted Georgia potters W. J. Gordy, Wayne Hewell, Grace Nell Hewell and Nathaniel Hewell.
One of her earliest works, this painting by New Orleans' Miriam Ragan is one of several items by Southern artists contained in my collection. I also own two other works by Ragan as well as oil paintings by Phil Thomasson and Sean Childs. Items by non-Southern artists include The Naked Ape, a bronze sculpture by J. Hamilton; three watercolors by British painter Sandra Fletcher; and a figure study sketched by Isabel E. Hazz (the mother of feminist and famed author Marilyn French) while she studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, in the late 1920s.
Greg Freeman, Downtown Greenville
(Historic Greenville Summit Building in background)
Greg Freeman inside the Fuqua Orchid Center at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, March 2004
Jonquil-type daffodils remain my favorites. While major awards have been elusive and I have yet to compete with a collection, my entries have fared well at the shows. In 2006, I won first, second and third with 'Quail', 'Kokopelli' (pictured above) and 'Trevithian' in a competitive class of all-yellow hybrid jonquils at the Atlanta daffodil show.
One of my most prized daffodils, 'Crackington' is a magnificent double of British origin. It has been incorporated into my hybridizing efforts.
Pictured as a weanling in 1996, Willowhurst Bentley was a son of my first Belgian mare, Clifton's Susie Q. This colt was sired by Remlap Coleddie, an outstanding stallion belonging to Robert and Elizabeth Cowden at the time.
Willowhurst Bentley, pictured at three, was leased and eventually sold to Mrs. Paul Knepp & Sons, Montgomery, Indiana. In Indiana, he sired several crops of foals before being auctioned to a buyer from Mississippi.
Quite a contrast to the awkward teenager in the previous photo, this picture shows that Cowden's Coleddie Sasha has matured into a beautiful mare. Impeccably bred, she was a maternal granddaughter of the champion mare Constance Mardy. She comes from a significant female line that produced champions like Remlap Constance Edie Johne, Remlap Constance Sarah and Oak Grove Jane.
Cowden's Coleddie Sasha, a Remlap Coleddie daughter, was acquired as a weanling in 2001. Bred by Robert & Elizabeth Cowden, she is a paternal sister to Willowhurst Bentley.
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PUBLISHED WORKS
Nonfiction Articles
"Roberta Evelyn Martin (1907-1969)," biography, Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, August 19, 2008
"Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site," civil rights history, Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, August 19, 2008
"Collin Raye (1960-)," biography, Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, August 19, 2008
"Gaither & Friends Make Nashville Stop On Give It Away Tour," GospelMusicUpdate.com, February 27, 2008
"Hovie Lister (1926-2001)," biography, New Georgia Encyclopedia, January 11, 2008
"Babbie Mason (b. 1955)," biography, New Georgia Encyclopedia, November 16, 2007
"Precious Bryant (b. 1942)," biography, New Georgia Encyclopedia, November 2, 2007
"Dottie Peoples (b. ca 1950)," biography, New Georgia Encyclopedia, November 2, 2007
"Lee Roy Abernathy (1913-1993)," biography, New Georgia Encyclopedia, Ocotber 5, 2007
"Travis Tritt (b. 1963)," biography, New Georgia Encyclopedia, March 10, 2006
"Francine Reed (b. 1947)," biography, New Georgia Encyclopedia, February 10, 2006
"A Heritage of Daffodils," feature story, Carolina Gardener, November/December 2005
"Grier's Almanac," history/media, New Georgia Encyclopedia, October 7, 2005
"Ebenezer Baptist Church," civil rights history/religion, New Georgia Encyclopedia, September 23, 2005
"Ida Cox (1896-1967)," biography, New Georgia Encyclopedia, March 26, 2005
"Remembering Nesbitt's Misty River Ben," feature story, Draft Horse Journal, Winter 2002-03
"Draft Horses in the South," feature story, The Southeast Horse Report, November/December 2001
Opinion Editorials
"South Main properties could have fit in plan," Greenville News, Friday, March 12, 2004
