Danny Merrell’s Top Five Celebrity Interviews

I still vividly remember my first day as a 9th grader at Lockhart High School.  I was a wide-eyed freshman standing in the bus rider line and I recall thinking to myself, "My gosh, the juniors and seniors are so old." 

It's funny how perceptions change with age.  A few years after that moment, it was college students that were old, then folks that were in their 30's were old, and, people at 50...well, they were just ancient.

Well...I turned ancient just today.  And since my birthday falls on a Thursday I thought I would do a series of 'Throw Back Thursday' posts revealing everything from the most embarrassing moment of my past 5 decades to the best advice I have received to my biggest regret and more.

Top 5 nicest celebrities I have met and/or interviewed

1. STEVE WARINER - Steve is widely known as one of the nicest guys in the music industry.  I've met him on several occasions, but when he agreed to record a few lines to help me and my wife celebrate our anniversary, that put him tops in my book.
2. GARTH BROOKS - In the 90's, he was the biggest star on the planet.  Yet, he's been so nice and humble whenever we have talked.  When he played on the campus at SFA (pictured below), I had a chance along with several radio station winners to meet him backstage.  It was getting close to performance time and Garth's manager told us that it would need to be a super quick meet and greet.  Garth told us to disregard that..."They can't start the concert without me, so y'all just take your time".  That spoke volumes to me.
3. TAMMY WYNETTE - I had the chance to meet Tammy before a concert in Austin.  I remember being quite nervous.  How often to you get to talk to the 'First Lady of Country Music'?  Before I had a chance to start fumbling with my list of questions Tammy started asking me questions about my personal life.  I think she could tell I was nervous and she wanted to calm me...beautiful lady!
4. RANDY TRAVIS - Maybe there should be an asterisk beside this one.  Randy was kind and laid back, but it was his band that made this interview special.  They were a bunch of cut-ups and enjoyed telling funny story after funny story.  The height of the evening came when Randy's seemingly straight-laced fiddle player broke into something called the porpoise dance.  During this strange dance, he banged several times into a portable toilet. We didn't think anyone was in there doing their business.  But, in a few minutes, we found out there was.  Good times...good times.
5. DAWN WELLS -  Who? Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island.  I interviewed her concerning a cook book that she had written.  She was kind, comical, and good-hearted.  However, the main reason she made my top 5 is that I've always had a crush on her...sorry Ginger.