Anita Faye Garner

The Glory Road: a Gospel Gypsy Life

The book is about a performing family led by my parents who were evangelists and gospel performers (with two unwilling harmony-singing children in the back seat.) It’s their Saturday night and Sunday morning love affair, his faith versus her ambition, and the roles they played in the transition from gospel to rockabilly in the Deep South during the 1950’s. My mother, Fern Jones, wrote “I Was There When It Happened,” recorded by Johnny Cash and scores of other artists. She finally signed her dream record deal, recorded at the Quonset Hut with the Nashville A-Team in the late ‘50’s, then fought with her label's president over which song should be released. They shelved her debut. Today her music has been re-mastered and released by Numero Group as “Fern Jones The Glory Road” and is available everywhere.