Ask American Profile
Emmylou Harris, Richard Boone, Melissa Barrington, Sandra Diaz, Jeff Bates
—Kenneth N., Mississippi
Born in 1947 in Birmingham, Ala., Harris, 58, continues to live in Nashville, Tenn. Her initial recordings were done in Los Angeles, where she helped pioneer the country-rock scene in the early 1970s. She’s recorded more than 30 albums, had 27 Top 10 hits and received 11 Grammy awards. Rhino Records recently released The Very Best of Emmylou Harris, celebrating her career of more than three decades. Picking 20 songs for the project from her extensive catalog was tough, she admits. "It was really like a jigsaw puzzle trying to figure out how to represent all of these phases," she says. "I started working on including songs that I thought were artistically important. But I am proud of the hits, too." Currently single, Harris has been divorced three times and has two children.
Can you give me the name and some information on the man who played Paladin and was in the movie Against a Crooked Sky?
—Sharon E., Missouri
Richard Boone played the character Paladin on Have Gun-Will Travel from 1957 to 1963 and was in the film Against a Crooked Sky in 1975. He was born in Los Angeles in 1917, served in the Navy during World War II and attended acting school at the prestigious Actor’s Studio via the G.I. Bill. He debuted on Broadway in Medea and made the transition to television and film in the 1950s. Have Gun-Will Travel, in which he played a refined gun for hire, was his most popular role, but he also appeared memorably in several big-screen Westerns, including The Alamo and A Thunder of Drums. In the 1970s he moved to Florida, where he died of throat cancer in St. Augustine in 1981.
Could you please tell me where Melissa Barrington and Sandra Diaz from The Weather Channel have gone?
—Mary B., Arkansas
According to the Atlanta-based Weather Channel, Melissa Barrington left the channel after the birth of her first child to spend more time with her family. Sandra Diaz left, also to be closer to family, returning home to El Paso, Texas, where she took a job with KFOX-TV. "I felt too far away," says Diaz, 37. "It had been 15 years since I left." For Diaz, witnessing a monstrous Texas tornado during her college days at Texas State had a life-changing impact. "I was so fascinated," says the former biology major. "I changed directions." The still-single Diaz loves her job as a chief meteorologist at KFOX, which she says is more hands-on than her work at The Weather Channel. "Every step in my career has been something different, so I feel very lucky."
Jeff Bates Defines Good People
"When the chips are down, they’re there for you." That’s how country singer Jeff Bates defines "good people," which is also the title of his new CD. Bates knows from experience how "good people" rely on each other, especially when times are lean and tough. "We didn’t have much and didn’t know there was much to have," Bates says of his upbringing in rural Bunker Hill, Miss.
Good People continues the autobiographical, upfront honesty the singer introduced in his first album in direct numbers like the sympathetic The Woman He Walked On, the touching No Shame and the working-man’s anthem Blood, Sweat and Beer. The emotional One Second Chance hits especially close to home. "This song is probably my personal favorite on the whole CD, because I am that guy," he says. "This song’s for anybody who needs forgiving or needs to do some forgiving."
Bates’ astonishing voice and solid work ethic got him started at the young age of 17. Busier than ever nearly 20 years later, he’s never lost sight of his mission. "I make honest music about real life that connects with people," Bates says.
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