djzyonsevenI was truly blessed to have two mothers.
I had a birth mother and an adopted mother.
LLH – Birth.
JJH – Adolted.
Two incredible, strong Black women who helped shape the man I became in different ways.
But today, on the heavenly birthday of my birth mom, LML, I want to celebrate her. 🕊️👑
She was a Black Queen.
More importantly, she was my Black Queen.
I did not grow up living with her.
I came to live with her during my senior year of high school.
At that age, I was still figuring out who I was, where I belonged and how all the pieces of my life fit together.
And then something happened that connected us almost immediately.
Music.
My mother loved music in a way that rivaled my own.
Before I came to live with her, I never completely understood where my obsession with music came from. I knew I loved records.
I knew I loved voices.
I knew I loved the way a song could change the atmosphere in a room before anybody said a word.
But once I lived with her, it started making sense.
“I got it from my Mama“. 🎶
Then it happened…
She introduced me to the blues.
Not the watered-down version.
Not the cute version.
I am talking about the real blues.
The good blues.
The kind of blues that will sit you down, look you straight in your face and tell you the truth whether you are ready to hear it or not.
She loved R&B too.
Good R&B.
The kind with grown-folks vocals and real emotion.
But the blues had her heart.
And before long, I understood why.
There is something about the blues that refuses to lie to you.
The blues does not pretend that life is always fair.
It does not act like love is always easy.
It understands pain, longing, regret and survival.
But it also understands strength.
That was my mother.
She was strong, but she was not made of stone.
She had lived.
She had loved.
She had endured things.
And the music she played carried some of that history inside of it.
Her Soundtrack!
One of her favorite songs was Dorothy Moore’s “Misty Blue.” 💙
Every time I hear that song, or even another artist singing a version of it…
I immediately think about my mother in her kitchen.
I can see her cooking something absolutely delicious and probably a little sinful.
Mustard greens.
Her famous Thanksgiving stuffing.
That sweet potato pie.
Baby, that kitchen had a soundtrack as well. 🥧
And “Misty Blue” belonged in it.
Dorothy Moore’s version of “Misty Blue” became a soul classic in 1976, but the song actually started its life as a country record.
Songwriter Bob Montgomery wrote it in 1966 with Brenda Lee in mind.
According to Montgomery, the song came to him in about 20 minutes, almost like a gift.
Brenda Lee passed on it, but Wilma Burgess recorded it and took it into the country Top 5.
Eddy Arnold also had success with the song in 1967.
Then Dorothy Moore got hold of it.
Or maybe the song got hold of her.
Moore recorded her version at Malaco Records in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1973.
She reportedly recorded that unforgettable vocal in one take.
One take!
That still blows my mind, because there is so much feeling in that performance.
You would think she had lived with the song for years.
Every note feels worn-in, like an old photograph or a letter you never had the courage to throw away.
Malaco held onto the recording for about two years before releasing it.
The label was struggling financially, and “Misty Blue” became the record that changed everything.
Dorothy Moore’s version climbed to No. 2 on Billboard’s R&B chart and No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also became the title track of her debut solo album, Misty Blue.
That is what a great singer can do.
She can take a song that already existed and reveal the soul that was hiding inside of it.
When Dorothy Moore sings about the thought of someone turning her whole world misty blue, you believe her.
There is no pretending in that vocal.
No over-singing.
No unnecessary theatrics.
Just truth.
And maybe that is why my mother loved it so much.
The older I get, the more I understand that music can become part of a family’s language.
Sometimes a song tells you more about somebody than a long conversation ever could.
Amen!
My mother and I may not have had every year together that I would have wanted.
But we had music.
We had the blues.
We had those moments in her kitchen.
And we had Dorothy Moore singing “Misty Blue” somewhere in the background while something good was cooking on the stove. 🍽️🎵
I cherish those memories.
Those memories are part of my soundtrack now.
So today, on her heavenly birthday, I am sending this one up to my Mother, LML.
My birth mom.
My connection to the blues.
My Black queen. 👑🕊️
Thank you for giving me “my love of music“.
And thank you for giving me a piece of you, every time I press play.
I miss you.
I 💜 you!
Your son,
Terry
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