Me and Vern where best friends I never new how much I would miss him until he had gone we wrote many songs together and did many shows together, I guess what I miss the most is him calling me every day on the phone telling me some stupid joke he’s told me many times before over and over ‘ BUT NOW THE PHONE HAS STOPED RINGING and the voice is silent , oh how I wish he could still call ! Vern love to make people laugh and he liked to be the center of attention whether he was funny or not you couldn’t help but laugh, just the look on his face was priceless he always said in anything we do if we can’t have fun doing it, then it ant worth doing ! those words were so true ! I remember producing him in the studio how funny he was, to Vern things were either funny or they were miserable the last four years producing Vern he was having a hard time singing but would always give it his best shot it was hard for the voice of country music to admit his voice was wearing out he tried so hard ! once I even seen the tears roll from his eye’s the voice might not have been totally there but the heart wrenching feelings he felt were still in his heart ! You could tell he still felt the pain from his past and it was still haunting him , Vern was truly a walking heartache he always felt everyone was out to get him in some way he trusted very few people ,

I remember Vern always love to help people especially kids , we were walking down town one day Vern seen these kids that were skinny dirty and they were wearing ragged clothes Vern started dropping hundred dollar bills as we walked by Vern turned to them and said hey you dropped something lol that’s just the way he was, a man with a big heart very few people new this about him,

One of the very last songs I recorded on Vern was Mt Eagle , we had a lot of fun writing it and recording it

This is how it came about in late 1998 we were heading to do a show in north Carolina I think the place was called the hillbilly mall, anyway as we were heading up mt eagle when we got to the top, the bus broke down ,

It was only a belt so we stayed put until help came from Nashville with a new belt , I walked inside the store to call for help then stopped by the check out to by a pack of smokes , the lady told me we couldn’t have picked a better place to break down , she told me about a legend that’s been there for years , Mt Eagle is only one mile from heaven , I laughed and said well I’m going to go visit Jesus for a while then,

I walked back out and sure enough there was a sign that had a finger pointing up that said one mile to heaven , I got back on the bus and told Vern about it, he looks at the road and said son its 100 milers to hail

son , that’s what the sign says it is back to Nashville, then Vern starts singing , its one mile to heaven a hundred miles to hell from Mt Eagle straight down to Nashville , that was the beginning of the song .

You can find this song on 40 years of the voice CD .

Vern was one of the biggest influences in my life his words and wisdom will live in me forever

There is so much more I could tell you, and I will one day soon,.

All I can say right now is I miss you buddy we all do

And one day we will see each other again

Thank you buddy for all the wisdom and time you gave to me

Always your best friend , Kenny lee