Wally Varner
The love of gospel quartet music possessed me at a very early age when my parents took me to hear the Melody Masters Quartet at a local church in Eagle Lake, Florida. It was not so much the singing … but the piano player, that captured my attention and interest. On that Sunday afternoon Wally Varner became my lifelong hero. On the way home I told my father that my newfound ambition was to learn to play like Wally. Dad and I were already playing guitar together in a local group, so he thought my branching out on piano was a great idea … so he bought me one. I remember well the first song I managed to pick out, one note at a time … "Jingle Bells."
We were not a wealthy family, so piano lessons were out of the question, but it so happened that Wally's father lived down the road from us, and he agreed to come to our house a few times and show me a few of the basics on the piano … just as he had done for his own son.
With the passage of time I was accepted into the world of Gospel music and I felt so happy and blessed to be able to do what I loved to do. As a matter of fact, when Jack Marshall left the Blackwood Brothers they came to Nashville to audition me to be his replacement … and, so I was told, their final decision was to choose between Wally and me. Needless to say, he won the toss, as well he should, but it was an honor to have been considered in the same league as him.
We remained friends thorough the years, he with the Blackwood Brothers and me with the Oak Ridge Boys, and we toured the country together until his retirement from the road.
Some time after his retirement to Florida, I bought a house across the lake from him, and we shared many memorable times together; his boat would arrive at my dock or my boat at his. Often we would spend time at his grand piano … And I watched … and listened … and tried to copy his "licks" and his style just as I had done as a young boy … but I never could quite get the hang of it. But I wasn't prepared for the greatest compliment in my life … one day he was playing … I was listening … and I heard something very familiar … and very shocking … he was playing like me! I have never recovered from that!
He is gone from us now … and I am without a hero … except in my memory.
And so I continue with my life's work … and dedicate whatever is left of it to the memory of my friend and hero … Wally Varner. May he rest in peace. --Tommy Fairchild