Amazing Only Way to Describe Dottie Rambo
Tom Netherland/Special to Bristol Herald Courier
Published: March 27, 2008
Updated: March 27, 2008
Wow, what a career. Published: March 27, 2008
Updated: March 27, 2008
Where to start with Dottie Rambo?
How about with a little girl who learned to play guitar while listening to the Grand Ole Opry from her native rural Kentucky and grew up to win a Grammy.
Perhaps with a little girl of 8 learning to write songs whose songs have since been recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley and Whitney Houston.
Quite a talent. Absolutely legendary.
Say hello to Dottie Rambo. She will be in town on March 30 for a performance at Liberty Baptist Church in Bristol Tennessee.
Grammy Award-winner, member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, writer of a whopping 2,500-plus songs – yeah, where to start?
“God has been good,” Rambo said by phone Tuesday from her home in Nashville. “Sometimes, it’ll hit me. What an amazing story. It’s been a great journey.”
Rambo’s journey started on March 2, 1934 when she was born Joyce Reba Lutrell in Kentucky. Music found her early.
“I learned to play the guitar by listening to the Grand Ole Opry,” Rambo said.
She wrote her first song at 8 and landed her first gig at 11 playing country music on the radio. Then, one Sunday, she found God, and thus began her lifelong pursuit of gospel music.
“I stood up, grabbed a hold of a pew and was just shaking,” Rambo said, voice still charged. “The minister came right toward me. He put his hand out and said, ‘little Dottie, you found Jesus.’ I said, ‘I know it. Just get out of my way.’ ”
Rambo returned home as if walking on a cloud. Her proud mother cried. But she said that her alcoholic father forbade her to pursue gospel music and religion. He told her to forget it or leave home.
“The next morning I packed my rags – and I do mean rags – in a cardboard suitcase. Mother just wept and wept,” Rambo said, softly. “Mother said, ‘I’ll worry God to death to take care of you.’ ”
Guitar and suitcase in hand, Rambo’s journey began. She was 12 years old.
She married Buck Rambo at age 16. She established a regional name as a member of the Singing Rambos during the 1950s and early ’60s. She emerged with her own identity when she won a Grammy Award in 1968 for Best Soul Gospel Performance for “It’s the Soul of Me.”
Artists lined up to record her songs. Elvis Presley waxed “If That Isn’t Love.” More recently Whitney Houston recorded “I Go to the Rock,” which was used in the film “The Preacher’s Wife.” Hundreds of rock to country, soul to gospel artists have recorded Rambo’s songs.
“I can’t explain it except the Lord gave me a channel,” Rambo said.
Despite a golden reputation long since established, Rambo marches on. She tours the country, regularly writes songs, records albums and carries on as if she were still 30.
“It’s a joy to lead people to the Lord,” she said.
A tribute album and a solo album are forthcoming soon. The tribute album speaks to Rambo’s incredible reach. Celebrants include Tony Award-winner Carol Channing and comedian Lily Tomlin.
“It’s going to be a heyday,” Rambo said. “Lily’s mother loved my music. I sang at her funeral.”
Rambo and Tomlin developed a friendship that included occasional live performances together, including one on the famed live radio show “The Midnight Jamboree.” When it came time to record the tribute album, Tomlin recorded two songs.
Meanwhile, Rambo has a date in Bristol.
“Bristol, my land, I haven’t been there in a hundred years,” Rambo said.
Those who turn out to see the bona fide legend may well leave with way more than with which they arrived. Rambo leads a journey, and she plans on delivering a journey, too.
“I believe the Lord left me here to help people,” Rambo said. “They’ll laugh, and they’ll weep. I love pulling people out of their valleys.”
IF YOU GO
Who: Dottie Rambo
When: March 30, 7 p.m.
Where: Liberty Baptist Church, 112 Walnut Hill Road, Bristol Tennessee
Info: (423) 764-5673
Web: http://www.dottierambo.net
TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He can be reached at .
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