10.22.2007
North Iredell alum headines BalloonFest
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Press photo from http://www.rockielynne.com |
The chart-topping country music singer, who was known as Rockie Rash during his days at North Iredell High in the early 1980s, will return to Iredell County this week as the headliner at Carolina BalloonFest.
“I love Statesville,” Lynne said from the road Saturday. “I still own a home there. I love the values and the community.
“When I’m not traveling 340 days a year, I hope to live there again some day.”
A self-described “real skinny” teen who “flew under the radar” during his days as a North Iredell student, Lynne joined the high school jazz ensemble. He was “really into guitar” and began playing in high school bands.
“We had a million different names. We were always getting fired,” he explains on his Web site, rock
ielynne.com. “They wanted us to play cover songs, but we played my songs.
“We would get fired and a few weeks later, I would book us at the same place under a different name and some other band’s photo.”
Growing up poor, the Rash family was “church, church, church,” he said. “Several times in a week and sometimes twice in one day.”
When First Baptist Church held a yard sale, 4-year-old Rockie purchased a “cheap little record player with two albums for 75 cents.”
Around that time, he had acquired his uncle’s guitar and, unknown to his parents, Fred Rash (now of Salisbury) and his late mother Ethel, Rockie would quietly strum along to his two newly purchased albums, KISS and Jimi Hendrix, late into the night in his bedroom closet.
“I have always gravitated to music,” Lynne said. “I always felt like I could do it. I don’t remember ever not feeling that way. I believed in my heart that I had something to say, songs to sing that were worth sharing, that people want to hear. It wasn’t as if I had the goal of a record deal - that was hardly conceivable. I just wanted to write songs and make music.”
When he met the members of a hard-drinking, hard-fighting adult band one night at a Statesville area industrial building, their guitar player had just quit. Lynne volunteered to take his place and began his slow ascent into a professional music career.
“I felt that I was a success just because I managed to earn a living doing it.”
But throughout high school Lynne had been inspired by a neighbor, Johnny Harrell, who was stationed at Fort Bragg and would return home to Statesville from his work with the Army’s Special Forces. He “made a big impression on me,” Lynne said. “The way he carried himself, his presence.”
During his three-year enlistment, he was stationed at Fort Bragg and came under the influence of local music store worker Jimmy Herring. Herring, a recent graduate of Guitar Institute of Technology in Los Angeles, became a further mentor for Lynne.
Following his three-year enlistment, Lynne studied music for a short time at Mitchell Community College before making “the big leap” to L.A.
“It was an amazing time to live in Los Angeles,” Lynne said. “I worked and taught in what was the end of the long-hair and spandex era.”
Twelve years Lynne was signed by Universal South Records with the help of Bruce Larson. He went on to release his first album, self-titled, on the Universal label in 2006.
Breakout singles from the album included, “Lipstick”, which spent 10 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Sound-Scan Country Singles Sales chart.
Lynne has since played another popular hit, “Red, White, and Blue” numerous times at the White House, according to Countrystarsonline.com All proceeds from the song go to an annual charity event near and dear to Lynne’s heart, “Tribute To The Troops,” an annual motorcycle ride and concert in Minnesota dedicated to raising funds for The Wounded Warriors Hospital Fund.
“Red, White and Blue” is currently played at memorial services in Afghanistan and Iraq, Lynne’s manager Susan Levy said. Lynne is scheduled to perform for American troops this December in Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iran.
“I write my own stuff and own my own publishing rights,” Lynne said minutes away from boarding an airplane. “Having served in the military myself, I’m very respectful of those giving their lives for our freedom.”
Lynne’s new single “I Can’t Believe It’s Me” will be released Jan. 7.