Allen Cheney - Crescendo: The True Story of a Musical Genius Who Forever Changed a Southern Town

2019 Allen Cheney

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Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by W Publishing Group, an imprint of Thomas Nelson.

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ISBN 978-0-7852-1760-2 (eBook)

Epub Edition May 2019 9780785217602

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cheney, Allen, author. | Cantrell, Julie, 1973- author.

Title: Crescendo : the story of a musical genius who forever changed a southern town / Allen Cheney with Julie Cantrell.

Description: Nashville, Tennessee : W Publishing Group, [2019] |

Identifiers: LCCN 2018061568 (print) | LCCN 2019012666 (ebook) | ISBN 9780785217602 (Ebook) | ISBN 9780785217404 (softcover)

Subjects: LCSH: Allen, Fred, 1935Fiction. | MusiciansFiction. | Music teachersFiction. | GSAFD: Biographical fiction.

Classification: LCC PS3603.H4557 (ebook) | LCC PS3603.H4557 C74 2019 (print) | DDC 813/.6dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018061568

Printed in the United States of America

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This book is dedicated to the beautiful, unique, and

vibrant community of Thomasville, Georgia.

Thank you for embracing the magic of music and

empowering generations of youth to truly shine.

Contents

It has been said that we are lucky if we can find one person who restores our hope when all is lost. One who sees something of worth in us, even when we fail to see it in ourselves, or one who helps push us to be better than we thought we could be. For thousands of students who grew up in the quaint southern town of Thomasville, Georgia, that one person was a music teacher by the name of Fred Allen, a man born poor and hungry in the shadows of a cotton mill.

Freds life could easily have become just another tale of broken spirits and the blues, never to be freed from the clutches of poverty. Thankfully that has not been his story at all. In fact, Freds legacy is one of show tunes and stardom, resiliency and faith. This is a story of mercy and melody and, above all else, loveplus a miracle or two thrown in for good measure.

Of course, that doesnt mean his triumph came easy. Nothing worthwhile ever does.

In a world where success is measured by fame and fortune, Freds story matters more than ever. He teaches us the value of a meaningful life, a life of purpose. A life well lived. And he leaves each of us asking, How can I best use this time Ive been given? How can I make it count?

As I share the story of Fred Allen, I write not to tell you who he is but to examine why he is and to learn all we can from this musical prodigy, a man who overcame absolute brokenness to become one of the most influential music mentors ever known.

CRESCENDO

(crescendo / kr-shen-d)

noun:

a gradual increase in loudness in a piece of music

adverb and adjective:

increase in loudness or intensity

In 1935, as the sweltering summer heat oppressed the downtrodden mill village in LaGrange, Georgia, a young man lay dying. Muffled sobs fell from the corner house on Thornton Street, where curious children eavesdropped outside the open bedroom window. When the shift whistle blew, men and women began to filter out of Dunson Mills. Soaked in sweat and cotton drift, they followed the worn paths, passing neighbors heading in to take their turn at the looms.

Fred Freeman had not been all that different from the others whose lives revolved around the whistle. Poor. Tired. Broken by lifes hardships. Aside from his innate ability to shake a song from a piano or guitar, he had spent his days in one of two places: working the looms or drinking away his frustrations.

The Freeman-Allen home was also the same as every other house in the village, painted white like the cotton that dotted the land in rows. With three bedrooms each, these houses were simple in form but solid in construction, and because they were provided rent-free in exchange for work at the mill, the dwellings lured plenty of workers despite the low wages.

With the Great Depression bearing down across the nation, many houses overflowed with outsiders desperate for work. This is how the Freeman-Allen home came to be filled with generations of extended relatives as well as absolute strangers willing to pay for a corner cot as they chased day-pay jobs from town to town.

With some Cherokee blood and little education, Fred Freemans life had already been both harsh and hurtful despite being barely two brief decades in measure. But now the young man gasped his final breaths in that back bedroom of his familys crowded home. And as the aunts and uncles circled round him, there was nothing anyone could do but let him go.

Taken too soon by the Lord. Thats what his loved ones said as they pulled the sheet over his pallid face and prayed for him to find peace in the hereafter. They werent a churchgoing bunch, but they knew the decent thing to do was to pray in times such as these.

As the spirit was leaving Fred Freeman, his sister, Velma Freeman Allen, cried out. Hers was a howl not only of grief but also of surprise as a sudden gush of water fell from her womb. Just as her mother, Peg Freeman, had warned, the stress of her brothers death seemed to have induced an early labor. In the swirling chaos, Velma moved away from her brothers deathbed and into her own tiny bedroom, preparing her body to embrace the blessing of birth. Clenching her fists through contractions, she called out, Go! Fetch Mayhayley!

Mayhayley Lancaster was not only a friend to Peg Freeman, she was also a teacher, an activist, and, perhaps most interestingly, an oracle whose gifts were revered both far and wide, even by those most skeptical. While well respected in her Christian church, she was known to run the numbers and tell fortunes, cast spells and speak with spirits. But to women like Velma, who labored through home births in the south Georgia summer, Mayhayley was known above all else as a midwife. A life-giver. A godsend.

By the time Mayhayley arrived, Velma was writhing in pain, shrieking and sweating as female relatives scrambled to comfort her. This labor aint nothing like my first! Velma screamed, a statement Mayhayley validated by announcing, The baby is stuck!

Quite experienced in matters of birth, the midwife solicited the women to help calm the mother, but despite steady reassurances, Velma seemed unable to bear the searing contractions, struggling to keep her breathing steady between waves of nausea and escalating spikes of pain.