Music Memory from Leonard Service

In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear a childhood music memory from Leonard Service of Shreveport, Louisiana.

Leonard plays mandolin and guitar regularly with different groups such as Slydell and the Slippery Slope, the New Levee Serenaders, Trashcan Jinga and more. He’s also a member of the Friends of Lead Belly.

Leonard grew up in Lafayette and as a kid, he listened regularly to an evening radio show called “Night Rock” on KPEL. One night, he heard Jeff Beck’s cover of Charles Mingus’ “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.”

“I was just amazed. I’d never heard anything so moving, so beautiful,” recalls Leonard. “I saved up my money, and jumped on my bicycle, and went across town to Raccoon Records as soon as I could to buy me a copy of Jeff Beck Wired. I still have it.”

Leonard also shares a fond memory of his grandmother’s singing in a little church in Vivian.

“She sang so awful that it was just wonderful…. She loved the singing, and I loved listening to her.”