One of Nelson County’s most famous sons, country singer Jimmy Fortune, sang “Elizabeth,” “Virginia Dreams” and “How Great Thou Art,” to an audience frequently moved to tears, raucous applause and spontaneous standing ovations during a ceremony to unveil statues of Fortune and Earl Hamner Jr., creator of “The Waltons,” at the Oakland Museum on Saturday.
Nelson community members filled the shade of a large tent outside the museum in Arrington that morning, yards from two shrouded larger-than-life statues on a concrete platform.
The bronze statues, commissioned by longtime fan Lyndon Cook, would be unveiled by Fortune and members of the Hamner family later in the day, and are now permanent fixtures along U.S. 29.
Nelson County Historical Society’s Woody Greenburg said Fortune told Cook he’d agree to the statue only if sculptor Stan Watts would make a statue of Hamner too.
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Writer and actor Mike McGreevey, who spoke at the unveiling, starred in “The Waltons,” wrote for the show and produced a 2015 documentary on Hamner called “Earl Hamner Storyteller.”
“I was lucky enough to know Earl Hamner all of my adult life. He was my father’s best friend, my writing mentor, and always just good ‘ol Uncle Earl. And, like everybody who ever met him. I loved the guy. Earl was a talented writer, a charming and kind man, a devoted husband and father, and world class storyteller.”
Hamner died in 2016 and would have been 100 years old on Monday.
McGreevey said Hamner’s stories were rooted in his family and early life growing up in Schuyler.
“He once told me that his mission as a storyteller was very simple. His goal was to write about ordinary people and to reveal how extraordinary they all were,” he said.
McGreevey met Fortune while filming the documentary at Hamner’s family home in Schuyler, and said Fortune told him the way he wrote songs was “almost identical” to Hamner’s.
“Like Earl, Jimmy listened to the people around him, what they were saying, and what was important to them, then wrote about these ordinary everyday people with the intention of showing how extraordinary they actually were,” McGreevey said. He added Hamner always loved Fortune’s music and said it reminded him of the Blue Ridge Mountains and his Nelson home.
“So it’s appropriate that these two humble and good men, Nelson County legends, be memorialized together in a work of art … two ordinary guys from Virginia whose voices have been heard around the world, and their voice comes directly from all of you,” McGreevey said, choking up as he pointed out at the audience.
Fortune performed with the country and gospel group The Statler Brothers for 21 years, singing tenor and writing multiple hit songs for the quartet. A member of the County Music Hall of Fame, the Gospel Hall of Fame and the Virginia Music Hall of Fame, Fortune now tours solo nationally.
Statler Brothers lead singer Don Reid said the first song the four musicians sang together was “Amazing Grace.”
“...[A]nd it has been, I want to tell you, the grace has been amazing ever since ... we have been close and special ever since.”
Reid said he’s often interviewed about modern country music and asked who the best male country music singer is — “and without fail I say Jimmy Fortune.”
“He can do it all, have you heard those notes he can sing? We heard ‘em that first day, when we got together around that piano, and I’m telling you, he was the best then — that first night we walked onstage together in January of 1982 in Savannah, Georgia — he was the best then, and all of these years later he’s the best now,” Reid said.
Hamner and the ‘majesty’ in the everyday
Kami Cotler, who also spoke at the unveiling, was 6 years old when she starred in “The Homecoming” as the youngest Walton sibling Elizabeth, and the movie was her first acting job.
“I have been so blessed to be surrounded by magnificently talented people and the ripples, the impact, of Earl Hamner and his creativity and his connection to where he came from, and his deep and abiding respect for human beings — all of them — really has completely altered the trajectory of my life,” Cotler said.
Originally from California where “The Waltons” was filmed, Cotler later moved to Charlottesville for her first teaching job at Nelson County High School, teaching English and social studies.
“... [T]here are people in the audience who I watched teach to figure out how I could be a teacher,” she said.
“... [W]hen I moved here and worked with students at Nelson, I just, I understood where the stories came from, because my students have those stories, and they didn’t always know they had them.”
Cotler said part of the beauty of Earl’s work was his ability to take the everyday — “these things we take for granted” — and see the “majesty” in them.
“I hope we all leave here today taking all the lessons from the beauty in Earl’s work, and the beauty in Jimmy’s work and from the gentle connectedness, right? These are two gentleman who saw people and heard people and hear people and see people. And that’s a beautiful gift ...” Cotler said.
Saturday’s ceremony also marked the opening of two new exhibits at the Oakland Museum, an 1838 tavern-turned-family home-turned-local history museum. One exhibit celebrates Hamner’s writing career and features “Waltons” memorabilia, including one of the two Emmys Hamner won for the show and TV movie.
The second new exhibit “Rhythms Past and Present” honors Jimmy Fortune and other prominent local musicians, featuring photos and video interviews and performances. The exhibit was funded by a $7,500 grant from Bama Works, a charitable foundation created by the Dave Matthews Band, matched with proceeds from Fortune and other local musicians’ concerts in the county.
The Nelson County Historical Society sold the 250 available tickets within three days for a concert with Jimmy Fortune on Saturday night, Greenberg said. When the concert was moved to Nelson County High School, another 200 tickets sold out quickly too.
Admission to the Oakland Museum, a red brick building at 5365 Thomas Nelson Highway, is a suggested $5 donation. Visitors are welcome 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.
