“COUNTRY COUSINS” EXTRAORDINAIRE by Desmond Kelly ‘the Star of eLanka’

It has certainly been an extraordinary week for me.

To start off, after many a long year, I have been able to contact a long-lost cousin, also living in Melbourne, someone who I remember as an extremely talented pianist,

Audrey will not mind the mention of her name because, even though we have been “out of touch” for so long, it is good that, in the twilight of our lives, we have managed to find each other again.

If the title of this article is mistaken for the fact that we are the ‘Country Cousins’ are the ones who originally migrated to Australia from Ceylon, a humble apology.

Although I am not certain that Audrey loves “Country Music”

like I do, music, in general, has been part & parcel of our families. Some of us also “sing” a little, although, as a “singer”, my younger brother Ian (who lives in Lanka now), makes a very fine “swimmer”.

This “story” however, is all about two famous “first cousins”, Jerry Lee Lewis & Mickey Gilley, both, superb at what they do, and “featured for you”. Jerry, of course, needs no introduction at all, being the last of a very few entertainers (unfortunately), to grace this Planet of ours.

Mickey is only slightly less-known, probably because he is a few years younger, but he, too, is a superb entertainer,

I have to add that, although J.L.Lewis came to fame with his “whole lotta shakin goin on”, I have always preferred him as a “Country” singer & pianist. Not many of my eLanka readers know this, but Jerry Lee Lewis NEVER ever sings a version of any of his “recordings” the same way, twice. For example, even on stage, if he sang “Crazy”(the song), on Monday, on Tuesday, it HAD to be a completely new arrangement of the same song. This was why he constantly drove his backing musicians “crazy”. His piano-playing was self-taught, but even Audrey & any other “Classical-Pianist” will have to agree that both THESE Cousins are “Top-Class”

In what they do. Nuff said. I will now let the you-tube clip I have chosen for all you good people, do the talking.