[piano intro] - Here they are, The Swing Masters.

- Hey, thank you Bob.

It's good to be here at Channel 8 this morning.

We've been looking forward to it.

We've got some country music.

We hope this'll be in a style that you will enjoy.

And here's the song we did for the naval folks we'd like to begin our show with, and it goes like this.

One, two, three, four!

[guitars playing upbeat, jaunty tune] ♪ I'd like to get you ♪ ♪ On a slow boat to China ♪ ♪ All to myself alone ♪ - [chuckles] Pretty good.

♪ Get you and ♪ [music fades] Better than I thought it might be.

- [Interviewer] Better than you thought?

- Yeah, seems real better than I thought it might be.

That's really good to see yourself like that.

- [Interviewer] You look good!

You sounded good.

- I felt good back then.

[chuckles] Yeah, that was a good time and a life that it was.

Boy, brings back a lot of memories, too.

- [Scott] Hey everybody, I'm Scott Wikle.

You're listening to "My Kind of Country".

My special guest tonight, he's got quite a career, both in politics and in country music, and it's an honor to have him on the show.

This is the honorable Senator, Charlie Albertson.

♪ Well I've been to Kansas City ♪ ♪ Down south to Arkansas ♪ ♪ Been out to California ♪ ♪ I've heard about St. Paul ♪ ♪ Been a soldier down in Texas ♪ ♪ I've seen the Opry out in Tennessee ♪ - [Announcer] Charlie Albertson.

♪ And I've come to one conclusion ♪ ♪ Carolina is the place I've gotta be ♪ ♪ Yes I've come to one conclusion ♪ ♪ Carolina is the place I've gotta be ♪ ♪ Ooh ooh ooh ♪ ♪ Carolina ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ I love Carolina ♪ - Charlie Albertson.

I was born in Duplin County about three or four miles outside of Beulaville.

I borned out in January 4, 1932.

You know, '32, that was right in the depth or the heights of The Depression.

And it's hard to even imagine what it was like when I think about it today, quite frankly.

There were nine of us in the family.

Well, I was next to the last one to be born, so I was a knee baby, I guess.

I was nine years old when the war broke out.

[plane engines whirring] [rapid gunfire] We were living on the farm and all the able-bodied men were in war.

Four of my brothers went in the military, served in armed forces.

My brother, Jack, Preston went overseas.

He fought in the Battle of the Bulge and got frost bite on his feet as a result.

So for the most part, all that were live were were young boys, young children, and older men to do the hard work.

But I recall, one day, my father and I, we were working on a plant bed, getting it ready to sow tobacco seed.

That would've been in January.

I don't remember the year, but I was a youngster, and I told him one day, I said, "I'ma write me a song one day."

He said, "Alright."

And so, that's when my interest started about writing, and the first song I ever wrote was a song called "A Place Called Heaven."

♪ I know there's a place called Heaven ♪ ♪ The Bible tells me so ♪ When I was growing up, our father took us to church.

Even on Wednesday night, we would have a prayer meeting.

Especially, you know, when the war was going on.

So I grew up in the church and grew up singing in the church.

My father, he played banjo a little bit.

I would remember going to somebody's house when I was a young fella and they pulled back the furniture and in the rug, and somebody would be there playing a banjo, and a guitar, and a fiddle, and have a square dance right there in somebody's house.

[warbling radio feedback] [soft country banjo music] At lunchtime, we could pick up WPTF and, of course, we'd try to get the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night.

Music was really a great pastime that we looked forward to.

[banjo music continues] That's about where I would stand.

Man.

Wow.

Right here, look at the crowd.

But this place, it was loaded.

I mean, people came here from everywhere.

Seemed like.

So many memories.

I'm telling you.

Wow.

It was 1950 when I came out here.

[slow country music plays] It was just a few blocks away from the gymnasium, so I went over and those guys got me to sing a song.

I don't know how they knew I maybe could sing a little bit, but they invited me up to sing a song too, so I did, and I started playing with 'em right after that.

We played a little over 19 years.

This is really the place that it all started for me, I think, in so many ways, because I met so many wonderful people that came here on Saturday night.

Knowing I was going to come here on Saturday night, that's really what kept me going in a lot of ways.

[country music fades gently] The first song I recorded was a song that was written by a guy, I think he lived in Greenville, but we cut the song at the radio station in Kinston, and the song was called "Ocean of Dreams".

That was the first time I recorded, and I remember how strange it was when I heard the playback of me singing.

I had no idea I sounded like that.

♪ Ocean of dreams ♪ ♪ How I pray you will hear my one plea ♪ ♪ Let my other ship fail ♪ ♪ If they must but oh please ♪ ♪ Bring my love ♪ [music fades] My first trip to Nashville, I think, was in the early sixties.

- [Announcer] Nashville, Tennessee, the country and western music capital of America.

Where once mountain people sang their songs in isolated valleys, there now stands a music kingdom resting on a booming entertainment and recording industry that tops a half billion dollar gross per year.

- [Charlie] A good friend of mine, probably my very best friend, Jimmy Capps, who was from Benson, who went to Nashville with the Louvin Brothers who were popular back in the fifties.

And he was a great guitar player then, and became one of the best and was recognized nationally, and in Nashville, and everywhere else.

But Jimmy and I were good friends all those years.

He wanted to help me, and he did.

He helped me get some recording contracts in Nashville.

He and I had recorded a couple of my songs.

First, "Love is the Best Thing Going Around", and one called "Nobody Cares".

So it was those connections I had with him that he introduced me to the folks at the Opry and got me on Opry.

- [Announcer] The Grand Ole Opry of Nashville, the metropolitan of country and western music has been a reservoir of talent and a showcase for country artists for nearly two generations.

- ♪ Don't they know ♪ - [Charlie] The first time I was there was 1974, and Jimmy, again, he had all the connections and with people and he says, "I want to get you in the Ryman Auditorium before they move to the new one," which they were fixing to do.

[radio feedback sounding] - [Announcer 2] Would y'all give a great big hand to a fine young man named Charlie Albertson?

[audience applauds] - [Charlie] Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.

It's awful nice to be on the Grand Ole Opry for the very first time.

I'd like to dedicate this song to all the nice folks who have made it possible for me to be here tonight, and here's my latest record, and I hope you like it.

They introduced me, bolt me out, you know, they started playing the music, I started singing the chorus.

I was so nervous and upset.

And he hollered to the guys, "He's on the chorus!"

But, of course, they didn't think about it.

That was my first experience in the Opry, which, that's about as good as you can get when you get on our Opry, I guess.

♪ Don't really know what we're fighting for ♪ ♪ Seems we're living in a world ♪ ♪ Where nobody cares ♪ I've opened shows for just about everybody in the business.

Down in Wilmington, David Houston, Loretta Lynn, and I've met so many talented people in country music throughout the years.

♪ While we dine a drink our wine ♪ ♪ Seems we're living in a world ♪ ♪ Where nobody cares ♪ ♪ There's lying cheating a stealing too ♪ One of the highlights of my life was to go to Nashville.

Yeah, with one of the best musicians in the country, really.

You know, go to the studio and try to create something or say something in a way that nobody else has said it before.

♪ Where nobody cares ♪ [audience applauds] That's just the best feeling in the world to me, to go and record a song that you've written and hoping that somebody will like it.

I always looking forward to that.

Richard does a good job.

In fact, sometimes, he makes you sound just like you are, and sometimes, that can be bad.

[chuckles] Well, we're doing a little recording of our last song, and about to get it finished up, I think.

It's about guns and what we can do to make the world a better place for our kids and everyone else.

I think we can do better.

I'm hoping this song will come across in a way that we can make our community and the world a better place, and if we do some regulation of our assault weapons.

♪ I decide to some time ago ♪ ♪ There's better places for that money to go ♪ ♪ I've got guns but I don't belong to the NRA ♪ I had the idea for some time, probably several months or longer, but it was something I was passionate about, and I'm sure it'll be controversial, you know, with some folks.

But I've learned in my lifetime, if you make some changes, good changes, sometimes, that there'll be some folks who don't like it.

I'm hopeful that a lot of people are gonna be able to relate, will be able to make a change that will be to everyone's benefit that people will like.

I wanna change everything, and you can't do that, but you can change some things if you stay consistent, I think.

And again, be good to people, and you can make a difference.

I had a fellow tell me one time.

"Charlie," he said, "You've got a lot of green stamps."

I said, "Well, what do you mean?"

He said, "Well, you served on the community college board, you've shared the Red Cross Drive, and several other things like that.

You know, be of help for the community."

I think it was just part of my DNA.

[soulful piano playing] My dad was a community-minded man.

Somebody had a hog killing, they came in and called my dad, and he would go, you know, trim the hogs.

Somebody died, he'd laid 'em out.

He only finished the fourth grade, but he started on a school board, but he was always doing things to help people.

I hadn't been free from my job for about six months, I guess, when the House seat became available.

So the timing was perfect for me if I ever wanted to run, and I had always dreamed about it in the back of my mind, so I put my hat in the ring.

I was lucky I got successful, which put me in the House, I think, in '89, 1989.

[camera shutter clicking] I was in the house two terms, which was four years, and then the seat was vacant in the Senate, so it gave me an opportunity at that time to, you know, run for the Senate, so that's what I did.

And I won.

♪ Some folks live a life of unhappy days ♪ ♪ Looking for the gold they never found ♪ Through my USDA work, and also the music, 'cause that was a springboard.

I just knew so many people, and, you know, having name recognition, that's the important part.

You spend a lot of time getting to know people, building some relationships, and I've learned that's very important when you get into legislation.

If you want to move anything that you care about you've got to know people, and they've got to know you.

♪ And nothing what life has been found ♪ ♪ No matter if you live in the country or the town ♪ ♪ Love is the best thing goin' 'round ♪ I served in the sand for 18 years, and I was Chairman of Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resource Committee all those years, except the last two years, and that was one of the best positions in the Senate.

And just about everything that flowed through the Senate came through our committee.

And a lot of those issues were, you know, very contentious.

The swine issue was very contentious in the nineties.

[radio feedback sounding] - [Newscaster] North Carolina could find itself facing a new and unnecessary threat of pollution from large hog farms if legislators fail to act before this session adjourns to extend a ban on the farm's growth.

Yet, Senator Charlie Albertson, a Duplin County Democrat who chairs the committee where the bill now resides, seems ready to let it die a quiet death.

- [Charlie] Tobacco was on the decline.

Farmers and others needed other sources of income, in which came from the swine industry.

But at the same time, I got a lot of flack from people about the smell that was emanating from the farms, which was a legitimate concern.

So I introduced legislation that would bring a halt to any farther production of swine in the state.

It was very controversial, to begin with.

Not being boastful of bragging, but I felt like I was pretty good about, you know, finding some common ground, being good to people.

Some of my best friends were on the other side of the aisle.

Everybody has a reason for voting as they want to.

They feel like they should.

But I learned a long time ago, every person you meet is different.

You can travel the world over.

You will not see two people exactly alike.

I learned that when we did all the trips overseas in particular.

We've had a fine time here at Guantanamo for all of our naval forces, our Navy people and Marine people.

And closing out our show, we'll do these song for you.

Go like this.

♪ Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord ♪ We went through 26 countries back in the mid seventies.

Congressman David, as you know, was really a great fella and a great friend of mine, he had somebody to come down from Washington from the Armed Forces Professional Entertainment Office to listen to us one night at Camp Lejeune at the Officer's Club.

They thought we were good enough, so we did those four tours over a four year period.

[camera shutters clicks] Spain, Morocco, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Germany, Saudi Arabia.

We wound up being the last group to go to Iran.

That was just before they overthrew the Shah, I guess.

Went down to Barbados and Cuba and all those places.

Puerto Rico.

Seemed like we went everywhere.

In those travels, I did, you know, probably was as good as experience I've ever had because I've met so many different people and different cultures, customs.

The world is a lot different than America.

I still think America is the best hope for the world.

Recognize we're all born equal, equal value, equal worth.

♪ Sweet ♪ ♪ Home ♪ Yeah, Jimmy told me one time that we left the studio.

He said, "Charlie, you could, have had a good career in this business."

Tommy Cash, Johnny Cash's brother, he offered me a good contract with a good company, but he said, "You will have to move to Nashville."

I had two young children, Randy and Pam.

I couldn't do that.

I'd have to give up too much.

I had to lead a steady job.

I'da have lost my family, probably, have I done that.

It's a tough life.

It really is a tough life.

The music business is.

Well, I've been there a long time, 22 years, I had been gone from my home so much.

It really hadn't been fair to my wife, Grace, to be quite honest.

I figured it was time for me to try something else.

You know, come home.

[cars swooshing by] [birds chirping] [dainty bell chimes] - [Pam] It's been good for us to be able to spend, you know, more time together.

- Yep.

- With my mom's he, he's been able to help so much in taking care of her and being there for her, so that's been really wonderful.

He still doesn't know how to relax or anything, but, [chuckles] he is one of those people that he just can't help himself.

Daddy, he can't stop writing songs.

It's just who he is.

He needs to express what's inside of him, and that's how it comes out, is with his songwriting.

I think you've probably gotten a little bolder as you've gotten older, just because you feel like you have less on the line or less to lose.

- Yeah.

But I've learned, if you're gonna do anything, you better be doing it because you don't have a lot of time on this earth.

Time is short, so if you wanna do something, you better be doing it.

The time is always right.

Yeah.

Public Radio East.

Wow.

- We'll be right in here.

- Okay, good.

- [Ryan] I'm joined in the studio by Charlie Albertson.

He's released "Change Our Ways", a song confronting gun violence and the proceeds go to gun violence prevention programs.

Why have you written this song, and why now?

- It just really concerns me, Ryan, that, you know, parents have to take or send their kids to school and then have to worry about the fact that someone might come in with a military-style weapon, assault-style weapon, if you will, and I'm not sure what it's gonna take to change it, but that's what the song was about.

I try to initiate some airplay, and maybe it would motivate people to ask themselves what they could do, you know, to make a difference for a kid.

[phone chimes lightly] I would like to ban the sale of assault weapons myself because I don't think there's a need and a place for them in our society.

♪ Much better place when we do ♪ ♪ When we do ♪ ♪ Put our weapons of war aside ♪ - [Ryan] That was Charlie Albertson, a country music artist and former state legislator from Beulaville, North Carolina.

- [Charlie] I've been real emotional today.

I know I have.

- He talks to his friends a lot.

He has a lot of friends.

Sadly, he just lost one of his friends that he talked to a lot.

- Yeah.

- Could you give us a shot of our piano man over here on the right or not?

Could you get that for us?

This young man, he comes from down in Duplin County, a town called Beulaville.

His name is Milton Houston.

Does a fine job on the organ and the piano.

[upbeat music plays] - [Pam] Daddy and Milton spent a lot of time together, just even riding to their playing jobs.

- [Charlie] Well, Milton, completely opposite in so many ways, in a lot of ways, you know?

But he's still one of my dear friends.

Best friend, really.

I'm learning what my dad told me at the end of his life.

Said, "Son, if you live to be old, a lot of your friends will have died."

And that's so true and that's so sad when you stop and think about it.

[slow country music plays] - [Pam] Nine of them total.

They've all passed away now.

- [Charlie] Yep.

I never was good at math, but I'm good enough to know I don't have a lot of time left in this place.

You know, my age and all.

But I try to, you know, keep moving, and have a reason to get up every morning.

I think it's important to have something get up for, look forward to.

[slow, calm country music continues] [country music continues] I just love music, and it's a good diversion, you know, from everything.

It's good therapy.

Gets your mind off of everything else.

I could write a song that would make a positive difference.

That would be a wonderful blessing to me.

Maybe one day, I'll write that song.

I mean, I won't be able to do a lot more things because my age.

I know how old I am, and I know how old people live to be.

Now's the time for me to say it.

If I have any influence at all for the betterment of society, for my grandchildren and for yours, I need to do it.

I should do it.

Keep trying to write a song.

I keep saying this is the last one I'm ever gonna try to do, but as long as I feel like it and, you know, I have some inspiration for doing a song, I might do another one.

It's like a movie that some of us has seen before, when innocent people have to fight and die at war.

But sometimes, you have to fight to make a wrong thing right, and democracy is worth fighting for.

So let's all join together for Ukraine.

Join hands and sing.

Let Freedom ring.

♪ Sing it again and again ♪ ♪ Let's all join together for Ukraine ♪ That's a little chorus for you.

[chuckles] [upbeat music] ♪ I've been to Kansas City ♪ ♪ Down south to Arkansas ♪ ♪ Been out to California ♪ ♪ I've heard about St. Paul ♪ ♪ Been a soldier down in Texas ♪ ♪ Sung on the Opry out in Tennessee ♪ ♪ And I've come to one conclusion ♪ ♪ Carolina is the place I've gotta be ♪ ♪ I've seen my neighbors in Virginia ♪ ♪ Nebraska from the air ♪ ♪ Nest in Oklahoma ♪ ♪ Heard from friends in Delaware ♪ ♪ I've seen those Georgia peaches ♪ ♪ White House up in Washington D.C. ♪ ♪ And I've come to one conclusion ♪ ♪ Carolina is the place I've gotta be ♪ [upbeat music fades]