I’ve always loved music, but I fell in love with Appalachian music around the age of 12. I remember characters like, Willie Ferguson, with his long salt & pepper beard draped over the back of his fiddle while playing the irish jig, "Dusty Miller." And then there was Whitey Swanger, a flat picker from Fines Creek, who patiently taught me the "Blackberry Blossom" on his old, worn out, Martin D-28. I remember Daddy’s mama, Granny Wiggins, who bore 5 boys and 4 girls, but could still clog anyone under the table when threatened by a good guitar lick, and Papaw in a rocking chair on the front porch of our hand built log cabin, weavin’ the tallest tales, while the supper dishes were being put away.
The Smoky Mountains of Western North Carolina is where I come from. And it still feels like home, even after 20 years in Nashville.My Daddy, the late Johnny Wiggins, also known as, "The Singing Bus Driver," was the opening act and driver for Ernest Tubb and the Texas Troubadors from 1962 to 1965.
Daddy was the life of the party, always a jokester, and always pickin’ and singin’.
He was my hero, my mentor and my biggest fan.
Daddy bought me my first guitar, a Kay, when I was 6, and Mama taught me my first song on it, "Red River Valley."
When my little sister Audrey came along it was clear that she was a songbird too, and so Daddy began teaching us to sing harmonies, as only kin can do, on such standards as "Wafaring Stranger," and "Let it be me."
I was 17 and Audrey was 12 when we started headlining at, "The End of the Trail," and later at, "The Stomping Grounds," our two local Honky Tonks.Audrey and I moved to Nashville in 1987 with one goal in mind:to get a deal. We moved in to a condo along music Row and spent the next 6 years paying our dues.
As chance would have it, we were discovered singing at a party, in the condo next door, by my Attorney and friend, Charlie Andrews.
In 1993, we got what we came for; a record deal. Mercury Records began marketing us as a brother and sister act. We toured across the country promoting our single releases, "Falling out of love," "Has anybody seen Amy," and "She’s in the bedroom crying," to name a few.
We were nominated multiple times in the vocal duo of the year category for CMA and ACM Awards, but after 5 years with Mercury we parted ways.1998 was a pivotal time for me. In the face of rejection, I could either tuck my tail between my legs and run away, or pull myself up by the bootstraps and stay. I stayed. I started concentrating solely on Song Writing and for the last 10 years, I have been doing just that.
I have been fortunate enough to have my songs recorded by Gary Allan, Alan Jackson, George Jones, Joe Nichols, Chris Cagle, Reba McEntire and Don Henley among others.At the top of the hill, up John Rock Rd., I can find my old Kay guitar hanging on the wall at Mama’s cabin, a reminder of where I came from and how far I’ve come. Audrey and I still sing together when we have occasion to, and it still feels as sweet.
To borrow a line form a tune I wrote:
"My life’s been a Country Song!"John Wiggins currently writes for Wrensong Publishing Corp. in Nashville.
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