Charlie Bush recalls the earliest days of his lifelong relationship with music

Charlie Bush is a guitar player, drummer, and a retired chef from Shreveport, Louisiana. His childhood was imbued with music, as he had an incredibly wonderfully large musical family, with all the siblings having particular instruments they played and a personal repertoire of songs they were known for singing in their family ranks. Charlie's brother Bill Bush is a Louisiana legend who led a musical combo for fifty years. (Learn about the Bill Bush Combo) He operated a club in Shreveport called the Moulin Rouge, where members of the family honed their performance chops. Eventually, Charlie and his sister Rebecca toured New Zealand as a duo singing folk and rock songs. Charlie's mom Ruby had a big impact on his appreciation of music (and that of his siblings). "It started out with my mom, who was a piano player, and played for all my talent shows growing up," says Charlie. Ruby is still living at 99 years young and regularly performs for her fellow residents at a nursing home in the Dallas area! Charlie took ukulele lessons when he was seven years old at the Shreveport Memorial Library. (Aren't public libraries WONDERFUL??) Soon after, he started taking guitar lessons. "My first song was John Denver, 'Take Me Home, Country Roads,'" recalls Charlie. "Then I learned 27 Jimmy Buffet songs because they were all three and four chords. Easy to learn…. and I just went on from there!" And that's how it's done, kids. Find an instrument you like, learn some popular songs you really love. Start with the easy ones. Once you learn just a few chords, the world of musical performance opens up to you! Thank you Charlie Bush for sharing your childhood music memories with Confetti Park.