‘Making music with class’
Magic Goodwin touch charms listeners
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ighty-eight keys never had better friends than Charles Goodwin’s two hands. The legendary Kingsport musician commenced training them three-quarters of a century ago, while only a boy in his hometown of Bristol, where he would play his guitar on street corners for donations from passers-by. A lifelong quest to “make music with class” began with few advantages for the middle son of George and Pearl Goodwin, growing up in a family of nine children. “We had a little family combo,” Charles recalls. “My sister sang, and my uncle played violin.” Charles taught himself to play the guitar, mandolin and Hawaiian guitar. His introduction to the keyboard came when his 5-year-old fingers formed their first chords on an old pump organ. Bertha Walls, owner of Bristol’s Big Jack Co., saw something special in the boy, and took him under her musical wing. “She taught me four years. She did it for free. My family couldn’t afford anything like that. She began by instructing me in chords, going through all the chords in each key. She gave me my first trumpet. “And when she saw I had gotten to the place that I needed something more, she took me to Charles Goodwin Dr. Clifford Loomis at Sullins College, and paid for my lessons.” The professor taught his new pupil on a Steinway concert grand piano he had donated to the college. The notes and chords stuck with Charles, and the desire to play only grew. He organized his first band, The Serenaders, in 1948, not long after the formation of the Jerry King Band. Goodwin joined Continued on Page 2