Tag: Robison Family

“Duane and Doreen, Pt. 2”

LOCATION: Marvyn, Alabama
PERIOD: 1988
DRAMATIS PERSONAE: Jason Duane Robison (1957); Doreen Stacey Collins (1958); Margaret Jane Robison (1988)

Jason Duane Robison (1957) and Doreen Stacey Collins (1958) had been married about five years when Doreen annouced that she was pregnant.  At first Duane was troubled by the news since he had just gotten laid off from work.  But he quickly realized that the lay off was temporary reduction in force, and in all probability he’d be back at work soon.

They discuss the option of finding out the sex but Duane suggests leaving it to be a surprise.  All works out fine, Duane goes back to work shortly before Doreen gives birth to a girl whom they name after their respective mothers, Margaret Jane Robison (1988) – and they see their world as perfect.

Duane and Doreen would go on to have three more kids.

“Duane and Doreen, Pt. 1”

LOCATION: Marvyn, Alabama
PERIOD: 1985
DRAMATIS PERSONAE: Jason Duane Robison (1957); Doreen Stacey Collins (1958)

Jason Duane Robison (1957) and Doreen Stacey Collins (1958) got married in 1985; this story takes place within their first two years of that marriage.  They live in a rural setting outside of the small town of Marvyn Alabama, which is about fifteen miles from Opelika, Alabama.  Opelika is the county seat of Lee County in the east-central part of Alabama with a population of about 30,000.  For Duane and Doreen it is a big city.

The song describes a typical day in their lives, in this case Doreen thinks she saw a dangerous snake behind their house.  Duane is convinced it is a black snake, although of which has been known to bite, is not poisonous and has a reputation of keeping worse snakes and rodents away. She also tells of seeing a friend o theirs who talks about someone they know who lost her husband and is not doing too well.  Duane’s attention falters during the telling and asks Doreen about something unrelated.

The song highlights married couples can sometimes have little disagreements and things which they have to learn to live with as they acclimate themselves to each other.

Duane and Doreen, Pt. 1
(F. D. Leone, Jr.)

Duane, I saw a snake yesterday,
Out there under one of them big rocks.
Can you get that metal pole you got,
The grabber thing, and put it in a box?
Doreen, what color was the snake?
Cuz if it was black – I’d leave it alone.
We want those black snakes around;
They keep the bad ones gone.
 
Duane would you just take a look?
I’m afraid to take the garbage out.
Okay Doreen, I’ll take a look,
But that black snake ain’t nothing, I’ve no doubt.
The little things, little concessions;
The give and take, that make up life.
Duane and Doreen,
Just another husband and wife.
 
Duane you’ll never guess who I saw
The other day at Electronic Express.
Just tell me Doreen, how should I know.
Duane don’t be like that, come on, guess.
Okay, let’s see, it was either April or Pam.
So fine,  I guessed, now tell me who.
Yeah it was Pam, and she told me about
That friend hers, you know, Sue.
 
You remember Sue, her husband died last year;
She  was there, crying, in the aisle with the printers.
Pam wants to do something to perk her up.
Doreen, where’d you put the sissors? 
The little things, the concessions;
The give and take, that make up life.
Duane and Doreen,
Just another husband and wife.

© 2026 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

“Duane and Doreen, Pt. 3”

LOCATION: Marvyn, Alabama
PERIOD: 2020
DRAMATIS PERSONAE: Jason Duane Robison (1957); Doreen Stacey Collins (1958); Margaret Jane Robison (1988); John Collins Robison (1990); Ruby Ruth Robison (1990); Kieran Jason Robison (1999); Margaret “Peg” Stacey (1949).

Jason Duane Robison (1957) and  Doreen Stacey Collins (1958) have by this time been married about 45 years, raised four children, the youngest boy is now out of the house and on his own.  They are now back to being a couple and a experiencing the pangs of the empty nest.

Doreen is strapped with caregiving her elderly mother and sometimes just wants to get away.  Duane tries to do what he can to answer this need of hers – but life being what it is just getting away is often not easy to do.

However, they have strong love for each other and overall we know that they will be okay.

Duane and Doreen, Pt. 3
(F. D. Leone, Jr.)

Duane, we never seem to go anywhere.
Doreen we just went to Tiger Town.
Tiger Town! You must be kidding;
Duane, Opelika don’t count.
I want to go somewhere we ain’t been,
Some place fun, where we’d have to pack.
Doreen, we could go see Mamaw Boone,
Then hit Atlanta on the way back.

Duane, we been to Atlanta.
I don’t know why I even bother.
Doreen, what would you do with mama?
Could you even get somebody to watch her?
That’s exactly why I need a break;
I just need to get away once and awhile.
I’m sorry Doreen I didn’t mean nothing;
I know it’s a daily trial.

Hey, I know we been to Mobile, but
Dauphin Island would be somewhere new.
They got a bird sanctuary there;
That’s would be something fun to do.
Okay Duane, let me think on it;
Today I got to get mama’s toenails cut.
I hope it don’t storm like they saying,
It wears me out just getting her up.

The morning rain is gray and cold;
The asphalt is slick and black.
There’s no where else to go;
Cept down the road and back.
The evening sun is going down;
Supper is on the table.
It’s hard just getting out of town;
And easy to forget life is fatal.

© 2026 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

“Tybee Island”

LOCATION: Tybee Island, Georgia
PERIOD: Summer of 1968
DRAMATIS PERSONAE: Ruthann Robison (1951); Billy Wainwright

Ruthann Robison (1951) was a paternal aunt of Pearl Robison (1973) but instead of Conyers, Georgia, Ruthann grew up in Savannah.

This song describes a weekend in the summer of 1968 when a seventeen-year-old Ruthann and her boyfriend Billy Wainwright spent a romantic night on Tybee Island.  Ruthann and Billy would go on to marry and have three kids, Pearl’s cousins.

Depending upon your orientation, Tybee Island is either the terminus or starting point of Highway 80, which at one time ran continuously from Tybee Island to San Diego, California.  During the 1960s, US 80 was decommissioned west of Dallas.

TYBEE ISLAND
(F. D. Leone, Jr.)

Billy Wainwright was from Savannah
Ruthann Robison was his girlfriend
July ’68 they took East 80
And drove to the highway’s end
 
Billy built a fire near the lighthouse
As shadows began to grow
They shared a bottle of Mateus
And sang songs like “Ode to Billy Joe”
 
On Tybee Island, Tybee Island
The waves sparkle like diamonds
The sand on the beach
The salt and the sea
Billy picked a Georgia peach on Tybee Island
 
Ruthie spread out the tattered blanket
That Billy kept in that old truck
They talked underneath the starlight
Until the sun came up

On Tybee Island, Tybee Island
The waves sparkle like diamonds
The sand on the beach
The salt and the sea
Billy picked a Georgia peach on Tybee Island
 
Ruthann said she wanted ten children
Billy told her all his deepest dreams
They kissed and the world stopped spinning
That’s how love is when you’re seventeen
 
On Tybee Island, Tybee Island
The waves sparkle like diamonds
The sand on the beach
The salt and the sea
Billy picked a Georgia peach on Tybee Island
The sand on the beach
The salt and the sea
He picked a Georgia peach on Tybee Island

© 2020 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

“Feel Like Dirt”

LOCATION: Midland, Texas; Conyers, Georgia
PERIOD: 1981
DRAMATIS PERSONAE: Ruby Jones Robison (1955) ; Darrel Haynes (1951)

Ruby Jones Robison (1955) is Pearl Robison’s aunt, her father’s sister. Ruby met Darrel Haynes (1951) at Texas Tech in Lubbock, TX, and they were quickly married settling into a house in Midland in 1977 where Darrel had gotten a job at Baker Oil right out of college.

They were happy for a few years, but when they lost their first child, a girl, it broke the marriage up. Ruby was 32 in 1981 when she decided to leave Darrell and go back to Conyers, Georgia, her hometown.

FEEL LIKE DIRT
(F. D. Leone, Jr.)

She got on the Greyhound with her suitcase
And her little patent leather bag
Had two Cokes, a package of peanuts,
And a fifth of Ancient Age
 
She nursed that bottle all across Texas,
But she was sober when she crossed the Georgia line, in fact
Lord, she cried those first few weeks
But she didn’t look back; couldn’t look back
 
It was either kill the man or leave
Killin’ was more trouble than he was worth
Gettin’ on that bus was a relief
First time in a long time she didn’t feel like dirt
 
She left everything in the house
And nothing of herself behind
Dropped her keys on the kitchen table
Along with the reason why
 
It was a matchbook she’d found in his jeans
There was a heart with a phone number inside
All those loads of laundry
The dreams she compromised
 
It was either kill the man or leave
Killin’ was more trouble than he was worth
Gettin’ on that bus was a relief
First time in a long time she didn’t feel like dirt
 
She got on the Greyhound with her suitcase
And her little patent leather bag
Had two Cokes, a package of peanuts,
And a fifth of Ancient Age

© 2018 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

“A River Runnin’ Wild”

LOCATION: North Georgia mountains
PERIOD: Early 1933
DRAMATIS PERSONAE: Clara Sprague Robison (1911-1993); Johnny Campbell (1905-1944)

This story takes place in the north Georgia mountains, early 1933.  Clara Sprague Robison (1911-1993) sees her future husband, Johnny Campbell (1905-1944), at church one Sunday.  Clara had met Johnny before, but only briefly, and she knew he lived off the mountain. The fact that he came to her church, as opposed to the one he regularly attended, was significant to her, letting her know that he made the trip specifically to see her.

Clara is the great-grandaunt of Pearl Robison. Clara and Johnny would have three children, Marcus, Nora, and Emily, before Johnny is killed in WWII.

A RIVER RUNNIN’ WILD
(F. D. Leone, Jr.)

Johnny came to Clara’s church that Sunday,
Him on the mountain was a surprise
She’d have to walk right past him
Lord she thought she just might die

She seen the look in his eye
Like there was no one, just them two
Something rose up in her heart
Like a river runnin’ wild busting loose

Johnny touched his new wool cap
As Clara hurried past him up the steps
All through the preachin’ she felt his eyes
On the back of her neck

She seen the look in his eye
Like there was no one, just them two
Something rose up in her heart
Like a river runnin’ wild busting loose

Soon as the service was over
Clara felt her face burnin’ red
Johnny took her hand, they went walkin’
She couldn’t tell you a word of what they said

She seen the look in his eye
Like there was no one, just them two
Something rose up in her heart
Like a river runnin’ wild busting loose

© 2018 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

“Levi, Ruby, and Cole”

LOCATION: Northwest Louisiana
PERIOD: 1860s
DRAMATIS PERSONAE: Levi Motts (1843-1864); Ruby Robison (1845-1933 ); Coleman Broussard (1842-1910)

Levi Motts and Coleman Broussard were cousins, and each one loved Ruby Robison and she loved them both, as well. Levi and Cole were Confederates, and fought at Mansfield. But Levi died that afternoon, leaving Ruby and Cole to carry on together.

LEVI, RUBY, AND COLE
(F. D. Leone, Jr.)

Cole was strong and steady
Straight as a rail
Levi was born ready
Always raisin’ hell
Ruby loved Levi all the way
But Cole was who she chose
Levi might grow up some day
But, who knows

Ruby knew Cole loved her
But Levi charmed her heart
Cole was down to earth
Levi sparkled like a star

The War broke this trio up
Only one came back home
Ruby had two loves
Levi and Cole

Cole knew he and Ruby
Would never have
The kind of magic love
She and Levi had
Just taking care of her
For Cole, it was enough
He ain’ the apple of her youth
But theirs was also love

Ruby knew Cole loved her
But Levi charmed her heart
Cole was down to earth
Levi sparkled like a star

© 2018 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

“Between Here and Gone”

LOCATION: Macon, Georgia
PERIOD: January, 2010
DRAMATIS PERSONAE: Pearl Boone Robison (1973)

Pearl Robison comes from a fractured family line going back before the Civil War, and her life has carved a jagged line as well. She is related through her father, Jason Jones Robison (1946- ) to Ruby Robison (1843-1933), who was the sister of Marcus Walsh Robison (1836-1897) Pearl’s great-great-great-grandfather. Ruby Robison was a young prostitute in Shreveport who gave birth to a Civil War soldier’s child, the first Pearl Robison (see songs, “Fannin Street” and “Levi Motts is My Name“).

In 1973 Pearl Robison was born in Conyers, Georgia but we first meet Pearl when she is managing a dollar store in Macon. One January day in 2010, sitting in her car before opening up, she decides to leave town and head west on U.S. 80.

BETWEEN HERE AND GONE
(F. D. Leone, Jr.)

No one dreams of bein’ manager at Dollar Town
But life happens, there’s worse around
A stick of spearmint’ll hide whiskey on her breath
Might as well open up she’s out of cigarettes

Snowed eight inches overnight the air is crystal clear
They’ll be buying extra bread and eggs and beer
Just sittin’ and thinkin’ in her car out there alone
She’s stranded between here and gone

She could just drive away free as the breeze
Start over somewhere, just leave
Don’t matter no more what’s right or wrong
She’s stranded between here and gone

Checking her makeup she sees a new grey hair
She don’ know that woman who returns her stare
The day’s first shopper pulls in the parking lot
She still has time for one more shot

There’s nothing in this town for her to stay
She used to find little things that kept that thought away
Like goin’ to the Blue Bonnet for a lemon custard cone
She’s stranded between here and gone

She could just drive away free as the breeze
Start over somewhere, just leave
Don’t matter no more what’s right or wrong
She’s stranded between here and gone

© 2017 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

“Levi Motts Is My Name”

LOCATION: Northwest Louisiana
PERIOD: 1864
DRAMATIS PERSONAE: Levi Motts (1843-1864); Coleman Broussard (1842-1910); Ruby Robison (1845-1933); Pearl Robison (1864-1944)

Mustering out of Monroe, Louisiana Levi and his cousin Coleman Broussard joined up with in Colonel Henry Gray’s brigade, the Louisiana Gray’s. It did not take them long to find their way to the burgeoning red light district of Shreveport. There Levi met and took up with one of the young sporting girls there, Ruby Robison. Cole was also smitten and Ruby seeing Levi for what he was, a rake and leaky vessel for her to place her future, encouraged Cole in his romantic dreams. They were a inseparable trio, the two kinsmen and the beautiful and fragile young whore hedging her bets, so to speak.

Despite Coleman’s obvious romantic aspirations, Ruby couldn’t deny her stronger feelings for Levi. Defying the conventions of the time she and Levi made plans for marriage as soon as the war was over. However, the Louisiana Grays were called up to confront the Union troops already marching towards Louisiana after conquering Vicksburg. Gray’s brigade is one of the units in Gen. Robert Taylor’s army tasked with stopping the Trans-Mississippi Campaign of Nathaniel Bank’s invading force at Mansfield.

While the Battle of Mansfield was a Confederate victory, Levi Motts was one of only about a hundred Southern men who died there on April 8, 1864. When he went into battle, Levi knew that Ruby was pregnant with their child. This child, a girl Ruby named Pearl, is born in late December of 1864. Because of her illegitimate status Pearl chose to use the name Robison for most of her life.

LEVI MOTTS IS MY NAME
(F. D. Leone, Jr.)

Levi Motts is my name
Come from Northwest Louisiana
I joined up with Colonel Gray
He said be ready to march today
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
If this war will ever end

Ruby Robison is my gal
Keeps a room down in the bottoms
We talked of gettin’ out of there
Make a new life anywhere
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
If this war will ever end

Ruby wrote me a letter
We were waitin’ outside Mansfield
Wrote there’s a baby on the way
We fought the Yankees April Eighth
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
If this war will ever end

Levi Motts is my name
Come from Northwest Louisiana
Lead ball went through my neck
That afternoon I bled to death
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
If this war will ever end

© 2017 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

“Pearl and Jake”

LOCATION: Shreveport, Louisiana; Fort Worth, Texas
PERIOD: January, 2010-May, 2015
DRAMATIS PERSONAE: Pearl Boone Robison (1973); Jacob “Jake” Tyler McLemore (1959).

In 1973 Pearl Robison was born in Conyers, Georgia but we first meet Pearl when she is managing a dollar store in Macon. One January day in 2010, sitting in her car before opening up, she decides to leave town and head west on U.S. 80 (see song, “Between Here and Gone“).

She ends up in Shreveport, Louisiana, when she stops at an all night diner and Jake McLemore enters her life. They live together for five years before Pearl’s wanderlust overtakes her again and she leaves, this time heading for Fort Worth (see song, “Pearl + Jake“). She does not know at the time that she is pregnant, but when she discovers this fact, she waits almost two years before deciding it is best to let Jake know he is a father (see song “Terrell”)

She gives birth in 2015 to a baby girl whom she names Sadie Jo Robison, after her parents, Jason Jones Robison and Sadie Boone. Pearl and Jake get married in 2018 and raise Sadie Jo together.

PEARL AND JAKE
(F. D. Leone, Jr.)

Snowed all day in Macon when Pearl left for the last time
Al’bam, Mizsippy, Luziana; Georgia felt far enough behind
Creosote, cottonseed, Shree’port – hit her like a cinder block
Lights of an all-nite diner; Pearl coasted to a stop

Jake behind the counter, white apron little paper hat
Slid some coffee before her, quiet as an alley cat
Pearl pulled a pint from somewhere, tipped it over her cup
Jake lit a cigarette; the sun came up

Lovin’ her is what he meant to do
Even if it broke his heart in two
He played life like a game of horseshoes
Ah, but, lovin’ her was what he meant to do

Jake bought this diner after selling McLemore’s
Pearl was stranded in Macon managing a dollar store
They met on Jewella Avenue both lookin’ for a new start
Jake gave her some food and every one of his scars

Lovin’ her is what he meant to do
Even if it broke his heart in two
He played life like a game of horseshoes
Ah, but, lovin’ her was what he meant to do

Jake didn’t want to come home stinkin’ of cigarettes, beer and perfume
Five years passed by as he walked from room to empty room
Pearl was runnin’ away that first day he met her
She’d been leavin’ ever since, Jake finally found a way to let her

© 2018 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.