The Day The Music Died In Minden, Louisiana

Loyd Thomas Brown, 68, was born on August 4, 1944
 in Minden to
 L.T. "Buddy" and Perrie Dean "Patsy" Brown
 and died on April 9, 2013 at his home in Minden.

Memories Of Loyd Thomas Brown

April 9th, 2013 is the day the music died in Minden, Louisiana.

From the time I was 14 years old I would go to the Sound Company out on the Shreveport Road and buy music.  Later when they moved to the Homer Road it became the local spot to sit and hear the best music on the BEST stereo equipment.

I would sit with Loyd Brown, and Sammy Shepard for hours and listen to music....In fact the only thing I ever bought that went up in value was my Phase Linear Equipment and my Weber Towers...they came with an agreement that anytime I ever moved Loyd would come set them up for me.  He kept his word on that and set all of that equipment up 5 times for me over about a 30 year time-frame (Until I sold them to Danny Francis)  (And I had to marry him to get them back… we still have them today and they are worth three times what I paid for them)....It took me three years to pay for them back then...I would take a little money in every week and we kept up with it on a little piece of paper that I carried with me.

Like most of you…Most of my clothing and my car… had Sound Company on the back of it...I had a Blue Waylon shirt and a Black Fleetwood Mac T-shirt that was my standard dress. When I was 16 Loyd had been telling me about a band (The Side Of The Road Gang) that was coming to Shreveport so we loaded up to head to the old Tenn. Opry House...when we got to the door he said something about getting my ID out to show them...I think that is when I said well I am only 16! What a look of shock on his face and I think I heard him mutter OH SHIT! (He was 32)

Well I got in anyway and didn't get my ID checked again until I was 22. We became close friends and I saw him go through many happy and wonderful times, a lot of tragic times and later a lot of sad times...but through it all he was always the same old Loyd T....slow and steady...

Loyd was the original Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives guy.  He would say you want a burger and we might end up somewhere between here and New Orleans eating at some little place… he said had the best burgers.  I think I even cried when they tore the old Studio Steak House down on HWY 80.  I know that Loyd is where I get my love of what I call adventure eating and traveling.  I always look for the hole-in-wall unusual places everywhere I go.

I saw Loyd for the last time a week or so before he died. He was at the post office and I knew it would not be long before he left this world (he was mailing a pkg and the I overheard the postal worker ask him if he need confirmation….he sorta replied with a laugh…I don’t think I’m going to need that...I stepped out of line to hug and talk to him...he said as always "Schelley Girl you are looking good...married life is agreeing with you!...(I think that was his way of saying you are getting FAT) 

I asked how he was feeling and he told me “just hanging on by my toenails...but I have some strong toenails" we hugged again and I knew I wouldn't see him again.  I walked out of the post office and text Greg Daily to tell him if he wanted to see him he better hurry.  A week later he was gone.  

I could tell 100s of stories today.  A lot of you are a part of those stories!  We were all a part of a unique era of time and place.  Loyd is a big part of what made it unique….he made a big impact to a lot of people in Minden...he gave us music that we never would have heard if it hadn't been for him...I know we all still have CDs that he made for us.  I think that is why so many of our generation from Minden have a deep and varied appreciation for so many different kinds of music.

The one thing I do regret… is that I was not as good a friend to Loyd as he probably would have been to me had I been sick.  I have a feeling of not having done enough.  I think there are a lot of those feelings in this room today.  We all have a deep sense of lose of someone that was a constant in our lives for many years….even if he was just in the background for the last few years.  None of us knows what life will be tomorrow…we try to live the best we can in the here and now….  RIP Loyd Thomas Brown...you made a big impact on a lot of people even if you didn't know it.