Philadelphia: A town known to many as a home, a beautiful vacation spot, or a place of oppression. To Allen Matthews it was just a faded memory.
Nashville, Tennessee in 1975 was a town bearing the dreams of thousands of aspiring singer-songwriters of the country music persuasion. Among the hoard bleak dreamers was a boy, no older than 20 years old, known as Alan Matthews aka Lefty Longhorn.
Lefty was an authentic space cowboy born and raised in the Blueridge Mountains of Fannin County, Georgia. His song 'Mighty Blueridge Waters' had won the local songwriting competition and caught the eye of Marcus Styles, manager to the world famous Willie Nelson. Marcus coaxed Willie to make a special trip to Fannin County in order to hear the potential hit. Shortly thereafter the song was being performed by Willie Nelson and his band in venues across America peaking at number 4 on the country music charts.
It was the royalties from this modest ballad that brought Lefty to Nashville to try and make it as an independent musician.
After six months of waiting tables and playing measly wannabe open mics, Lefty was forced to pack his bags and move on. On a Saturday afternoon he loaded a suitcase with only his most prized possesions and boarded an Amtrak train, and by Sunday morning he had arrived in Philadelphia; a bustling metropolis of young professionals and washed up substance abusers.
Due to his lack of education and training he was forced to work in a Dr. Pepper bottling plant, owned and operated by a man only known as Tom "Benz" Ulrikjady. By then Lefty had dropped his stage name and was once again going by his birth name - Alan.
He worked 12 hour days at the plant earning minimum wage. His boss, Mr Ulrikjady, was ruthless and the work was tedious. Only one thing kept him going and that was Amy Ulrikjady, the wistful young sprite of a woman and daughter to Benz Ulrikjady. They would laugh during Alan's breaks and flirt during his time off. He was truly impressed with her as she was with him.
Their summers were spent making trips back to Fannin County to visit Alan's family and bask in the cool mountain air. While Alan's parents were more than supportive of their courtship, Tom Ulrikjady was outraged.
"He's a pawn! A peasant!" he would scream, "I won't allow my daughter to associate, let alone marry someone like him!"
But his protest was in vain. Alan proposed to her on the night of a lunar eclipse in the summer of 1979 atop the tallest peak of the Blueridge Mountains. Tom couldn't believe his ears and suffered a heart attack the moment he heard the news. He passed away that day in the fall of 1979, but love-struck Amy was too preoccupied to let her fathers death ruin their plans of marriage.
In his will Mr. Ulrikjady left his daughter a small home in the Suburbs of Philadelphia where Alan and Amy had their first son Eric Matthews in April of 1980. The death of Tom had been both a blessing and a curse on their new life, but his memory blessed their marriage. Because, though Benz had been the sole nay-sayer in the union of those hopeless romantics, he loved his daughter until his dying day, and not man or God could change that.
