Originally written and published by Sarah Teague for the Christian County Headliner on March 8, 2018. Click here to be directed to the original posting. Featured photo submitted by Splinter Middleton: Splinter Middleton with Vince Gill and The Time Jumpers Band playing on the historic Grand Ole Opry Ryman Auditorium stage.
Splinter Middleton has always wanted to perform on the Grand Ole Opry stage.
Since a young boy, he knew he listened to different music than his peers. He would sit in his room and replay traditional hits by Hank Williams and Ernest Tubb, two of his favorites. His family has always appreciated music — he said he remembers his father playing Johnny Cash records.
But Middleton never thought he’d be singing alongside those he calls his “music heroes.”
On a recent weekday, Middleton sat in Coyote’s Nixa Grille and talked about his 25-year Branson singing career. He sported a brown vest and beige cowboy hat, and his pants were tucked into his boots.
Middleton said he was a 19-year-old working at Silver Dollar City when he discovered the River Rats Dixieland Jazz Band. He said he could hear them playing from the ride he was working, and introduced himself to their lead singer, DA Callaway. Callaway invited Middleton to sing with them, and Middleton said he used to look forward to these occasional performances for SDC crowds on his work breaks.
Shortly after, Middleton was taken on by Glenn Robinson, owner of the 76 Music Hall (now Grand Country Music Hall) in Branson. He stayed on with the Memory Makers band at the music hall for 10 years, meanwhile creating a show of his own.
“(Robinson) came to me — I was 22 — and said, ‘I want you to put together … a matinee show.’ So at the age of 22 I had to hire everybody, put the show together, write it out — and I did it,” Middleton said.
That was the start of Down Home Country. Middleton stayed with Down Home Country for 16 years, he said. Over the course of his time there, Middleton met several well-known country singers who toured through Branson, and he worked with some as well.
“Not only did I get to meet them, but I got to be close friends with them,” Middleton said. “Mickey Gilley and I are really close friends. Moe Bandy, we’re really close. Mel Tillis, when I first met him, he took me under his wing.”
Tillis and Middleton connected quickly, and Tillis, former American country music singer and songwriter, wanted Middleton to meet his son, Sonny.
“Mel’s kids — they’re like family to me, and they’ve treated me like family,” Middleton said. “They just took me in. When I met Sonny … we hit it off. And Mel said he knew we would. It was like I’d known him my whole life.”
Tillis supported Middleton’s songwriting, and in 2005 paid for Middleton’s debut album “Dreams Come True,” he said.
Tillis died on Nov. 19, 2017. Middleton played at a tribute held for Tillis on Jan. 31 in Nashville on the historic Grand Ole Opry Stage in the Ryman Auditorium.
“You always dream of playing the Ryman,” Middleton said, his eyes full of tears. “Here in Nixa, you dream about it. And Mel always wanted to get me on the Grand Ole Opry. He always said, ‘I’m gonna get you there someday.’ And he did.”
Tillis was just one connection of many Middleton made during his time in Branson. He listed names of musicians he’s admired for years that he met during his music career, including: Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Joe Sullivan, Garth Brooks, Charlie Pride, Merle Haggard and Leona Williams — to name a few.
Williams, a country music singer who was married to Merle Haggard from 1978-1983, worked with Middleton on Down Home Country. She said she remembers the day she met him.
“I thought it was so cute — he told me growing up all the other kids would be listening to rock n’ roll, and he’d be listening to my record,” Williams said. “The first time I met Splinter … I was booked with John Anderson at Lowe’s Theater. I just looked off the stage towards the front door and there was this young boy and he had a cassette tape, and that was Splinter. He gave me that cassette tape and I still have it.”
Middleton reminisced on this day as well. He said he bought a ticket to see her sing when he was 16 years old.
“(Leona) … (has) the best country voice of anybody, she’s an angel,” Middleton said. “I always looked up to her. Leona took me under her wing. She’s a hero of mine — she’s like a second mother to me now.”
Not long after, when Middleton had established Down Home Country, he asked Williams to come work with him around 2005. She said yes, and for two years, Leona worked with Middleton in Branson and on the road.
Middleton said it’s these connections that have been so meaningful during his music career.
Wayne Massengale, a fiddler from Arkansas who has been playing shows in Branson since 1981, said he and Middleton were working there when they met for the first time.
“I’d been hearing all around town people talking about this young guy who’s my age that sang classic country and had this real rich voice,” Massengale said. “He’s really got that something special when it comes to singing, he is the real deal. (Middleton) sings perfect pitch, he has this richness in his voice. He is respected — there is not one person in this town that will say (Middleton) can’t sing.”
Chelsey Roberson, Middleton’s daughter, said music is something her father shared with his family. Roberson said she was “raised backstage,” and Branson shows were a part of her childhood.
“I started singing when I was 13 and it was always with Dad. From little festivals to radio shows — he got me up there any chance he could, even through the awkward stages of life,” Roberson said. “(Music has) always been my dad and I’s greatest bond. He’s taught me everything I know about it.”
Williams said Splinter has time to grow his career even more, and continue to honor traditional country singers who have come before him.
“I hope Splinter will (continue) what he’s been doing all these years, and be the leader of all these young people to real country music,” Williams said. “And he’s capable of doing that in Branson.”
Through every season of his life, Middleton said music has been his constant and kept him motivated. Middleton said seeing traditional, talented country artists — like fiddlers and phenomenal singers — play classic country at Tillis’ tribute was sad to see, as he believes this style isn’t as popular as it once was. But, he looks forward to the future, and wants to keep this traditional music alive.
“(Music) has kept me going,” Middleton said. “Thank the Lord that I got to do what I got to do for a living, and get to meet the people (I have.) I’ve gotten to meet all my heroes. A lot of people from Nixa, Missouri, don’t get to do that. I’m not a big star, but I’ve gotten to do a lot of things I’ll be able to tell my grandkids (about.)”
