Perry Tillis, Samson, Alabama, 18 July 2004. Photo: Kevin Nutt.
in his own church, he was still performing every first and third Sunday at
the Our Savior Jesus Holiness Pentecostal Church in Samson, Alabama.
Bottleneck guitarist Tillis became totally blind in 1954. In 1971, eight years
after the assassination, he recorded  Kennedy Moan at his home outside
Elba in southeast Alabama. A few days before his death in 2004, Tillis
remembered  Kennedy Moan :  Them songs would bring money, you
know, too! People pay me to play that. He was my president. One thing
he did, he made it better for the colored man in some ways. Me myself, I
tell you, I ain t never had it bad. I always have got along with white folks
and colored. I always would go with them to their house. I eat with them,
I sleep with them. But a lot of folks couldn t do it. I thought one of the
best things he ever done while he was president was when he and his
brother got Wallace out of the schoolhouse door. 28
The Day the Worl d Stood Stil l [ 121 ]