Remembering Larry Rice (1949-2006)

     Larry Rice is a member of the legendary Rice family of bluegrass and acoustic music fame. The bluegrass band of brothers has no peers! There's Tony, Wyatt, Larry, and Ron. It doesn't get any better than Rice music! As we approach another anniversary of the explosion of Challenger (January 28, 1986), we pay tribute to Larry Rice's emotion-charged "Star-Bound Heroes," which recalls the day that seven astronauts raced into space aboard the ill-fated spacecraft. Our tribute is in direct response to a certain young female entertainer's careless disrespect of the astronauts aboard Challenger.

 NOTE: The image below is not Challenger nor the ill-fated flight.

Image courtesy of  a friend, Jason Helms, at Johnson Space Center

  
 In Tribute to the Seven Astronauts who were aboard Challenger

Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe (first teacher in space), Greg Jarvis, Judy Resnik,
Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, and Ronald McNair

STAR-BOUND HEROES by Larry Rice 

(album "Hurricanes and Daydreams," Rebel Records LLC)

Even as I write, they're still looking for the ruins

And for the answers that remain a mystery

On this January twenty-eighth

When the cold, cold wind is blowing

This ship went down today, a tragedy

The children's eyes were saddened as the tragedy unfolds

And the newsmen looked for words they could describe

America is shaken at the loss of seven heroes

The seven who today have lost their lives

Bring down the flags

Bring down the flags

For the seven who today have lost their lives

Bring down the flags

Bring down the flags

For the seven that were 'board the Challenger

Bring down the flags

Bring down the flags

For the fam'lies of the fliers of the sky

For they're still flying

Yes, they're flying

Up to heaven

Tonight the moon shines down

On the great Atlantic Ocean

The moon that man has walked for us to see

Our hearts go to the seven

The seven star-bound heroes

As they travel up to heaven's galaxy

Bring down the flags

Bring down the flags 

For the seven that were 'board the Challenger

Bring down the flags

Bring down the flags

For the fam'lies of the fliers of the sky

For they're still flying

Yes, they're flying

Up to heaven

For they're still flying 

Yes, they're flying 

Up to heaven

When I recorded "Grassroots" from the radio on PRM (now Mississippi Public Broadcasting) with the legendary Mike Morgan, I noted the date of January 27, 1990, just prior to the fourth anniversary of the explosion. I share the song and my recollections with you out of my great fondness for Larry Rice and his music, Mike Morgan and his genius at the microphone, and the seven astronauts who "were 'board the Challenger."

Pick away! (for Larry Rice and the seven star-bound heroes)