Clayton and Saford Hall were born in the b
ackwoods of Virginia in 1919\, in a place known as The Hollow. Incredibly\
, they became legends in their day\, rising from mountain-bred poverty to
pickin&rsquo\; and yodelin&rsquo\; all over the airwaves of the South in t
he 1930s and 1940s\, opening shows for the Carter Family\, Roy Rogers\, th
e Sons of the Pioneers\, and even playing the most coveted stage of all: t
he Grand Ole Opry. They accomplished a lifetime&rsquo\;s worth of achievem
ents in less than five years&mdash\;and left behind only a few records to
document their existence. \;
\;
Fortunately\, Ralph Ber
rier\, Jr.\, the grandson of Clayton Hall and a reporter for the Roanoke T
imes\, brings us their full story for the first time in IF TROUBLE DON'T K
ILL ME. He documents how the twins&rsquo\; music spread like wildfire when
they moved from The Hollow to Roanoke at age twenty\, and how their popul
arity was inflamed by their onstage zaniness\, their roguish offstage shen
anigans\, and\, above all\, their ability to play old-time country music.&
nbsp\;
\;
But just as they arrived on the brink of major fa
me\, World War II dashed their dreams. \;
Berrier follows the
Hall twins as they travel overseas\, leaving behind their beloved music\,
and are thrust into the cauldron of a war that reshaped their lives and de
stinies. Through the brothers&rsquo\; experiences\, the story of World War
II unfolds&mdash\;Saford fought from the shores of North Africa to Sicily
and Europe and finally into Germany\; Clayton fought the Japanese in the
brutal Pacific theater until the savage\, final battle on Okinawa. They re
turned home after the war to find that the world had changed\, music had c
hanged . . . and they had\, too.
\;
IF TROUBLE DON'T KILL M
E \;paints a loving portrait of a vanishing yet exalted southern cultu
re\, shows us the devastating consequences of war\, and allows us to exper
ience the mountain voices that not only influenced the history of music bu
t that also shaped the landscape of America.