Roger Cline - Stories of Valor

Roger traces the inspiration for this song to a picture he found on Facebook, of an old man in a wheelchair reaching out to the Wall at the Vietnam Memorial. He began to write what he imagined the man was saying to the brother whose name he saw on the Wall. He realized that the words he’d written reflected the story of two brothers who were childhood friends of his family.

At the time, the War was on everyone’s mind – and on the news shows every night. When the older Lewis brother was drafted, it brought the conflict nearer to all of them. Butch Lewis went to basic training and came back as an impressive soldier in his dress uniform. But, Butch was killed within a month of deployment, from “friendly fire.” As a 12-year-old, Roger could still see the senselessness of such loss.

This is the event, so particular and yet universal, that Roger drew on for the song “Stories of Valor.”
Roger grew up listening and singing along to the country and western music in his parents’ record collection while paging through the Sears catalog dreaming of what it would be like to play each and every guitar. At 12 years old his mother set up a payment plan to purchase him a Tesco DelRay and amplifier in 1967. He delved into 60’s rock as a teenager but in the 90’s discovered bluegrass and acoustic music and eventually found his way back to solid honest feeling from the family record collection.

The drive to play and write music grew over the years and Roger explored musical opportunities alongside running his full-time construction business. He enjoys the fellowship of sharing his love of music with many friends and talented players in the region and is looking forward to expanding his musical adventures.