Reading in College (the song)
words and music by Dr BLT copyright 2008 Nu Bako Sound Recordings/Krocker Records

Download | Duration: 00:00:52

In Vygotsky's sociopsychological theory of human development, mentoring, or something I've frequently referred to as "cross-generational mentoring," is deemed essential to the healthy development of children and adolescents.  Having folks from an older generation share their talents, their songs, and their stories with folks from younger generations is crucial to the formation of identity in developing children.  Furthermore, this sort of bonding experience is essential in terms of a child attaining a sense of being connected to something larger than him/herself.  Cross-generational mentoring is the key to attaining a sense of one's roots, one's culture, one's community, and one's history. 

In the Developmental Psychology course I teach at Chapman University on Rockwell Canyon Rd. on the College of the Canyons campus in Valencia, California, I try to bring theory to life by offering living examples. 

89-year-young Bakersfield sound legend, Lloyd Reading, who jammed with all of the greats associated with the birth of the Bakersfield sound, and who was right smack dab in the middle of this exciting movement as it was spawning some of our greatest country stars, is the living embodiment of Vygotsky's theory of human development, involving mentoring.

Lloyd was offering songs and stories to my students that depicted a very personal history involving the old days when he migrated with his family from Oklahoma to California in the midst of the California gold rush, and began his career and enduring legacy as a Kern County country star.  He laid the groundwork for Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, though he would always be humbly standing just one short step behind the spotlight of giants like these. 

I call Lloyd Reading the Kern County country music conduit.  He is taking the lead among all others in bringing the Bakersfield sound of yore to new generations that hunger to be connected to something bigger than themselves--something bigger than the here and now. 

After downing a some burgers and fries at Islands on Valencia Avenue, we began taking the ride back to Bakersfield, on the same grapevine Lloyd once traveled by foot.  As we drove back, Hank Ray, one of the most promising among the new crop of Bakersfield-sound-grounded artists, entertained Lloyd and myself with spontaneously spawned choruses to what may soon develop into fully-arranged tunes that chronicle our visit. 

We took Lloyd with us.  We wish we could take him with us wherever we go.  We took a living legend to the classroom. We took the country to the city, and the city will never be the same.