Who doesn’t like a ‘banjo picker’?
From a cider stand to playing music, David West is ‘the real deal’
David West stands beside his restored 1936 Chevrolet pickup. This is the first Chevrolet pickup model to have hydraulic brakes. (photo:Pete Gwada )
The local musician is as open and friendly in person as he appears on stage. He lives in a log house not very far from the modest home where he was born.
“I always wanted to be a businessman,” said West, even though he is probably better known as a musician and songwriter.
In addition to his musical accomplishments, West is a successful business owner, an inspirational speaker in demand at civic clubs and churches, and a collector of antique cars, musical instruments, old radios, and Coca Cola and Mickey Mouse memorabilia.
His business career started before his musical career.
In 1954, at age 13, West went to work selling cider at a stand on Knoxville Highway at the site of present day Ciderville Music Store. At the age of 16 he bought the business. In addition to cider he sold such snacks as ice cream, potato chips and candy and did a good business. In those pre-interstate days automobiles traveling across the country and big trucks would stop there. Race horse vans stopped, and while the drivers enjoyed West’s cider, the horses enjoyed cool water from the spring on the hill behind the cider store.
“It was a great experience,” West said of the cider stand. He knew that with the completion of Interstate 75 there would not be many cars stopping at his cider stand. So he decided to become a musician. His sister started him on the piano and then he graduated to the banjo.
He got a job playing banjo on the syndicated Jim Walter Homes Jubilee on television with the country/bluegrass/Gospel duo of Bonnie Lou and Buster Moore.
The program was filmed in Knoxville and syndicated to television stations in several states. West also went on the road with Bonnie Lou and Buster as they played concerts in various places around the country.
In addition, West performed for nine years on the television program of colorful and legendary Knoxville grocery store chain owner Cas Walker. Before he became a member of Walker’s band West was known to Walker because he had performed several times on Walker’s radio program.
West has many humorous stories about Walker. Even though Walker had a successful television program, he said one of his biggest mistakes was firing the Everly Brothers from the program.
“Rock and roll don’t sell no groceries,” Walker said.
West has had the opportunity to perform with many country music greats. He played some of the background music for the Dukes of Hazard television program. He played at the White House for President Ronald Reagan as well as the heads of state of other countries.
He played banjo at a party given by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. When she saw West she said,” Oh, a banjo picker, I want to hang out with him. I like banjo pickers.”
West has performed in every county in Tennessee at campaign rallies for various candidates for office, as well as performing at the Grand Ole Opry.
In 1969 West opened Ciderville Music Store at the site of his cider stand. The store carries a wide variety of musical instruments. For a time he signed his check from television performances to his sister to run the store. In 1988 he built the adjacent music barn where many country music greats have performed.
West owes much of his success as a businessman to what he learned from Walker. “I was his right hand,” West said and he calls himself a graduate of the “Cas Walker College.”
In addition to handling some of Walker’s many business interests, West was Walker’s driver. He would drive Walker around Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia to visit Walker’s grocery stores. Walker spent the first half hour of a trip reading his mail.
This is when West said to himself, “What do I want to learn about today?” Then, for the rest of the several hour trip he would pick Walker’s brain on that particular topic.
West is also a man of faith. “I found out as a teenager that I need to find Jesus for myself. I chose to serve the Lord.” However, he admits he has not always done the right thing. At the age of 58 he had a life changing experience, a blood clot that caused him to spend three days on life support.
“The Lord was not ready for me, yet,” West said of that experience which made him more mindful of the needs of others. West is well versed in the Bible, a talent he uses for his inspirational speeches to civic and church groups.
“I love antique stuff,” is how West explains his several antique collections. He still has his school lunch box from 1951 and his house is full of old photographs, musical instruments, and vintage radios. The garage contains his collection of Mickey Mouse memorabilia and Coca Cola items.
A nearby barn contains a 1928 yellow Ford roadster and a 1929 Ford pickup as well as a 1951 Western Flyer bicycle with tassels on the handlebars.
His favorite antique automobile is a 1939 Chevrolet pickup, the first Chevrolet pickup with hydraulic brakes.