Don't Lift the Anchor
Touch Through Me
Dottie Rambo's Early Life (Continued)
To recap from last time I ended with Dottie discovering her gift of songwriting when she was an eight year old girl. She was composing a song while she was at the creek bank. She went inside and told her mother about it. Her mother stated that she would pay a dear price for that gift. That has definitely proven true throughout Dottie's life. The truth is Dottie's first time she would pay a price for her gift was just four years later.
When Dottie was a young girl, she had a great spiritual influence through her grandfather, who was a Baptist preacher. I think his last name was Burton, but I'm not quite sure. Dottie mentioned in an interview she had with Joanne Thompson on the Dove Network that she wrote the song entitled, "I'm Gonna Leave Here Shoutin'" as a result of her grandfather's death. He told her that he was "going to leave her shoutin'" on his deathbed. So she wrote the song. Dottie Rambo would remember as a child she would crawl into bed with her grandfather for nightly prayers. He taught her to pray with her heart as well as her mouth. He would sing hymns while she fell asleep. Dottie said when she would sing words that she never had heard before, she said she had that feeling when her grandpa was praying. She said the melody and words came so fast that it scared her. However, her grandfather's influence would eventually play a role in her salvation at age 12.
Following the incident by the creek at age eight when she first discovered she had the gift to write a song, she started singing and writing country music. She liked country music. She would listen to the Grand Ole Opry on WSM radio and it was through listening to Chet Atkins that she learned to play the guitar. She learned to play the guitar by listening to the chord sounds on radio. She would play her older brother's guitar to learn to play music. Eventually her brother who arrived back from service in World World War II, make her a homemade guitar so she could play it. She would play and sing on radio and even county fairs and other events as long as there was no liquor or carousing taking place. Her father was delighted to see her sing and play country music. He would have her play and sing to his coon-hunting and fox-hunting friends. Her father didn't mind her using her talent as long as she played country. He had grand dreams for her to use her talent for country in huge gatherings. However, that all changed when she went to a local revival meeting.
When Dottie was twelve, she became aware of a revival meeting at a Pentecostal church. She asked her brother Eddie to take her there. He agreed and they sneaked out so she could attend the meeting. Eddie dropped her off and spent his time with other endeavors. While she was at the meeting the preacher was preaching and she felt the same feeling she felt when her grandfather would pray. She felt the need to go the altar to get saved. Somebody told her that she needed Jesus and she said she knew it. She told him to get out of her way. That night she was saved. As a result of her conversion, her desire to sing country faded. Now she desired to devote her time and talent to sing gospel. She wanted to sing praises to her Lord. That didn't bode well with her father. He wasn't a Christian. He gave her an ultimatum: She either sing country or stay home or sing gospel and leave. She then made preparations to leave home because she knew in her heart she desired to sing gospel more than anything else in the world. What was the length of time between the time she was converted until the day her dad gave her an ultimatum? I don't know. But according to Dottie's testimony her dad gave her that ultimatum following salvation. So her mother started packing her belongings. Her mother packed Dottie's clothes in a cardboard suitcase. She packed Dottie's guitar and her Bible. She would place her Bible at the neck of her guitar. Her mother also packed some of Dottie's dresses. However, Dottie didn't have a Sunday dress. So Elizabeth took the best dress she had and had it tailored to fit Dottie. She told Dottie that she would benefit more from the dress than she (Elizabeth) would. Finally, they headed out to the Greyhound Bus Station where Dottie was headed for departure. Elizabeth told her "Dottie, I'm going to worry God to death over you." Dottie would say in some of her interviews, "How do you worry God to death?" "However, it worked for her." God would protect Dottie many times throughout her singing journey as a young teenage girl.
At the age of 12 Dottie already had to pay a price for the gift God endowed her with. She was given an ultimatum by her father either she sing country or stay at the house or sing gospel and leave home. Dottie chose the latter and as a result Dottie was out on her own. Life had presented many experiences for Dottie. Beginning at 12 years of age, Dottie would sing in certain parts of the country and many young and old people would come and hear her sing and play the guitar. The Lord protected her throughout that time. I'll end this post on that note and I'll begin the third installment detailing the beginnings of Dottie's gospel singing journey and the day she met her future husband, Buck Rambo.
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