John Schneider Made Me Cry

John Schneider, better known as Bo Duke from the 70s show The Dukes of Hazard, is a man to be admired. His impact extends far beyond his acting career, and it's evident in his music, his heart wrenching letters to his late wife, and his ability to share his grief journey publicly. Nostalgically, we take you back in time and reflect on our childhood crushes, highlighting how Schneider's talent and charisma played a role in our lives. Our special guest, Mason Douglas, a renowned recording artist, even shares his unique encounter with Schneider, creating an engaging and emotionally stirring episode. 

Yet, the core of our discussion is not just about Schneider's stardom, but his strength in dealing with personal loss. After his wife's demise to cancer, Schneider began sharing his grief journey through a series of touching tributes and love letters. His raw and honest expressions resonate deeply, reminding us of the enduring power of love and the resilience of the human spirit. This episode does more than just revisit our past; it takes us on a heartfelt journey of love, loss, and the strength to persevere even in the darkest of times.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Well, hey there, what is going on, guys? I wanted to share something with you today, something that's been happening, something that somebody has been doing to me. His name is John Schneider. He's been making me cry. Now, listen, if you don't know who John Schneider is, I don't really know how you don't know who he is. But that's okay, I will help you out. He is just a good old boy. Never mean to no harm. Wait, hold on. Yes, john Schneider, bow Duke from the Dukes of Hazard.

Speaker 1: 1:19

Now, if you still don't know who that is, I can't help you. You're not going to care about any of this, and maybe, even if you do know who I'm talking about, maybe you won't even care. So you just want to scroll on by? Just keep on moving, it's okay, but listen. Dukes of Hazard.

Speaker 1: 1:33

So Dukes of Hazard came out in like 1979. I was eight years old it ran until 1985, I believe and so he was like one of my very first crushes, and if you don't understand why, I mean this is him. Look at this man. He was beautiful and, quite frankly, he's still beautiful today, if you ask me. I mean that very innocently, very platonically, happily married, all of the things. This is just, you know childhood crush stuff, so you got to let me have it, let me have that moment, but anyhow. So he went on. By the way, after Dukes of Hazard, if you don't already know. After Dukes of Hazard he went on, or probably even during Dukes of Hazard. He went on to have a great career, acting lots of things. He's got lots of credits to his name. Go check him out. He was singing, songwriter, singing the whole works. He's well known for his music. As a matter of fact, I just interviewed a natural recording artist by the name of Mason Douglas and coincidentally genuinely coincidentally we were talking about him. I'll show you that quickly.

Speaker 2: 2:58

John was a. John Schneider was a huge. You talk about Full Circle. He was my first concert in the Bush Gardens at Williamsburg, virginia, and I was kind of I don't know how old I was, must have been four or five, but we'd go out there. I knew all the words to all his songs and again, cause he was Bo Dukes, so that was the big deal. All these years later, my publisher at the time said Judy Harris, legend in the industry. She says, hey, john Schneider is looking for material and he wants to cut a couple of your songs. Is that okay? And I'm like, oh my God, the John Schneider and got to go in the studio, got to hang out.

Speaker 1: 3:32

Several weeks ago I heard I learned that he had lost his wife to cancer, his beautiful wife Alicia, and that, of course, was obviously tremendously sad. Well, I went on his Facebook page. He has written a long series of gut wrenchingly I'm already tearing up such a loser gut wrenchingly beautiful tributes. They're really love letters to his wife. Here's just a picture and a very small piece of one. You probably can't even read it because it came up too small in here. So I'm sorry, but you're going to have to go. Just go to his Facebook page. If you feel like crying, like me, go do it, because they're not bad tears, they're just wow. It's just very wow and it's so beautiful.

Speaker 1: 4:28

If you are in a place in your life right now where you are feeling like you know, love is dead, romance is dead, dedicated partners and all of those things, it's like just not real. Boy, oh boy. Well, if you go read his tributes, his letters really to his wife, you will feel very differently, unless you're just a diehard cynic and you just want to be miserable. He's been very, very vocal and expressive about his grief. Journey really is what it is and it's just so moving and so powerful and really so, absolutely beautiful in a gut-wrenching way to see a man loving his wife so deeply, so profoundly, and experience such a, you know, devastating level of grief and yet still like what he's doing is so beautiful. Despite his grief, or maybe even because of it, he has been reaching out to people experiencing the same type of grief and loss that he is and just offering encouragement, and that's a lot of what his posts are also about helping others navigate one of the most, you know, devastating experiences you can have in life. And it's just so beautiful and profound to watch somebody putting such grace and goodness out in the world in such a dark time.

Speaker 1: 6:07

I'm like such a big crybaby. I'm so teary over this, but it really is that beautiful and that touching. So, you know, go check it out. That was the whole point of this. I'm sorry if I kind of misled you with the. John Schneider made me cry. I don't know him, he doesn't know me, didn't do a darn thing to me other than you know share his journey with everyone the world. So I encourage you to go and check out what he has to say over there, because it's very powerful. So that's it. That's all I got for you.

Speaker 2: 6:40

Title track just a little piece. I love you baby.