At the bottom of this post is my attempt to draw/watercolor a scene from a day in March 1957 on the road between Victoria and Corpus Christi, when my grandfather Gene (who was 26 years old at the time) was driving to work and saw a man by the side of the road who looked like he needed help with a flat tire on his Cadillac. He pulled over to help and realized it was Fats Domino on the way to play a show that night at the Memorial Coliseum.
I wrote a song about the day and Gordy Quist produced a recording of it.
After they got the tire changed, out of gratitude Fats gave Gene a stack of LPs and 45s from the trunk. At 8 o’clock that night, 6600 fans showed up at the Coliseum to hear Fats. I’m a big fan of Antoine ‘Fats’ Domino’s music and it makes me happy to think about that day when my ancestor and Fats were working together to get him to the show on time.
A new single — ‘Fats Domino’ — will be released on Friday, December 5, 2025. Choose your preferred platform below to hear it as soon as it is available:
If you see anyone else stopped alongside the highway, just know that any helping hand you can give is likely to be appreciated and remembered for a long time.
