Late on a Friday afternoon at Bill Gordon and Sons Barber Shop, 16-year-old Ford Scharmen is waiting his turn, restless in his chair, telling his father nearby “we got to get going” because this journeyman musician has a gig in a couple of hours.

Ford’s mother at home, deciding that her gregarious son’s overgrown head of hair required an immediate trim, had put her foot down. So his dad ordered: “Get in the car.”

 

This young man of big dreams – not unlike lots of Meridian musicians, today and in the past – was less concerned about bushy hair (atop which his white cowboy hat would rest) than getting to the stage at Don P’s restaurant on time.

 

As Scharmen chatted to me about his country music heroes, then climbed into the barber’s chair, I had an odd flashback grounded in those long-ago pictures of Elvis, showing that rising Mississippi star getting prepped at a barber shop.

 

Leaning on parents – his mother Erin, a higher education digital consultant, and father Dustin, employed by a defense contractor – and others who support his ambitions, Scharmen presents a compelling mix of guitar-picking and singing skills, and enthusiasm for traditional country. He is fond of the “entertainer” label and anything but shy.

 

“I can put on a show anywhere,” he said. “Anywhere.”

 

Drawn to music as a small child, well taught, a collector of instruments, Scharmen has been performing in restaurants and bars, on radio shows, and at the Jimmie Rodgers Festival and Temple Theatre during the past few years. Saturday evening he’s scheduled to play at Ducks Hideaway, a self-described honky-tonk out on Shiloh Vimville Road.

 

“I love old bars, that’s where it’s at,” he said. “You got to play in those before you can do something in the industry.”

 

Months ago, Scharmen’s parents agreed to end his lengthy run at Lamar School, in favor of home-schooling that allows flexibility for his pursuit of a career in music.

 

“We kind of just knew with the music stuff it might come to this,” his mother said. “We had a fork in the road.” (That said, he only recently got his driver’s license.)

 

This emerging country music figure is a departure from most contemporary players. He researches and draws influences from stars of decades ago, especially Merle Haggard, Hank Williams Sr. and Waylon Jennings.

 

“What strikes me about him is the knowledge he has about old, old country,” said longtime show producer Ken Rainey, who had Scharmen on Rainey’s “All About Country” Supertalk radio show this week. “He doesn’t just learn the song. He identifies with people like Ernest Tubb.”

 

Scharmen calls “country pickin’ Bakersville style,” a sub-genre of country music reaching back to the 1950s, a favorite. Generally, he has followed the advice of one mentor, veteran local performer Britt Gully, who told him, “Use your ears, listen closely to what these (past legends) are playing.”

 

What does Scharmen, who also dabbles in song-writing, dream of for his future in music? He hesitates at the question, notes that “Nashville’s hard,” with success there requiring the right connections and luck. But he goes on to say he wants to do a bunch of touring, acquire homes in multiple places (Nashville, Meridian, maybe somewhere in Florida or Montana), and ultimately build a large fan base. “I want to make good music for folks to hear.”

 

Seems to me, the plentiful mentoring and experience around Meridian (combined with a colorful personality) are bound to pay off. Ford Scharmen is one to watch. And I’ll hang on to that cell phone picture of him that I couldn’t resist snapping on that recent Friday, as he smiled in the barber’s chair — hours before his gig.

 

It might prove exceptionally valuable one day.

 

Warner is a veteran journalist and cultural historian, and can be contacted at legacypress.warner@gmail.com.