by Ken B.
Lockheed Martin
made a huge impact in the lives of my family. My father, George, and four of my
brothers (Dwight, Hoyt, Weyman and Klevin) all worked at Lockheed at some point
in their career. At 23 years old, I started working as a structural assembler.
During the next 17 years, I worked my way up to dispatcher in office and technical.
In 1985, I moved to Nashville to pursue my music career. Using the skills I
acquired at Lockheed, I secured a job at the Nashville division of another
aerospace company. At night, I worked at my “day job,” allowing me to build my
music companies during the day.
In the early
1980s, my music partners and I signed The Chuck Wagon Gang to our Copperfield
Records label. With the success of The Gang, Copperfield Records signed other
country and gospel artists and became home to The Northems, The Ruppes and Naomi
& The Segos. The label also released
packages by superstars Oak Ridge Boys and J. D. Sumner.
Our music
publishing companies have had songs cut by LeAnn Rimes, Lee Ann Womack,
Montgomery Gentry, Kenny Rogers, Linda Davis, Steve Holy, Craig Morgan, Jeff Carson
and Loretta Lynn. Copperfield’s biggest single was Montgomery Gentry’s, Daddy
Won’t Sell the Farm.
It has been
many years since I worked at Lockheed Martin. I am so thankful for the
opportunity to have worked there because it gave me the ability to support my
family while I pursued my creative dreams.
