Flour Sack Shirts and Homemade Jam

We can’t turn back the clock, but wouldn’t it be magic if we could? Curl up with this book, a cup of steaming hot coffee or a favorite cup of tea, and a plate of homemade cookies, then venture through Bill Holley’s straightforward narratives and homespun memories of everyday life in the rural South during the 1940s.

We can’t turn back the clock, but wouldn’t it be magic if we could? Curl up with this book, a cup of steaming hot coffee or a favorite cup of tea, and a plate of homemade cookies, then venture through Bill Holley’s straightforward narratives and homespun memories of everyday life in the rural South during the 1940s. It’s been sixty years or more since many of these stories took place, but the special friendships and priceless moments of a childhood filled with an imagination running wild, independence, innovation and a wide-open playground live vividly in Bill Holley’s story-telling heart as if they happened just yesterday. Holley warmly captures the essence of the time and takes you right along with him through tales that transcend genders and bridge the gap between generations. He paints a window to uncomplicated times and happy places. ’Taters and beans and homemade jam on the supper table. Radio shows, quilting bees, gossip, party lines and church. Communities with names like Delina, Catalpa, Talley Station, Snake Creek and Fuss Holler. Memories of days gone by and simple adventures that just might spark your own daydream back to a slower, more peaceful place. We can’t turn back the clock, but wouldn’t it be magic if we could? Flour Sack Shirts & Homemade Jam is a rich collection of 17 entertaining and inspiring stories tailor-made for reading and sharing. It’s a nice way to lasso history and colorfully document it.

Bill Holley was born in southern Middle Tennessee in 1939. His parents were sharecroppers, and he was their only child. His family moved five times within a fifteen-mile radius in the first 10 years of his life. He spent his early life jumping creeks, doing farm chores, exploring nature and playing with friends, both real and imaginary. Holley left the farm as a young adult, shaped by his unique environment, experiences and influences. He went to school, studied art and design, and spent forty-nine years with the prestigious Nashville, Tennessee ad agency, The Buntin Group. In 2000, Holley joined an elite group of prominent and distinguished advertising executives when he was named NAF Silver Medalist by the Nashville Advertising Federation. He has been honored with numerous Addy awards, but is perhaps most noted for his design of the iconic Cracker Barrel logo. Holley is a commissioned artist skilled in various mediums, including watercolor, acrylic and oil, and is an accomplished photographer. He thrives in the outdoors, loves to garden, walk the woods, read, write and cook. He has two adult daughters, two sons-in-law, a cat “Pusskits”, a granddog “Frog”, and a grandcat “Sushi.” He lives with his wife Beverly, of fifty-one years, in Franklin, Tennessee, and is at work on a second collection of stories.