Mick Foley Blogs
CLASSIC CRYSTAL: REDISCOVERING THE MUSIC & MAGIC OF CRYSTAL GAYLE
My name is Mick Foley. I turned 61 on June 7, am a 3x WWE Champion with 350 stitches, a metal knee, a metal hip, a bunch of missing teeth and one missing ear to show for my efforts – and I am currently in the fourth month of a Crystal Gayle renaissance.
Although I was raised on Long Island, New York (born in Bloomington, Indiana) the soundtrack to my childhood arrived through the speakers of my father‘s car, always tuned to WHN 1050 AM, which was one of the biggest country music stations in the nation. Going back to third grade music class, when each student was asked to name their favorite musician or band, there were some Jackson 5 fans, Osmond Brothers fans, a couple of votes for the Bay City Rollers and absolutely no utterance of a single country singer. Then came my turn and when I proudly stated the name “Charley Pride”, I was met with a multitude of blank stares.
Two years later, at the age of ten, I had a new favorite. Each year, I was allowed to stay up past my bedtime on only a few occasions, so the annual CMA and ACM awards were always something I looked forward to – as a way of putting faces to the voices I enjoyed so much in my father’s car. There were some male vocalists I liked a lot, with Waylon, Willie, Johnny Cash, Tom T Hall and Charlie Pride on my list of favorites. But as much as I enjoyed those legends, it was the women I’d heard on WHN that I looked forward to seeing the most – and the woman I looked forward to seeing most enthusiastically (with apologies to Dolly Parton, a very close second) was Crystal Gayle. Even before 1977’s “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” became a crossover smash and introduced Crystal to an even larger audience, I vividly recall looking on in awe at those early Crystal Gayle sightings, her long hair flowing, commanding the stage with elegance and grace; an ethereal presence with a voice like no other.
I recently read Rayne Hopkins 2025 biography “Crystal Gayle: Beyond the Brown Eyes” with great interest, in particular his insight into the effect a first Crystal Gayle sighting had on fans. “Many remember her entrances like visions”. Hopkins writes. “Her gowns catching the light, her hair swinging like a ribbon of midnight, her presence filling the room before she even sang a note. They described those moments with awe, recalling how she seemed to carry a piece of magic with her wherever she went.” I was on an airplane at the time, and upon reading those words, found myself getting genuinely emotional, specifically thinking “that’s exactly how I felt!” Seeing Crystal perform her early hits, particularly “Somebody Loves You” “I’ll Get Over You” and “Ready for the Times to Get Better” at the ACM and CMA shows were joyous, memorable experiences for a sensitive kid like myself, and although I would later become immersed in rock & roll, and would go several years without seeing Crystal on TV (I somehow even missed her Muppets episode) her songs always felt like old friends to me, and when it came time to transfer my albums onto cassette tapes, I made sure to transfer 1979’s “Classic Crystal” onto cassette to keep me company on the road.
I began my pro wrestling journey in 1985, traveling 700 miles round-trip almost every weekend from my college in Cortland, New York to my wrestling school in Freedom, Pennsylvania, just north of Pittsburgh. Over the past 40 years, I estimate I have driven over 2,000,000 miles on our nation’s highways, byways and back roads. I found comfort in the solitude of the road, and discovered my favorite tunes could motivate me and allow me to visualize what I might be capable of in pursuing my wrestling dream. When transferring albums onto cassette, the common practice was to put albums by the same artist on each side of the cassette. But because “Classic Crystal” was at the time, my lone Crystal Gayle album, I paired it with an unlikely musical companion: Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits”. If someone would have asked me at the time, I would have been fairly certain I would listen to the Creedence side more often than the flipside with Crystal Gayle. After all, I had become a rock ‘n’ roll guy, with a weekly two hour radio show on WSUC Cortland that garnered dozens of listeners. Crystal Gayle had created some beautiful memories for me when I was reaching the tale end of childhood, edging my way towards adolescence, but I did not figure there was any way she could hold her own on my road trips with the likes of CCR.
Instead, the opposite took place, and as much as I liked CCR, time after time, trip after trip, I found myself rewinding Crystal’s side of the tape, actively singing along, remembering every word to the songs I’d first heard in my father‘s car. It occurred to me that I did not simply like these songs, I loved these songs, and realized listening to them made me feel genuinely happy inside.
Many years later, after both the cassette tape and the CD had become all but extinct, selling for pennies on the dollar at thrift stores, I found Crystal’s “Essentials” on ITunes, singing along with those precious songs as I navigated the hills of New Mexico, en route to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico – my Cactus Jack wrestling character’s adopted hometown. I felt myself becoming quite emotional while listening to Crystal’s 1975 hit, “When I Dream”, and pulled my car over to better appreciate the beauty of the song, and to avoid the very real possibility of driving while crying. Wiping away a stray tear, I backed out of my parking spot and continued my drive, marveling that 40 years after she first graced my television screen, I was still in awe of the magic and majesty of Crystal Gayle.
Still, up until mid March, I would not have considered myself a super-fan – just a guy with “Classic Crystal” on vinyl and cassette, and “Crystal Christmas” on CD. Then, on a March 17th drive from Nashville to Indiana, I sought out her music on iTunes, as I sometimes did – and simply have not stopped listening to Crystal Gayle since.
Like a lot of you, it’s not unusual for me to take deep dives into the career of musicians whose work I enjoy. I listened to a quite a bit of Neil Diamond after thoroughly enjoying the movie “Song Sung Blue”, spent a couple weeks learning more about the music of The Carpenters after watching a documentary about lead singer Karen Carpenter, and went down a Fleetwood Mac rabbit hole a few months back after watching a documentary on Stevie Nicks. I will occasionally watch old Kinks songs on YouTube, marveling at how younger brother Dave Davies underrated harmonies complemented his brother Ray’s lead vocals. But those deep dives usually last a week or so, two weeks at most. This Crystal Gayle renaissance represents by far the longest and deepest dives I’ve ever taken into any performer’s body of work – and it shows no sign of letting up, to the point where I estimate Crystal’s music constitutes 50% of the music I listen to. At least 50%.
Each time I dive deeper into her oeuvre, I emerge with a previously unknown treasure. Listening to the essentials led me to her live album, which led me to her album of Hoagie Carmichael tributes, which led to a deep enjoyment of Crystal’s jazz and gospel albums, an instant affection for her children’s album, and the deepest appreciation for her interpretation of country classics on “You Don’t Know Me”. I am making my way through every one of her albums, enjoying deep cuts that I previously had no familiarity with, and purchasing those albums on vinyl. I still play the heck out of that Christmas album! I am one of those year-round Christmas fanatics, with an early 1800’s log cabin decorated year-round for the holidays, and have taken to listening to “Crystal Christmas” every time I’m within thirty minutes of my home. Crystal’s music is like an emotional cleanse of the pallet; allowing me to leave the sometimes bitter taste of the real world outside my weathered door, so I can better enjoy rare days off.
I have asked myself many times over these past three months why I have undergone this full-scale Crystal Gayle resurgence, and the answer is the same every time: it makes me happy. Her music has served as a perfect lifeboat as I navigated some pretty treacherous waters in my personal life. My mother passed away in January after a long struggle with dementia – a struggle in which I saw a brilliant woman slip further and further away until she no longer recognized my face. Given dementia’s long history in my family, and my own long history with head injuries, I felt myself sinking downward, wondering how many good years I might have left before slipping away into a similar state. While attempting to mourn the loss of my mother, I experienced further pain from a sudden falling out with two of my closest friends. Up until that March 17 road trip, my path to healing felt like a slow, solemn walk through a dark tunnel, with the faintest peep of light at the end of that tunnel feeling very far away.
Crystal’s music has become a source of light for me; a brilliant beacon in the night reaching out to me, embracing me, leading me out of that darkness, and in conjunction with the caring and understanding of family and a few key friends, has allowed me to believe in the hope of a better tomorrow. I’m sleeping better, eating better, resolving to make the most of every day. For several weeks, I have been feeling genuinely happy each morning when I wake up with a different Crystal Gayle song on my mind the moment I open my eyes. With Crystal’s help, my tomorrows have already become so much brighter.
In hoping to express how much her music had meant to me, I ordered a shirt from Crystal’s website and decided I wanted to write a pretty thorough article explaining how her music had been so helpful to me – the article you are reading right now. My son took a photo of me with my new prized possession and I posted it on IG, simply saying “More than a shirt, it’s a statement. And that statement is, I love Crystal Gayle!”
The next morning, I woke up (with “Half the Way” in my head) and was greeted with a text message from my friend, Andrew Pope – an accomplished performer in his own right – who told me he would actually be interviewing Crystal for his podcast in the next month. Andrew told me she was a lovely person – an opinion that was repeated many times in the comments section of my IG post. One of her fans told of being 8 years old and meeting Crystal after a 1987 performance at a Louisville amusement park, and how Crystal took the time to go on several rides with her – leaving the child, now 47, with a memory to last a lifetime. All these years later, the fan still vividly recalls Crystal sitting on her own luxurious mane of ankle length hair on the log flume. Later in the day, a friend texted me a screenshot of a response just as touching to me as that of the child at the Louisville event. This was a response from Crystal Gayle herself, simply saying “Thank you. This means a lot. Love you.” One day later, she thanked me for making her feel very special. It was such a surreal moment in time for me; being able to touch the life – even in a small way – of someone who has been touching my own life for over 50 years.
Thank you, Crystal Gayle, for being part of my journey, for touching my life at both ages ten and sixty – and so many points in between. While I probably won’t be able to hold that 50% rate forever, you will hold a place of honor on every road trip I embark on, and the kindness you have shown me will never be forgotten.
Guess who loves you.
Somebody loves you.
I do.