Welcome To Down South Jukin'

About Bruce Wall

Bruce Wall with George McCorkle

People ask me all the time, why I do what I do? Others, well they think I have done this forever, or trained for this, etc. The truth is, just a couple of years ago, I had never done a web site or did anything in the Music Business.

This all started very simply really.. I wanted some concert tickets to Lynyrd Skynyrd!!! I went on to the site to purchase my presale tickets. Now, this was when the "official" message forums were up. There was so much fighting and bickering going on between fans, etc. I made one simple post: Someone should create a site that does not allow this.. I got home that evening to over a hundred Emails telling me to create one.

And so DownSouthJukin.com was born. Not long after the site was up and running I was diagnosed with lung cancer... I was devastated. I turned to the music I loved so much to get me thru it: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker Band, Van Zant, The Allman Bros., and so on. Over the weeks I came to terms with dying, but I was afraid of my life being wasted.

Over the next couple of weeks of tests, and waiting for results I worked day and night on the site. I needed to keep busy and more important give something back to the band that helped write the soundtrack to my life. As I did this the DownSouthJukin.com community began to grow, and grow. Then I began receiving Emails and guestbook posts from some of my heroes. This inspired me more. Then I began hearing the stories of folks who came to visit the site. Some folks were saying this site kept them going, they were homebound, etc.

Then the test results came back. It was not cancer!! It was a affliction called Valley Fever. It is very common in the southwest (Arizona especially). It can be very deadly, but curable..

With a second chance on life, I decided I was not going to waste another moment of it. I worked harder and harder. I began doing interviews with members of Lynyrd Skynyrd past and present. Then one day I received a post from George McCorkle of Marshall Tucker Fame. We became fast friends and remained best friends until his death on June 29th, 2007. George took me under his wing, and showed me that if you work for your dreams, they do come true.

Now, 4 years later here I am... Still trying to give back to the bands I love so much. But, I now have 1000's of new friends via the internet that I try to share the ride with. If there is one thing I would want you to get from this is,, Never give up on dreams, but even more important, the dream is not worth dreaming if you can't share it. Thanks for the ride...