Host: It’s Friday … time for StoryCorps. 

70-year-old Jim Von Stein [Von-stine] spent his career working at a shipyard, and crawling under houses to install HVAC units. 

But if you were in his trailer in rural Tennessee … you’d see mountains of notebooks… scraps of paper … and napkins scribbled with lyrics. Songs he’s been writing since he was nine years old… that almost nobody has ever heard… 

He came in with his son, Jason… 

Jim Von Stein (Jim VS):  My mom used to listen to, uh, people like Elvis and Patsy Cline, which really that touched my heart, for those lyrics. 

And my dad, he barely played on a guitar. He played three chords, and I think one of ‘em was wrong. But every once in a while, when he’d drink, he’d get that guitar out and play, you know?

Of course, when I wanted to get a guitar my dad said, ‘You’re not going to have that noise maker around here’? 

But that made me become a lyricist for sure, because that was the only way I could connect to music, you know? It was through lyrics… still telling stories. 

But, you know, you gotta have heart strings. And that’s why I write songs. I try to write not just about me or my life but everybody’s life.

Jason Von Stein (Jason VS): You worked at the shipyard for many years and they would send you out to San Francisco. And you really missed us.

I remember you came back and you wrote this song, ‘Always Missing You’.

<ALWAYS MISSING YOU>

And then we did a recording of that for Mom. I guess I was five…

When you were writing those songs, those were number one hits. 

Jason VS: When did you first realize you were sick, Dad? 

Jim VS: Well, they told me I had severe emphysema. There was a doctor and she came in and she said, ‘Here’s a picture of your lung.’ And they were coal black. 

They told me, you know, that I had an expiration date.

It’s like you’re going underwater, and you’re trying to catch your breath. That’s what it feels like all the time.

But I’m still breathing. That’s what matters. 

Jim VS: I remember you asked me, uh, what, uh, were my regrets… Did I have any…. And I told you I regretted that I didn’t go out and play my music. 

You stopped everything you were doing, and learned songs of mine. You learned every one of them. And I didn’t realize it until you started playing ‘em.

Why did you decide to do it? I mean… 

Jason VS Because your songs deserve to be heard. You can’t spend your entire life devoting yourself to something. And then nobody hears that? That’s not ok.

Jim VS: You know, you got so much time in your hourglass and it’s how you use it. And that’s up to you. 

Long after I’m dead and gone, and people forgot who I was… the song has its own life. 

And you are the voice for my songs.

Host: That was Jim and Jason Von Stein in Ooltewah, Tennessee. Jim still writes songs every day … more than 8,000 to date…  and Jason plays his dad’s music live at every open mic, cafe or music venue he can find.

You can hear more of their story on the StoryCorps Podcast. Get it at npr dot org.