Kerry “Doc” Stone concluding a nearly 25-year career as the adjunct guitar professor at Tennessee Tech, to focus on his personal recording projects and health.
Stone said his teaching approach was informed by a professional career that included more than 1,500 Grand Ole Opry performances and work with artists such as Reba McEntire and Johnny Cash.
“I was able to do two things, build a recording – excuse me, build a studio there,” Stone said, “And also have some students out that are teaching in school programs all across the country.”
Stone said he hopes his students remember his concern for their passion for the instrument and his ability to communicate practical lessons learned through trial and error. Stone said that while academic settings often focus on classical guitar, his time at Tennessee Tech gave his practical approach a sense of authority and legitimacy.
“I’ve had students, Jacob Burgess, who teaches in the Chattanooga area,” Stone said, “He’ll call me every now and then and say, ‘You know, I just thought of what you said about this or about that, and you know you were right, it does work.’ And I learned from trial and error.”
Stone said he plans to continue making music from a home recording studio in Putnam County once his health improves. Stone said he intends to record a new gospel album using overdubbing techniques to play every instrument himself.
“A gospel album for sure,” Stone said. “I did one in 1985. I want to do another one a little different way. I want to have more overdubs on it. Being able to play different instruments lets you do overdub sessions where you lay down one track and then you lay down another instrument on another track and another instrument on another track until when you play it all back and mix it, it’s the whole band. That’s what I want to do when I get my studio set up.”
Stone said his position with Tennessee Tech was the most pleasurable job he ever held during his tenure that began in August 2001. Stone said the university music department treated him fairly throughout his career as he worked to establish a legitimate place for guitar education within the school.
“I would often tell them about my first lesson with Alan Jackson,” Stone said. “I would often tell them about the first Opry spot that Reba McEntire did. And there are others, but those two probably more than any. Things that would happen to me, things that happened to me, the way you’d have to play. Really introduce them to the recording industry in Nashville and how it was.”
Stone said he successfully grew the guitar studio from as few as one or two majors to approximately 20 students by the time of his retirement.
Stone said he and his wife moved to Putnam County in 2015 after he spent years commuting from Dickson County to teach at the university.
