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Troy Petit was born in Preston, Oklahoma June
21, 1941. Preston was a small rural village 40
miles South of Tulsa and had one time been
connected to the oil industry in Okmulgee,
Oklahoma seven miles away. In the 1940's, the
area around Preston consisted of small farms
owned mostly by whites and farmed mostly by
black sharecroppers. The main entertainment in
the area was listening to the radio at night
after long, hard days of work in the fields.
The Grand Old Opry, coming across the airways
from Nashville, Tennessee, was a favorite of
blacks and whites who just "soaked
up" the music, comedy, and fun of Red
Foley, Minnie Pearl, Grandpa Jones, and many
other Opry stars.
When Troy was five years old, the family moved
to Pumpkin Center, Oklahoma, a little farming
settlement Southeast of Okmulgee. It was even
quainter than Preston! Morris, Oklahoma was
the nearest "big town" although it
was just a "little bump in the road"
place. When the family first moved to Pumpkin
Center, they lived in a little farmhouse. The
most sacred piece of furniture in that little
farmhouse was a windmill-powered radio with a
battery that was larger than the radio. Since
windmill power was limited, the listening
times had to be carefully rationed each day.
The family made sure that they had enough
power to listen to the Country Music
favorites, but at Pumpkin Center they
accidentally stumbled upon another kind of
music - blues and Jazz via Gallatin, Tennessee
radio waves. It was then that Troy got his
first taste for all kinds of music.
When he was about seven years old, the family
moved back to Preston where Troy's musical
tastes really expanded. The Preston home was
right between Douglas Elementary School and
Jerusalem Baptist Church. Troy says
about those days, "Most of my values,
work ethic, etc. were learned from those two
institutions, after the sound spiritual and
moral principles had been planted by my
parents, of course. The Petit children
couldn't get away with anything. If we did
anything wrong, someone from one of those two
buildings would tell our parents and we were
sure to get a whipping!"
One evening, a chance encounter happened that
would change Troy's musical interest from
listening to music to singing. Troy states,
"One day some of my friends and I were
playing basketball on the elementary school
playground and I heard this beautiful melodic
singing coming from Jerusalem Baptist Church.
I held the ball and listened. I was just
mesmerized. I threw the ball aside, went in
and sat down in the back of the church and
became completely engrossed in this
African-American quartet which had come from
the surrounding Okmulgee County area. That
night I began trying to sound like that
quartet of men and I have been singing ever
since!“
Singing became an integral part of Troy's
life. He went on to sing solo performances at
Wheatley High School in Beggs, Oklahoma.
His singing would then be placed on hold for
four years when he received and fulfilled a
four-year scholarship to play football at
Langston University in Langston Oklahoma.
Unfortunately, football practice and chorus
practice were held at the same time. Today he
sings tenor in the North Peoria Church of
Christ Choir and occasionally is lead vocalist
for this acappella group.
Because of boredom and sadness after a painful
divorce, Troy decided to look for a hobby to
help him cope. This resulted in a
whimsical purchase that, little did he know,
would have a major impact on his life. Troy
speaks about this period of his life. "I
bought a guitar to take my mind off the pain I
was experiencing at the time, and took five
private guitar lessons where I learned basic
chord structure. After learning chord
structure, I found it very easy to arrange
chords, and lyrics just began popping into my
head. At that time, I did not realize that
this was a gift from God. I thought anybody
who had taken guitar lessons could do that.
The gratification I received from songwriting
was fantastic! I knew this was something
I would incorporate into my life.”
Troy's professional life began to play an
increased role in his music. He
states, " At this stage of my life, I was
a psychology teacher and counselor at
Northeastern Oklahoma State University in
Tahlequah, Oklahoma; seven years later I moved
to Tulsa, Oklahoma where I did psychological
counseling for the University of Tulsa. After
dealing with student's problems each day, I
found it very relaxing to get out my guitar
and to sing, play, and compose songs. I
began to catalogue my songs and became what I
called a “closet songwriter.”
Troy retired from counseling at the University
of Tulsa after twenty years of service, but
just one year later he felt the need to go
back to the classroom. Troy
returned to counseling students at Booker T.
Washington High School and Monroe Middle
School in Tulsa. His need for relaxation
after dealing with students' problems in the
day returned and once again, he increased his
songwriting. When asked about the
kind of music he wrote Troy explains,
"I considered myself an eclectic
songwriter. I wrote country songs, ballads,
gospel, rhythm and blues, pop, and even a rap
song. But I couldn’t' get comfortable with
any style until the eventful day while waiting
at the tennis courts for my match to start, I
met, and later married in 1993, my lovely
wife, Amy. (Note: Troy and Amy are both
competitive tennis players with U.S.T.A.
ratings as high as 5.0 and 4.0 respectively)
Seven years later, our son Terryk (our Y2K
baby!) was born. After participating in
his birth, a first for me, and watching him
grow, I was completely fascinated and
overwhelmed by this wonderful experience. So I
did what any "red-blooded"
songwriter would do. I started writing songs
about it…children's bedtime songs. The
pleasure I got from this was unimaginable and
it fueled me with a desire to share these
wonderful feelings of comfort, joy, peace and
love with others. I knew I had found a
genre that would inspire and capture my
songwriting focus.” Troy retired from
education permanently in June 2003, and
currently is working on three children’s
projects to be presented in 2004.
*For more information regarding the
childhood of Troy James Petit, read the
autobiography of his oldest sister,
Mrs.EddieFaye Gates, "Miz Lucy's Cookies:
And Other Links in My Black Family Support
System," Coman & Associates, Tulsa,
Oklahoma, 1996. Also, visit Mrs. Gates'
website: www-tulsa-riot.com.
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