Jerre Haskew's Powerful Imagination Keeps His Dream Alive for 40 Years

As a young man in the 1960’s, Jerre Haskew was on the verge of seeing his lifelong dream come true. His folk band, the Cumberland Trio, www.cumberlandtrio.com, was on the crest of stardom. They won the National Collegiate Folk Festival and appeared on the popular folk-music television show “Hootenanny” three times. In 1964, they were signed to a record contract with an up and coming record label, RIC, and recorded their first record. As his dream was just within reach, it slipped away! Haskew learned business lesson number one; two percent of something is better than ten percent of nothing.

Before signing with RIC in 1964, Jerre and the group were offered a record contract from RCA. The terms of the contract would have guaranteed the band two percent of the total sales of their first record. While contemplating this offer, RIC offered the group a much more lucrative ten percent contract. They chose RIC’s ten percent.

Have you ever heard of the record label RIC? Neither had I, they weren’t around for very long.

After recording their first record, while still waiting to find out the release date, Jerre and the boys read in the newspaper that RIC was going bankrupt, and that their album would not be released. As it turned out, the three founders of RIC were running an elaborate scam, and each made out handsomely, while the Cumberland Trio was left high and dry. Two percent of RCA’s contract would have been better than the ten percent of RIC’s contract that Jerre and the group were left with.

As if RIC’s bankruptcy weren’t enough to rumble the group’s foundations, a small group named the Beetles exploded onto the music scene, overtaking folk music’s popularity. Devastated, the Cumberland Trio gathered together and made one final attempt to record another album. Trying to adapt to the new popular sound, the group used electric instruments and created a new sound for themselves. After the session, however, the group decided they didn’t like this new sound, and the Cumberland Trio broke up.

Disheartened, Jerre put his music dreams on the back burner, but he never forgot them. For the next forty years, he established a successful international banking and entrepreneurial career. In 1965 he began as a trainee in the international department of Memphis Bank and was quickly promoted to sales. In the sales arena, he established an impressive track record. Jerre’s record caught Commerce Union Bank’s eye, and in 1970, they asked him to begin their international department. From 70’-77’ Jerre made his mark in the banking arena, as Commerce Union Bank’s international department was quickly handling over three billion dollars worth of export papers under his supervision.

He was then promoted to the bank’s holding company, where he was put in control of bank acquisitions. Jerre was soon offered the opportunity to become president of Commerce Union Bank, an offer he accepted and held for the next six years. Despite his great success in the banking arena, Jerre always felt that he was “an entrepreneur within a system.” In 1986, he parted ways with Commerce Union Bank, and the banking industry as a whole. Out of the system, Haskew was able to use his innovation and creativity to build a successful new business of his own, the Haskew Company, raising equity and managing debt capital for small businesses.

A sports fanatic, Jerre also frequently sat in on a regional sports talk show called Sports Talk. When the host was no longer able to continue, Haskew was the first to ever lease time from a radio station, and he continued Sports Talk, with himself and his brother as the hosts. A pioneer in the radio arena, Haskew then arranged for the show to be broadcast on the Internet. He quickly grew an Internet empire; drawing 300,000 hits a day, and the largest ever single-day Internet audience for a radio show, with 3,000,000 hits in one day.

Always a musician at heart, throughout his entire amazing business career, Jerre never strayed from his true dream of releasing a record. He played with a variety of bands throughout his business career, but he always remained in touch with the original members of the Cumberland Trio.

Recently, Jerre began searching for the original master tape of the RIC master recordings. During this same time, his wife Barbara conceived the idea of making the Trio’s popular song, “A Lion Named Sam,” written by Jerre in 1963, into an illustrated children’s book.

She presented the final version to Jerre on their 37th wedding anniversary in April of last year. The book, and subsequent production of a remastered version of the original song have brought the Cumberland Trio back to life. Children of all ages are discovering the magic of “A Lion Named Sam” and adults are rediscovering the Trio’s music. This renewed popularity has sprung the production of a 20-song, digitally remastered CD that will be released later this year. It has also led to a sold-out reunion concert scheduled for November 9th at the Bijou Theatre Center in Knoxville. The song’s powerful message of creativity and innovation lie at the heart of the group’s comeback.

“A Lion Named Sam” tells the story of the power of imagination in us all. In the story, a young boy calls on a lion that lives under his stairs to make all of his dreams come true. He wakes in the middle of the night, calls to Sam, and the two travel in search of gold or whatever else the boy dreams of. Each morning he tells his family of his dreams and adventures, but they never believe him. They make fun of him and tell him that he shouldn’t talk about his dreams. In the end of the story, Sam appears to the boy’s family. The boy’s dream that everyone made fun of and no one believed in has finally come true.

Jerre’s message to entrepreneurs is that we must always believe in our dreams, and ourselves even when those closest to us sometimes don’t. We also must find our “lions,” our own creative ways to make our dreams come true. Jerre believed in himself and his dreams, and forty years later, the dream is finally catching up.

- James Ackerman , Seen Magazine, June 1, 2001

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