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Fact #155388

When:

Short story:

Paul McCartney and his family touch down at Metropolitan Airport, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, at the start of a six week stay on a farm in the neighbouring town of Lebanon. The farm is owned by songwriter Curly Putman Jr, and the McCartneys' time spent there will inspire Paul to write the hit single Junior's Farm.

Full article:

Curly Putman Jr : Buddy (Buddy Killen, publisher and studio owner) was trying to find a place for Paul and the band to stay. They wanted a place that had horses. Buddy went out looking, trying to find them something around the Nashville countryside. I rode with him some, and we looked and looked. Finally, he sweet-talked me and Bernice into leasing our place to them. I was kind of nervous. You know how rock ’n’ roll bands were back then? They paid me pretty good for leasing it for six weeks. And they didn’t tear anything up.

We had a reception in our home that first night. Paul was a very-down-to-earth guy and friendly. We sat around, and then we went back and played the guitar a little bit together. Paul was very interested in country music. He was very nice. I thought he was just a regular guy.

Troy Putman (son of Curly Putman) : That evening they arrived, it was kinda late, and I remember Paul carrying one of the babies, Stella. She was just a toddler. All the introductions were made, and it was kind of regular visiting and getting to know each other. Basically, they moved in and we moved out.

During the visiting part, I do remember me and my Mom and Paul and Linda went back and Dad had a study room where there was a Martin gut-string guitar. I was sort of amazed because he turned the guitar upside down, because he was left-handed, and started playing a version of ‘Band on the Run.’ Linda had a hand on his shoulder kinda standing over him and she piped in with the chorus.

We stayed in Nashville for a short time before they left, and one day my Dad and I came out, and we had a two-car garage, and they used that room as sort of a rehearsal room where they had musical instruments like guitars, amplifiers and a drum set. Paul called us in and wanted to play a song he had written while there, ‘Sally G.’ He gave us a short rendition of it.
(Source : http://wilsonpost.com/the-summer-of-mccartney--cms-81154)

Curly Putman : Our son Troy had a motorbike, and before we left I told him, ‘You better put that bike away'.

Troy Putman : I had a little XR75, a small off-road motorcycle that had no taillights and no headlights. I put it up in a side shed beside the garage. They must have found it, because they got it out and there were published pictures of Paul riding it. Linda was an accomplished photographer, and she documented quite a bit of that. They had that bike out a lot.
(Source : http://wilsonpost.com/the-summer-of-mccartney--cms-81154)

Curly Putman : when we got back, well, they had found it. Paul rode it all around Wilson County. He liked is so much, he bought one in town, and later he hauled his bike back to New York.

The band practiced in a room in our house, our den. They were preparing for their shows as they were getting ready to tour. During that time Buddy took them around Nashville, and he had a recording studio where they cut an album while they were here. One of the songs was Junior’s Farm, which a lot of people think he wrote based on my place and since I’m Claude Putman Jr.
(Source : http://wilsonpost.com/the-summer-of-mccartney--cms-81154)

Bernice Putman (wife of Curly Putman Jr) : They were nice. They were just real friendly and like everybody else. They asked for certain things to be stocked in the house: five gallons of Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream, cases of oranges to make orange juice, Johnny Walker Red and Ovaltine.

Paul found one of Troy’s straw cowboy hat, and he wore it around. Later, Linda sent us photographs of the farm that she had printed into an appointment calendar and on the cover was a picture of Paul wearing that cowboy hat.

To be who he was and where he was, Paul was so nice. He was very impressed with Curly and his songwriting and Green Green Grass of Home.

Every day or so they got a case of oranges and squeezed fresh orange juice. Linda made all kinds of vegetable dishes. They swam down here in our lake, and they rode horses. They were like hippies in a way. Paul and Linda really loved one another. Linda was very sweet and real protective of him.

The day they left, they really didn’t want to leave. They asked if they could stay a couple of days longer, and we had to tell them we were ready to get back in our house. They enjoyed it here. Their kids wrote on the walls with crayons in the upstairs bedrooms, so we had some rooms repainted, but there was nothing torn up at all.
(Source : http://wilsonpost.com/the-summer-of-mccartney--cms-81154)