Herman Long witnessed first-hand the evolution of Maryville from a small town to the bountiful community it is today. His parents brought him to Blount County as a child, and he still lives here. He experienced life as an immigrant from a faraway country, only to embrace the joy he’s found as a long-time resident.
“The growth of our community has been impressive,” Long said. ”Maryville has become larger and larger due to our beautiful environment, our four seasons and the beauty of our vistas.”
Born in Birkenfeld, Germany, in 1947, Long first arrived in Maryville in 1956 after his German mother married an American soldier from Maryville stationed in Germany. His stepfather established the family’s roots when he opened a popular drugstore located at 106 E. Broadway in Downtown Maryville.
Nevertheless, life wasn’t easy, especially early on. He had to learn English because at first, he only spoke German. When he arrived in this county so soon after World War II, there was a great deal of resentment towards Germany. As a result, he often found himself the object of extreme prejudice and derision.
“I attended the Maryville City school system, graduated and left in 1966 to attend UT Martin,” Long said. “I joined the U.S. Army as an air traffic controller in 1969, and after my military service, I stayed in Germany and then, for the next four years, I traveled the world.”
Even so, travel remained a constant. The film “Lawrence of Arabia” inspired his decision to travel overland from Germany to India.
“The fact that I was visiting and experiencing places that I had read about were the greatest rewards I could get from my travels,” he said.
In the years since, he’s traveled to the Caribbean, South America and, most recently, Australia and New Zealand.
“Traveling has allowed me to see how things are done in different ways to accomplish the same goal, and that’s why I enjoy going to different parts of the world,” Long said.
“The one thing I would like to accomplish before the end of this journey is to take a train from Beijing, China, to Lhasa, Tibet. It’s a three-day trip where you can get on and off the train every day and then continue the ride. What I would see and the experiences I would gather from taking a trip like this are the number one things that I hope to accomplish on my life‘s journey. I still have family in Germany. My wife and I return to Germany very often to visit friends and family, and then we use these trips as a starting point for our travels to other countries.”
In 1976, Long returned home and settled in the Six Mile area where his parents lived. He continues to call that area home.
His other constant in life grew out of his love for the blues, which remains his absolute obsession even now.
“My stepdad‘s collection of Dixieland Jazz 45s, especially Louis Armstrong‘s ‘Saint James Infirmary’ and ‘Old Rocking Chair’ put me on the path to becoming a blues lover,” Long said.
“I met [blues musician] Buddy Guy in 1992 at the first Legends blues club in Chicago. I walked into Legends at noon and saw Buddy sitting at the bar having a Heineken on ice. There was no one else in the club except the bartender and one waiter who was setting up tables.
“My friend Randy Ross, who had initially talked me into going to Chicago in the first place, challenged Buddy to a game of pool. We lost, of course, as well it should be. Nevertheless, being able to interact with a legend like Buddy so impressed me that I never left the club during that entire trip. Since then, I go back to Legends two or three times a year, and because of that, I’ve gotten to know many of the blues musicians that frequent the club.”
That fervent fascination led him to help found the Smoky Mountain Blues Society, which he still helms today. It’s become an ongoing endeavor with a year-round concert series featuring some of the most significant names within the blues genre.
“The idea of forming a blues society started in the parking lot of the Blues Depot at Homburg Place in Knoxville in 1995,” Long said. “The next time we got together was at Sassy Ann’s, where we started the Knoxville Blues Society. It later evolved into the Smoky Mountain Blues Society in order to accommodate a much larger area and not sound so exclusive.”
That dedication to sharing the blues remains the core of the Society’s efforts.
“My vision for the Smoky Mountain Blues Society has always been to keep the music alive,” Long said. “Allowing our community the opportunity to be up close and personal with the artists that the society brings in has always been my primary goal. I want people to have the same experience that I had at Legends In Chicago.”
That mission has led to other areas of outreach as well. The Smoky Mountain Blues Society fosters blues education in the schools, live performances at the Ben Atchley Veterans Home in Knoxville, promoting blues festivals and blues music in local clubs. Those efforts are aimed at increasing awareness of the blues’ legacy overall.
“The fact that we have a vibrant blues scene has created great support for local and regional musicians, while bringing major national acts to our area,” Long said. “For me, that was the whole purpose of starting a society that supported the blues, which is something that I love.”
Still, nothing exceeds his devotion to his wife Mary, to whom he’s been married some 47 years. It also extends to the place he calls home.
“I hope to live here until the end of my journey,” he said. “The opportunities I’ve had in America, and specifically in Maryville, I wouldn’t ever have had in any other part of the world. My life would not be what it is anywhere else. To quote a particular lyric I’m especially fond of, ’I love the life I live, and I live the life I love.’”
