In the late 1950s, something went terribly wrong for Riley. So wrong that he dragged his wife (kicking and screaming) out of NY.

Leslie repeated a story her mother told, that Harry Belafonte had come to their apartment for dinner, and sang to her when she was a baby.

Why did my father work so hard to get respect, fair treatment, and equal pay for hillbilly performers, only to squander his own money?

Victor Shepard had stories to tell. He loved to gossip. "Your father was the horniest man I've ever met," Victor said.

Here's what I grapple with. Did my father believe his lies sometimes, or lie so often that he became confused about reality?

If I had to point to a time when my father had some prestige and success, it would've been the years from 1944-1948. He was young, talented,

Riley was young in the mid-1940s. New York offered him many fantastic opportunities to find work and meet new people.

Since masks are on everyone's mind around here, what better time to attempt to list all the names my father used throughout his life.

The most productive nation in the world, yet unable to properly feed, clothe, and shelter a third of its population. --- Riley Shepard 1938

“They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by...