DALTON, Ga. — “I learned about Jesus in my Grandma’s rocking chair,

“And sometimes when I’m troubled, I wish that I were there.

“Oh, when she sang of his sweet love, I didn’t have a care.

“I learned about Jesus in my Grandma’s rocking chair.”

— “Grandma’s Rocking Chair,” sung by Julia and Kelly Ridings recently

Kelly Ridings has been singing with his mother Julia since he was a small child.

“She may be 88 and have Alzheimer’s now, but to me, she’s still the best guitar player and singer ever,” the Dalton native said.

Earlier this month, while he was visiting his mother at Tranquility of Dalton, the assisted living facility she calls home, they were singing together when Ridings realized he’d never shot video of the two performing together. So he set up his phone on a nearby table and recorded two videos, including one of them performing “Praying,” a song made famous by country singer Vern Gosdin.

“It was close to Mother’s Day, and that’s a very appropriate song. It’s a song we do well together,” he said. “But it’s really special to me because that was a song they (the quartet his parents performed with, The Trinity Quartet) sang. I’d sing two or three songs before they came on, then they’d do a set. I remember hearing them sing that song so many times as a kid.”

“Not long ago, I was thinkin’ of home

“And I wondered if Mama was there all alone

“I thought I’d drop by, as I had before

“But the sound from within made me stop at the door

“She was prayin’, a sound that the world seldom hears

“Prayin’, her words were pleading and clear

“The sound of her voice, as she spoke my name

“Brought tears to my eyes, my heart filled with shame

“She was prayin’, prayin’ for someone like me.”

He went home that night and posted the videos to his Facebook page.

“I was doing it mainly to save a memory. I know that Facebook will pop up something you posted a year ago or five years ago or something like that, and I thought it would be great when that happened,” he said. “I thought maybe 50 people would look at it. There are people who know I sing, and I’m sure there are people who remember mom singing, and I thought they’d be interested but that’s it.”

When he woke up the next morning, he saw that a couple of thousand people had watched the video of them singing “Praying.”

“That was surprising, but I figured it was one of those things that would spread for a little bit, then die down pretty quickly,” he said.

By the time he checked Facebook again at lunch time, several million people had viewed the video.

“Not long after that, I got a call from a friend who said, ‘Do you realize this is going to go viral?’ I said, ‘I think technically it already has gone viral,'” he said.

That same day, Tori Green came into work at Tranquility.

“Everybody was talking about it,” she said. “We tell her (Julia) she’s a celebrity and that just cracks her up.”

Ridings said he isn’t sure how many people have seen the video because it has been shared more than half a million times just on Facebook. Meanwhile, TV stations, country music publications and others have picked it up and placed it on their websites.

“When people watch it there, it doesn’t show up in my count,” he said.

Julia grew up in a musical family and she and her husband Lowell formed the Trinity Quartet with Elmer and Louise Drain.

“Mom played flat top (guitar). Elmer played flat top, too, but with banjo picks on his fingers. On the weekend, they’d sit around the table and rehearse, and that’s where I learned to sing with them,” said Ridings.

The Trinity Quartet played for years around north Georgia.

Julia says she is a bit surprised that after all of those years of performing she has become something of a celebrity at the age of 88.

“I never dreamed of that,” she said.

Kari York, program manager at Tranquility, says she’s not surprised that so many people have watched, shared or commented on the video.

“Alzheimer’s is a disease that’s growing in prevalence, so many people have loved ones who have it, and so many more people know someone who has it,” she said. “I’m not surprised that video touched so many people.”

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, one American is diagnosed every 67 seconds with Alzheimer’s.

“Through many dangers, toils and snares,

“I have already come;

“’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,

“And grace will lead me home.” — “Amazing Grace”

Besides the views and the shares, people have left hundreds of thousands of comments on Ridings’ Facebook page.

“Even when my gram had Alzheimer’s disease she could still play the harmonica the best! And it made her so happy,” wrote a woman from Pennsylvania.

“My mother-in-law also has dementia and she sure loves to sing. I really enjoyed the two of you singing!” wrote a woman from Ontario, Canada.

“Wow that’s amazing. Here I am 80 years old and she’s 88 years old with Alzheimer’s and she still sings better than I can. And also her son has a fantastic voice. That’s a priceless gift that the two of them have and can sing in harmony together like that as mother and son,” said a man from Indiana.

Ridings said one common theme in the comments is how music binds people together, especially family members.

Beau Patton, activities director at Tranquility, says he isn’t surprised the video of the mother and son singing together went viral.

“She is such a precious lady,” he said. “We try to do singing every day, and because she has such a talent and such an enthusiasm for music she’s gotten more of our residents out and taking part. I not only work in the main house, I also work in our memory care facility, and I’ve found that often when people can remember nothing else they can still remember old songs.”

Rebekah Davis, program director for the North Georgia office of the Alzheimer’s Association, said, “it is amazing what music can do for someone with dementia.”

“There’s actually an entire industry devoted to music therapy,” she said. “It really is profound what music can do. It seems to awaken something in them. And not just people with a musical background. People who never sang or played but just enjoyed music can really be helped.”