Brad Schmitt

USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

It’s a special day in the afternoon bus line outside tiny Watertown Elementary School in rural eastern Wilson County.

A smiling 4-year-old blonde girl carries a neon-yellow cardboard sign that reads “We Love Mr. Joe” and sheepishly hands it to the beaming bus driver.

“Ms. Elise!” he says, chuckling, deep voice booming. “Thank you, baby.”

Most kids at the small-town school love their bus drivers.

But this sign also is a large congratulations card — Joe Thompson just four days earlier had won a Grammy award in Los Angeles, about 2,048 miles away.

Thompson leads legendary gospel quartet The Fairfield Four, which broke big outside the genre in 2000 by appearing at the end of the Coen Brothers' movie “O Brother Where Art Thou?”

Still, that music thing is just a part-time gig for the 80-year-old bass singer.

His regular job, which pays $17 an hour, is driving a school bus for little boys and girls with special needs from Mt. Juliet to Watertown Elementary School and back.

And Thompson loves it, so much so that he mentioned it in his acceptance speech when The Fairfield Four won for best Roots Album at the Grammys.

“I would like to send a shout-out to the transportation department in Wilson County, Tennessee,” Thompson told the overflow crowd at Staples Center.

While critically acclaimed and well-known, The Fairfield Four, like many gospel acts, doesn’t have the kind of touring schedule or album sales that can sustain its members. The group plays about four or five shows a month.

Thompson worked for 29 years building trucks for Peterbilt, retiring in 2002. He says he got bored at home and started driving a bus for Wilson County Schools that same year.

The kids just love him.

He greets each like a grandchild.

“What’s up, Mr. Oliver?” he booms, smiling and extending his hand when a shy 5-year-old boy hits the first step on his bus. “Come on, baby!”

The next boy, a 3-year-old with a Paw Patrol backpack, walks quickly on to the bus and grabs the steering wheel.

“You wanna drive?” Thompson says, softly patting the boy’s shoulder before gently guiding him to the back. “You can get buckled up.”

Those pre-K kids don’t really know what a Grammy is. Teachers say they just know Mr. Joe got a big prize.

Those same teachers say Mr. Joe deserves another prize for the way he makes each of his kids with special needs feel important and safe.

“He makes them feel like rock stars,” teacher Heather Howard says.

“Some of them have issues with socialization. When he says their names, he puts some emphasis on it. And they’ll say, ‘Hey, how are you?’ For him to get them to talk back with him, that’s really cool.”

Thompson says it’s no big deal, that it’s really simple.

“They’re children. I love all children,” he said. “I always have.”

Reach Brad Schmitt at 615-259-8384 or on Twitter @bradschmitt.