COUNTRY MUSIC CLASSICS
Doug Davis
Owner/Publisher/Manager/Editor/
Writer/Gopher/Chief Cook & Bottle Washer
Thursday September 17th, 2015
Email: djdclassics@gmail.com
STORY BEHIND THE SONG
According to record producer Jerry Kennedy - he had been saving the song "Can't
Even Get The Blues" for Jacky Ward - but he happened to play it for Reba
McEntire during a meeting in his office.
Reba reportedly asked Kennedy why he never played those kind of songs for her -
to which Kennedy replied that Reba was a ballad singer. Reba then informed Jerry
that she would like to try something different - something up-tempo - so he gave
her the song which wound up being the last song she recorded for her "Unlimited"
album.
And as the story goes - Reba received the news that "Can't Even Get The Blues"
had become her first number one while she was in a Dallas, Texas repair shop
waiting for her tour bus to be repaired.
The song was written by Tom Damphier and Rick Carnes. The song was produced by
Jerry Kennedy and came on the country music charts October 2nd, 1982 and was in
the top slot on January 8th 1983.
The Mercury Records single was her 17th charted song - her first number one -
and was on the charts for 22 weeks.
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FOUND SOME ORIGINAL 45 SINGLES - - while cleaning out a storeroom. Will sell
all seven as a package:
Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello – Elvis Presley
Home – Jim Reeves
Suspicious Minds – Elvis Presley
Hello Darlin – Conway Twitty
Springtime In Alaska – Johnny Horton
It's Only Make Believe – Conway Twitty (original MGM version)
I Fell Out Of Love With Love – Simon Crum
If interested – email me at djdclassics@gmail.com and make an offer.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: Is Gene Watson still in the music business? I haven't heard anything about
him in awhile.
A: Watson is still in the business and he kicked off his current tour on
August 29th.
Q: I thought Don Williams had retired from touring but my daughter says the
radio folks said he was touring again. Is that true?
A: Don Williams recently kicked off his current tour in Dodge City, Kansas and
will wind up in Arlington, Texas on November 21st.
Q: I have heard that a highway is being renamed for George Jones. Do you know
where?
A: A portion of Tennessee State Route 96 in Williamson County, Tennessee will
be renamed as the George Jones Memorial Highway.
Q: I became a fan of Danny Davis and The Nashville Brass in Las Vegas years
ago. My daughter says that was not his real name. Is that true?
A: Danny Davis was actually George Nowlan of Dorchester, Massachusetts
Q: Do you remember a song about "don't growl if you can't bite?" It was on the
radio years ago.
A: "If You Can Bite, Don't Growl" was a number 7 hit for Tommy Collins in 1966
Q: The Reba McEntire "Ring On Her Finger - Time On Her Hands" is one of my
favorites. According to my mom - that song was a hit for someone else before
Reba's version. Is that true?
A: Lee Greenwood scored a number 5 hit on the song in 1982 - before Reba's
version peaked at number 9 in 1996
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A T T E N T I O N: R A D I O S T A T I O N S:
Our short form daily radio feature, "Story Behind The Song" is now
available to radio
stations.
NOT AVAILABLE TO INTERNET STATIONS)
The feature is available at no charge.
For information, email me at
classics@countrymusicclassics.com
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NUMBER ONES ON THIS DATE
1951
Always Late (With Your Kisses) - Lefty Frizzell
1959
The Three Bells - The Browns
1967
My Elusive Dreams - David Houston
1975
Feelins' - Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynne
1983
Night Games - Charley Pride
1991
Leap of Faith - Lionel Cartwright
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THIS IS TOM T. HALL.
By: Jack Blanchard
"This is Tom T. Hall", he said.
I think I'd have recognized the voice on the phone
even if he hadn't said his name.
I almost hadn't answered because I couldn't find the phone.
I don't keep my music room too neat.
Once we returned from a tour and found the cops at our house.
They said our front door was open and my studio had been ransacked.
I told them: "No. That's just the way I usually keep it".
Tom T. and I had talked a few times at parties, etc., around Nashville.
We had the same manager, Bob Neal, and the same label, Mercury,
but we didn't exactly "hang out".
In Nashville we were all too busy to really get to know each other.
I was surprised by the call.
He said he'd been reading a book of mine on a plane.
I asked where he'd gotten it. It wasn't exactly a best seller.
He told me somebody on the plane gave it to him.
I think he said it was Loretta Lynn.
The point of the call was this:
He wanted me to write the liner notes for his upcoming album.
I said, "What do you want me to write?"
He said, "Just write that kind of stuff that you write.
That's what I want on there".
The album was "We All Got Together And..." (Mercury SR61362.)
I'd never heard the songs, and had no idea what the theme was.
The most popular song from the LP was "Me and Jesus",
I learned that later.
I worried about it for about ten minutes,
And then wrote this:
"WARNING:
DO NOT hold this album under the hot water faucet,
as the people living inside the record might pop out into living 3-D,
right there in your kitchen... or even worse, your bathroom.
The crowd might be hard to explain to the landlord.
"This same warning applies to any Tom T. Hall record
because of his secret recipe for canning REAL people
like you and me and Luther Short into plastic discs,
without losing the original flavor.
"The characters in his songs act completely on their own,
sticking up their noses at Mr. Hall.
They couldn't care less if he is stuck without a romantic ending,
or an earthshaking moral.
They've got their own troubles, and they work them out in their own way.
Thanks to the miracles of science, we can eavesdrop in living stereo.
"Heroes and beautiful people are the usual favorites of storytellers,
but Tom T. finds poetry in us ordinary hairy-legged mortals,
with our petty selfishness, hypocrisy, and intolerance...
our weaknesses, and our occasional goodness.
"So, step inside.
You're likely to run into yourself somewhere in this record.
"And, oh yeah, like I said at the beginning,
Keep this record dry, and out of the reach of children.
And please keep Tom T. Hall's picture off the floor if you have pets."
Jack Blanchard
http://jackandmisty.net
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VIEW FROM THE FRONT PORCH
By: Stan Hitchcock
Now friends, don't let no body tell you that Hillbilly Music Making is not a
dangerous occupation. It ain't all fun and games, I'll tell you. In 1969 or 70,
one of them there years, my Band was made up of: Buck Evans, Bass, Harmony and
Band Leader. Bruce Osbon, guitarist and good humored Band entertainer, Vic
Thomas, Drums and Practical Jokes department and Wayne Kincaid, Steel Guitar and
Fiddle. This little happy group of pickers, pluckers, sliders and bangers worked
their butts off getting me to shows and making me sound as good as possible. We
were an unrelated family of musicians who took care of one another and lived for
the moments of music that we made. We were booked into this Officer's Club in an
Army Base in Georgia, and that is where this story begins. Nice facility, fancy
dressed up crowd out to have a pleasant evening with this bunch of Nashville
Hillbillies. We had done two shows and were into the third and final one and I
decided to do some lush, belly rubbin' love song. The boys kicked it off and I
was really getting into the song…the lighting guy dimmed the lights except the
one on the big mirrored revolving ball that cast little sparkles of light all
around the room. Now, I need to inform you of something important…Bruce Osbon
was Goosey. When you touched him in certain spots he would explode in a frenzy
of defensive moves. On this particular night the Stage was really narrow…so we
had to set up with the steel on the far left…Buck on Bass on my far right, Bruce
Osbon immediately to my rear and behind him…the practical joker drummer Vic
Thomas. None of us could ever figure out what possessed Vic to reach up, right
in the middle of my song, and goose Bruce with his drum stick…but, he did and
the rest is history. When Vic touched Bruce in the rear end with the drum
stick…he exploded and whipped his Fender Tele around in an Arc….catching me in
the back and knocking me out into the crowded dance floor. I flew off the stage
hit the slick polished floor and slid for about 10 feet and stopped right under
this very prim and proper Captains wife…and when I opened my eyes I could see
all the way to the North Pole…the Captain jerked his wife from over my head and
I was left staring up at the Spinning Mirrored Ball…going round…and round…and
round. I still had the mike in my hand, trying to get out the last note of my
song. Sadly, the Note never came…it was hung up in there and just would not come
out. That ended the show…with me doing the biggest James Brown Splits anyone had
ever seen in that part of Georgia. Well, you can see the problem…I had that note
stuck in my insides all these years…growing and putting pressure on my
spine…shoot, I was hunched over bout like one of them African Apes. The Doctor
said, "Son, we gotta operate"…I said "Do It". They went in there with one of
them Music Note Retrievers, kinda like a cross between a roto rooter and a weed
eater…they opened me up like a ripe Melon and went to retrievin'….wham! Slash!
Crunch!...and in a minute or so here came this mournful little music note jusr
a'waftin' through the Operating Room. It is said that the medical team all had
tears in their little beady eyes…it was so pretty. So ends the story of the
missing musical note. Rumor has it…the Doctor…one of them Belle Meade Classical
Music types…turned to the Nurse and said, "What was that dreadful sound?" The
Nurse, who grew up on Johnny Cash and George Jones, just shook her head and
answered, "That was Country Doctor…real Country." Well, now you know the rest of
the story. Keep it to yourself, it's kinda embarrassing to some folks involved
in the mess.
Stan Hitchcock
www.hitchcockcountry.com -
http://www.hitchcockcountry.com
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
[Jesus said] "By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my
judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me."
—John 5:30
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