COUNTRY MUSIC CLASSICS
Doug Davis
Owner/Publisher/Manager/Editor/
Writer/Gopher/Chief Cook & Bottle Washer
Email: djdclassics@gmail.com
STORY BEHIND THE SONG
Eddy Arnold said he was never afraid of change or afraid to try something new.
And one of those changes came about in 1955.
Eddy commented, "In 1955 I decided to try something new. My A & R man Steve
Sholes came to town and brought the very fine conductor and arranger Mr. Hugo
Winterhalter out to my house. We talked for awhile and decided we would do a
couple of things with Hugo. I liked him from the start. He was very down to
earth and friendly – not at all the "stuffed shirt" kind of fellow you might
expect a famous conductor and arranger to be. He was a fine man and certainly
knew his business. So we re-recorded "Cattle Call" with all the French horns and
everything. Now I had to get accustomed to hearing all those instruments in the
studio because I wasn't used to that. But I got used to it and the record came
off great. We sold something over half a million – now this was 1955 – and that
was something!"
His 1955 recording of "Cattle Call" entered the country charts June 25th, 1955
and made it to number one where it stayed for two weeks. It was his 60th charted
song and on the charts for 26 weeks.
Eddy Arnold placed 146 songs on the country music charts between 1945 thru 2008.
He joined The Grand Ole Opry in 1943 and was inducted into The Country Music
Hall Of Fame in 1966.
Eddy Arnold died in 2008 at age 89.
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MORE STORAGE ROOM FINDS:
Found three mint condition books that I had forgotten I had – since I have not
seen them in years:
192 page hardback edition of "Lost Highway" – The True Story Of Country Music
– by Colin Escott – a Smithsonian book – hundreds of photos. This books covers
country music from the back porch to the stadium –
PLUS:
A large coffee table type 144 page slick paperback "Honky Tonk – Portraits Of
Country Music – 1972 – 1981" - full page photos – a time capsule of an important
era in country music
PLUS:
176 page 1993 "Country Radio Seminar Program Book & Directory" – a detailed
listing of everybody who was anything (and some who weren't) in country music at
that time – along with contact information.
All three for $50 and I'll pay shipping. PayPal – Check or Money Order – reply
to djdclassics@gmail.com
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: I can't believe what I just heard - that Merle Haggard died. Is that true?
A: Merle Haggard has died after a brief struggle with pneumonia. Merle Ronald
Haggard was born on April 6, 1937, in Oildale, California. He was elected to the
Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 1977, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall
of Fame in 1994.
Q: My daughter tells me that the d.j. was talking about Johnny Cash recording
"I Walk The Line" in 1969. I thought he recorded the song much earlier.
A: Cash's original recording of "I Walk The Line" was in 1956 - which made it
to number one and stayed there for six weeks. Cash re-recorded "I Walk the
Line" in 1964, for his "I Walk the Line" album; in 1969, for his "At San
Quentin" album; in 1970, for the "I Walk the Line" soundtrack; and in 1988, for
his "Classic Cash: Hall of Fame Series."
Q: The TV news mentioned Vince Gill getting some award to do with
"hospitality." What is that about?
A: Vince Gill will be the third recipient of the E.W. "Bud" Wendell Award,
Nashville's top hospitality honor. According to Nashville Convention & Visitors
Corp. Board Chair Ken Levitan, "There is no better ambassador to represent the
diversity of music that is thriving in Music City than a musician who can go
from traditional country to bluegrass to Western swing to gospel to just about
any kind of musical style with the ease that Vince Gill does."
Q: I heard on the news that one of the guys going into the Hall Of Fame is
Fred Foster. I know he was in the music business but what did he do?
A: Fred Foster's first job in the music business was as a record store
clerk. In March of 1958, formed Monument Records and helped develop Roy
Orbison's career and was also involved in Dolly Parton's early career. He
co-wrote "Me and Bobby McGee" with Kris Kristofferson, and he produced Willie
Nelson's 2006 record, "You Don't Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker," as well as
Nelson's collaboration with Merle Haggard and Ray Price, "Last of the Breed"
(2007).
Q: I have the Willie Nelson record of "You Ought To Hear Me Cry" that I bought
in the late 70's but I thought that song was on the radio earlier than that. Was
it?
A: Johnny Bush had the first charted recording in 1967, Carl Smith had a hit
on it in 1968 before Willie's 1977 hit.
Q: A friend of mine used to sing a song about "Forgive Me Dear." He said it
was a Faron Young song back in the 50's. Do you know of such a record?
A: "Forgive Me Dear" was the flipside of Faron's 1955 number one, "Live Fast,
Love Hard, Die Young."
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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 at no
charge.
For information, email me at djdclassics@gmail.com
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NUMBER ONES ON THIS DATE
1945
Shame on You - Spade Cooley
1953
Your Cheatin' Heart - Hank Williams
1961
Don't Worry - Marty Robbins
1969
Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass - Buck Owens
1977
Lucille - Kenny Rogers
1985
Country Girls - John Schneider
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TODAY IN COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY
1932
Born on this day in Gans, Oklahoma - Cal Smith, most famous for his 1972 #1 hit
"The Lord Knows I'm Drinking" and his 1974 hit "Country Bumpkin," which received
the Song of the Year Award from both the Academy of Country Music and the
Country Music Association. Smith died on October 10, 2013.
1935
Born on this day - Bobby Bare, who scored over 30 US Country hits including his
only Country #1 hit in 1974, "Marie Laveau", (which was written by written by
Shel Silverstein). In 1998, he formed the band, Old Dogs, with his friends Jerry
Reed, Mel Tillis and Waylon Jennings.
1970
The single "Tennessee Bird Walk" by the country music husband-and-wife duo Jack
Blanchard & Misty Morgan was at #1 on the country chart. "Tennessee Bird Walk"
is a novelty song theorizing on the effects of removing the wings, feathers,
singing ability, and common sense from birds.
1990
Randy Travis' "Hard Rock Bottom Of Your Heart" broke the four-week barrier, on
the US country singles chart, the first since Waylon Jennings and Willie
Nelson's 1978 hit "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys."
1990
The fourth Farm Aid benefit concert took place at the Hoosier Dome,
Indianapolis, Indiana. Held to raise money for family farmers in the US, the
concerts were organized by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young.
Artists who appeared included: Bonnie Raitt, Carl Perkins, Garth Brooks, John
Denver, Bill Monroe, Alan Jackson, Asleep at the Wheel, Jackson Browne, Bruce
Hornsby, Poco, Elton John, Lou Reed, Don Henley, Taj Mahal, Crosby, Stills, Nash
& Young, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, and Guns N' Roses.
Courtesy: www.thisdayincountrymusic.com -
http://www.thisdayincountrymusic.com
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POTSO.
By: Jack Clement
Potso lived in the gray shingle house
two doors up the street from me.
His real name was Robert Stanley.
I don't know how he got the nickname "Potso".
He was Potso when I got there.
He was a couple of years younger than the rest of us neighborhood kids,
and not very good at sports,
but he tried.
His cheeks were red, and his nose ran a lot,
especially in the winter.
It's hard to be cool when your nose is running.
I don't know who tagged him with "Potso",
but I don't think any of us meant it in a mean way.
Mr. Pennell, a neighborhood dad, made a rock garden in his backyard,
and decorated it with cement imitation stones.
Each stone was engraved with the name of one of us kids.
"Potso" was there in a place of honor.
I can tell you this: If anybody picked on our "Potso",
they'd have to deal with us.
As a couple of years went by,
Potso began suggesting that we call him Robert.
I think it was his mother's idea.
She was a pretty and intelligent lady, but I didn't realize that until later.
We tried to remember to call him Robert,
but habits are hard to break.
Robert's father was everybody's handyman,
doing simple chores up and down the street.
My parents said he was "shell-shocked".
He was a sweet, childlike man, who smiled, but never talked much.
He walked with a slightly unsure gait.
The Stanley's were the object of quiet sympathy.
Sympathy can hurt.
One day we were all shocked to hear that Mr. Stanley had died.
Kids aren't used to death.
I don't remember when Robert and his mother moved away.
A few years later,
I got a Christmas season job jumping on and off a delivery truck
while the driver sat in the warm cab,
smoking cigars and drinking something
from a bottle he carried in a paper bag.
One cold afternoon, we were delivering in a section of town
that was a step or two classier than where I lived.
I went up the porch steps of the two-story brick house,
and rang the upstairs doorbell.
Robert Stanley answered the door.
He looked different.
I think he was on his way out
because he was wearing expensive looking clothes,
with a camel hair fingertip length topcoat.
He still had the rosy cheeks, but his nose wasn't running.
I was happy to see him, and started a conversation.
His mother came down the stairs behind him
and told him he'd better hurry.
She was polite, but I could feel she wasn't really glad to see me.
I felt a little slighted, but after I thought it over I realized this:
They had their new life where nobody felt sorry for them.
She didn't want him to be Potso anymore.
Jack Blanchard
http://jackandmisty.net
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VIEW FROM THE FRONT PORCH
By: Stan Hitchcock
After all these years of building a country music industry, playing to a growing
and loyal audience and achieving a world wide acceptance of a truly unique
American music genre we seem to have reached an identity crisis. What are we
now? Are we really country or have we morphed into something that is kinda hard
to understand when you have walked with the giants of the 40's-50's-60's-70's
and 80's. Where are the voices now that you instantly recognize because they
have such an identifiable sound? Where are the Tom Brumley's who can turn a
steel guitar intro and turnaround into the sound of "Together Again"? Oh, I miss
them.
I miss Roy balancing his fiddle bow, I miss Stringbeans' porkpie hat and
britches around his knees, I miss Miss Minnie's "Howdee! I'm just so proud to be
here". I miss the tear in Red Foley's eye when he looked out at us from a tv set
and recited, "Old Shep". I miss the voice of Vern Gosdin and Earl Thomas Conley
when in the 70's and 80's they could break your heart with a ballad. I miss
Marty's happy laugh and mischievous look as he cut up on the last show of the
Saturday night Opry, running the program late and driving the radio engineers
crazy with their timing. I miss the beauty of Dottie West as I watched her in
the wings of the Opry looking out at the other performers and totally unaware of
just how beautiful she really was. I miss Ernest turning his guitar over to say
Thank You to the audience and sitting on the edge of the stage to sign
autographs when he was so tired and sick but never leaving till he had
accommodated every fan. I miss Roger Miller's unbelievably quick wit and genius
songwriting. I miss Mickey Newbury closing his show with American Trilogy and
just choking everyone in the house up with emotion. And I miss big old Johnny
Russell saying, "Can y'all see me alright?" Oh, I miss them all.
Yes, you say, but Hitchcock you are just all wound up in the past….and I say
yes, you are probably right…but, in the case of these heroes of music….I'll
gladly stay wound up in the past where the music was good, the words to songs
were easy to understand, the voices rang true and on key, the folks were open
and real and it was never imagined that some hard rock Star would be handing out
awards at a country music award show.
God bless us all…..
Stan
Stan Hitchcock
www.hitchcockcountry.com -
http://www.hitchcockcountry.com
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
– 1 John 1:7 (NIV)
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