COUNTRY MUSIC CLASSICS
Doug Davis
Owner/Publisher/Manager/Editor/
Writer/Gopher/Chief Cook & Bottle Washer
Thursday September 29th, 2016
Email: djdclassics@gmail.com
STORY BEHIND THE SONG
A lot of recording artists refuse to record a song that's already been recorded
by another artist - while others don't seem to care
.
According to Hank Locklin - that didn't stop him from recording his 1956 hit
"Why Baby Why."
He commented, "That song was written by George Jones and Darrell Edwards. It was
recorded by a bunch of folks - George Jones first and then Webb Pierce & Red
Sovine, Warren Smith & Shirley Collie, Charley Pride, seems that everybody
recorded it - including me ! But I just heard the song and it was all over the
place - anytime I turned the radio on - it was playing and I really liked it. So
I recorded it and it did pretty well for me."
Hank Locklin's RCA Victor single "Why Baby Why" came on the charts March 24th,
1956 and peaked at number nine. It was his 3rd charted song.
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326 page hardback "GO CAT GO" – published in 1996 – solid overview of rockabilly
music – from its beginning with Elvis Presley's first release – through its
fadeout and the revival in the 1970's – identifying the main performers and
recordings with the who –what – where – and when of the music – several photos -
sold for $30 new – PLUS: 392 page hardback "SINGING IN THE SADDLE" written
by Riders In The Skys' Ranger Doug (Douglas Green) – history of the singing
cowboy from the early radio days thru the western movie days thru the Roy Rogers
and Gene Autry era – how it all happened and who it all happened to – lots of
photos you've never seen before – Both books for $25 and I'll pay shipping.
PayPal – Check or Money Order – reply to djdclassics@gmail.com
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: You had said that Loretta Lynn had fallen and today the radio guys said she
had undergone surgery. Do you have any further information?
A: Loretta has postponed two additional concerts following surgery she
underwent after a fall in late August. The surgery was reportedly minor and she
is recovering.
Q: The song "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" has been one of my favorites. My
son said that the guy who wrote that song has passed away. Do you know anything
about that?
A: 82 year old Nashville Songwriter's Hall Of Fame member John D. Loudermilk
died on September 21st.
Q: I've attended two Farm Aid concerts. Do you know how long they've been
going on?
A: The first Farm Aid concert was held September 22nd, 1985 in Champaign,
Illinois.
Q: According to my daughter, Dolly Parton has re-recorded her song "Jolene"
with someone else. Is that true?
A: Dolly has teamed up with Pentatonix for an a cappella cover of her 1973 hit
"Jolene." The original version was released in October of 1973. Since then -
over two dozen other artists have recorded the song.
Q: I heard on the radio about a Merle Haggard brand of marijuana. What is that
all about?
A: A strain of marijuana that Haggard began developing before his death in
April of 2016 is scheduled to be marketed in the coming months and will be
called "Merle's Girls," which began when Haggard teamed up with the Colorado
Weed Co. in 2015 to develop connoisseur-grade marijuana strains.
Q: Is there a street somewhere named after Marty Robbins? According to my
sister - it was mentioned on the radio.
A: A downtown stretch of street in Glendale, Arizona has been renamed Marty
Robbins Boulevard. The one-mile stretch was originally called Glendale Avenue.
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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.
"Story Behind The Song" is a win / win for radio stations: A classic country
feature not available from any other source - each station has a market
exclusive - it's F-R-E-E - and you're free to sell local sponsorships.
For information, email me at djdclassics@gmail.com or
telephone 903-244-2441
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NUMBER ONES ON THIS DATE
1947
Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) - Tex Williams
1955
I Don't Care - Webb Pierce
1963
Abilene - George Hamilton IV
1971
The Year That Clayton Delaney Died - Tom T. Hall
1979
It Must Be Love - Don Williams
1987
Three Time Loser - Dan Seals
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A NASHVILLE SONGWRITER'S JOURNEY WITH THE STARS
A collection of Nashville songwriter John Riggs' stories and experiences with
country music's top recording artists – including George Jones , Hank Snow,
Marty Robbins, Conway Twitty and over 40 more!
John Riggs reveals the real personality of the biggest names in country music
– and a few surprises!
John was also Ralph Emery's assistant on Ralph's all night radio show on WSM –
Nashville for five years and offers an insight to the top stars in country
music that few people ever experience.
$20 for either the printed book or E-book on CD OR $35 for a copy of both.
Check – Money Order or PayPal – email: selectiverecords@comcast.net
for PayPal – or mail check or money order to: Selective Records – P.O. Box 90574
– Nashville, Tennessee 37209
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TODAY IN COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY
Courtesy: Bill Morrison
Gene Autry born Tioga Springs, TX 1907. Inducted CMHF 1969.
Bill Boyd, Western Swing/Vocals/Guitar, born Fannin County, TX 1910.
Tillman Franks, musician/songwriter/manager Louisiana Hayride, born Stamps, AR
1920.
Jerry Lee Lewis "The Killer," born Ferriday, LA 1935. Inducted R&RHOF 1986, and
RHOF.
Tommy Boyce, vocalist/songwriter/producer, born Charlottesville, VA 1939.
Jimmy Wakely debuted on the Grand Ole Opry 1945.
Rose Maddox joined the Grand Ole Opry 1956.
Capitol Records released Buck Owens' album "Tall Dark Stranger" 1969.
Jerry Lee Lewis shot his bass player, Norman Bush, in the chest with a 357
magnum in 1976. Norman survived the gunshot, and "The Killer," fired him. The
police charged Lewis with a misdemeanor charge, of discharging a firearm within
the city limits. Go figure.
Dan Seals' "Three Time Loser" topped the charts 1987.
President George Bush Sr., was a guest of Ralph Emery's, on TNN's "Nashville
Now," in 1992.
He was the only sitting president to ever appear on the show.
MCA released Joe Ely's album "Love & Danger" 1992.
Willie Nelson inducted CMHF 1993.
LeAnn Rimes returned to the stage after a three-month absence in 2000. The young
star was recovering from a swollen vocal cord.
The 14th Annual Farm Aid concert was held in Noblesville, IN 2001.
Brooks & Dunn's #1 country hit "Only In America" debuted on Billboard's Top 40
chart 2001.
Lorrie Morgan and Sammy Kershaw were married at a Catholic church in Music City
2001. It was Lorrie's fifth marriage, and Sammy's fourth.
Wesley Tuttle, west coast country singer, and the voice of one of the seven
dwarf's, in Disney's Snow White, died 2003.
Randy Travis was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame 2004.
Courtesy: <http://www.talentondisplay.com/countrycalendar.html>
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THE COMEDIAN.
By: Jack Blanchard
I sang with The Dawn Breakers quartet
in a show club called The Elmwood Casino
in Windsor, Ontario, across from Detroit.
The emcee was a very funny comedian named Frankie Rapp.
He did impressions of a gay lighthouse and a 1947 Pontiac.
I saw him in a Jerry Lewis movie once.
There was also a classy female singer named Gloria Brooks.
She was Frankie's ex-wife.
She told me she didn't like old comedians.
She'd been married to two of them.
After comedians make us laugh
we expect them to be jolly in real life.
They can be quite different off stage
Lou Costello got 60% and Bud Abbott got 40% of their income.
When asked if he thought he needed Abbott, he said this:
"I could have him painted on the curtain."
Misty and I have known hilarious comics
who were serious depressives.
We got involved with one who was a tyrant.
I was producing a Starday Records artist named Rusty Diamond,
who had a knack for getting rich women as backers.
Rusty wanted to put together a Vegas type stage show.
I knew he wasn't ready for that,
so I suggested we hire a comedy coach I'd heard of.
His name was Danny Rogers.
Rusty's backer was paying for the coaching sessions,
and the rent on a rehearsal hall.
Danny could be funny, lovable, humble, devious, and cruel.
He could be different people at different moments.
He did so many characters, I didn't know which was the real him.
I think it was the mean one.
He'd been fired from Milton Berle's Vegas show for being too funny.
He told me "Berle was right. It was his show."
The potential comedy group consisted of
Misty and me, Paul McLaughlin our sax player,
and Rusty was to be the star.
Rogers began calling Paul "the hick" and riding him mercilessly.
I was the designated straight man, Misty was "the chick",
and it never became clear what Rusty was supposed to do.
It did become clear that Rusty was not going to be the star.
Danny was getting paid to train him, but Rusty was on his way out.
It was morphing into The Danny Rogers Group.
He was a terrific comedian, and I was to be his Dean Martin.
He didn't even want Paul in the act.
That's why he made his life miserable, but we made sure Paul stayed.
To be fair, Danny did teach us a lot about stagecraft and comedy.
He taught us some hilarious routines,
but he yelled at us all the time, which took the fun out of it.
Rusty's backers pulled the plug and he left the group,
Paul "the hick" was miserable,
and Misty and I were imagining fun ways to kill Danny Rogers.
Misty bought an expensive new dress
and Danny commanded her to "Never wear that again."
Then he booked our act into a famous showplace in the Caribbean.
We all knew at that moment
that we were not going to be on any island with Danny Rogers.
We were actually afraid to tell him.
He had become the cruel warden.
But we did tell him, and he wasn't happy.
First he became the poor soul who's been hurt,
to make us feel guilty. He was good!
Finally he got mad, did a troll dance, and left.
Maybe I made up the troll dance.
Ten years later, after we'd had several hit records,
I was calling old names in our address book for some reason,
and got Rogers on the phone,
I asked if he remembered us, and he said this:
"Yeah. Too bad you never made it."
With all our modern technology we still can't strangle jerks over the phone.
Jack Blanchard
http://www.jackandmisty.net
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View From The Front Porch-Stan Hitchcock
October 5th, 1969,,,Somewhere In South Texas...Buck and the Chicken Wire
We knew when we drove up in front of the club that this was gonna be a
challenge. When the booking came into the Booking Office, the agent told me,
"Hey, I don't know nothing about this place...but, they paid the deposit up
front, and they asked for you and your band, said that they watch your tv show
down there. " Good enough for me. We like to have never found the place, in the
age before on line maps and GPS. Finally, by stopping and asking, we drove into
the rough gravel parking lot. It was a rambling, do-it-yourself with scrap
lumber type of dance hall. It had been painted red once long ago, but had faded
to a kinda sick orange color. We went into the back door and the stale air of
old cigarette smoke, spilled beer and not so sweet toilets gave that old
familiar welcome that all Honky Tonks of that era seemed to have. First thing
that we noticed was the stage...completely enclosed in chicken wire across the
front of it, to keep the beer bottles from hitting the pickers. My bass man,
band leader, harmony singer and front man, Buck Evans, turned to me and said,
"Well, at least the crowd is protected from us hurtin' them real bad." I thought
at the time that Buck was making a joke, but later I wasn't so sure.\
That night we had an overflow crowd and it kept getting more and more boisterous
as the night wore on. On our third and final show, at Midnight, a fight broke
out between two cowboys…and it seemed like the crowd had just been waiting for
that fuse to be lighted. All of a sudden the whole place erupted in
turmoil…fighting…screaming…bottles thrown through the air and bouncing off of
the chicken wire in front of the stage. I just kept on a'singin'. The Band just
kept on a'pickin'….until, one big cowboy decided he was gonna whup up on the
band and to do that he had to get around the side of the stage and get past
Buck. Bad mistake, cause Buck was our Texas Security System, raised up in Texas
Honky Tonks, tougher than whet leather…and as the big cowboy hollered out a cuss
word and reached to grab Buck…the long neck of that Fender Bass came up from
below and connected right on the point of the cowboys chin…flipping him
completely over backwards and out in the middle of the fighting, punching,
kicking screaming mass on the dance floor. He disappeared under the legs and
boots and we never saw him re-enter the fray…I reckon he was out for the night.
Funny thing is, Buck never missed a beat of that Bass line of the shuffle song
we were playing…and as we kept on and on playing…somehow those Texas two
steppers stopped fighting and started dancing again. We did an extra long last
set and as we were packing up to leave, the owner came over and thanked us for
doing a good show…Buck looked at him and said, "One thing I would suggest….if
you want to really protect the crowd from the musicians…you need to put the
Chicken Wire all around to the back wall." stan
www.hitchcockcountry.com -
http://www.hitchcockcountry.com
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one
sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to
repent.
– Luke 15:7 (NIV)
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