COUNTRY MUSIC CLASSICS
Doug Davis
Owner/Publisher/Manager/Editor/
Writer/Gopher/Chief Cook & Bottle Washer
Email: djdclassics@gmail.com
STORY BEHIND THE SONG
Back in the 40''s and 50's - most recording sessions were done in the
studios of radio stations and according to Ginny Wright - her 1954 hit "I
Love You" was such a record!
Ginny commented, "Record man Fabor Robinson picked me up in Cleveland. Ohio -
then drove to Detroit, Michigan - too pick up Jim Reeves - who was doing a
show at a club that night. We left Detroit right after his show and drove all
the way to Shreveport, Louisiana. Fabor would drive awhile and Jim would sleep -
then they would swap."
"We got into Shreveport, Louisiana about 1:00 AM. KWKH Radio went off the air at
1:00AM until daylight. So we recorded until daylight that day. Jim Reeves and I
recorded "I Love You." Jim recorded "Bimbo" that same night. Recording was quite
different back then. We all sat around one microphone and recorded. Jim Reeves
played rhythm guitar, Jimmy Day played steel, Floyd Cramer played piano and
Jerry Rowley played fiddle."
The Ginny Wright / Jim Reeves Fabor Records duet "I Love You" came on the
country charts January 9th, 1954 and peaked at number three. It was on the
charts for 22 weeks.
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F I N A L L Y H E R E !
The E-book version of "1001 MOST ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT CLASSIC COUNTRY MUSIC"
– the book I published several years ago and finally have an E-book version
available!
186 pages full of questions and answers – taken from "Country Music
Classics" newsletters – from 1998 thru 2002
This new E-book is on a single CD – just put in your computer and read the
entire book! "1001 MOST ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT CLASSIC COUNTRY MUSIC" – on a
single CD – shipped postpaid form $25.00 - PayPal – Check or Money Order –
reply to djdclassics@gmail.com
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: I have heard that Steve Wariner is doing something with maps. Do you have
any info?
A: Steve's 20th studio album - titled "All Over The Map" is set for October
28th release. Five of the tracks are instrumentals - he produced the album and
wrote ten of the songs which features him on guitar - bass - drums - pedal and
lap steel. The project is a tribute to Chet Atkins.
Q: I have a record by The Gosdin Brothers from the 60's titled "Hangin' On."
Was Vern one of those brothers and do you know who wrote the song?
A: The Gosdin Brothers were Vern and his brother Rex. "Hangin On" was written
by Ira Allen and Buddy Mize. Vern re-recorded the song solo in 1976.
Q: I always liked the records by Jimmie Davis. Is he in the hall of fame?
A: Jimmie Davis was inducted in 1972.
Q: My brother-in-law used to sing a song about "Way To Go" or something like
that. He said it was on the radio by Don Williams. Do you know anything about
such a song?
A: "Atta Way To Go" was written by Williams and scored a number 13 hit for him
in 1973
Q: There was a song on the radio years ago about "Have I Told You Lately That
I Love You?" Do you know who had that record?
A: "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" was recorded by several artists
but was on the charts by Gene Autry, Tex Ritter, Foy Willing and Red Foley with
Roy Ross - all in the 1940's - then charted for Red Foley and Kitty Wells in
1969.
Q: I have a couple of records on Decca with the name "Donny Young." My uncle
tells me that it is really Johnny Paycheck. Is that true?
A: It's true! Paycheck recorded several singles for Decca in the late 50's
under the name of "Donny Young." Before that he was known as Donald Eugene
Lytle.
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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
1951
Always Late (With Your Kisses) - Lefty Frizzell
1959
The Three Bells - The Browns
1967
I Don't Wanna Play House - Tammy Wynette
1975
San Antonio Stroll - Tanya Tucker
1983
Lady Down on Love - Alabama
1991
Anymore - Travis Tritt
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TODAY IN COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY
Courtesy: Bill Morrison
David Stone, WSM Grand Ole Opry announcer and head of the Opry Artist's Bureau,
born in Savannah, GA 1901.
DeWitt "Snuffy" Jenkins, Bluegrass banjo, born Harris, NC 1908.
Curley Rhodes born Tomahawk, WI 1911.
Bonnie Lou, Country/Rockabilly/vocals/guitarist, born "Mary Jo Kath," Towanda,
IL 1924.
Floyd Cramer, piano/session musician/record producer, born Campti, LA 1933.
The Grand Ole Opry moved from WSM's Studio C, to Nashville's Hillsboro Theatre,
in 1934. The Hillsboro seated 2,400 people, and for the first time the stars
would have dressing rooms. At this time the artists were instructed to wear
costumes on the show. The opening night at the Hillsboro Theatre was Vito
Pellettiere's debut as the Opry's first stage manager. Mr. Pellettiere's
contribution to the success of the Opry, over the next forty years cannot be
overstated.
Ruby Wright born Nashville, TN 1939.
Dallas Frazier, singer/songwriter, born Spiro, OK 1939. Inducted NSHF 1976.
Lee Greenwood, vocals/keyboards/banjo/bass/guitar/saxophone, born Southgate, CA
1942.
Jack Daniels, "Highway 101," born Choctaw, OK 1949.
Willie Nelson married Jewel Matthews in Texas, 1952.
Joe Mullins "Traditional Grass," born Middletown, OH 1956.
Sonny James joined the Opry 1962.
Jerry Clower joined the Grand Ole Opry 1973.
Lorrie Morgan married Brad Thompson, 1991.
Jimmy Dean and Donna Meade were married 1991.
Epic released "The Swinging Best of Asleep at the Wheel" 1992.
CMT's concert series "All Access" debuted in 1998 with Travis Tritt.
Rural Rhythm Records released Vassar Clements album "20 Fiddle Tunes & Waltz
Favorites" 1998.
Josh Turner Day was celebrated in Florence, S.C. 2004.
Courtesy: <http://www.talentondisplay.com/countrycalendar.html>
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WHO MADE ALL THESE RULES?
By: Jack Blanchard
Good bands with normal musicians are hard to keep together.
This is especially true when they aren't getting paid enough.
We had lots of trouble with our road bands in the early 1970's.
I think it all started like this....
We were a seasoned and polished nightclub act,
with comedy, stories, and original songs,
when we got the hit country record "Tennessee Bird Walk".
One of our first bookings off that hit
was as Special Guests of Jimmy Dean,
doing theater-in-the-round in Salt Lake City.
Jimmy roamed the revolving stage doing jokes and singing
with his big pit orchestra backing him in symphonic style.
When it was our turn,
we had to run on with all our electric instruments and amps,
including a full sized organ.
A bunch of roadies (Misty calls them "roadents.) ran on with us.
Everybody carried a bunch of wires, plugs, and equipment,
and frantically attempted to set up our show,
while the audience waited in silence.
Nobody had offered to let us sing with the pit orchestra,
or we'd have brought sheet music charts
and made it easy on ourselves.
The audience stared in silence while we labored frantically.
It got uncomfortable, so trying to fill the space,
I grabbed a mike and said "Isn't Jimmy Dean great?"
The audience came to life and applauded
while our guys looked for missing wires.
My little comment was a mistake.
Dean's manager later yelled at me about it:
He said this:
"You should never say a word before you play a song!
They don't know you!
You made it look like YOUR show! It's NOT your show!
Blah, blah, blah!"
I wondered who made all these rules.
I should mention that Jimmy Dean is friendly and witty,
but he and his manager had a good cop/bad cop arrangement.
I can't remember the manager's name,
so let's call him "Bob Hitler".
Anyway,
the audience liked us a lot and gave us an enthusiastic ovation,
which probably gave Jimmy's manager more heartburn.
Misty had taken off a boot to play the organ pedals
and was carrying it in one hand
as she limped around trying to find where to get off the stage.
Did I mention that the circular stage went around slowly?
The next day the show was reviewed in the morning paper.
The critic thought that Jimmy Dean should have sung more
and talked less.
We liked Jimmy's act and disagreed with that statement.
Then came the killing stroke that changed our life.
The reviewer said this:
"We would like to have seen more of Jack and Misty."
First, Bob Hitler cut our act time to 12 minutes.
Then he called our manager
and told him that we were green and needed a lot of experience.
Our idiot manager believed it
and told our agent to cut our price and book us A LOT.
For the next year we ran all over the map,
playing big and little shows for low money,
even though we were number one in the world.
We hardly had time to get from one town to another.
It was like sending us to boot camp.
We had good musicians
but we couldn't pay them what the other stars paid their bands.
This led to a lot of tension, unrest and eventually outright revolt.
When you're a thousand miles from home
with the only musicians who know your songs,
they have the upper hand.
We replaced them all several times,
but breaking in new guys hurt our show.
Each night Misty and I would count out the cash on a motel bed,
and after paying the band and expenses
we were usually in the hole.
The constant traveling wore out and damaged our vehicles
and equipment, not to mention us.
We worked with Jimmy on TV after that.
He was fun, and we liked each other.
Jack Blanchard
http://www.jackandmisty.net
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View From The Front Porch-Stan Hitchcock
Just sitting here drinking my coffee and thinking about sayings that people used
when I was growing up. If you were at the market, or met one of the friends and
neighbors that you hadn't seen for awhile, you'd say "HowsurMom'nthem?", as if
it were one word. After you had caught up on their current events, you would
say, "Y"uns come see us , hear?"...I don't know if they still talk like that in
the Ozarks…but, in my childhood, it was never Y'all…it was always Y'uns…or
Us'ns…or We'uns. Back in the deep hollers of the Southern Ozarks, it's like they
made up their own special language. Funny thing, most of them Ozarkers came from
Appalachia, moving on when they could see the smoke of their neighbors cabin and
figured it was getting too crowded. So, they all had to have the same language
origins in the beginning. But, when they got to the Ozark hills, they dropped
Y'all and started using Y'uns. My Mothers people, the Wallis Clan, moved to the
Arkansas Ozarks in the 1830's, leaving a barely settled part of Tennessee, and
traveling by covered wagon to Arkansas, when it was still a wild, untamed back
of beyond, full of renegade Indians, outlaws and general desperadoes of all make
and manner. They homesteaded on top of Boat Mountain, close to the Buffalo
River, and began to breed like rabbits, building up the Clan to have enough
Manpower to defend their homesite. And that is how they talked, when I first
heard them in 1941, when I was 5 years old. We had gone down to Valley Springs,
and then up the old logging road to the top where Great Great Grand Daddy had
first built his log cabin, when he arrived from Tennessee. As I stood there in
the Smoky, dim light from the fireplace, and listened to my kinfolks talk, it
was like being in a foreign country where you do not understand the language.
Through the years of growing up, on a farm 14 miles North of Springfield, out by
Pleasant Hope, I continued to listen to the Native Ozarker, with their dialect
and rhythm of speaking. They were, and I'm sure still are, some of the finest
people that ever lived. They were fiercely Independent, with a "Makin' Do"
outlook on life.
Through the long years, the Ozarks became more settled, and a lot of the old
language went away and fell out of use. But, if you go deep enough down into
Taney or Stone Counties, or on down into Arkansas, along the Buffalo River, you
will still find some small remote areas where the old ways are still practiced.
They still ask, "Hey, howsurMom'nthem?" stan
www.hitchcockcountry.com -
http://www.hitchcockcountry.com
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
– Philippians 4:6 (NIV)
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