COUNTRY MUSIC CLASSICS*
*
Doug Davis
Owner/Publisher/Manager/Editor/
Writer/Gopher/Chief Cook & Bottle Washer
Thursday August 15th, 2013
CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE AT www.countrymusicclassics.com
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STORY BEHIND THE SONG*
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According to Charlie Rich, coming up with a melody was the hardest part of
writing songs and his 1978 number one "On My Knees," was no exception.
Rich commented, "I never have any set program to write about. I usually got a
melody first and for me that was the hardest part. But after I got the melody,
the lyrics were easy. I don't write like a computer because I can't. I have to
think it and feel it."
"On My Knees" was his third number one as a writer - having scored with the 1958
"The Ways Of A Woman In Love" for Johnny Cash and his 1973 "There Won't Be
Anymore."
The Epic Records single also featured Janie Frickie - who had released three
solo singles by the time "On My Knees" was released.
According to Frickie, her part in the "On My Knees" recording was strictly
overdub.
She commented, "Charlie was in the studio when I recorded my part but he had
already recorded his tracks so he and producer Billy Sherrill told me what lines
to sing. It was strictly an overdub session."
"On My Knees" came on the country charts October 7th, 1978 and was in the number
one slot on December 9th.
It was his 34th charted song for Charlie Rich and was on the charts for 14
weeks.
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: I have heard that Loretta Lynn is receiving some kind of Washington award.
Do you have any information?
A: Loretta Lynn has been named as one of the sixteen recipients of the
Presidential Medal Of Freedom. The awards will be presented at The White House
later this year for significant contributions to the national interests of the
U.S.A. or to cultural or other significant endeavors.
Q: Do you know anything about George Strait getting a songwriter's award?
The radio folks were talking about it.
A: Strait will receive the ASCAP Founders Award at the 51st Annual ASCAP
Country Music Awards in Nashville on November 4th. The award honors songwriters
who have made pioneering contributions to music.
Q: The radio guys were talking about a new Willie Nelson duet album. Do you
have any information?
A: "To All The Girls" is a collection of newly recorded duets between
Willie and Dolly Parton, Wynonna Judd, Loretta Lynn, Alison Krause and others.
The album is set for September 24th release.
Q: I would like some information concerning Billy Dean and Kenny Rogers in
a Christmas musical. It was mentioned on TV news.
A: Billy Dean has been cast in the lead role for this year's production of
the Kenny Rogers musical "The Toy Shoppe." Dean will star in the Christmas
musical in a run of performances beginning in November. Rogers and
producer/director Kelly Junkermann collaborated on the music and story for the
original off-Broadway production. Rogers originated the role of Ty Shoppe owner
Hank Longley, which Dean is taking over. "The Toy Shoppe" premieres November 1st
at The Starlite Theater in Branson, Missouri and runs thru December 21st.
Q: Are Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell performing together? My son heard
something about it.
A: Emmylou and Rodney are on the list of performers and presenters for the
September 18th Americana Music Association's Honors and Awards Show at
Nashville's Ryman Auditorium.
Q: My brother-in-law insists that Waylon Jennings recorded the song "I'm A
Man Of Constant Sorrow" because he heard it on the radio. I've called two radio
stations and two music stores and nobody knows anything about it. Did Waylon
record that song?
A: Waylon's version was a track in his 1966 "Folk-Country" album.
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Your comments, suggestions, gripes, etc. concerning this newsletter---are
welcome. Email *to: Classics@countrymusicclassics.com*
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* ^^^^^^^^^^*
* NUMBER ONE ON THIS DATE:*
1950*
* Im Movin On Hank Snow
* 1958*
/ Alone with You/ - Faron Young *
* 1966*
/ Almost Persuaded/ - David Houston *
* 1974*
/ Rub It In/ - Billy "Crash" Craddock *
* 1982*
/ Im Gonna Hire a Wino to Decorate Our Home/ - David
Frizzell *
* 1990*
/ Good Times/ - Dan Seals *
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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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MUSIC IS THE BEST MEDICINE.*
By: Jack Blanchard
I know we get a weekly TV Guide every couple of days.
That proves that time is speeding up,
and yet I stay pretty much the same.
Once upon a time life was simpler...
good and evil were more clearly defined,
everybody just knew they were on the right side,
and there were no Ipods or smart phones.
Just dumb phones.
You couldn't carry your recorded music around with you and people got old
sooner,
in spite of natural foods, clean air, and pure water.
Less music...faster aging. (Look at your family album.)
Coincidence? I think not.
I don't care for some of today's kids' music,
but it's everywhere and you can't help but hear some of it.
The more hip-hop I hear, the baggier my pants seem to get.
This could mean nothing, but let's keep an open mind.
Music is everywhere today.
My psychiatrist's waiting room plays continuous New Age music,
to keep us patients from attacking each other.
Snore! It's like Kenny G on Valium.
Military music makes ordinary people want to march out and kill something.
Rap makes some listeners want to go out and mug something.
Lawrence Welk makes some folks bounce around a dance floor,
play bingo, and eat supper at 4PM.
Doo-wop music makes people watch PBS.
I like Country, Big Band, Blues, and Jazz.
They make me feel almost alive.
When I hear a good song, I feel like writing a good song.
My point, if I ever gain on it, is this:
Music is a vitamin, or maybe a drug, taken through the ear.
It's so good for you that they'll probably ban it.
Humans are living longer now,
even with worse food, and contaminated air and water.
It has to be all the music that's keeping us young
and wondering why.
*
Jack Blanchard
*http:// - http:///www.jackandmisty.net - http://www.jackandmisty.net
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*
TODAY IN COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY*
compiled by Bill Morrison*
*
Rose Maddox of "Maddox Brothers & Rose" born Boaz, AL 1925.
Rita Robbins recording artist, born Claxton, GA 1932.
Bobby Helms, Jingle Bell Rock/My Special Angel born Bloomington, IN
_1933_. Inducted Rockabilly Hall of Fame /2003./
Mike Seeger, of "The New Lost City Ramblers" born NYC 1933.
Don Rich, of "The Buckaroos" born Don Ulrich, Olympia, WA 1941.
Hank Williams' single "Jambalaya" charted 1952.
The Davis Sisters "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know" charted 1953.
Elvis Presley and his parents, signed a contract with Col. Tom Parker in
_1955_. The agreement named Parker, as an advisor to Elvis for a
period of one year. From that day forward, Col. Tom Parker controlled Elvis
Presley.
Marty Robbins released "Maybelline/This Broken Heart Of Mine" 1955.
Johnny Burnette's single "Dreamin'," charted 1960.
Capitol Records released Buck Owens' single "Open Up Your Heart" 1966.
Lawrence Walker, age 60, "bandleader," died 1968.
"A Time To Sing" with Hank Williams Jr., debuted in Nashville 1968.
Asa Martin, vocals/guitar, died in Kentucky 1979.
Floyd Ethridge died 1981.
Norman Petty died 1984.
Lewis Calvin DeWitt, age 52, "Statler Brothers," died 1990.
Alabama released their album "In Pictures" 1995.
Merle Haggard filed suit in California, accusing a hospital of performing an
unnecessary operation on him 2003.
*
Courtesy Bill Morrison:
<http://www.talentondisplay.com/countrycalMAR.html*>
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*
"Ozark Net Worth" *
By: Stan Hitchcock*
*
Used to tickle me, the tourists would come down to the Ozarks from up in the
big cities, they would drive back in the hollows and hillsides and point and
laugh at the hillbillies with every car they had ever owned, somewhere still on
the property, along with old tractors, wagons with three wheels, assorted rusty
farm equipment, and maybe a new wringer washer, out on the front porch for all
the world to see. *
Well, tourists, let me tell you. That aint trash, and them aint trashy people.
Those folks are the Salt Of The Earth, and they also live in the Tennessee
mountains, the same way. You see, those folks have to work hard for everything
that they got. They didnt live on welfare or some government hand out. Wasnt no
farm subsidy for a hillside farm, that was for the big farmers out in Kansas and
Iowa. They grew up in a society where you made everything that you needed, if it
broke down, you either fixed it, or moved it out by the barn to use it for parts
at some later date. So, ya see, all that stuff you see laying around? That aint
trash, that is Ozark Net Worth. That hillside farmer knows every piece of it by
heart, he has crawled under it, on top of it, around it, worked on it, baling
wired it together for use for another year, taken parts off one and put it on
another, welded it together, cut it apart.yeah, it is important stuff for
survival in a lifestyle that is totally self sufficient, not asking nothing from
nobody, just hard work and getting by. *
And that wringer washer, on the front porch, oh, that is for the woman of the
house, when she is washing all them work clothes, wringing them out thru the
wringer, hanging them up on her line that her man put up for her in the back
yard, between the house and the outhouseyeah, that washer is on the front porch,
so she can watch you tourists drive by, and wonder at how people like that can
have so much free time and drive them big, new cars, along her gravel road,
gawking at her as she works for her family. She dont envy you, one bit, she just
dont see why you would want to drive down her gravel road and get that road dust
all over you new car. And do you laugh, cause she has blue milk of magnesia
bottles hanging in her front yard tree, and old tires, half buried in the
driveway, painted white and pretty, and the old tractor tire, with the rubber
cut in jagged lines, painted white and half buried with pretty flowers planted
in the middleyeah, well, I wouldnt laugh too loud at her landscaping, she did it
herself, and she thinks its pretty.*
Yeah, she looks kinda plain to you, I imagine, in her plain work dress, that she
made herself, and yeah, her hands are pretty calloused up from working in the
garden, raising this years crop of vegetables that she will can and put in the
dug out cellar under her house, filling the boards of her crude pantry, again
that her man knocked together for the shelves. And next winter, when you are
going to the local Kroger or Safeway up North in the big city, to get some more
of them cans of vegetables and meat with all the hormones and chemicals in them
to make them taste real, ya know what Im talking about? Well, shell just turn to
her son or daughter and say, Honey, would you go down in the cellar and bring up
some of my green beans, and a jar of them maters, and Billy would you go out in
the smoke house and bring in that haunch of venison daddy smoked. And she will
take her fresh scratch biscuits out of her oven, reach over and get the jar of
Molasses that they made up, and some of the butter that she churned from her
Jersey cows cream, and set a pretty dang good table of food for her family. And
they will all set down together, and the father will bow his head and thank God
for all their blessings. Yessir, they are pretty backward, I reckon, but yaknow,
they dont even have a lock on a single door of their hand made house, that three
generations ago, some Grandfather built himself. What is that on your big city
house or apartment.what? Three locks and a deadbolt? And do you feel safe,
sitting outside on your porch or patio in the morning or evening? *
Just know, next time you go into the backroads and hills to laugh at the
hillbillies, that they are watching you go by and shaking their heads, and
wondering, Daddy, how in the world do those folks live like that? *
No, there are not a lot of folks still around who live like the original Ozark
and Tennessee hillbilly, but there are pockets where time stands still, I know
where they are, I have sat and visited with those folks, I have listened to them
tell their stories, they have come on my porch and we have traded stories, they
are almost gone, the generations of my fathers age, born of the early 1900s, but
not completelyfor ya see, in the mountains, they dont put their old folks away,
they keep them home, as long as possible, and cherish them and love them and
listen to them. They have our history. They were there when it all happened.
They know where this country came from. If you will take time to listen, they
will tell you. *
Old aint really old at all, it is just a reward for living longer than you
planned too. Great societies honor their elders, the Bible tells us to do that
also, and there is a practical reason. We dont start out with a heck of a lot of
sense, and we sure dont get much more in our younger days. It is only when you
are toughened by hard times, scarred by loss, fooled by some pretty faces,
broken hearted by callous lovers, held a hand of a good friend as he passes and
you feel the spirit leave and immediately feel the loss, be disappointed by some
one you really trusted, and find you should not have trusted, lose a child and
know the agony that never goes away, stray from God, and have Him bring you back
and know the true meaning of coming Home, lose everything you have worked for
and pick up and start over again, cause that is what you do. Life is full of
bits and pieces, start ups and crashes, highs that you think will never stop,
and lows that eat your guts out, and the only answer to any of it isFaith. Faith
is a gift of God. He gives you the Faith to go on, because in Faith is strength.
We have no strength, on our own, at least that has been my experience, it is
when I try to run ahead of God, looking over my shoulder and saying, Ok, God, I
got it from here, thanks for pulling me out of the ditch, but, I got it now!
Been my experience that when you say that, its generally right before you hit
the brick wall. *
So, the thought process here, after my ramblings and detours, is this. Age dont
mean a thing, other than the ailments that go with it. Age is a good thing.it
means you have made it to the top of the mountainnot in wealth or famebut in
life. My dad lived to be just a few months short of 93, and he was the smartest
man I have ever known. Had a six grade education, started several business
ventures, owned land and cattle, worked hard all his life, was a child of the
Depression, and it left its mark, but he was a man of God, and he had a wisdom I
will never come close to. My wifes father was a man of wisdom. Denises mother
lives with us in the old farm house and is a constant joy and source of
Inspiration. She has memories of a life that I can only imagine. *
Next time you see one of the generation of heroes with a baseball cap on that
says Navy, or Marines, or Air Force, or Armytake the time to say, Thank you Sir,
for what you did for this country. If he takes time to want to talk, listen to
him, there aint many of his generation left and they know the stories. What?
Yagotta hurry home to watch My Redneck Vacation on CMT or something? Oh, okay
then, if that is what you think reality is then you wouldnt understand what we
been talking about anyway. *
Stan*
Stan Hitchcock, a country musicologist noted for his hit recordings in the 60s,
his syndicated television shows in the 70s and his three cable television
networks from the 80s to present: CMT, Americana Television Network and
currently BlueHighways TV. Stan has been both a participant and an observer of
this music industry over a fifty year span; traveling with the greats, singing
at the top, making stars on television and discovering new paths for the music
makers and their art. *
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