COUNTRY MUSIC CLASSICS
Doug Davis
Owner/Publisher/Manager/Editor/
Writer/Gopher/Chief Cook & Bottle Washer
Thursday January 15th, 2015
CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE AT www.countrymusicclassics.com -
http://www.countrymusicclassics.com
Email: Classics@countrymusicclassics.com
STORY BEHIND THE SONG
Most recording artists go thru hundreds of songs when picking material to
record. And according to Kenny Rogers - his 1981 number one "I Don't Need You"
came about because of that process!
Rogers commented: "When It's time to look for songs - I usually put the word out
to a group of people as to what I'm looking for. Then I start going thru what
comes in. And when I played "I Don't Need You," - it just jumped out at me."
The single was written by Rick Christian and produced by Lionel Richie for
Rogers' "Share Your Love" album. It became the first single to be released from
the LP and came on the country music charts June 20th, 1981 - one week after its
pop chart debut.
"I Don't Need You" was at the top of the country charts on August 15th, 1981 and
stayed there for two weeks.
The Liberty Records single was Rogers' 23 charted country song and his 12th
number one.
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: Found a song on a tape my wife bought at a garage sale. The tape is labeled
"Tomorrow's World" which is what the group of people are singing about. Do you
know anything about that song or the group?
A: "Tomorrow's World" was a group of artists that included Lynn Anderson, Suzy
Bogguss, Kix Brooks, T. Graham Brown, Holly Dunn, Vince Gill, William Lee
Golden, Highway 101, Johnny Rodriguez and Mac Wiseman singing the song written
by Kix Brooks and Pam Tillis. It was released on Warner Records in honor of
Earth Day and peaked at number 74 in 1990.
Q: I heard that Glen Campbell was now in a facility - and later that he was at
home. Do you have any information?
A: Glen is in an assisted living facility but was able to spend Christmas at
home with his family in Nashville.
Q: Whatever happened to the RCA Studio in Nashville? It was in the newspaper
and on the radio that it was being sold and then that it was not.
A: RCA's Studio A was saved from developers by a trio of investors organized as
Studio A Preservation Partners - that included record label executive Mike Curb
- who purchased the building for $5.6 million.
Q: My brother recorded part of a Ricky Van Shelton concert back in the 80's and
he sang "Working Man Blues." Did he record that song?
A: Ricky Van Shelton's version of "Working Man Blues" is in his 1987 "Wild-Eyed
Dream" album.
Q: Have you heard of a song about "hootchy kootchy harry?" My mom says it was
on the radio many years ago.
A: I believe the correct title is "Hootchy Kootchy Henry From Hawaii" which
scored a number 9 hit for Mitchell Torok in 1954
Q:: I still have the recording of "You Can Have Her" by Jim Ed Brown. According
to my dad - that song was a hit for several people. Is that true?
A: Following Jim Ed Brown's #18 hit with that song - the tune made the charts
for Waylon Jennings, Sam Neely and a duet version by George Jones and Johnny
Paycheck.
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NUMBER ONE ON THIS DATE:
1951
The Golden Rocket - Hank Snow
1959
City Lights - Ray Price
1967
There Goes My Everything - Jack Greene
1975
Ruby, Baby - Billy "Crash" Craddock
1983
I Cant Even Get the Blues - Reba McEntire
1991
Unanswered Prayers - Garth Brooks
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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
^^^^^^^^^^
ON TV WITH JACKIE GLEASON.
By: Jack Blanchard
I'm never tense during a live stage show.
I'm always a wreck on TV shows.
What makes the difference is this: Control.
At a stage performance we can instruct the sound guys,
get the equipment set up just right,
and have the lighting the way we want it.
And, most importantly, it's our show.
We can read the audience and set the pace accordingly.
We're in control.
On a TV show,
we have to stand on a tape mark that somebody else put there,
and usually I can't hear myself sing
because the monitors are set for the normal human voice.
I don't own a normal human voice.
For one thing, I sing lead in the bass range,
which most TV engineers don't understand.
It's somebody else's show.
Some directors like you to play to the cameras, and some don't.
They never tell you which.
In a show we did with Ralph Emery on TNN,
I was standing on my mark,
singing by the seat of my pants because I couldn't hear myself.
When a camera red light would go on, I'd play to that one,
and the director would immediately switch to another camera.
I played eye tag with the cameras through most of the song,
and never won a round.
Misty is calm on TV.
Her voice can cut through a brass band.
She doesn't care about the sound monitors,
because she can just sing louder.
I have often wanted to hide behind her.
She doesn't concern herself with finding her tape mark on the floor,
but usually gets to it okay.
I'm like Sherlock Holmes looking for a clue.
To me, the worst was a show we did with Jackie Gleason,
Mike Douglas, and Frank Fontaine,
live from the Miami Beach Auditorium.
We had to show up for rehearsal at about noon.
We had special orchestra charts written for the occasion,
and we'd never heard them before.
While we were rehearsing,
Jackie Gleason and Mike Douglas were sitting in the fifth row,
watching us.
My tension started to build.
Then there was a four or five hour wait until the show started.
Plenty of time to relax, right? Wrong!
Plenty of time to get my panic into high gear!
We were backstage talking to Gleason
when he was introduced with a fanfare.
He stood behind the curtain for a hundred count
while the applause gained momentum,
then he walked briskly onstage.
He didn't want to step on his applause,
and he didn't want it to die down.
His perfect timing told him the exact second to make his appearance.
I was impressed.
Jackie Gleason wasn't anything like Ralph Kramden.
He was intelligent and dignified,
wearing a dark blue suit with a flower in the lapel.
When Misty and I were introduced,
we walked briskly out from behind the curtain,
and she walked right past our mark to a wrong one
about eight feet farther front.
My panic gong rang. She didn't even notice.
The directors and camera crew had to move fast to find her.
I had no choice but follow her to my doom.
I looked like cross-eyed rabbit caught in the headlights.
When I go into a real panic
my voice goes up into Dolly Parton's range.
I have never sung worse, or looked stupider.
Misty and the orchestra sounded great.
The directors and camera crew looked at us with venom,
but I was the only one who noticed.
Misty still thinks the show went nicely,
so I'm alone in my embarrassment.
After we did our fiasco,
Jackie and Mike led the applause, and we sat down to talk.
This part was where I hope I redeemed myself
by debating spiritualism with Jackie Gleason for twelve minutes.
I let him win.
We have a videotape of it somewhere around here,
but I've just never felt up to looking for it.
I hate watching myself on TV.
I'd rather eat bugs than go through it again.
Jack Blanchard
http://www.jackandmisty.net
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TODAY IN COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY
Compiled by Bill Morrison
1915 - Happy Fats, was born Leroy LeBlanc, Rayne, Louisiana.
1948 - Jack Guthrie 1915~1948, age 32, Capitol recording artist, singer,
songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, cousin of Woody Guthrie, died in Livermore,
California from tuberculosis. Jacks friend Ernest Tubb helped him get a part in
the movie Hollywood Barn Dance.
1949 - Flatt and Scruggs released their single Im Going To Make My Home In
Heaven.
1949 - Tommy Magness played fiddle on Black Mountain Rag with Roy Acuffs Smokey
Mountain Boys at todays recording session.
1950 - David Lynn Jones, singer, songwriter was born in Bexar, Arkansas.
1952 - Hank Williams wrote Your Cheatin Heart today. The MGM single charted the
following month, and spent 6 weeks at #1. This song is now a Grammy Hall of Fame
song.
1958 - Kurt Howell keyboards, member of Southern Pacific, born today in Winter
Haven, Florida.
1959 - Ray Prices City Lights was the #1 song on the country charts. The
Columbia single charted in July 1958, topped the charts for 13 weeks, spending a
total of 34 weeks on the charts. Bill Anderson wrote the song.
1966 - Ray Charles #1 hit Crying Time charted.
1967 - Roy Orbison and Sheb Wooleys movie The Fastest Guitar Alive premiered in
New York City.
1972 - Merle Haggards Carolyn was Billboards #1 record.
1972 - Sonny James and Jody Miller were featured guests on Hee Haw.
1976 - The Roy Clark Show featuring Buck Trent, and the Oakridge Boys began a
two week tour of the Soviet Union.
1983 - John Anderson charted his second #1 single Swingin. The song was the CMA
Single Of The Year.
1983 - The Wheeling Jamboree USA unveiled its Walkway of Stars.
1992 - Johnny Cash was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
1995 - Vic Willis 1922~1995, age 72, of The Willis Brothers, died in a car wreck
in Hohenwald, Tennessee. The Willis Brothers joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1946.
1999 - For the first time in a quarter of a century, the Grand Ole Opry was
performed on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium this weekend. Trisha Yearwood was
invited to become a member, she said yes, and joined the cast in March.
2000 - Ralph Stanley became a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
2002 - The Statler Brothers announced their intention to retire from the road,
at the completion of this years tour.
2002 - Chad Brock and wife Natalie announced that they were expecting a child.
2002 - Robert Lee Castleman, writer of Allison Krauss The Lucky One, learned of
the songs Grammy nomination, while at work on his full time job as a truck
driver.
2003 - Joe Zinkan 1918~2003, multi-instrumentalist, back-up singer, and session
player, died in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Joe played in the bands of Pee Wee
King, Kitty Wells and Johnny & Jack. He joined Roy Acuffs Smokey Mountain Boys
in 1943 and remained with the group for a decade. Joe played on Roy Acuffs 1947
version of Wabash Cannonball.
2004 - Tim McGraws album Greatest Hits was certified 4-x platinum.
2005 - Leslie Wilburn, age 79, brother of Teddy & Doyle, and a member of the
Wilburn Family Band, died today.
2005 - Tootsies Lounge customers had a special treat on this night, when Grand
Ole Opry stars (and guest artists) entertained the customers at the worlds most
famous country music watering hole. Between Opry shows at the Ryman Auditorium,
Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Buddy Miller, and Patty Griffin
all performed. Terri Clark and Mindy Smith were just a few of the Opry
entertainers seen sitting in Tootsies upper room enjoying the show, just a few
steps from the Rymans stage door.
Courtesy Bill Morrison:
<http://www.talentondisplay.com/countrycalMAR.html>
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VIEW FROM THE FRONT PORCH
By: Stan Hitchcock
December 20th, 1948
When I was growing up, our family would attend two different churches that were
close to our farm. One was the New Hope Baptist Church and the other New Salem
Methodist. I say our family, but it was mostly me, moving back and forth
between the two. Ya see, New Salem Methodist had a great young peoples group,
and the Baptist Church was mostly older folksso, I preferred the Methodist in
those early years. Every year, the big deal at New Salem was the Christmas
Pageant, this year, 1948, the kids and the young peoples leader decided to do it
up rightyessir, we were gonna do a live Nativity Scene, in costume and bringing
in live animals. It was gonna be the best one ever been. A farmer that lived
close by had a couple of sheep that were tame, an old milk cow.and a miniature
burro. Shoot man, this was gonna be great.
I was twelve years old that year, and I was gonna be one of the Shepherdsmy Mom
helping me make an outfit that I considered was exactly what a Shepherd would
look likea sheet wrapped around me, and swirled around my head with a colorful
bit of cloth holding it in place. I cut a long branch off a persimmon tree for
my staff, and I was ready. Man, I could have passed for a genuine
Bethlehammer, if it hadnt been for the white socks and tennis shoes that stuck
out the bottom of my costume.
The farmer hauled the animals to the church.we got ropes around them and got
them all cleaned up and ready to go. We got them inside the church without too
much trouble, other than the Burro, who locked all four legs stiff, and had to
be carried inside the church. I was in charge of the Burro, who was about the
size of a Shetland Pony. This was a chore that I grew to be very sorry about.
That evening all the neighbors came to the churchwe had special music planned
and the center piece was the manger with the baby and Mary and Josephand the
animals and shepherds circled around them, while the Preacher read the Bible
Story of the Birth of Jesus. I had a pretty long rope on the Burro, and had
him pushed up close to the mangeras I was standing there holding the rope,
looking very Shepherdythe dang Burro started crapping in the churchI was
mortified as people started snickeringI thought maybe I could just goose him a
little with the persimmon staff and get him to cut it offso I did. Uh huh, bad
mistakewhen I gently goosed him with the stickthe Burro went crazyhe leaped
straight up in the air, whirled around, jerking the rope out of my handsand
started galloping around the churchhee hawing at the top of his lungsbreaking
wind loudly and kicking every other leapthe old ladies in the church started
screamingthe kids, meanwhile, fell down laughing, thinking it was the funniest
thing they had ever seen.the Preacher was hollering for orderand using some
pretty stron sign language and waving his arms like a traffic cop every time the
Burro came backg aroundmaking about three rounds and then someone thought to
open the doors and he ran outside. Well, the Church Christmas Pageant was topsy
turvythe excitement made the milk cow get upset and caused her to go into
extreme fits of loose bowelswhich also made the two sheep empty out their
insides.the church now being transformed into a real stable full of crap. You
never saw a bunch of Methodists head for the exits so fastone old lady glaring
at me like I had caused it all.Shoot I was just trying to church-break the
Burro.
I reckon they never did have another live Nativity Scene at New Salem Methodist
Church..and after I went to all that trouble to make my Shepherds outfit.
Thinking back on it all, now, I realize we should have used my sheet to make
king size diapers for the
Burro, Cow and Sheepbut, ya live and learn. How was I to know the dang Burro
was Goosey?
I went back o the Baptists, waiting for the Methodists to cool off and forgive
and forgetjust like the Good Book says. That was 65 years agothem Methodists
have a mighty long memory.
Stan Hitchcock
www.hitchcockcountry.com -
http://www.hitchcockcountry.com
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Be very careful, then, how you livenot as unwise but as wise, making the most of
every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but
understand what the Lords will is.
Ephesians 5:15-17 (NIV)
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