Doug Davis
Owner/Publisher/Manager/Editor/
Writer/Gopher/Chief Cook & Bottle Washer
Thursday March 19th, 2015
CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE AT www.countrymusicclassics.com -
http://www.countrymusicclassics.com
Email: Classics@countrymusicclassics.com
STORY BEHIND THE SONG
A lot of hit songs have been written in unusual situations or circumstances -
and according to songwriter Otha Young - Juice Newton's 1982 number one "The
Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)" was one of those tunes!
Young commented "I started thinking about that song during a drive to Northern
California. Somewhere along the way, the car broke down and I actually started
writing the song while we were sitting there waiting for someone to fix the car.
And I worked on it over the next few weeks until I finished it."
Juice Newton's Capitol Records single "The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)"
came on the country music charts October 24th, 1981 and was in the number one
slot on January 30th, 1982.
It was her 10th charted song and her 1st number one.
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: I have heard that vinyl albums are coming back. Do you have any details?
A: Vinyl albums are becoming more available. Dolly Parton's 1999 "The Grass
Is Blue" CD and Willie Nelson's 1998 "Teatro" CD and others are being
re-released on vinyl in celebration of "Record Store Day" on April 18th.
Q: The radio guy mentioned Alan Jackson and Travis Tritt getting together for
something. Do you know what?
A: Alan Jackson and Travis Tritt will perform during the June 19th and 20th
"Rock The South Music Festival" in Cullman, Alabama. Concert proceeds benefit
local charities.
Q: Do you have any information about a Louvin Brothers movie? It was mentioned
on the TV News.
A: "Charlie Louvin: Still Rattlin' The Devil's Cage" is a 46 minute
documentary film that premiered at the 2012 Nashville Film Festival and will now
be available for streaming.
Q: I heard that Emmylou Harris has won some kind of polar bear award. Do you
have any information?
A: Emmylou is to presented with Sweden's Polar Music Award for 2015 in
Stockholm in June. The award has nothing to do with bears - but was founded in
1992 to honor musical achievements and artists who break the mold.
Q: I have a recording of an old radio show in which Loretta Lynn sings
"Lonesome 7-7203. Did she record that song?
A: Loretta's recording of that song is in her 1964 "Loretta Lynn Sings" album.
Q: Do you know if Conway Twitty recorded the Merle Haggard song "Mama Tried?"
My mom says she heard Conway sing that song on the radio years ago.
A: Conway's version of "Mama Tried" is in his 1968 "Next In Line" album.
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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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NUMBER ONES ON THIS DATE
1950
Chatanoogie Shoe Shine Boy - Red Foley
1958
Ballad of a Teenage Queen - Johnny Cash
1966
Waitin in Your Welfare Line - Buck Owens
1974
There Wont Be Anymore - Charlie Rich
1982
Blue Moon with Heartache - Roseanne Cash
1990
Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart - Randy Travis
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THE DIGITAL AGE.
By: Jack Blanchard
People don't talk face-to-face so much anymore.
They send simplistic text messages.
They exchange emails,
a medium so cold that it needs little cartoon faces to express emotion.
We stare into various electronic screens
television, computer, smart phone, I-Pad, and whatever else is new.
We sit motionless and watch the motions on the screens
actors, athletes, game show contestants, reality show competitors,
and computer animated figures that battle intergalactic foes,
steal cars, kill cops, and generally duke it out.
When our guys win a TV sports event, we take it as our personal victory,
as if we did something special, when all we did was watch.
They live. We watch.
More than 20 minutes of every television hour are commercial,
injecting fake needs, desires, and disease symptoms directly into our
brains.
Ask your doctor.
The TV's even talk to us in stores and malls.
You can't turn them off or tune them out.
Big Brother.
Traveling between our home screens and the store screens,
we stick digital things into our ears
to talk to people without actually having to be with them personally,
or we carry around 5,000 of our favorite songs to ward off real life.
Who has 5,000 favorite songs?
Or even 500?
Do these new music lovers know that an mp3 made at the standard bitrate
of 128
is much lower in sound quality than a CD,
lower in quality than a good vinyl record,
and way lower than analog studio wide tape?
Digital music is all numbers.
Think of the numbers as a flight of stairs,
with a ball of music bouncing down in small hops.
Analog music is more like a ramp,
with the music ball rolling smoothly down.
Listening to a piece on digital and then on analog,
is like looking out a window, and then taking the screen off.
Major labels don't mail as much hard product to radio stations as they
used to.
It's cheaper and faster to put MP3's up on the internet,
and have the radio people download them.
We do that ourselves.
With the public being hooked on plugging stuff into their heads,
you'd think that music sales would skyrocket,
but just the opposite is happening.
CD sales are way down, and nobody's making much on digital downloads,
except the makers of personal music players.
Once a fan downloads a song he can share it around the world for free.
The record companies keep selling $.99 digital single downloads,
hurting their own CD album sales.
They're afraid to be left behind in case it ever starts to pay off.
It's about keeping up with the trends.
The music is secondary.
Jack Blanchard
http://www.jackandmisty.net
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TODAY IN COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY
Compiled by Bill Morrison
1928 - Henry Ford Maddox 1928-1974, of "Maddox Brothers & Rose" born in Boaz,
Alabama.
1928 - Tom Paley, banjo, guitarist, and vocals, of the "New Lost City Ramblers,"
born in New
York City.
1945 - Michael Martin Murphey, singer, songwriter, and guitarist, born in Oak
Cliff, Texas. He
appeared in the movies "Take This Job And Shove It," and " Hard Country."
1950 - Jerry Eubanks background vocals and horn player for the Marshall Tucker
Band was born
on this date.
1957 - Elvis Presley purchased Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee.
1960 - Tootsie Bess opened "Tootsie's Orchard Lounge," across the alley from the
Grand Ole Opry, (Ryman Auditorium,)Ķand the legend began.
1961 - Roy Orbison released "Running Scared" b/w "Love Hurts."
1966 - Buck Owens topped the charts with "Waitin' in Your Welfare Line."
1969 - The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour featured guests Jim Nabors and Bobbie
Gentry.
1976 - Columbia Records released Marty Robbins self-penned "El Paso City." The
single charted the following month and went to #1.
1983 - Waylon Jennings' RCA single "Lucille" (a cover of Little Richard's hit)
charted on Billboard's Country chart.
1983 - Gene Watson's MCA single "You're Out Doing What I'm Here Doing Without"
hit the country charts today. The single topped out at #2
1980 - "Aunt Sap" 1889-1980, of Uncle Cyp & Aunt Sap died in Raymondville,
Texas. Her husband Laurence Lemarr Brasfield, was Uncle Cyp in their comedy duo.
Uncle Cyp & Aunt Sap entertained for decades, and were cast members of the Ozark
Jubilee in Springfield, Missouri. Cyp's younger brother was Grand Ole Opry
comedian Rod Brasfield. Both Cyp & Sap were Kentucky Colonels. Aunt Sap (Neva
Brasfield ) was laid to rest in Raymondville Cemetery, Raymondville, Texas.
1988 - Fiddlin' Sid Harkreader died today.
1989 - George Biggar, director of Chicago's WLS National Barn Dance, died today.
1991 - Doc Pomus 1925-1991, a.k.a. Jerome Felder songwriter, musician, and
recording artist, died in New York City from lung cancer.
1996 - Columbia released David Allan Coe's "Super Hits, Vol. 2."
1996 - Bear Family released Dick Curless' "A Tombstone Every Mile."
1999 - Ray Price was arrested by Mount Pleasant, Texas, police for possession of
marijuana. Ray was released from custody after posting a $500 bond, and paying a
$200 fine, after pleading no contest to one count of possessing drug
paraphernalia.
1999 - George Jones was released from a Nashville hospital, after 13 days of
treatment for injuries received in a one-vehicle accident. That accident almost
claimed his life.
2000 - Comedian Speck Rhodes 1915-2000, died at the age of 84. Spec was a cast
member of the Porter Wagoner TV-Show for twenty years. Gilbert R. "Speck" Rhodes
was laid to rest in Spring Hill Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee.
2001 - Randall Hylton, age 55, Bluegrass singer-songwriter, died from an
aneurysm in Nashville, Tennessee.
2002 - Rhino released "The Best of Crystal Gayle."
2004 - The Virginia Press Association named Ralph Stanley the Virginian of the
Year.
2007 - Richie McDonald announced plans to leave Lonestar at the end of the year,
and pursue a solo career.
Courtesy Bill Morrison:
<http://www.talentondisplay.com/countrycalMAR.html>
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VIEW FROM THE FRONT PORCH
By: Stan Hitchcock
Late Night At The Old Farm House-Stan Hitchcock
Early years in Nashville, 50's-60's-70's was a dream world for a picker. Hanging
out in some smoky room somewhere, surrounded by legends that didn't even know or
care they were legends, they just had so much music inside that it had to come
out...Newbury, Kristofferson, Wayne Carson, Harlan Howard and Hank
Cochran,..Waylon had just hit town and was already setting records for
wild...Willie still wore suits, had short hair and wore thin ties...Bill
Anderson was writing songs as fast as he could put them down on paper...Red Lane
was doing the same thing....the Session Pickers (A Team) were working around the
clock doing three and four sessions a day...Pig Robbins was amazing everyone
with his piano licks...Boots Randolph was King of the Alley with the club where
Chet and Cramer and Hank Garland would jam all night long...while down on
Broadway, Tootsie Bess at her Orchid Lounge, acted as Road Musician Central,
when someone had to have a replacement musician for a road gig in a
hurry...Roger Miller was a BellHop at the Andrew Jackson Hotel, writing songs
and trying to get someone to listen...and I was blessed to be starving in
Nashville along with all the rest...but, it didn't matter...we weren't there for
money....we were there for music, and the very air was full of the sounds of
fingers finding new chords changes, voices trying new styles...writing new
songs, throwing them away and writing more til we got it right. Yeah, it was a
dream world for a picker, and if you were there then you know what I am talking
about. There will never be another time like it, but, that's alright...we wore
it out while it was happening.
Stan Hitchcock
www.hitchcockcountry.com -
http://www.hitchcockcountry.com
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SOUTHERN STYLE
By: Randall Franks
Randall Franks is a film and TV actor best known as: Officer Randy Goode
(1988-1993) in the television series In the Heat of the Night. He is also an
author, and a bluegrass singer and musician who was inducted into the
Independent Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013; recognized by the International
Bluegrass Music Museum in 2010 as a Bluegrass Legend; inducted into the Atlanta
Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004; and has been designated the "Appalachian
Ambassador of the Fiddle".
Did you ever wonder if 1+1 really is 2?
I often wonder what happened to math in America. I know I had my own trouble
with it when I was in school. They always wanted you to follow some method of
reaching the answer and show how you reached the answer. Even if you got the
right answer, if you didnt go at it the right way you were wrong.
I realize that we were taught these approaches to aid us in developing a sense
of reasoning and help us learn to solve problems.
I greatly admire those underpaid, under supported patriots of education, our
teachers. I know many of them took their time to help me through some tough
subjects. I have seen first hand, as I have spoken to children around the
country, teachers going above and beyond to help out a student. So, please do
not take what I am about to talk about as a commentary on the ability of
teachers.
I went into a grocery store chain with a card. They scan it before ringing up
the things you are buying. If you watch those prices closely as they ring items
up, this store is frustrating because the register shows the full price and then
shows the deduction for their store savings.
After watching all the prices, the tally had overcharged me around one dollar
and twelve cents. I then proceeded to customer service where I shared with them
my problem.
I had bought six or twelve of one item that was on discount and one other item.
Adding the cost up in my head, I told the clerk what it was suppose to be plus
whatever the tax was in that county. This figure subtracted from what I paid the
cashier would have been the amount of my refund. My next twenty minutes involved
two clerks and an assistant manager or a store manager, all took the figures I
had given them from my head and repeatedly added them up on their calculator. In
the end they gave me a refund of over two dollars.
Despite of my attempts to convince them they didnt owe me that much, I could not
convince them. I even took a piece of paper, wrote the numbers down and added
them for them. I finally took the refund and went on my way. I figure that
twenty minutes must be worth that extra little bit.
Unfortunately, what I have just described is a sad trend all across our country.
Folks just dont seem to be able to do basic everyday math problems without the
aid of a calculator or cash register. How many times have you walked into a
store to buy a candy bar or something, handed the cashier a dollar, and they had
difficulty figuring out your change. Now, Im not saying that we all have to be
math geniuses.
My granddad Bill was a farmer most of his life. He went west and was a cowboy in
the late 1800s. If he went to school, it was the school of life. When it came to
the math he needed to raise cattle and hogs, grow and sell crops, buy and sell
land, in his head he could figure better than most accountants could with a
calculator.
When I was little, my parents made sure I could add, subtract, multiply and
divide before they even sent me off to first grade. So those are tools I carry
with me. These basics at times were a disadvantage to me in those previously
mentioned math problems, which required a certain method to be followed. But all
in all I owe my parents and teachers a great debt of giving me the basics.
Maybe folks just depend too much upon calculators that are now part of the
computers we carry around in our pockets. It is easier. I use them myself, but
usually just to double check my own solution when adding a chain of numbers. In
recent years, I have found myself doubting my own answers derived from figuring
in my head. Not that Ive been wrong that much, but the calculator is so much
easier. And its never wrong. Just look how well it worked at that grocery store.
If I could just find another 999,999 clerks using calculators like that, I could
retire.
Randall Franks
http://www.randallfranks.com
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
And hope does not put us to shame, because Gods love has been poured out into
our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Romans 5:5 (NIV)
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