COUNTRY MUSIC CLASSICS
Doug Davis
Owner/Publisher/Manager/Editor/
Writer/Gopher/Chief Cook & Bottle Washer
Thursday August 20th, 2015
Email: djdclassics@gmail.com
STORY BEHIND THE SONG
A lot of hit songs have been recorded shortly after being written while others
took several re-writes before being recorded.
According to T. G. Sheppard - his 1982 number one "War Is Hell On The Homefront
Too" took several re-writes before he recorded it. He had met with songwriters
Curly Putman and Dan Wilson and told them he was looking for a great story song
about a kid losing his virginity but that it had to be written just right.
Curly Putman commented "Dan Wilson, Bucky Jones and I met for lunch at a Mexican
restaurant and after a few drinks of liquid libation - that title came up and
then the line "It was July hot in Georgia" set the scene and that's how the song
got started."
Sheppard says the song was re-written three or four times before he agreed to
record it.
T. G. Sheppard's Warner Bros single "Was Is Hell - On The Homefront Too" came on
the country music charts September 4th, 1982 and was in the number one slot on
November 20th.
It was his 24th charted song and his 11th number one.
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BlueHighways TV launches on DISH
BlueHighways TV is now available on DISH Channel 73 to all DISH customers.
BlueHighways TV website, Facebook and Twitter pages offer the complete network
schedule along with special show offerings and details.
For more information, visit BlueHighways TV's website at
www.bluehighwaystv.com - http://www.bluehighwaystv.com.
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: I heard that Merle Haggard walked out in the middle of a concert in
Nashville. Do you have any information?
A: Haggard didn't walk out during the concert. He reportedly canceled the
concert at the last minute due to a dispute with organizers of Nashville's
Ink-N-Iron Festival.
Q:I hear a lot about the Charlie Daniels Volunteer Jam and I know it's quite an
affair. Where do the proceeds from that go to?
A: Proceeds from The Charlie Daniels Volunteer Jam benefit veterans through
the Journey Home Project.
Q: I bought some records without labels at a garage sale. One of them sounds
like Dolly Parton singing a song about "something fishy." Did she record such a
song?
A: "Something Fishy" was Dolly's second charted song which peaked at number 17
in 1967.
Q: I found an old record of a song by a singer named Fargo Tanner about
"Don't Drop It." My dad says that song was a hit by someone else many years
ago. Is that true?
A: "Don't Drop It" was written by Terry Fell and was a number 4 hit for him in
1954. The Fargo Tanner version made it to number 69 in 1975.
Q: I bought the Carl Perkins record "Dixie Fried" in the early 70's. According
to my mom - Carl sang that song on the radio many years before that. Is that
true?
A: Carl Perkins original version of "Dixie Fried" was a number 10 hit in
1956. He re-recorded it and re-titled it "Let's Get Dixie Fried" which peaked
at number 61 in 1973.
Q: Have you heard of a song about "You Took My Happy Away?" My dad says it was
on the radio years ago.
A: "You Took My Happy Away" was a number 33 hit or Willie Nelson in 1964.
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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
1947
Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) - Tex Williams
1955
I Don't Care - Webb Pierce
1963
Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
1971
I'm Just Me - Charley Pride
1979
Coca Cola Cowboy - Mel Tillis
1987
A Long Line of Love - Michael Martin Murphey
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MY DAD'S GAS STATION.
By: Jack Blanchard
One of my father's deals involved him owning a gas station.
It had the largest underground capacity for gasoline in New York State,
and a direct pipeline to the gas station
from a private railroad siding.
My dad had a strange variety of business ventures
financed by investors' money.
They all had important sounding names.
One of them was The Monarch Mortgage Corporation.
His headquarters for this and several other of his company names
was a one-desk office upstairs over The Bidwell Grill,
his hangout in our home town of Buffalo.
Through this company he somehow acquired a mortgage
on the huge Diamond T Truck Company factory.
The big gas station and its adjacent parking lot
were part of the settlement deal.
I was just a kid when my dad owned that station
at Elmwood and Hertel,
but I remember that his attendants dressed like motorcycle cops...
boots, britches, and all.
One young employee was cleaning the grease pit
with gasoline and a squeegee, against policy.
He struck a light bulb with the squeegee
and blew the roof off the garage section.
My father ran into the flaming pit and saved him,
but the young fellow, Nicky, was severely burned,
and never looked the same again.
There were twin brothers working there, Joe and Matty Kapsiak.
Joe was the personality kid of the two,
and Matty was quiet and serious.
Joe was killed in combat.
After that it seemed strange every time I looked at Matty.
After many warnings,
my father fired one worker for being drunk on the job,
The guy had mob connections
and thugs started coming to our house
threatening us if he wasn't rehired.
My dad went downtown and had it out with the head Mafioso.
The drunk didn't get his job back.
He always had motorcycles and things for sale on the corner.
One of the things was a Link Trainer...
an airplane without wings
held up by big horseshoe-shaped steel beams.
The controls worked just like a real plane,
and you could turn it, flip it over,
or just about anything you could do with a real plane, except fly.
Of course it was for training pilots,
and I was just a kid, staring at it.
My dad felt sorry for me,
and tried to teach me to drive in the parking lot,
even though my feet didn't reach the clutch pedal,
much less the brake.
Jack Blanchard
http://jackandmisty.net
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TODAY IN COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY
Compiled by Bill Morrison
Jim Reeves "Gentleman Jim" born Panola County, TX 1923
Justin Tubb, Grand Ole Opry member, born San Antonio, TX 1935.
Gene Autry recorded "Be Honest With Me" 1940.
Eddy Arnold "The Tennessee Plowboy" recorded "Anytime," 1947.
Rudy Gatlin of the "Gatlin Brothers" born Olney, TX 1952.
John Hiatt, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist, born Indianapolis, IN 1952.
Capitol Records released Buck Owens' single "Kickin' Our Hearts Around" 1962.
Born to George Hamilton IV and wife Tinky, beautiful daughter "Mary" in 1965.
Johnny Cash and June Carter recorded "If I Were A Carpenter" 1969.
Ralph Stanley II, singer/guitarist/Grammy nominee, born 1978.
Lee Gillette, age 68, record label executive/ publisher, died after falling in
his home 1981.
Louis Innis, age 63, guitarist/session player, died 1982.
Zachariah Valentine Morgan died in Barberton, OH 1982.
Deborah Allen's single "Baby I Lied" charted 1983.
Leon McAuliffe, age 71, died in Tulsa, OK 1988.
Ray Wylie Hubbard's album "Crusades of the Restless Nights" released 1999.
Alan Jackson's album "When Somebody Love You" certified platinum 2001.
<http://www.talentondisplay.com/countrycalendar.html>
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VIEW FROM THE FRONT PORCH
By: Stan Hitchcock
Country Music Memory-October,1962, Country Music DJ Convention
The Nashville DJ Convention, held at the Hermitage Hotel and across the street
at the long gone Andrew Jackson Hotel. There has never been a wilder bunch in
history than a gathering of good ole boy 1960 country music DJ's, mixed with
good ole boy 1960 country music artists, songwriters, musicians, booking agents,
managers, mismanagers, con men, con women, hookers, shuckers, jivers, slickers,
slackers, drinkers, druggers and one young country singer named Stan, at his
first Convention, and who was as innocent as the driven snow, gazing with wonder
at the wild goings on, hardly believing that folks could really act like
that....., ok, maybe not that innocent, I may have slipped a time or two...ok,
maybe more than that...I reckon I could have slipped and fell plumb into
it....but, that's then and this is now and it's my memory and I'll swear by it!
There was more non-stop music going on in the rooms and suites of both hotels,
fueled by, in those years, alcohol and speed. Yep, that was the fuel all
right...night after night, musicians playing impossible licks, jamming all night
and all day, singers singing until their voices gave out, songwriters swapping
song ideas and melodies that they probably forgot when they sobered up. Business
managers, booking agents and record execs were the ones that stayed pretty
straight, playing to the DJ's who were like kids in a candy store, away from
home, surrounded by country legends, women smiling at them at every turn, Agents
pushing their artists on everyone who would take the time to listen....well,
friends, yeah, it was pretty great stuff for a hillbilly come to town. I dove
right in the middle of it and hardly came up for air, I felt like a boy who has
run off and joined the carnival and ended up working in the girlie show helping
bring the yokels in to see the belly dancers, the hootchy kootchy girls and
strippers...and I got to play the snare drum to provide the rhythm....ok, I
don't know where that little fantasy came from, but on with the show.
One of the most vivid memories of those days is going up to the SHOBUD Steel
Guitar Suite on the 6th floor of the Andrew Jackson Hotel, pushing my way
through the crowd to get right up next to the performers and just letting the
music wash over me like a Tidal Wave. In the room, hosted by Shot Jackson, was
Buddy Emmons, Jimmy Day, Buddy Charlton and Big Jim Webb. They had been jamming,
wide open, no holds barred, volume deafening for several days, only changing out
players to pass out, or go to the bathroom. Of course, in those days, everyone
smoked (except me, and I hated it and still do) so the room was so full of smoke
you could hardly see, the windows open about 6
inches, which is all the way they would go, (which was probably good cause
some of the boys and girls were flying pretty high and might fly right out the
window.) Booze was being dispensed by Shot Jackson to those he felt worthy
(steel players are a clannish bunch) and I don't know what kind of rainbow
mixture of pills, but it must have been strong to keep them going as long as it
did. There has never been better steel guitar sounds on this universe than those
legendary steel men were putting out.....no way you can describe it, Buddy
Emmons was in his prime, Jimmy Day was right there with him in licks, Buddy
Charlton could fill as good as anyone to ever hit Nashville, and Big Jim Webb
just filling any spots that were left, which weren't many. Then, as if that
wasn't good enough for the record books, Leon Rhodes walked in with his guitar
and amp, and the music moved up to unbelievable heights. The steel boys would
take rides where no one had ever gone before, then Leon would match it with his
Gibson. The DJ's were jammed in the suite so tight no one could move, just
watching in amazement, while the musicians totally ignored their rapt audience,
so lost in the music that only they and their instruments existed. It was a
surreal moment in time, hearing licks that had never been played before, and
maybe never played again, because it was completely free style genius....and a
time I will never forget. Different players would come and take the place of the
burned out ones, but the music never stopped. It was Country Music History being
played out, wrung out, discovered and lost to never surface again.
Those few years that it lasted, until the CMA legitimized Country Music with Fan
Fair in the 70's, and Nashville had to grow up and be somebody...they tore down
the Andrew Jackson...the pickers got off the pills and booze, most of them
anyway....the girls moved to NASCAR, Shriners Conventions, and Printers Alley,
the Opry moved to a theme park on Briley Parkway, leaving the Ryman Auditorium
behind like a discarded Kleenex, Country Radio became a service programmed by
some young kid in Cleveland or New York who had never even heard of the DJ
Convention in Nashville, didn't know who Emmons, Day and Charlton or Leon Rhodes
were and didn't care to learn, Tootsie Bess died, along with Mom Upchurch and
the good old days of real incredible musical experiences came to a close. The
50's and 60's music happenings were just different...and what came next was just
a pale imitation. Country came to town, Incorporated, sold out to Gaylord and
that was that.
They say that in the late 50's, after he had left Sun Records and signed with
RCA, that Elvis came to the DJ Convention one year, he ran into Lefty Frizzell
in the lobby of the Andrew Jackson Hotel, Elvis said, "Lefty, how you supposed
to act at this DJ thing?" Lefty, who was leaning to starboard like he was
straining against a strong wind, trying to keep his whiskey balance, said,
"Elvis, just act like yore havin' a real good time, then leave as soon as
possible". It's doubtful if many of the country DJ's even paid him any
attention, at that time, but Lefty had the right idea. And that's kinda what
Country Music has done, came, had a real good time, and left as soon as
possible.
Stan Hitchcock
www.hitchcockcountry.com -
http://www.hitchcockcountry.com
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DON'TY FORGET: BlueHighways TV is now on DISH Network – Channel 73
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."
– Psalm 46:10 (NIV)
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