Thursday November 5th, 2015 COUNTRY MUSIC CLASSICS

COUNTRY MUSIC CLASSICS

Doug Davis
Owner/Publisher/Manager/Editor/
Writer/Gopher/Chief Cook & Bottle Washer

Thursday November 5th, 2015

Email: djdclassics@gmail.com


STORY BEHIND THE SONG

A lot of hit songs have been written from something someone heard in a
conversation and as the story goes - Charley Pride's 1983 number one "Why Baby
Why" was one of those tunes!

The idea for the song reportedly came from Darrell Edwards who overheard a
couple fussing at each other in their car. He and George Jones co-wrote the song
that brought Jones to the spotlight by scoring a number 4 hit in 1955.

"Why Baby Why" proved its staying power with Red Sovine and Webb Pierce's
version scoring a number one in 1956 and later that same year - Hank Locklin's
cut on the song went to number nine.

And in 1983 - Charley Pride put it back in the number one spot.

Radio stations received two versions of Pride's recording. One side of the radio
45 single was the original cut from Charley's "Country Classics" album. The
flipside was the same recording but with canned applause added. The "added to"
version became a part of "Charley Pride Live" album.

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q: You had mentioned that Ray Stevens was going to have a new TV show. Could
you tell me when and where?
A: "Ray Stevens Nashville" will premiere on RFD-T on November 7th.

Q: I heard that a guy named Grady Martin was inducted into The Hall Of Fame.
Who was he?
A: Grady Martin was a member of Nashville's "A team," and played guitar on
hundreds of country and rockabilly recording sessions - including Marty Robbins
hit "E Paso."

Q: The radio guys mentioned a new Hank Williams Jr. Album. Is it already on
the market?
A: Hank Jr.'s 37th album, "It's About Time," is set for release on January
15th, 2016

Q: You had mentioned George Strait booking some new dates in Las Vegas. Do you
have any additional information?
A: Strait had scheduled six show in Las Vegas with two shows each in April,
September, and December 2016. All those shows sold out very quickly so
additional shows have been scheduled for February 17th and 18th, 2017 with
tickets on sale on November 2016. For more information - go to StraitToVegas.com

Q: The radio folks mentioned that Reba McEntire and Brooks and Dunn having
some project together. Do you know anything about that?
A: The three will perform together at next month's CMA Awards which will air
live on ABC-TV on Wednesday November 4th from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.

Q: My sister says she remembers hearing Conway Twitty sing the Tammy Wynette
hit song "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" on the radio years ago. The two radio stations that I
called say Conway never recorded that song. Do you have any information?
A: Conway's version of that song 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

1944
Smoke on the Water - Red Foley
1952
Jambalaya (On the Bayou) - Hank Williams
1960
Wings of a Dove - Ferlin Husky
1968
Next in Line - Conway Twitty
1976
Among My Souvenirs - Marty Robbins
1984
City of New Orleans - Willie Nelson

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TODAY IN COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY
1930
Henry Horton was re-elected to a third term as governor of Tennessee, USA.
Immediately, Nashville residents began withdrawing money from
Caldwell-affiliated banks en masse, because Horton and the Caldwell Bank had
both been involved in a scandal involving awarding contracts without bids. The
story of the scandal would inspire the song "The Wreck Of The Tennessee Gravy
Train" by Uncle Dave Macon.
1940
Born on this day in Lubbock, Texas, was Delbert McClinton, singer-songwriter,
guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist. His highest-peaking single was "Tell
Me About It", a 1992 duet with Tanya Tucker which reached #4 on the Country
chart. Emmylou Harris had a #1 country hit in 1978 with McClinton's "Two More
Bottles of Wine."

1975
American Country singer, Audrey Williams, (the first wife of Hank Williams) died
from heart failure related to her years of alcohol and drug use at the age of
52, outliving Hank, Sr. by 22 years.
2003
Dolly Parton was honored as a BMI Icon at the 2003 BMI Country Awards. She has
earned over 35 BMI Pop and Country Awards throughout her prolific songwriting
career.
2004
Loretta Lynn was honored as a BMI Icon at the BMI Country Awards. During her
career, Lynn has written over 160 songs and released 60 albums, and has sold
over 45 million records worldwide.
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ENOUGH ABOUT ME.
By: Jack Blanchard

Misty Morgan, my wife and partner,
has a photographic memory for music.
I call it a "phonographic" memory.

She can play any piece she hears once,
even if it's just background Muzak in a store, but she does not read music.
She has never sung a single note off key.

Her first underage jobs were with pickup combos
around Tonawanda, New York.
They played standards, dance music, and a little country.
As a piano single, she played and sang mostly standards,
Broadway, and popular songs.

When I met her she was playing with a country band
at The Corral Barbecue in West Hollywood, Florida,
under the name "Mary Male".

One night, when we had only been together a short time,
we went to a club to hear an all female jazz quintet.
Somebody asked her to sit in on piano, and she accepted.
I was embarrassed. I said, "Honey, you don't play jazz."
She just said, "I can do it."
As she went on-stage, I went to the rest room.
I didn't want to see it.

Then I heard this great jazz piano,
a mix of Oscar Petersen, Erroll Garner, and Ramsey Lewis.
I went out and looked and it was Misty.
She brought down the house.
I said, "Where the hell did you learn that?"
She just calmly said, "I told you I could do it"

She can play all kinds of music,
and she never plays anything the same twice.

She is the first female entertainer I know of
to play six stacked keyboards onstage.
Sometimes the strings, guitars, fiddles,
and many sounds on our records
are really Misty and her magic keyboards.
She can blend them with Buddy Spicher, Johnny Gimbel,
Vassar Clements, and other musicians,
so that you can't tell. unless you were there.

Her ear for sound is a valuable tool I use when mixing sessions.
I can write the songs,
and we work out the arrangements together,
but she has the final word on the mixdowns.

When I write a new song I sing it to her first.
She never says it's bad.
If she says, "That's really nice" I know it isn't.
I have go back and work on the song until she gives the right reaction.
It's sort of an excitement in her eyes... sometimes even tears.
She's always right. My final editor.

Everybody remarks about her unusual harmony when we sing duets.
I have no idea what she's doing and I don't want to know.
It just works.

On top of all this, she is the perfect straight man to my funny stuff.
She folds her arms and gives me a look that says this:
"Whenever you're through, dummy.
We're trying to do a serious show here."

The audiences love her,
and so do I.

Jack Blanchard
http://jackandmisty.net

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VIEW FROM THE FRONT PORCH
By: Stan Hitchcock

In my Music/Fishing Room, that i built on the backside of the Old Farm House,
rests all the things that I really care about and collect. Just stuff that
probably would not mean anything to other people but are my treasures. Pieces of
my life that I have picked up and saved along the way.
I always figure that a person that does not have multiple interests and
passions, is a one dimension human, and needs to learn to find something to hang
your hat on. I am a collector, (some would say a Junker) I collect music,
instruments, song books, Western Novels, old fishing lures, rods, reels, and
fishing books, I search for and find Indian Artifacts, because I am a history
nut, I read and study Early American History, because I want to know where we
came from in this country. I love old cars and trucks, because i am from the
same era, and understand them.
I write songs that I never share, and share some that I wrote long ago. I find
old notebooks with songs that I have written that I do not remember at all...and
others that are as fresh as if I had just written them today. I tell young
songwriters..."write for yourself, first...for others, later." For songwriting
is a personal expression of emotion...it's yours, nobody elses. If it's good
enough, then other's will like it too...but, first write it for you.
I have my guitars in my room, guitars that have been such a vital part of my
life of music....but now, the arthritis in my hands makes a mockery of the
ability that I once had, but I still stumble through the songs that used to be
easy...but now are not. I brush my fingers across the headstock of the guitar
that Buck Owens gave me, and I remember him saying, "Stan, I'm going around and
making a point of telling people that mean a lot to me that I love them and do
it in person while they can still hear it from me." The guitar holds that
memory. Just the brush of a hand across it, like a Genie in a bottle...and the
memories come alive.
Yes, sometimes the night times are hard to adjust to, after you have spent so
much of your life doing all night music things. "The Night Life Ain't No Good
Life...But It's My Life...." Willie sure knew what he was writing about.
Musicians understand that.
I wonder, does a carpenter hang his hammer or saw on the wall, when he can no
longer use them, and brush his hand over it like that? Does a mechanic feel that
way about his wrench? Ah, but a musician is a different breed of cat...a guitar,
or fiddle, or banjo, or bass or drum....they are more than tools...they are an
extension of your gift of sound, and if you have the special gift...the desire
never leaves you..just the performance ability sometimes slips away.
So, we attach emotional ties to our instruments, or to our library of
performances that we made when times were good, old audio tapes that no one
really cares about but you...old vinyl records that you thought might last
forever, but now just date you as a dinosaur...hundreds of hours of video of the
greatest artists of all time that you captured and saved and protected because
you wanted to save the moment if new generations ever cared, or your generation
just wanted to remember.....an old pair of boots that were your stage boots, but
now sit far back in the closet, to be taken out on special occasions....you
know, just stuff like that. Pieces of a Life.
So, I sit and ponder, and ramble on to folks far away who probably think I'm
goofy...and I very well may be. Just like the old punch-drunk fighter said, "I
could'a been a'contender...." But, time just got in the way.
Stan Hitchcock
www.hitchcockcountry.com -

http://www.hitchcockcountry.com


BLUEHIWAYS TV is now on Dish Network Channel 73

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

The Lord said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have
heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about
their suffering.
– Exodus 3:7 (NIV)

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