COUNTRY MUSIC CLASSICS
Doug Davis
Owner/Publisher/Manager/Editor/
Writer/Gopher/Chief Cook & Bottle Washer
Thursday May 19th, 2016
Email: djdclassics@gmail.com
STORY BEHIND THE SONG
Songs are written for a lot of different reasons – some are even written out of
boredom and according to Chet Atkins – Eddy Arnold's 1953 hit "How's The World
Treating You" started just that way!
Chester commented, "I was in New York City at the time. I was there for a week
and was really bored. So I started playing around with that melody. When I got
back to Nashville, I played the melody for Boudleaux Bryant. He liked it and
wrote the lyrics to it. Later I played the song for Eddy Arnold. He liked it and
recorded it."
Eddy Arnold's RCA Victor single " How's The World Treating You" was released in
May 1953 as the flip side of "Free Home Demonstration." Both sides of the record
made the charts and each song peaked at number 4 – "Free Home Demonstration"
charted June 20th, 1953 and "How's The World Treating You" charted July 18th,
1953 and was Arnold's 52nd charted song.
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MORE BOOKS FROM THE STORE ROOM:
900 page Paperback "Encyclopedia Of Folk, Country & Western Music" – 1969 –
Biographies of over 600 artists & musicians – lots of photos – a complete 900
page reference library of classic country - PLUS: 176 page paperback "All Over
The Map – True Heroes Of Texas Music" – in- depth profiles of 32 pioneering
Texas musicians including Ernest Tubb – Waylon Jennings – Willie Nelson and many
more – 2005 – PLUS: 456 page paperback "Ernest Tubb – The Texas Troubadour" –
1996 – lots of photos – the most complete in-depth study of The Texas
Troubadour. ALL THREE BOOKS IN MINT CONDITION and your for $50. I'll pay
shipping - PayPal – Check or Money Order – reply to
djdclassics@gmail.com
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: According to my daughter - they're planning a sequel to the Dolly Parton
movie "Coat Of Many Colors." Do you know anything about it?
A: A sequel to Dolly Parton's TV movie "Coat of Many Colors" is reportedly in
the works to be titled "Dolly Parton's Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of
Love" and will air in 2016.
Q: I have heard that Reba McEntire is moving to Las Vegas. Is that true?
A: Reba McEntire and Brooks & Dunn have signed on for another year of
residency at The Colesseum at Caesars Palace. So far, they've added a dozen more
dates, taking their show at least until early 2017.
Q: My brother-n-law says that Bill Monroe is in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.
Is that true?
A: Bill Monroe was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame May 15th,
1997. He has also been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and
the Country
Music Hall of Fame, making him one of only a handful of artists, including
Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, Hank Williams and Johnny Cash, who have been inducted
into all three. Bill Monroe was also a member of the Grand Ole Opry and received
the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the National Medal of Arts.
Q: The radio guys mentioned that Charlie Daniels is doing some kind of "jam"
for his birthday. Do you have any information?
A: Charlie Daniels will celebrate his 80th birthday (November 28th ) with the
2016 edition of his annual Volunteer Jam on November 30th at Nashville's
Bridgestone
Arena. His first Volunteer Jam was held on October 4th, 1974, at Music City's
War Memorial Auditorium and in the 40-plus years since - Charlie and friends
have given
their time each year to raise money for worthwhile causes through the show. The
2015 Volunteer Jam raised over $300,000 to support the Journey Home Project, a
non-
profit organization co-founded by Daniels and his manager, David Corlew, that
helps veterans transition after returning home from tours abroad. Tickets for
the 2016 Volunteer Jam start at $25 and can be purchased online through
Ticketmaster.
Q: A friend of mine says that Glen Campbell had two records released on
"Gentle On My Mind." Is that true?
A: Glenn's original recording of "Gentle On My Mind" peaked at number 30 in
1967. The recording ws re-issued in 1968 and the second effort made it to number
44. The
album by the same title was number one on the LP Charts in 1967.
Q: I have heard that Willie Nelson's July 4th Picnic has been canceled. Is
that true?
A: At last report Willie's 4th of July Picnic was scheduled for the Circuit
of the Americas' Austin360 Amphitheater in Austin, Texas
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Several weeks ago we included an item concerning the death of Faron Young which
included the mention that Faron committed suicide because he was depressed that
the music industry had turned its back on him. This quote was from an source
that I considered reliable. Author and newsletter publisher Diane Diekman – also
a reliable source of information – wrote to express her disagreement with that
quote.
Here is her reply:
"Stories about Faron Young's death often include a statement that he shot
himself because he was "depressed that the music industry had turned its back on
him." That is not true. It appears to be an early assumption that got picked up
and is continually repeated in published accounts. He was depressed, yes, but
not for that reason. He'd suffered from depression most of his life. He had
voluntarily retired from music several years earlier. While doing research for
his biography, Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story, I talked to friends
who were close to him during his last days. He was in pain following prostate
surgery and a friend who took him to the hospital said he told the doctor he
would blow his brains out "if I don't get to feelin' better." One of the last
people to see Faron told me, "The man died of depression, I hope you've figured
that out by now. And it's not just the music industry that everybody talks
about. His family turned on him and neglected him at the end, and maybe he had
it coming, I don't know." From all the interviews I did with family and friends,
I concluded he missed his family but was incapable of apologizing for his past
behavior. He was a lonely man, in physical and emotional pain, and his life-long
depression overwhelmed him."
Diane Diekman
For information on Diane's books – her newsletter and her blog - go to:
http://dianediekman.com
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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 at no
charge.
For information, email me at djdclassics@gmail.com
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NUMBER ONES ON THIS DATE
1947
New Jolie Blonde (New Pretty Blonde) - Red Foley
1955
In the Jailhouse Now - Webb Pierce
1963
Lonesome 7-7203 - Hawkshaw Hawkins
1971
I Won't Mention It Again - Ray Price
1979
If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me -Bellamy
Brothers
1987
To Know Him is to Love Him - Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou
Harris
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TODAY IN COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY
1958
Johnny Cash released "Guess Things Happen That Way". Written by Jack Clement,
the single, a song about 'a man struggling after the love of his life has left
him', was Johnny Cash's fourth #1 on the country chart spending eight weeks at
the top and a total of twenty-four weeks on the chart.
1965
Roger Miller received a gold single for "King Of The Road", which was Miller's
fifth single for Smash Records.
1974
Charlie Rich was at #1 on the US Country chart with Behind Closed Doors. The
album received three Country Music Association awards: Best Male Vocalist, Album
of the Year, and Single of the Year, for the title song written by Kenny O'Dell.
The album also went gold. Rich won the Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal
Performance, and he took home four Academy of Country Music awards.
1979
The Bellamy Brothers scored their first #1 country single with "If I Said You
Have A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me". Songwriter David Bellamy
stated that he got the title from an old Groucho Marx quote used in the American
Quiz show You bet Your Life, where Marx sometimes used the quote while
interviewing an attractive female contestant, then shake his cigar and raise his
eyebrows to elicit a reaction.
1979
Born on this day, was Shooter Jennings, American singer-songwriter (the only
child of country music icons Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter). Jennings made
his debut with the single "4th Of July" of his 2005 album Put the "O" Back in
Country. Jennings portrayed his father in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line
alongside Joaquin Phoenix, and Reese Witherspoon.
1984
Willie Nelson with Julio Iglesias was at #1 on the Country charts with "To All
the Girls I've Loved Before", (originally recorded in 1980 by Bobby Vinton). It
was one of two entries on the country chart for Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson
as a duo, the second was "Spanish Eyes", which peaked at #8 in late 1988.
1997
MCA records released Trisha Yearwood's version of "How Do I Live". Written by
Diane Warren. the song was originally intended for release as a single from the
1997 Con Air soundtrack. Disney (who owns Touchstone Pictures) felt Rimes'
version had too much of a pop feel and because she was fourteen it was believed
that she was too young. Trisha Yearwood was chosen to re-record the song.
Courtesy: www.thisdayincountrymusic.com -
http://www.thisdayincountrymusic.com
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HOME IS A PLACE IN MY MIND.
By:Jack Blanchard
I wasn't raised around Country music,
but I chose it as my life's work because I like it,
because it fits my voice and writing style,
and because I'm too nervous to steal.
I grew up in a city and was exposed to very little Country music.
When I first heard Hank Snow, Ernest Tubb, and Lefty Frizzell,
I was fascinated!
Maybe you were brought up on Country music,
but to me it was a whole new thing!
The imagery in the lyrics held extra drama for me
because I'd never been to those places.
Distant places hold a magic.
Our family took Sunday drives through the countryside.
We loved it, and I even envied the folks who lived there,
even though I knew it wasn't for me.
I can only take so much peace and quiet.
But I DO have a country home.
It's in my songs.
A PLACE IN MY MIND.
Home – a place in my mind with summertime snow…
Home – a place in my mind where wintertime flowers grow…
I can go home in the springtime and see the leaves turn gold,
Or just drop in and say hello to my folks,
In a place where they'll never grow old
Home – a feeling of love that the family gives…
Home – a place in my mind where Grandpa and Grandma still live…
Dad's gonna shake my hand,
I'll get a kiss from Mom, I know.
Home – a place in my mind where I sometimes go.
Home – a place in my mind where dandelions blow…
Home – a tree I can climb and look at the world below…
I can sit out on the front porch in that squeaky swing,
Or just drop in to my yesterday house,
Where little sisters often sing.
Home – a place in my mind with a kitchen that's warm…
Home – by the fireside glow, I'm lookin' out at the storm…
And when this lonesome traveler's feeling kinda low,
Home – is a place in my mind where I sometimes go.
Jack Blanchard
http://jackandmisty.net
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VIEW FROM THE FRONT PORCH
By: Stan Hitchcock
Denise and I have stopped at a KOA Campground on the Tennessee-North Carolina
border on the way over to Southern Charm Gifts and Decor in Jacksonville, NC.
They have ordered a RV full of our Classic Country Foods and we decided to
deliver it in person rather than ship it. 1200 miles round trip ain't no hill
for a stepper. Being here at the KOA Campground takes me back to the days when
my music friends and I were all trying to scratch out a living with music...and
loving every minute of it......
"Trailer Park Of The Stars"....Yep, being in country music in the early 60's was
really living high on the hog. When I arrived in Nashville, in 1962, with my
recording contract in hand and a song in my heart...uhhh, and hardly anything in
my pocket, but not to worry...shoot, I could be making up to a couple hundred
dollars a week in no time. Si Siman, my mentor back in Springfield, Missouri,
had agreed to pay me $50 a week to run his publishing company, Earl Barton
Music, and furnished me a one room office on Music Row. Man, with my first
record out, I could be making twice that in no time! I would go down to Broadway
Street and go into Linebaugh's Restaurant...order a big bowl of chili for 50
cents, eat that, then fill the bowl back up with Catsup and crumbled up crackers
and eat that, along with a big glass of milk for another 50 cents, and when all
that swelled up with the gas in your stomach...why, you felt full as a tick. I
had rented a bed at Mom Upchurch's boarding house for musicians out on Boscobel
Street, and with the bed came two drawers in a dresser to put your clothes in
which was more than enough to hold what little I had at the time. Of the $50 a
week I was drawing from Si, I sent $25 of it back to the Ozarks every week, so I
had a whole $25 to live on in style as an aspiring Nashville Recording Star!
Now, I'll have to admit, the first year of that, while I awaited stardom to
bring me the big money, was a little slim. I was 25 years old, weighed 135
pounds, and was tougher than whet leather. I started scouting for more work,
starvation is a mighty motivator, just till the BIG BREAK would come. I got a
job as a night clerk at the Albert Pick Motel, midnight to 6 in the morning.
Then I would take a quick shower, go to Music Row and work the publishing
company, at noon I would go out to Hutch Carlock's Music City Record
Distributing Company and help with the shipping of phonograph records (sometimes
even one of my own records) to Music Stores all over the Mid South. I would do
this til about 6PM, grab a quick bowl of chili at Linebaugh's, catch a couple
hours sleep at Mom Upchurch's and start the cycle all over again until the
weekend when I had started getting some appearances on the Grand Ole Opry and
ever now and then a road gig at some club. Pretty exciting life of a Hillbilly
Singer, huh? Well, ya know, It was exciting, aside from not having any money,
but, I was in Music! Man, I was living the dream. After a couple years of
that...I saved enough money to move out of Mom Upchurch's Boarding House for
Musicians and move to the Dickerson Road Mobile Home Park....yes, truly the
"Trailer Park Of The Stars". In 1964, this trailer park was full of Opry Stars
of all kinds. Next to my trailer was Norma Jean, just up the street was Don
Warden, steel player for Porter and soon to be road manager for Dolly, Buck
Trent was two trailers down, around the corner and acoss the park was Jimmy
Capps and somewhere in there was Don Reno and his son Ronnie for a short time.
There must have been 15 or 20 others that I cannot remember right now, kind of
our version of "Hotel California" with the Eagles. By 1966, I had landed the
television gigs, the morning show and then my syndicated "Stan Hitchcock Show"
that took me out of the trailer park and into a real house with no wheels, and
my records had started doing well so I could book out on shows across the
country on weekends. So now, instead of all the odd jobs I was doing to keep the
wolf from the door, I was totally involved in the business of music. Here was
how my schedule went. I would get up at three o'clock, five days a week, be at
the tv studio by 5AM, go on the air live at 6AM to 8 AM, go to breakfast and
then to Music Row to work on my record career, working the phones to dj's,
meeting with booking agents, writing songs, recording, whatever a hillbilly
singer does to keep going. I would get off the air at the TV station at 8AM on
Friday, hit the road as a single, no band at that time, working with a house
band wherever I played, do a show on Friday night somewhere, load up in the
early morning after that show, drive all night to the next gig, do that one on
Saturday, load up and drive all night to the next gig, work a Sunday Matinee at
some outdoor music park, get through and drive back to Nashville getting there
just in time to go on the air at 6AM Monday morning. I loved it. I was totally
immersed in my music, I had a song to sing and the world seemed to want to
listen. This was a great way to grow up in country music, and now, as I sit here
on the Road again but without the music, how fortunate I feel to have been a
part of the music of that era, to have lived and traveled with the greats, to
have been there when the hits were being written, when the great songs were
being recorded, to witness the greatest times that country music will ever know.
I am truly blessed....and for that I am thankful this morning. And, I still like
my Chili with lots of crackers and Catsup...in memory of the old Linebaugh's
days. stan
Stan Hitchcock
www.hitchcockcountry.com -
http://www.hitchcockcountry.com
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a
thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in
keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with
you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
– 2 Peter 3:8-9 (NIV)
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