COUNTRY MUSIC CLASSICS
STORY BEHIND THE SONG
A lot of artists tend to record a new song as soon as they hear it
while
other
songs seem to hang around awhile before being recorded. The Oak Ridge
Boys
1983
hit âLove Songâ was one of those tunes the group just held on to
for awhile
before recording it.
As the story goes â their manager at the time â Don Light â
played the song
for
them and although The Oaks considered the song for each of their next
three
albums â they didnât actually record it until they began working on
their
1983
âAmerican Madeâ LP some three years later.
As soon as the track was released as a single â it made the country
music
charts
at number 60 on June 4th, 1983. Eleven weeks later â it made the top
of the
charts on August 20th.
The song was written by Steve Runkle and the record was produced by Ron
Chancy.
It was their 22nd charted song and their 8th number one. The MCA
Records
single
was on the charts for 18 weeks.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: Heard the radio guy talking about someone in country music named
Kim
Williams passing away. I've never heard that name. Do you have any
information?
A: Kim Williams was a song writer and penned Joe Diffie's âIf the
Devil
Danced (in Empty Pockets),â Garth Brooksâ âAinât Going Down
(âTil the Sun
Comes
Up),â Reba McEntireâs âThe Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,â Randy
Travisâ âThree
Wooden Crosses,â and Brooks & Dunnâs âHonky Tonk Truth.â He was
68 years
old.
Q: Heard Waylon Jennings death mentioned several times recently. Did
he
have a
heart attack?
A: Waylon died February 13th, 2002 at age 64 from complications from
diabetes.
Q: I heard that Randy Travis is back singing again. Do you have any
details?
A: Randy Travis performed February 3rd for the first time since his
2013
stroke at the funeral of Pierre de Wet, founder of the Kiepersol
Estates
winery.
Travis sang âAmazing Graceâ in front of more than 1,000 attendees,
with
Keipersol Estates employees and their families singing along with him.
Q: The radio folks were talking about a guitar player named Wright
passing
away. I never heard of him. Do you have any information?
A: Rick Wright, guitarist for Connie Smith, died on February 7th in a
car
accident near his home in White House, Tennessee. He was 57 years old.
Wright
had been a member of Smithâs backing band, the Sundowners, for 17
years.
Q: My daughter tells me that the radio folks said that Vince Gill was
doing
two special shows at The Grand Ole Opry. What is that all about?
A: Vince will perform two concerts on August 31st to commemorate his
induction
into the Grand Ole Opry which took place Aug. 10th, 1991.
Q: I heard that some new Johnny Cash CD's are being released. Do you
have
any
info?
A: Two live Cash recordings from 1970's overseas shows have been
released.
"Man in Black: Live in Denmark 1971," was released on December 4th,
through
Columbia/Legacy Recordings. It was the first time that this specific
recording
is available on CD and digitally; previously, in 2006, the project was
released
as a DVD. The second live release - "Koncert V Praze (In Prague â
Live),"
was
released February 5th, 2016. This project was recorded on April 11,
1978, at
a
show organized by the Czechoslovakian government to see how people
inside
the
Soviet bloc would react to an American artist like Cash.
NUMBER ONES ON THIS DATE
1945
Iâm Losing My Mind Over You - Al Dexter
1953
I Let the Stars Get in My Eyes - Goldie Hill
1961
North to Alaska - Johnny Horton
1969
Until My Dreams Come True - Jack Greene
1977
Near You - George Jones & Tammy Wynette
1985
Make My Life with You - The Oak Ridge Boys
TODAY IN COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY
1914
Born on this day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was Julius Frank Anthony
Kuczynski
who
became better known as Pee Wee King. The American country music
songwriter
is
best known for co-writing "The Tennessee Waltz", which was a hit for
both
Cowboy
Copas, Patti Page and Petula Clark. He died of a heart attack in
Louisville,
Kentucky, aged 86 on March 7, 2000.
1952
Born on this day in Lakehurst, New Jersey, was Juice Newton pop and
country
singer, songwriter and guitarist. To date, Newton has received five
Grammy
Award
nominations and scored the 1981 Country #1 single "The Sweetest Thing
(I've
Ever
Known)."
1954
George Jones recorded "No Money in This Deal" for Starday Records and
began
the
singer's association with producer and mentor H.W. "Pappy" Dailey.
1988
Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner performed together for the first time
since
their 1974 breakup, while taping an episode of Dolly! at Nashville's
Grand
Ole
Opry House. Parton wrote the song "I Will Always Love You" after
Wagoner
suggested she shift from story songs to focus on love songs.
2003
Country singer Johnny Paycheck died at the age of 64. He had been in a
nursing
home, suffering from emphysema and asthma. During his career, Paycheck
recorded
70 albums and had more than two dozen hit singles, the biggest of which
was
the
working man's anthem, "Take This Job and Shove It".
THE BEST ADVICE WE EVER GOT.
By: Jack Blanchard
Misty and I had a steady job with our band
in a high class Coral Gables supper club,
playing light jazz dance music,
and occasionally slipping in one of our own songs.
We had made a couple of records that got local airplay,
but were getting nowhere with amazing velocity.
Dick Gillespie was a customer we talked with a lot.
He was witty, in the Robin Williams style,
and owned a local country station.
He had won an Emmy
for producing the Colgate Comedy Hour on TV.
I asked him one night why we weren't getting anywhere.
We were good musicians, I said,
we sang well, looked okay, and made nice records.
Why didn't he see that, and help us?
His answer hurt our feelings and saved our life.
He said: âYou have nothing unusual to sell.
Nobody is interested in the things you mentioned.
People won't walk across the street
to see a good-looking musician,
but they'll stop to look at an auto accident.â
More importantly, he said:
âGo home and develop a recognizable style,
costume yourselves to attract attention,
change your name if necessary.
Try singing different ways until the style is pronounced.
Style is more important than good singing.
Good singers back up artists with style.
Change your attitude.
Go for stage presence.
Be whoever you want to be,
but be unique.â
Then he added:
âYou can't do all this here in the town where they know you.
They won't accept it.
Go to a new place and walk in the door in your new persona,
no matter how self-conscious you feel,
and they will think you were born that way.â
Misty changed her name from Mary Blanchard,
we dressed pretty wild,
worked up a lot of new material and attitude,
went to Key West and tried it out.
We thought we'd be laughed at,
but they not only accepted us,
they packed the place to see and hear us.
We had a recording contract within two weeks,
and a Billboard Pick within a couple of months.
We found out that the roles we were playing
were more real than playing dinner music in suit and gown.
Now we can't think of ourselves the old way.
We've been who we are now over half our lives.
It's us.
Dick Gillespie gave us the best advice we ever got,
so we pass it on.
It works.
Jack Blanchard
http://jackandmisty.net
VIEW FROM THE FRONT PORCH
By: Stan Hitchcock
Well, woke up at 2AM, after hitting the sack at 11PM and was unable to
go
back
to sleep so I decided to get a jump on the day and start it early.
These
early
morning times are nothing new to a man who has traveled most of his
life,
leaving after a late night gig and driving all night to the next town.
All
Road
Pickers know the drill. So, all nighters are nothing new to me, driving
half
asleep, slapping yourself to stay awake, holding your head out the
window,
hoping the cold air will keep you revived 'til the next Sunrise.
Lots of Pickers have had trouble sleeping all night after years of
being on
the
Road. Marty Robbins hardly slept at all, and would go in to Ralph
Emery's
all
night WSM radio show, back in the late 50's and early 60's and spend
the
night
on air with him. Del Reeves, Faron Young, George Jones, Johnny Cash and
a
lot
more were people of the night. Ernest Tubb told me that no bed on Earth
felt
as
good to him as the Bunk on the Bus, and he spent nearly 300 nights a
year
picking and crawling into the bunk on the drive to the next show.
Once you have gotten used to the rocking and rolling rhythm of sleeping
in a
bunk of a moving vehicle, it just gets in your blood.
I know, when I was traveling with my Band of Merry Music Makers,
speeding
across
the highways of America in the dark, early morning hours, sitting
talking
and
drinking coffee with my pardner and Band Leader, Buck Evans, him
driving and
me
keeping him awake, while the rest of the boys were fast
asleep...traveling
through the small towns, all asleep and quiet, or going by a big farm
layout,
and seeing the early morning lights coming on in the barns as the
farmers
got
their early start...I would look out the window and dream of what i
must be
like
to have a regular homelife...sleeping in the same bed every
night...belonging to
a community...getting up and going to the same job every morning...,
yeah, I
would think, it must be nice...but, alas, I never actually got to find
out
until
way later in life...and by then the sleep pattern had already been set
and
hard
to break.
For awhile, when I was building a theater near Branson in 1978, I did
an all
night radio show on KTTS-FM in Springfield, MO. Going on the air at 12
Midnight
and getting off a 6AM, playing good music and taking late night phone
calls
from
other folks that could not sleep. KTTS, in those years was a great
Country
Music
Station and it was a lot of fun. When the Theater opened and I hosted
my
stage
show 7 nights a week I had to quit the radio gig but it was great while
it
lasted.
So, to the Across The Road Long Haul Truckers, the late night shift
workers,
the
all night disc jockeys, the late night cab drivers, the late night cops
on
patrol, the Sailors on the 12 to 0400 watch on our Ships at Sea, the
late
night
Nurses at our Hospitals...and all the pickers, past or present, who
have
taken
our music on the Road...I lift my old coffee cup in a Salute to Us all.
http://www.hitchcockcountry.com
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one
another,
for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
â Romans 13:8 (NIV)
