Saturday Night Special ~ Country-Style, Natch

I'm just a sucker for two-part harmony and twin fiddles.

The CMA Awards - 1976

I guess 1976 was the year of the Outlaw. While the pop stylings of the Hollywood set still won their share of awards, hope was in the air.

I'll start by saying that the "regulars" won their usual awards. Not to diminish their achievements, but the same people just kept on winning in their "niche" categories.

I've exhausted YouTube's supply of videos for these folks, so I'll just say that the INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR were Roy Clark and Buck Trent; and the VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR was the Statler Brothers.

Fortunately, the MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR award went to someone new this time around, Hargus (Pig) Robbins.

For those who are unaware, Pig Robbins played piano on pretty much every song that was ever recorded in Nashville.

'bout time that one of the session players got some recognition!

As you can imagine, as a session player, there really aren't any videos, per se, of Pig Robbins. But here's one from Patty Loveless's latest CD that Robbins played on. Just to show you, he's still going strong!



The SONG OF THE YEAR was written by Larry Weiss, and it went a little something like this:

RHINESTONE COWBOY - Glen Campbell



I've come to appreciate Glen Campbell more as the years have passed. I used to not care for him so much. But this song, I must say, was catchy at the time, and it still is.

The FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR was (again) Dolly Parton. Now, I think that Dolly is a good songwriter. Having said that, she had some really sukky songs during this time. We'll call it her "experimental period". "I Will Always Love You" was sappy enough, but then she did this one:



This was obviously done during Dolly's struggles with weight. Maybe that's why she wasn't at her best. It had to affect her self-esteem. Cuz this song is really crappy. Sorry.

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

Ronnie Milsap

As long as I can find videos of Ronnie, I'll keep posting them. I'm a pretty big Ronnie Milsap fan. He's one of those artists, like Ray Stevens or Bobby Bare, who don't get their just due.

This is a fun video, because it includes a medley of some of Ronnie's biggest hits. Enjoy.



And now we come to the Outlaw portion of our show. The SINGLE OF THE YEAR was recorded by two old pals, who, according to Willie's biography, tended to fight and fuss a lot, but they were still good friends. Willie, as you know, was generally very relaxed, while Waylon's medications tended to have the opposite affect. This, naturally, created some tension between the two. But watching this video leads one to believe that everything was quite all right, and regardless of their squabbles, they made some very nice music together.

GOOD HEARTED WOMAN



I can't help but notice, though, that they keep a'showin' his hands, but not his face on TV (second reference to the Dukes of Hazzard - I'm keeping count.)

Oh, by the way, WAYLON and WILLIE were also named VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR. Chalk up another one for the Outlaws.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Wanted: The Outlaws

As I've written before, this was an album that none of the participants had a clue was being released until it was, well, released. The producer at RCA, Jerry Bradley (Owen Bradley's son) slapped the whole thing together from previously released material. He picked the songs; he picked the participants. They were: Waylon, Willie, Tompall Glaser, and Jessi Colter. And he decided to call them the "Outlaws". News to them! They didn't even know they were outlaws!

But once the money started rolling in, they were happy to call themselves anything the producer wanted....."old shoes", "peanut m & m's".......they didn't care. Fortuitously, the album wasn't titled, "Wanted: The Peanut M & M's".

Here is a track from that multi-$$$-selling album:



Regardless of the world-renown of the Outlaws album, the ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR award went to this f-f-f-fellow:

MEL TILLIS

Truth be told, Mel didn't win for his singing. He won for his funny stories. Sort of like this:



But one should not let Mel's "entertaining" obscure his accomplishments as a songwriter. After all, he wrote "Detroit City", "Ruby (Don't Take Your Love To Town)", among many, many others, including a string of hits for Webb Pierce. And he also wrote one of my all-time favorite classic country songs, "Heart Over Mind".

Here's but a sampling of some of Mel's songs:



HALL OF FAME

Paul Cohen

I admit, I didn't know anything about Paul Cohen, but when I looked him up, I found that he produced a whole lot of stars for Columbia Records. Here's a couple:





Later, at Kapp Records, he also produced Mel Tillis, so I guess what goes around comes around.

And he produced the second inductee from 1976:

Kitty Wells



Isn't this the quintessential country song? And this was recorded in 1952! That's even before I was born! Kitty is 89 years old now. Country singers, both male and female, owe a debt to Kitty Wells.

2007 Country Music Hall Of Fame

You mean these guys aren't already in??

What??

Here are the three new inductees into the Country Music Hall Of Fame:

Ralph Emery, Mel Tillis, Vince Gill

#1: Ralph Emery

So, no one thought to put him in the hall of fame before? What the heck does it take? Ralph was the voice of WSM Radio overnight for many, many years. All the big stars dropped by, after their appearance on the Opry, to shoot the breeze and to play & sing for Ralph into the wee hours of the morning.

Aside from that, when there actually was a Nashville Network, Ralph had the show, "Nashville Now". Everyone, and I do mean, EVERYONE, appeared on that show. Back when Alan Jackson was working in the mail room of TNN, he appeared on Ralph's show.

Granted, Ralph wasn't my favorite disc jockey back in the day, but that was only because WSM's signal was out of range for me most nights. I listened more to Mike Hoyer on WHO and Bill Mack on WBAP. Cuz their signals came in clearly. But even I knew, back then, that Ralph was the king of late-night country radio.

Here's one of the few videos I could find of Ralph, hosting "Nashville Now". You'll note that his guests that night included Reba McEntire, Crystal Gayle, Eddie Rabbitt, Charley Pride, and Lee Greenwood. "Nashville Now" was a nice show. And generally, the conversations were more interesting than this particular one, about shopping, of all things.




#2: Mel Tillis

Again, Mel Tillis isn't already in the Hall Of Fame?? How many dang hit songs does one have to write to be considered worthy?

Here's just A FEW of the songs that Mel has written:

"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town"
"Detroit City"
"I Ain't Never"
"Burning Memories"
"Heart Over Mind"
"Mental Revenge"
"I'm Tired"

The list could go on and on. These are but a few highlights.

Who the heck got in before Mel? There's a lot of folks who can thank their lucky stars that Mel wrote such great songs...Folks such as Kenny Rogers, Bobby Bare, Waylon Jennings, Ray Price. You know, some insignificant, obscure country artists.

It was nearly impossible to find any videos of Mel that were of decent quality. Here's one of Mel singing a song her wrote, "Mental Revenge". Waylon had a major hit with this song.




#3: Vince Gill

What? I remember when "I Call Your Name" came out. Was it that long ago? 1990, I guess. Oh, Vince was around long before that. He was a member of Pure Prairie League in 1972. Remember the song, "Amie"? That was Pure Prairie League. Still, it seems like only yesterday that Vince arrived on the scene. Time flies. Here he is in the hall of fame. One could quibble, but why? One could say that others should have gotten there first, but why the heck not Vince? He's bonafide. He's been a troubadour for country music for all these many years. I saw Vince in concert a few (okay, many) years ago. He played into the wee hours. I finally had to leave before it was over, because he just kept on playing, and I had to get up for work the next day. It was a cool concert. One doesn't see concerts like that anymore. The more I think about it, yea, Vince deserves to be in the hall of fame.

Again, there are very few decent videos of Vince on YouTube. This is one of the few that somehow snuck through.




So, there you go. 2007. I hope more of the giants get voted in while they're still around to enjoy the honor. It seems like it's taking a long time.

Forgotten Artists

(originally posted 12-29-06)

I’ve got many, many songs ripped to my computer. When I’m relaxing after a hard week, I scroll through the songs to find something to listen to that fits my mood. Often I marvel at the quality of music that I stumble upon by accident. And I think, what a shame that these artists are probably long forgotten. Some of them are no longer with us, but damn! They sure made some good music.
So, here’s a few of my recent finds (and some people that you’ve probably never heard of):

David Houston ~ Anyone who has listened to country music for as long as I have (hmmm…….40 years?) will remember David Houston. He is one of the artists who is no longer with us, but he had a great voice, and a great vocal range! The songs that I rated as 4 stars or more are “You Mean The World To Me”, “Baby Baby (I Know You’re A Lady)”, and “After Closing Time”, which he recorded with Barbara Mandrell.

Brenda Lee ~ Well, happily, Brenda Lee is still alive and kickin’. “Fool #1″ ~ she has a great smoky quality to her voice on this song. She sang the hell out of it. She was produced by Owen Bradley, which accounts for the great arrangements, but she is one helluva singer. Other recommendations include “Break It To Me Gently” (yes, she did it long before Juice Newton), “All Alone Am I”, and “Too Many Rivers”.

Connie Smith ~ Yup, Connie’s still around, and married to Marty Stuart, I might add. Was there anything she sang that wasn’t great? Connie was a major influence on me as a singer. The young whippersnappers probably won’t remember Connie Smith, but at one time, she was the biggest selling female country artist, and rightfully so. Bill Anderson discovered her and wrote a lot of her songs, and it’s really difficult to single out any of her recordings as the “best”. I’m partial to “Just One Time” (written by Don Gibson), and “Ain’t Had No Lovin’”, which was a great country torch song.

Lynn Anderson ~ well, she’s actually a distant relative of mine (according to my mom’s tales); a second or third cousin or something. BUT, before I knew that, I LOVED Lynn Anderson’s songs. Her Chart records are the best, before “Rose Garden” came along. Geez, didn’t we just grow to hate that song? Sadly, I’ve lost all my albums, but I had a bunch of Lynn’s. I think her version of “Even Cowgirls Get The Blues” (a Rodney Crowell song) is better than Emmylou’s. “Sing A Sad Song” is very, very sweet. Hard to top Merle’s version, but she comes close. And yes, she was on the Lawrence Welk Show, but hey ~ Lawrence was from North Dakota, just like me, so there.

Charlie Rich ~ Well, Charlie just happened to record one of the all-time best country songs ~ “Behind Closed Doors”. One of my favorite Charlie memories was watching him on the CMA awards show, setting fire to the slip of paper that announced John Denver as the “country” male vocalist of the year. I think he made his point. He was truly a country blues artist. Listen to “Sittin’ And Thinkin’”, which he happened to write. I’ve got the Essential Charlie Rich, which is a two-disk set, and it’s awfully difficult to narrow down the best songs.

Del Reeves ~ My husband thinks “Girl On The Billboard” is the funniest/cheesiest country song ever. He happened to discover that song on his own, and he put it on one of his compilation tapes. “A deedle-do-do-do”…. ha ha. But actually, Del recorded some very good songs. An obscure recording of his, “Landmark Tavern”, that he recorded with Penny DeHaven, is one of my faves. And none other than George Strait covered “Good Time Charlie’s”.

Faron Young ~ Well, don’t get me started. At one time, Faron was my ultimate favorite country singer. Well, let’s start with a Willie song, “Hello Walls’, and let’s just continue on. “Wine Me Up”, “Step Aside”, “Your Time’s Comin’” (a Kristofferson song), “If I Ever Fall In Love (With A Honky Tonk Girl)”, written by Tom T. Hall, “Alone With You”, which would be one of my choice songs to cover. There’s just too damn many to mention. Faron Young was the George Strait of his day.

Johnny Bush ~ Well, damn if “Undo The Right” isn’t one of THE best country songs of all time. I think Johnny Bush was unfairly labeled as a “Ray Price Wanna-Be”, but I think ole Ray loves Johnny’s recordings, too.

Mel Tillis ~ Okay, “Heart Over Mind” with those twin fiddles. He wrote it; he did the best recording of it. And you gotta admit, he was one of the best writers on Music Row. He launched Kenny Rogers’ career with “Ruby”. And he made Webb Pierce the number one artist of his day. This guy wrote some classic songs.

Eddie Rabbitt ~ Eddie Rabbitt is more than just “I Love A Rainy Night”, although I like that one! I bought his first album (and yes, they were albums back then) and my favorite of his is “Two Dollars In The Jukebox”, but of course, I’m a sucker for that honky tonk music. Sadly, Eddie is gone, too.

Marty Robbins ~ Well, okay, Marty deserves a topic of his own. And I’m going to write about him when I feel like I can do it justice. Marty left us in the ’80’s, and probably a lot of younger people don’t know anything about him. These people are FOOLS. I’m gonna save my words for another topic, but let’s just say, for now, “Don’t Worry About Me”.