In the midst of all the sad passings this week, the death of Chet Flippo sadly sank beneath the radar.
An inherent trait of the true country believer is that, if someone outside the country music whirl acknowledges the credence of country music, then it absolutely has to be legit. Country music lovers have long suffered from feelings of inferiority. Chet Flippo wrote most notably for Rolling Stone magazine. He wrote articles about the album, Wanted: The Outlaws. He wrote a lot about Willie Nelson. He contributed to the liner notes for Will The Circle Be Unbroken. He penned words about Waylon Jennings.He wrote a biography of Hank Williams. For a guy who began his career covering Janis Joplin and Keith Richards, Chet probably surprised and confused his colleagues by veering off into the world of country. But, if Chet wrote it, they took it to heart.
Us rubes, who grew weary of defending ourselves against a world that considered itself too way cool could point to Chet Flippo's byline in Rolling Stone and say, see? Chet Flippo likes it!
Eventually, Chet moved on from Rolling Stone. He moved to CMT online, and he wrote a column called Nashville Skyline. I've had a link to Nashville Skyline on this blog forever. I don't know what to do with it now. I think I will just keep it where it is.
Chet, in his Nashville Skyline column, called bullshit bullshit. Chet wasn't namby-pamby. I liked that about him.
I've written about Wanted: The Outlaws before. Truth is, it was a slapped-together album; a sum of its disparate parts. Nobody actually knew that when the album was released, however. Chet saw something in it, though. He no doubt knew its genesis.Chet was no fool.
Tonight, I'm raising a glass of foamy tap beer to the memory of Chet Flippo.
And I'm listening, in his honor, to this:
Rest in peace, Chet Flippo. Who'm I gonna go to now for my fix of country music sanity?
Ever obsess over a song? I do it ~ sometimes. I'm miles removed from actually singing a song...any song; but lately I've had the urge to sing a certain one. And that song is, Dreaming My Dreams. Full disclosure ~ I like three-quarter-time songs. I've said it before, but it's worth repeating ~ three quarter time is like a heartbeat. That's why we're drawn to it. This is such a simple song. It only has three chords. I've written three-chord songs, but they never came out like this. That's what separates the talented wheat from the untalented chaff. That's why I don't even try to write songs anymore. Allen Reynolds, according to Wikipedia, is 75 years old. If I was seventy-five years old, and I knew that I wrote a song this good, I would consider my journey complete.. Multitudes of artists have recorded this song. My favorite is Mark Chesnutt, but obviously, Waylon made a hit of it. Martina McBride, though, did it, too. Rodney and Emmylou did it. Patty Loveless did it. Jamey Johnson did it. The reason they all did it was, a singer can't resist pouring out their heartbreak. If you're not pouring out heartbreak, why even bother singing? Intellectually, I study the lyrics and I think, my, how simple. You know, though, a song is not meant to be heard intellectually. A song is meant to stab you in your heart. There's no explaining it.
I hope that I won't be this wrong anymore
Maybe I've learned this time
I hope that I find what I'm reaching for
The way that it is in my mind
Someday I'll get over you
I'll live to see it all through
But I'll always miss
Dreaming my dreams with you
But I won't let it change me Not if I can.
I'd rather believe in love
And give it away as much as I can
To those that I'm fondest of
Someday I'll get over you.
I'll live to see it all through.
But I'll always miss,
Dreaming my dreams with you
Someday I'll get over you.
I'll live to see it all through.
But I'll always miss,
Dreaming my dreams with you
Entertainment Weekly posed this question after the passing of George Jones: Which artist do you wish you'd seen live before it was too late?
I can giddily say that I"m not very deficient in the concert category. I've seen a whole bunch. I've seen so many that I've forgotten some of them.
I've seen Dwight Yoakam twice. I've seen Marty Stuart. I finally (finally!) got to see George Strait.
I saw artists in their prime, which is the best way to see them: Merle Haggard, George Jones, Buck Owens, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Faron Young, Marty Robbins.
Alan Jackson, Ronnie Milsap, Vince Gill, Gary Stewart (although hardly anyone even, sadly, remembers him), The Oak Ridge Boys, Highway 101, Gordon Lightfoot; Garth Brooks.
Paul McCartney.
Brian Wilson.
I, too, though, have a list of artists I wish I'd seen.
1. THE BEATLES
When John Lennon was killed, I realized my chance would never come. Up until 1980, I'd held out hope that the four lads would reunite; maybe for a final goodbye tour. I've read that their brief foray into live performing was unsatisfying for both the band and the fans. Too much screaming; too little actual sound. A goodbye tour, though, could have been different. More efficiently managed. I think I would have mortgaged my house to buy Beatles tickets. Some bastard put a swift stop to all that, though, didn't he?
2. THE DOORS
Granted, I don't smoke anything besides nicotine cancer sticks; and one probably needs to be smoking something else to fully appreciate a live concert performance by Jim Morrison and the Doors; but wouldn't that have been something to talk about? They all say that Jim Morrison wasn't a good singer, but I don't get that. I think he was as good a singer as anybody; and he most certainly had a stage presence that could not be denied.
3. BUDDY HOLLY
Admittedly, I would have had only a short window of time to see Buddy Holly live, since he died in 1959.And, had I seen him between ages one and four, I may not have had a lucid recollection. I bet the teens, then, though, had a rockin' good time, jitterbugging in the aisle during his concerts.
4. WAYLON JENNINGS
I was what you'd call an early Waylon adapter. Way back in 1967, I thought Waylon Jennings was an undiscovered fruit just waiting to be plucked. Weirdly, it took until about 1975, when Waylon had let his hair grow out, and had visited Willie in Austin a couple or three times, for people to acquire some common sense and notice him. I wasn't keen on the scraggly Waylon, but my son sure liked him showing his hands and not his face on TV, during the Friday night Dukes of Hazzard opening.
5. CHARLIE RICH
As a non-cool kid listening to country radio in the late nineteen sixties, I heard a few records by a guy named Charlie Rich. I liked him. He was soulful; a standout from the regular country fare.
Little did he, or anybody else, know that all it would take was a six-bar piano intro to turn him into a huge star.
Charlie Rich was a bit dangerous. I remember him as a presenter on the CMA Awards, announcing John Denver as Entertainer of the Year; and pulling a cigarette lighter out of his pocket and setting fire to the envelope containing Denver's name. We all felt a bit of catharsis when Charlie did that. I wonder what the hell Charlie would make of somebody like Taylor Swift. Don your hazard-mat suit, Taylor!
6. EDDIE RABBITT
Just because Eddie Rabbitt died young is no reason to forget him. In a short span of time, Eddie created songs that are earworms to this day. Drivin' My Life Away; I Love a Rainy Night. Those were the eighties hits. Eddie Rabbitt, though, had other songs that nobody but country fans would know. Better songs. He was a New Jersey boy who must have aimed his radio antenna toward WSM in Nashville on late school nights; because he sure did get it right.
7. JOHNNY CASH
Nope, I never saw him. But one has to put it all in perspective. Sure, Johnny had a hit TV show starting in, what? 1969? That's when the Man in Black persona took root. Before that, though, Johnny Cash was just a guy who did three-chord songs, backed by a three-piece band; and mostly, all the songs sounded the same. Johnny Cash was famous for who he was; not for what he sang. More power to him.
I still wish I could say I'd seen him live, though. I think (in the recesses of my memory) I actually had the chance to see him live once. I don't know why Alice and I passed up the opportunity. We weren't exactly picky about who we would see. Maybe the fact that even I could strum Folsom Prison Blues on my acoustic guitar led me to an attitude of disdain. I can't speak for Alice.
8. HANK WILLIAMS
Granted, Hank Williams died in 1953; two years before I was born.
That doesn't make me wish any less that I'd seen him in concert, though.
The absolute biggest, best thing that ever happened to country music; when the farmhands were contenting themselves listening to Hank Snow and Red Foley; was Hank Williams.
Finally! Somebody who could write a decent song; and who had the balls to perform it properly!
Yea, I would have liked to see him. I believe he would have put on a hell of a show.
9. PATSY CLINE
I was nine years old when Patsy Cline was killed in a plane crash, and I didn't even know who she was! (Granted, I was a kid.)
I think it must be hard for girl singers. Everybody wants something to aspire to. Something they can do better than anybody else. But when the bar was set about 60 years ago, that has to be disheartening. "No matter how good I do, I'm never gonna be better than Patsy Cline."
Well, sometimes life sucks. And sometimes we have a video record like this:
One would think that I could come up with an even ten; but I honestly can't.
Funny, I never wanted to see Elvis. I guess it was a different generation.
There are performers still alive that I haven't seen; and wish I could. Time's running out, though:
Ray Price
Jerry Lee Lewis
I think maybe I should look at the glass as half full. I've been damn lucky; or I was in the right place at the right time.
I honestly need to appreciate those experiences more.
When my youngest son was 6 months old, I knew the jig was up, and that I would have to go back to work.
It had been a nice sabbatical, if you call toddler/infant duty a sabbatical, but I enjoyed it. I would have been happy to stay home awhile longer. Alas, the checkbook spoke to me and told me otherwise, so off to find a job I scurried.
There was one of those signs along the street in front of our complex, advertising, "Future Site of LaBelle's". And as we drove past it, I announced, "That's where I'm going to work.". The pluses were that it was approximately 3 blocks from my home, and well, that's about it. But I decided that I was going to get a job there.
Did you ever apply for a job for which you had no qualifications whatsoever, but you took what little experience you did have and twisted it into something that looked faintly like what the job required? Well, who hasn't? I had run a cash register at my mom and dad's business, so there you go. Cash register experience. Voila.
I don't know if anybody even remembers LaBelle's Catalog Showroom. It apparently became defunct sometime in the mid-1980's. But for awhile there, it was the thing. It was a forerunner, I guess, of those warehouse stores, but on a much more pitiful scale.
There would be one of each object displayed on the shelves, and people would take one of those little stubby pencils and an order form and write down the item number, hand it to somebody, and the warehouse guys (who were just standing around with nothing much to do) would get right on it.
I worked in the "Will Call" department, which apparently meant that I would "call" people when their order came meandering up on the conveyer belt. Another qualification I had for the job, now that I think about it, was a good speaking voice. Because once the item finally trudged through those leather hanging strips, out to the front of the store, I would grab the little microphone off its wall mounting and announce, "Gary Pompandreaus, your order is ready at register three. Gary Pompandreaus, register three please."
(Now that I think about it, I'm not so sure that everybody loved having everybody else in the store know that they were there, so that they'd all come running up to the cash register, clamoring, "What'd you get?", but that's how LaBelle's rolled.)
And the whole "register three" bit was sort of unnecessary. There were generally two of us working the registers, and therefore, it didn't exactly matter which register somebody strolled up to. We'd ring 'em up, regardless. I wasn't going to be an ass and say to them, "No, I said register three!", and make them move one slot over. Although, in hindsight, it would have been fun to grab that mic again and scold people publicly for their malfeasance.
I liked the job. Sure, it got crazy at Christmas time, but that actually was much more interesting than standing around on a Wednesday night, ringing up a purchase every 20 minutes or so. That could get boring and uncomfortable, seeing as how we had to wear high heels. So more customers meant less time thinking about how much our feet hurt.
I even liked working the "returns" register. Of course, times were different then. Everybody (mostly) was polite, and we had a generous return policy. It made me feel good to make customers happy, by just handing them their money back. It's not like that now, is it? They want you to bring three forms of ID, the original receipt, and heaven forbid if you've (gasp!) opened the package! And then they begrudgingly hand you a slip of paper as "store credit". But customer service is not exactly geared toward the "customer" anymore, is it? They shouldn't even label the counter "Customer Service". They should call it the, "What the hell do you want? You're bothering me!" counter.
At the time I worked at LaBelle's, the cabbage patch doll craze was in full swing. People were nuts about those dolls. I sort of felt out of the loop, being a mother of boys. And sadly, had I wanted one of those grotesque, large-headed babies, I could have had my pick. I could have perused the shelves, picked out whichever cabbage baby was the least ugly, and had it set aside for me. Too bad I wasn't working at LaBelle's when Transformers were popular. I would have saved TONS of money.
Sadly, for me, retail didn't pay worth crap. So, I didn't stay at LaBelle's long. And apparently, LaBelle's didn't stay at LaBelle's long, either. They folded up just a few years after I had moved on. Their marketing concept was quaint, but they couldn't compete with the WalMarts, et al. And really, when you think about it, would you like to stand around waiting for your item to come trudging up a conveyer belt, when you could much more quickly grab your crock pot from a WalMart shelf, and stand in line for 20 minutes, waiting to pay for it?
I don't even know if LaBelle's was a national chain. I'm thinking it probably wasn't. But for those of you who remember the store, here is one of their Christmas commercials (and really, cameras were dang expensive then! I had me one of those SLR's, albeit a Minolta; not a Canon ~ purchased at LaBelle's with my employee discount ~ and I have lost all memory of the usurious amount I paid for that thing! Now, we have digital crappy cameras, that you have to hold two feet from your face in order to focus on whatever object you're trying to snap, and you have little control, and generally, one lens, and you have to pull out your "memory card" and take it to a store and pick out your pics and have them print out, and most of them are throwaways, but dang! Aren't those cameras cheap now!)
But 1979 wasn't just about getting back out into the working world. There was also (country) music.
I have mostly foggy memories of many times of my life, but the music brings it all back. That's what I love about music.
I will say, though, that nobody thought that 1979 country music was worth preserving on video, apparently, because most of it is just not there to share. Maybe 1979 was a throwaway year? I didn't think so.
But here is some of what I could find:
Don Williams ~ Tulsa Time
A haggard-looking Waylon Jennings ~ Amanda
Mel Tillis ~ Coca-Cola Cowboy
Charlie Daniels Band ~ The Devil Went Down To Georgia
T.G. Sheppard ~ Last Cheater's Waltz (sorry for the bad video quality)
Marty Robbins ~ All-Around Cowboy
Emmylou Harris ~ Blue Kentucky Girl (shhh, yes, you and I know that this was a Loretta Lynn song)
Oak Ridge Boys ~ Come On In
Hank Williams, Jr. ~ Family Tradition
(Hank, Jr. was always great at referring to himself in the third person ~ "Ol' Hank". He couldn't quite pull it off like Jerry Lee did, though. I once got up and walked out of a Hank Williams, Jr. concert. Seriously, the only time I ever walked out of a concert. In hindsight, if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't have walked out, but I would have stayed and been really bored.)
The Statler Brothers ~ How To Be a Country Star
Just give me some Jerry Lee Lewis any day (and he can call himself "Ol' Jerry Lee" as much as he wants, Hank.) ~ Rockin' My Life Away
Texas (When I Die) ~ Tanya Tucker
These videos, such as they are, remind me of how seminal 1979 really was in country music. And those are just the videos I could find. I couldn't find Eddie Rabbitt, nor Kenny Rogers, nor Anne Murray, among others.
I never before really put two and two together ~ my re-entry into the working life and my immersion in country radio. But, you know, I had more important things on my mind then.
I distinctly remember, around 1980 or so, desperately searching for some good music. Anything!
1980 was kind of a seminal year for me, because it was shortly after this time that I just finally GAVE UP on country music. I mean, gave up. I think Charley Pride did it. (Thanks, Charley!)
I remember house-sitting for my parents when they took their trip to Vegas. I had my four-year-old, and my two-year-old, and me just hanging around, kind of faux-housecleaning, and tuning the stupid console stereo to the country station, and longing...yes, LONGING for one, just ONE, decent country song.
I had gotten the Thorn Birds from the library, so that was a nice distraction, but something was still missing. And that missing piece was some decent country music.
You see, there was no such thing as DECENT country music in 1980.
You can look back now, and pinpoint some classic songs, but truthfully, if one is honest, it was all Crystal Gayle and Sylvia, and others. And this chart will point the way.
It was a sad, demoralizing time for country music.
I just scrolled through the chart, and I don't even recognize most of these songs. That's how bad it was.
Sure, I can pick out some good ones. But that really doesn't give you the flavor of 1980.
I would hate to be someone who charted in that year, because, well, if you were still doing concerts, you'd have approximately three people show up for your show, and two of them would have been dragged by their wives, just to keep peace in the family.
Country music in 1980 deserved what it got.
I wonder sometimes about cycles in popular music, and what causes them. Is it societal? Does the culture dictate what kind of music is created?
If we're feeling complacent, and not challenged, is the music complacent and unchallenging? The answer must be yes.
But what about music now?
One would think that the times we're living in would create angst and disharmony. Instead, it's blase. Maybe everyone has just given up.
In the sixties, everyone was ticked off. They were all mad about the war and about this and that, or at least they pretended to be mad, when they weren't prancing around with flowers in their hair. And look at the music of the sixties. It was great!
1980? I don't know. I'm thinking, we were at the tail end of that "long malaise" that the guy in the White House told us we were in. Way to buck everybody up, there, Jimmy! Such inspiring words!
And thus, the music on the radio was still malaise-ackal, as well. The music said, "Really, we just don't care. Don't listen to us ~ we're hideous! Just like the economy!"
Amazingly, after 1980, the music started looking up! Coincidence? I think not.
The nineteen eighties were really some of the best times country music has ever seen. If you don't believe me, check out these songs and artists.
So, maybe if things get better, the music will get better? There's always hope.
Like I said earlier, you can pick out the good songs from any year, even a crummy one. And that's what I'm going to do.
I don't feel like depressing myself, or you, and as you know, my motto is, music should be fun.
So, no Sylvia; no Crystal; no Charley Pride (sorry, Charley).
EDDIE RABBITT
THE OAK RIDGE BOYS
MERLE HAGGARD Sorry about the re-route. I don't know what's up with that, but at least this video works!
One of the best country voices EVER ~ GENE WATSON
EMMYLOU HARRIS
Sorry, no performance video available of this song, but I still feel it needs to be included:
JOHN ANDERSON
RONNIE MILSAP
It's becoming an unfortunate pattern that I am not finding performance videos of some of the best songs of 1980, but to leave them out would be unthinkable:
ROY ORBISON & EMMYLOU HARRIS
I honestly didn't even remember that this song charted on the country charts in 1980, because this isn't a country song. Is it? Yes, to me, it's an homage to Roy Orbison, so I guess, since Roy charted on the country charts, why not JD SOUTHER? Plus, I love this song! So, fine by me!
My son probably wouldn't admit it, but he was obsessed with this TV show in 1980. Remember, he was four.
So, we had to rush home on Friday nights (from Happy Joe's Pizza Parlor) to tune in to CBS to watch Bo and Luke. This was one of the worst shows I was ever forced to watch (ha!), but I did it for my kid.
By the way, my son, Chris, thought the sheriff's name was Roscoe PEE-Co-Train, when, in fact, it was Roscoe P. Coltraine. I'm sure he knows the difference now.
Here is WAYLON JENNINGS (at least here are his hands):
(Note to YouTube posters ~ you can "disable embedding by request" all you want. One can find ANYTHING on the internet. It wasn't hard, really. And by the way, who is requesting that you disable embedding? CBS? This show was 32 years ago, for God's sake! Do you (CBS) think someone is going to steal your "intellectual property"? C'mon).
So, here we are. The best songs from a bad, bad year in country music.
Yes, you think, well, these are pretty good! Sure! I cherry-picked them! Just check out my Wikipedia link to see all the bad ones! You know, ten songs, out of all the records released in a year, is a woefully bad percentage.
WOEFULLY bad.
Just trust me on this ~ it was a bad year. I was there.
Yes, I know what you're thinking. Aren't you forgetting one, oh Sage?
No, I didn't forget it.
Here's the deal. When anybody says, "This is the best song EVER. The best song that mankind ever created", well, I kind of bristle at that. The truth is, there is no such thing as the best song ever. There could be a best song today. A best song that you like a whole lot, because you heard it on the radio when you were driving to work, and you forgot how much you liked it, but now you think you should get home and download it, because it's the best song EVER. At least, that's how you feel today. Tomorrow, there will be a new best song.
So, I like Bobby Braddock's and Curly Putman's writing a lot. They wrote a ton of classic country songs.
And this is a good song. No doubt. But is it the best country song ever? No.
Because there is no such thing.
But no, I'm not going to leave out GEORGE JONES.
So, eleven. Eleven good songs from 1980. And you could quibble about whether a couple of them are even country songs. That's a bad average.
I guess, though, you could take any year and dissect it, and find that there weren't a whole lot of good songs. But music is meant to be taken in its entirety. Our brains don't sort songs by year (leave that job to me ~ ha).
I do find it interesting, however, that when you take even a bad year like 1980, the usual suspects pop up ~ the classic artists ~ Merle, Gene, Emmylou, Ronnie, George, Roy (of course), Waylon. There aren't any one-hit wonders (and JD Souther, by the way, wrote some classic songs for the Eagles, so no, he's not a one-hit wonder, either).
Do you know Rodney Crowell? Well, you damn sure should.
This guy is like some kind of savant. Which just proves my point; it's nature; not nurture.
I read Chinaberry Sidewalks, and I unequivocally recommend it! But how this guy, with this kind of childhood, became Rodney Crowell (okay, he always was Rodney Crowell, but you know what I mean) is utterly fascinating.
The first time I even became aware of Rodney was through Emmylou Harris's album, Elite Hotel. To wit:
And then this guy's name kept coming up.
Like here:
And again, here:
Here, too:
And here, he popped up again!
But it really wasn't until 1988 that it began to sink in for me who Rodney Crowell really was. That's because my radio started playing songs such as these:
And these:
And, Lord, this one:
Do you remember when you got your first CD player? After all those years of messing around with LP's? And all the cursing and hair-pulling that went along with them?
Well, I do.
I guess that dates me, but so be it. I vaguely recall buying a CD player, but I distinctly recall getting a gift certificate from my sister for a free CD, and this is the one I bought (my very first CD):
Ah, Rodney. You hold an honored place in my memory of all things consequential, from buying the album, Elite Hotel, to buying my first ever CD.
That CD also had this one:
And now I don't even play CD's. Well, that shows you how time marches on. But that doesn't negate the fact that you have garnered an honored place in the history of my life.
But, CD players aside, Rodney kept keeping on.
I don't know how Rodney manages to break hearts, but he does.
THIS is what sets country apart. I don't really care if you like or don't like country music. Maybe it's too real for most people to handle. I don't know. But you know, life happens, whether one wants to deny it or not.
And it takes nothing less than a genius to deliver that to us.
Much like this:
And, finally, say what you will about Tim McGraw, but he knows how to pick good songs. This song is ultimately heartrending, as are the comments on the YouTube page. THIS is what makes a great songwriter. The comments on this page.
"Essential" means different things to different people. If one is a music critic, the list will include the usual suspects ("Red Headed Stranger", "Will The Circle Be Unbroken", anything by Gram Parsons or Johnny Cash; you get my drift).
If one discovered "country music" in the 21st century, the list would be, well, sad. To generalize. Which I'm famous for doing.
In Part One, I kind of sifted through my music collection and made my choices by "feel". Which isn't actually a bad way to go, because what do we do, if not "feel" music?
And, in Part Deux, I'm going to continue along that path. I could intellectualize the whole thing, but what fun is that? Kind of takes the soul right out of the music, doesn't it, music critics?
In the late hour and in my zeal to create List Number One, I realize now that I made a really big gaffe.
This FOUR-DISC set is currently selling for only $35.97 on Amazon. That's only $8.99 per disc! A bargain, to be sure.
One could try to isolate the best of the best of Merle Haggard (another actual CD title) by choosing only one of Merle's albums, but why do that, when you can have basically his entire career, all in one inexpensively priced box set?
If a listener is starting out "new" to country music, this is THE place to start. In fact, it kind of starts and ends with this guy.
Highlights? Well, gee, this set contains ONE HUNDRED Haggard recordings, so let's see.....
We can start with the early days and "Sing Me A Song" or "(I'm a Lonesome) Fugitive" or the classic, "Sing Me Back Home".
We can move on to the middle years, with one of the all-time greatest country songs ever, "(Today) I Started Loving You Again", or "Mama Tried" or "Silver Wings" or "Workin' Man Blues" or "If We Make It Through December" or "Always Wanting You" or "Runnin' Kind", or one of my other personal favorites, "Everybody's Had The Blues".
We can move on to the third portion of the trifecta, with "Footlights" or "Misery and Gin" or "Big City", or the Townes Van Zandt song, "Pancho and Lefty".
You see? It's kinda hard to choose.
So, yes, I'm an idiot for leaving this off Part One. I guess, if you don't buy any of my other recommendations, buy this one, and I'll be thrilled for you.
While only a two-disc set, this is a bargain at any cost. And the cost happens to be $24.98 on Amazon (or $12.49 per disc, my calculator tells me).
The original Nashville Rebel, Waylon, from all I read, could be a bit of a hell-raiser and an overall less-than-nice dude. Doesn't matter. In 1967, Waylon hooked me with Love of the Common People (not included in this two-disc set).
What is included in this set are songs such as, "The Chokin' Kind", "Only Daddy That'll Walk The Line", the beautiful "Yours Love", the equally beautiful "Dreaming My Dreams (With You)", "Brown Eyed Handsome Man", "Rainy Day Woman", and "Good Hearted Woman" (and that's just disc one).
Disc two has the ever-overplayed "Luckenbach, Texas", "Wurlitzer Prize", "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies...."......well, you know the rest; the lovely "Amanda", Waylon and Jessi's duet version of "Storms Never Last", and, the never to be forgotten, "Theme From The Dukes of Hazzard" (and if I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: They keep a'showin' my hands, but not my face on TV.)
Seriously, Waylon ranks right up there in the pantheon. Which is kind of a cool word that one doesn't get to use much in everyday conversation. Yes, the pantheon of country music legends.
One can't really call Patsy Cline a "girl", though. It would be more accurate to call her a "dame".
And, well, wow! Since 1963, when Patsy perished in a tragic plane crash, girl singers have been trying to become "dames" like her, and unfortunately, (in my opinion, of course) only one came even slightly close. But they keep trying!
Beginning with the haunting, "Walkin' After Midnight", and continuing on to the soulful "Leavin' On Your Mind" and "I Fall To Pieces", to the unquestionably top twenty (or is it ten?) of all-time best country songs, written by Willie Nelson, "Crazy", this album will introduce novices to the only queen that country music really ever had.
Don't forget Patsy's version of Bob Wills' "Faded Love" (with that cry at the end) or Don Gibson's "Sweet Dreams".
It's sad that we lost Patsy so prematurely. If she were still alive today, she'd be recording "alternative country" albums, which we would have to find in the bargain bins of our independent records stores; and she wouldn't get any press, of course. But at least those who know would still have that voice.
$4.97? Really? For Randy Travis's seminal album? Who could afford NOT to buy it?
Released in 1986, this album was a revelation to those who cherished, but dearly missed, real country music.
Here was a guy who obviously loved country, and who had the pipes to pull it off. Not to mention some classic songs.
"On The Other Hand"? Classic.
How about one of my other top twenty country songs of all time, "1982"? That song alone is worth $4.97 in my book. If you care to read a fan's dissertation regarding the genius of "1982", just go here.
Some people love him; some people don't get him. I am in the camp of "love him". If you want to read my take on Marty Robbins, click here.
I'll admit; I'm puzzled by those who don't get him, because it seems obvious to me. But tastes are tastes.
Maybe it's because he had such an expansive vocal range. Maybe people are used to the monotoned folks of today. I guess it's all conditioning, isn't it?
But if you think that Marty is irrelevant, check this out:
So, if a now, happenin' guy like Keith Urban can get on board with Marty Robbins' music, maybe you should, too.
Missing from Keith's performance is the classic, groundbreaking, Don't Worry. Groundbreaking? Yea. Marty inadvertently gave birth to the fuzz guitar LONG before the Beatles ever did it.
There are a lot of pretenders to Patsy Cline's throne. No one comes very close. Tammy Wynette comes the closest.
Donald Eugene Lytle (aka Johnny Paycheck) wrote Tammy's first hit song, "Apartment #9" (and I love that hatchmark for "number", don't you? Gives it sort of a cache all its own).
Tammy, of course, only went on to bigger and more hit-worthy songs from there. We won't really spend any time on "Stand By Your Man". It is what it is. It was good the first 200 times. After that, I was pretty much over it.
But don't forget "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad" or "My Elusive Dreams" (with David Houston) or "I Don't Wanna Play House", or another of my top twenty of all time, "'Til I Can Make It On My Own".
Like Patsy, we lost Tammy too soon. Someone may come along one day like Patsy or Tammy. It could happen. I'm just not holding my breath.
Chet Atkins (God rest his soul) takes a lot of heat, to this day, for the Countrypolitan sound that he made famous.
Sure, sometimes it worked; sometimes it didn't.
Here, it worked.
Maybe it took a class act to pull it off. Ray Price is a class act.
At the age of 83, Ray is still touring, and still sounds good! What the heck more can you ask of someone who's 83?
My mom really loved Ray Price; and I think my parents owned maybe two LP's in the early years. One was by Buck Owens. The other was "Burning Memories". Thus, I pretty much have this album memorized, track order and all. But aside from sentimental reasons, you should listen to this album, if for no other reason, than to hear "Here Comes My Baby Back Again", a song written by Dottie West, and done superbly here by Ray Price.
After my dad passed away, I sat in my room and listened to Ray sing "Soft Rain" over and over. "Soft rain was falling when you said goodbye". Actually, rather than being sad, this is a happy memory for me. I think my dad was there listening with me.
Put this CD on your player and sit back and reflect. Really, there are no clunkers here. Every track is a gem.
I don't know about you, but I like my country with a shuffle beat and a couple of twin fiddles. Call me crazy.
Faron Young initially made his splash recording for Capitol Records. His early recording years produced songs such as, Alone With You and If You Ain't Lovin' (You Ain't Livin'), later covered by George Strait.
But it was in his Mercury Records years that Faron, to me, really hit his stride.
Classic tracks, such as "Wine Me Up" and "Step Aside" co-mingled with Kris Kristofferson's "Your Time's Comin'". My sentimental favorite here is a song written by Tom T. Hall, called, "If I Ever Fall In Love (With A Honky Tonk Girl)".
And let's not forget, "It's Four In The Morning".
If you've forgotten, or don't even know Faron Young, you're forgetting the history of country music. Faron was relevant in the fifties, and he became even more relevant in the seventies. Faron was a contemporary (and friend) of Hank Williams, and he was a friend to songwriters throughout his many decades of recording.
Surprise! An artist NOT from the fifties, sixties, seventies, or even the eighties!
Why did I include this?
Well, because it's TIMELESS.
Martina normally may be kind of boxed into recording songs that will get radio play, but obviously, her heart is with TRUE country music.
Seems to me that this is a real labor of love, because Martina includes many songs here that made my personal list of the twenty all-time best country songs. So, I guess she has good taste! Songs like, "Love's Gonna Live Here" and "'Til I Can Make It On My Own". And she even dusted off that seventies Lynn Anderson chestnut, "Rose Garden", and it actually sounds kinda cool!
My favorites on this album, however, are lesser-known (or more accurately, forgotten) hits, such as "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down" and "I Don't Hurt Anymore".
And she does a killer version of Buddy Holly's "True Love Ways".
If you think you might, sorta, like older country music, but you like it jazzed up a bit with a more modern sound, buy this! You'll get a crash course in country music history, and you will love it!
So, there you go. My list of essential CLASSIC country albums.
I think it's important to not forget. Most of these guys (and gals) are the reason there even IS something called country music (although it would be a stretch to even remotely connect the two now).
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.
1975 was a weird year for the CMA's. Actually, it was just a weird year, period. Everybody watched their hard-earned savings go down the drain; the US was in a recession; gas prices were high. The President (Ford) thought the way to get the country back on track was to have everyone slap on a "WIN" button (Whip Inflation Now). Flash forward to 2008. Oh wait, I thought we were talking about 2008.
And, of course, we had a presidential campaign going on. Just like now.
And just like now, the music of 1975 sort of sucked.
In 1975, country music was stuck in a rut. The CMA vote-counters, I'm sure, were just as flummoxed as everyone else. Everybody was getting tired of handing out the same old trophies to the same old people, but there just weren't too many bright spots on the horizon. Things needed to change, to light a spark under the record-buying public, but instead, Nashville was offering up the same girl singers in their same Little House on the Prairie dresses, with their same three-chord songs about the no-good man that done them wrong.
If there were new acts being signed, they sure didn't seem to get promoted. A few newcomers hit the charts now and then, but it happened in spite of Nashville, not because of it.
The powers-that-be in the country music business probably had that tired attitude that said this stuff is good, and we're not changing it. You know, sort of like some old tired music blogger who's always talking about how the country music of the nineties was so much better.
But, in spite of themselves, the promoters and movers 'n shakers in Nashville knew that something needed to be done. So, this is what they came up with:
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
John Denver
Okay, this isn't what would spring to MY mind immediately, if I was looking for a fresh voice for country music. And this isn't even country music. It's folk. And even today, 33 years later, this still sort of sucks.
I now remember why I used to hate John Denver.
And this, coupled with Olivia Newton-John's win the year prior, was what got the old timers in country music all riled up, and led them to create their own organization. (I think that lasted about one or two years). And they gave all their awards to Grandpa Jones, even female vocalist of the year, and he was sort of p.o.'d about that.
So, like the industry folks of 1975, you can see I'm torn. I hated John Denver and all the sappy crap that he stood for, but I also didn't think that Grandpa deserved awards, either (nothing against Grandpa).
If I, and everyone else, was looking for something a bit more exciting to get behind in 1975, this was pretty good:
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Waylon Jennings
(And you notice in this video, they kept a'showin' his hands, but not his face on TV; at least not right away.)
Can you picture the scene backstage, when Waylon ran into John Denver?
"Hey there, little snot-nosed creep. How ya doin'?"
"Um, fine, Mr. Jennings. Thanks for letting me be here."
"Wadn't my idea, son. If it was up to me, I'd rather just shoot ya."
"Thanks, Mr. Jennings! I've gotta go now. I think I need to clean my wire-rims."
"Get the hell outta here, boy!"
So, there you have it. The yin and the yang, shall we say, of 1975. The schizophrenia that permeated the confines of the Ryman Auditorium.
I wish I could say that there were a bunch more surprises that year, but there weren't.
The FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR award went to Dolly Parton for this little song, that, if anyone remembers correctly, didn't do much on the charts. Who knew that Dolly would eventually end up earning one BAZILLION dollars in royalties for it? Lucky!
The SINGLE OF THE YEAR was awarded to Freddy Fender for this song, which is sweet, and has the added bonus of being the first CMA award given to a Hispanic performer (although Johnny Rodriguez surely deserved something for "Pass Me By").
The ALBUM OF THE YEAR went to Ronnie Milsap for "A Legend In My Time". I've already posted the video of this song before, so I thought I'd go with something different this time around.
Just as a postscript, however, I did have this album, and it was good. Country, for the longest time, didn't really know what to do with albums. They'd basically slap on a hit or two, and fill up the rest with cover songs. Ronnie didn't do that. He found some songs that nobody had yet recorded, which was refreshing. And it was a fun album.
This song was recorded long after 1975, but I just like it:
The VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR was the Statler Brothers.......again. Sorry, but I'm just running out of videos of these guys. So, I thought (in the hopes that they don't keep winning, simply for the fact that I'm reaching the end of my video-search capabilities) that I would post a video of their alter-egos, Lester Moran & the Cadillac Cowboys. Enjoy.
CONWAY and LORETTA won for VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR yet again. I've run out of videos, so if you want to see them in concert, please check my previous posts. Not to be cavalier, but the available videos on YouTube are quite limited.
For a refreshing change of pace, JOHNNY GIMBLE won the INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR award. Johnny goes waaaaay back to the Bob Wills days, and I think he's the best fiddler to ever grace the world of country music.
Here's a video that also features Suzy Bogguss and Chet Atkins.
INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Roy Clark & Buck Trent
Well, I remember Buck Trent when he was one of Porter's Wagonmasters. He gave Porter that distinctive sound. But, as time moved on, so did Buck, and he evenutally teamed up with Roy Clark, and I guess they did some recordings. Not that YouTube could attest to that, because I couldn't find any videos of the two of them in performance together.
This was the best I could find, and I don't know what the setting of this was, but I think it was a gathering of the old folks at home.....the nursing home.
It's sort of disturbing, in a way, to see how all these folks have aged, but hey, they seem to be having a good time, so good for them! Anyway, Roy is in the audience, and Buck (I barely recognize him) is front and center as the ladies of the Opry sing this old chestnut. I didn't know that was Norma Jean, but Jeannie Seely still looks remarkably good! And there's Bill "I'm still winning songwriting awards" Anderson in the audience, along with Little Jimmy Dickens, Johnny Bush, Jim Ed Brown, and a bunch of other people who are apparently a shell of their former selves, because I have no idea who they are, but they must have been somebody at one time.
SONG OF THE YEAR
"Back Home Again" - John Denver
Obviously, this is a (much) later performance of this song, but I actually don't hate it! It's a pretty good one!
So, John definitely had it in him to do good songs. It's just that that "Sunshine" song was such a loser. But this one I like.
COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME
Minnie Pearl
I think she was a nice lady. And boy, what a legacy. She was probably the first female in country music who made you stand up and take notice. She wasn't going to fade into the woodwork, like a pair of red velvet drapes. She was out there! Yelling, "HOWWWW-DEEEEE!" And I bet if you saw her, you didn't forget her. She was out there, traveling in a wood-paneled station wagon with Hank Williams and Faron Young, with the bass fiddle strapped to the top. She had ultimate confidence.
And her induction was well deserved.
The videos available of Minnie aren't many. But here's one from a George Burns special, that'll give you the essence of Minnie Pearl.
So, there you go. 1975. Where the past met the.......future? Where a legend like Waylon stood on the same stage with a legend like John Denver........two completely incompatible artists. But they came together in a truly strange year for country music.
