The CMA Awards - What's New In 1982!

I don't like to prejudice you right off the bat, but welcome to one of the most boring awards years ever!

Yes, 1982. I think people were feeling kind of apathetic. "Oh, just pick someone. We don't really care."

And, in scanning the news events of the year, it appears that nothing really happened.

Even in pop culture, things looked bleak. The most popular TV shows were horrid - empty calories, to be sure: Dynasty, Dallas, Falcon Crest, The Love Boat, Magnum, PI, The A Team:



Popular music? Ish. Here are some of the hit songs: Ebony and Ivory, Abracadabra (I wanna reach out and grab ya), I Can't Go For That (oh no - no can do!), I Love Rock and Roll (which is basically the title repeated over and over).

The movies were atrocious. If it hadn't been for E.T., I think everyone would have just stayed home and watched The Love Boat.

So, that kind of tells you what's coming, in the world of the CMA awards.

To start things off, CHET ATKINS was named INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR for the thousandth time. Again, who doesn't love Chet Atkins? But I'm thinkin' there were some other guys around, playing instruments, too.

The VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR once again were DAVID FRIZZELL and SHELLY WEST. As I mentioned in my 1981 post, there are no videos available of David and Shelly performing. Now, seeing as how one can find pretty much anything they could ever dream of on YouTube, I just have this nagging suspicion that there's some kind of legal stuff involved with the "no videos" situation.

But, two can play at that game.

If we can't have David and Shelly, then let's go with the relatives. First, here's Mom:



Despite the hair, this is still one of the best country songs ever (and Dottie wrote it).

And now - David's brother:



Wow, one of Merle Haggard's heroes - can you tell? I never realized just HOW similar their voices are. Hearing this (and not seeing it), I would be hard-pressed to tell if it was Lefty or Merle.

So, the lack of David/Shelly videos actually opened up an opportunity for me to post some superior performances. Ha ha! I win again!

The INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR and VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR were once again ALABAMA. The introduction to this video states 1983, but this song was released in 1982 - I looked it up. With introductions by two of my all-time faves, Tammy Wynette and Ray Stevens, here's Mountain Music:



Some great fiddling by Jeff Cook!

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR was awarded to someone new this time - JANIE FRICKE.

An interesting fact about Janie is that she began her career as a background singer in Nashville. During that period, she recorded an uncredited vocal part for a single released by Johnny Duncan, "Stranger" (written by Kris Kristofferson). Nobody knew who the female singer was, and there was a bunch of speculation about who it could be. (Hers was, to me, the best part of the recording). This event led to Janie's solo recording career. Again, there is no video of this song, but here's a nice picture of a radio to look at while you listen to it:



And here's the actual Janie, in person:



It's relatively easy to wrap up three categories at once; those being SINGLE OF THE YEAR, ALBUM OF THE YEAR, and SONG OF THE YEAR.

Ya gotta love Willie. He's just a likeable guy. Watching him perform, you just feel relaxed (as is Willie from......well, you know).

So, Willie scored big at the 1982 awards, as did writers Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher, and Mark James, with:

ALWAYS ON MY MIND - Single of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year

(How many writers does it take to write a hit song? Insert your own punch line here.)



Kind of an interesting development in 1982 was that the person who won the HORIZON AWARD (for best newcomer) also won the MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR award. I guess his career was on a fast track!

Well, this guy has had quite a career, and to think it all started with the Horizon Award. Ricky is a bluegrass artist at heart, but he managed to co-mingle bluegrass and country and shake up country music a bit.

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR - RICKY SKAGGS

(This is one of them new-fangled "music videos". Sorry I couldn't find any older live performances by Ricky, so this'll have to do.)



That leads us, of course, to the big event of the evening, ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR.

I'll just say right now, I blew it by posting their "better" song already above, but since I want to stay chronologically correct, here's a song that was released in 1981, just in time for the 1982 awards.

Don't worry - they had A BUNCH of other songs, and won A BUNCH of other awards in years to come, so there'll be more opportunities to watch:

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR - ALABAMA


COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME

There were three inductees in 1982. I think the CMA figured they'd better start playing catch-up, and fast.

Roy Horton

This whole CMA blogging thing has given me an education in the roots of country music, since I am unfamiliar with some of these names. For example, Roy Horton.

Roy started his career around 1939, as a bass player. He backed up a guy called Red River Dave (not to be confused with my Red River Dave).

In the 1940's he became a promoter with Peer-Southern Music, and helped to promote the careers of artists such as Jimmie Rodgers, The Carter Family, Bill Monroe, among many others.

Here's some rare (and very cool) footage of Jimmy Rodgers (another of Merle's heroes, by the way), singing, "Waiting For A Train" :



Lefty Frizzell

I swear, I had no idea when I posted a video of Lefty above, that he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1982. Weird coincidence!

Lefty recorded many, many classic songs. For some reason, he's not well remembered, except by the likes of Merle Haggard. And I'm not sure why.

He obviously had a huge influence on other artists (notice in this video how George Jones apparently picked up a few style pointers).

I'm thoroughly enjoying watching videos of Lefty, and while this one is of really poor quality (from an early, early Porter Wagoner Show performance), it's still a lot of fun to see:



Here's one more:



Lefty died at the very young age of 47 in 1975, after a hard-lived life. That happens a lot to true artists. The ones who make it "to December" (like Merle), I think are basically just lucky.

Marty Robbins

Well, gee. I wrote a whole long blog post about Marty Robbins awhile back, because you can't write about Marty in a couple of sentences. If you want to read my post about Marty, click here (and then scroll up, because for whatever reason, the links always land you at the bottom of the post! It's aggravating.)

So, all I can really say is that when I watch videos of Marty, I realize once again what we lost when Marty passed away. He was only 57.

Marty was also a hero of Merle's, so somehow these posts tend to develop a continuity all their own.

Here's Marty, as only Marty can be:



So, there you go; 1982. If it hadn't been for the Hall of Fame inductees, it would have been a relatively boring year.

But we always manage to find something fun, and this time was no exception.

CMA Awards - 1979

We've done it! We've gotten to the last of the seventies! I've never spent so much time reliving the seventies since.....since, well, when I was actually living the seventies.

Luckily (or unluckily, as the case may be), we've got a movie to reference as we stumble through the year that was 1979.

What movie, you ask? Oh, how easily we forget!



Yes, kids, 1979 was the year of Urban Cowboy! Yee-haw! And the CMA awards certainly bear that out!

(I'm using exclamation points because Urban Cowboy music was lame!)

But, to be fair, the Urban Cowboy Soundtrack had a lot of good music on it. After all, there were the Eagles, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Walsh (as a solo), Bob Seger, Boz Scaggs; a lot of good stuff. The problem was, all we ever got to hear on the radio was that damn "Looking For Love"! And it wasn't even a good song to begin with!

When I say that Urban Cowboy music was lame, I'm referring more to the whole mindset, rather than to the soundtrack itself.

But this guy coming up and his band are good; real good, so here we go..............

Let's start with the INSTRUMENTALIST and INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR. Yes, this guy was on the Urban Cowboy Soundtrack!

He also had the SINGLE OF THE YEAR, and this was actually good!

So, three awards in 1979 for the Charlie Daniels Band!

Oh, before I forget to mention it, the single of the year was "The Devil Went Down To Georgia"!



Oh, and this guy was on the soundtrack, although not with his duet partner:

VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR

Kenny Rogers & Dottie West (again)



Not to mention that he also won MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR, ALBUM OF THE YEAR, and he recorded the SONG OF THE YEAR (written by Don Schlitz). I think some of that old Urban Cowboy magic must have rubbed off on him!

The Gambler



I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, man, Kenny must be sick of singing that song! I agree! I think he got so sick of singing that song, that his eyes dropped out of his head, so therefore he had to have that weird cosmetic eye surgery, and now he looks like a space alien! All thanks to "The Gambler!"

Guess who won VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR! Not the Oak Ridge Boys! (Wow, their reign was rather short-lived!)

No, wrestling the statuette away from the ORB (they're wiry, but they're strong!) were the Statler Brothers!

Yes, they're back! Here's a cute song they released around this time, and, boy, is it a time capsule of the seventies or what! All the names they reference in this song were straight out of the 1970 - 1979 CMA's! Here's, "How To Be A Country Star":



FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

Barbara Mandrell

Well, this is the first of (sigh) many, many awards for Barbara (just wait for the eighties!) I like Barbara! It's just that, well, she started winning over and over and over again, and she started getting really fakey and patronizing in her acceptance speeches.

Sort of like, "If it wasn't for you, the dear, sweet fans out there, I couldn't have accomplished this remarkable feat. I'm very humbled....and proud.......yes, that's it. Humbled and proud. I promise to work very diligently this coming year, so that, the lord willing, I will have this wonderful, and may I say, surprising honor bestowed upon me once again. Let us pray."

I think the association members finally stopped voting for her because they just couldn't stand the sight of her anymore.

Be that as it may, I still like Barbara. And here's a cute performance from earlier in her career. (notice how the word "cute" pops up every time we talk about Barbara Mandrell?) Well, she was cute. Like a Barbie Doll.

Here's "Show Me":



That brings us to ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR.

Well, here's a guy that just keeps goin' and goin'. He's still out there doing his one-night stands. Still recording songs with every person, male or female, who ever, even one time in their lives, released a record. He's an interesting guy and a great songwriter and a perserverer. Who is it? Who else?

Willie Nelson



COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME

Hubert Long

Sure, you don't know who he is, do you? Well, I didn't either, although I'd heard his name before. Turns out Hubert Long was a talent promoter and a music publisher. He at one time worked for Decca Records, and later for RCA Victor. He promoted Eddy Arnold. He signed both Webb Pierce and Faron Young to management contracts. And he was a founding member of the Country Music Association, so you'd think it wouldn't have taken them so long to recognize him. But I guess they weren't playing favorites.

Hank Snow

Well, you do know who Hank Snow is, right? Man, this guy started recording in 1949 and continued through to 1980! That's a long career! Hank was from Canada, which may explain his unusual voice. And they say that Webb Pierce sang "nasally"! Admittedly, Hank's voice is an acquired taste, but he had some big hit records, and here's one of them (and take notes, Lynn Anderson!)



Here's the one he's most famous for (and in this video, he introduces it as a new song!)



So, there you have it! Not only 1979, but we've gotten through the seventies!

And I've used more exclamation points in this post than I've ever used in my life! I hate exclamation points!

I wonder what the eighties will bring. I never cheat and look ahead, but I'm optimistic!

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.

Blast From The Past - Top Country Hits of 1978 - 30 Years Ago!

I had some good luck with the top hits from 50 years ago, so let's see if my luck continues.

I am not a huge fan of the seventies, music-wise, or I guess, culture-wise in general. But I'm hoping that the music will not disappoint.

So, let's take a look at some of the top hits from 1978.

As always, we like to start things off on a high note, so here is:

DON WILLIAMS - TULSA TIME


Don Williams may be the "Perry Como" of country music. You know, that old SCTV skit, with Perry Como so laid back that he's lying on the stage singing into his microphone.

But talent is as talent does, or some other mangled cliche. If you're as good a singer as Don Williams, I guess you don't need to jump around the stage. You just have to sing.

And now for something completely different:

JOHNNY PAYCHECK - TAKE THIS JOB AND SHOVE IT


Here's Johnny, in all his orange sartorial splendor, singing the timeless song that has inspired millions of people to repeat the song title on a daily basis.

To me, the title is actually better than the song itself. I'm not knocking Johnny Paycheck, because I am a fan. It's just that Johnny had better songs than this one.

And you'd think he could have afforded to replace that missing tooth. But maybe not.

WAYLON JENNINGS (MINUS WILLIE) - MAMAS, DON'T LET YOUR BABIES GROW UP TO BE COWBOYS


What a treat it is to see Waylon again.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a video of Waylon and Willie together doing this number, but this video is quite good! The sound quality is excellent.

I'm currently reading the biography of Willie, and I highly recommend it. I'm only about halfway through right now, and I'll be slapping up a review of it, once I'm finished, but, of course, Waylon is featured prominently in the book.

But to be honest, if we're talking "outlaws", Johnny Paycheck's got them all beat to hell. Just search the net for his prison record. I'm just sayin'.

Speaking of Willie, here is:

WILLIE NELSON - BLUE SKIES


I'm an admirer of Willie's singing style, but I'll admit, it had to grow on me. I used to HATE his voice. It's not a "country" voice. Let's just call it "country jazz". How's that?

And this is not a quibble at all, but have you noticed that the songs that were hits for Willie were almost exclusively remakes of old songs? I mean, you know, Willie actually wrote some pretty decent songs all on his own.

Not to leave out the women, here's:

BARBARA MANDRELL - SLEEPIN' SINGLE IN A DOUBLE BED


I can't tell you how much I HATE this song. This song represents everything that was wrong with 1970's country music.

Don't get me wrong. I actually LIKE Barbara. But not THIS song. Good lord, no.

I'm sorry it cuts off before it's done. Or AM I??

Now back to real country music. This isn't my favorite song by this duo, but it's still far superior to SSIADB (the Mandrell song).

THE KENDALLS - SWEET DESIRE


As much as I like Jeannie Kendall, I still can't quite reconcile her unusual wardrobe choices. She dresses worse than Johnny Paycheck!

But I like this song, and it, in some ways, captures that bluegrass sound that Jeannie does so well.

I like this next song. It's infinitely better than SSIADB. I'm just surprised it hit it big on the country charts. I mean, in 1978. Of course, it would (might?) hit it big on the country charts now. I wonder, though. Maybe it's too good.

BONNIE TYLER - IT'S A HEARTACHE


And I always wondered what Bonnie looked like! Maybe I knew at one time, but I forgot.

Bonnie must be the only example of a singer who had vocal problems that actually helped her career.

Here's one of my favorites. Because he has style. And attitude.

JERRY LEE LEWIS - MIDDLE AGED CRAZY


Oh, one of the greats of country music is coming up next. I've said it before, but it bears repeating. As far as entertainers are concerned, he's pretty tough to beat:

MARTY ROBBINS - RETURN TO ME


Here we get an added bonus, "Beyond The Reef".

I could watch Marty all day. Notice how he has the crowd in the palm of his hand.

Someday, I'm going to just post a bunch of Marty videos, and sit back and enjoy.

Well, dang. The only decent video I could find of this song is not embeddable. So, here's a link. This is (easily) one of the best songs from 1978, so I just couldn't leave it out.

JOHN CONLEE - ROSE-COLORED GLASSES
Rose-Colored Glasses

Here's a singer who's cool in any decade. This song has a special meaning to me, because I have a recording of my best friend, Alice, singing this song. Alice is singing with the house band in heaven now.

EMMYLOU HARRIS - TO DADDY


Again, we have Willie. Craggy Willie. Doing a song written by Johnny Bush. No offense, Willie. I really do usually prefer your versions of songs, but I like Johnny Bush's version better. And Johnny wrote it. You kind of absconded with it, and now people think you wrote it.

It's a matter of taste, really. But to be perfectly honest, if I hadn't heard Johnny's version of the song, I'd kind of think the song sucked. No offense.

WILLIE NELSON - WHISKEY RIVER



I'll just end this reminiscince of 1978 with one of the hottest acts of that year:

THE OAK RIDGE BOYS - YOU'RE THE ONE


You might not recognize William Lee Golden without his long, flowing beard, but that's really him!

Duane Allen, of course, looks like your everyday boy next door, while Richard Sterban is trying to come across as a sex symbol (no offense, Richard, but it just looks really cheesy, especially with that slapping tambourine). Not to neglect Joe Bonsall and his afro.

So, there you have it. 1978. Not all bad; some good; some really good.

1978 wasn't the best year ever for country music. There were a lot of forgettable songs.

1978, for me personally, was a stellar year. Matt was born in December of 1978. So, who am I to quibble about that year?

What do I remember about the year, music-wise? I remember Emmylou, and I remember the Oak Ridge Boys. I remember that there were some really bad singles released in 1978, among them, songs by Crystal Gayle (who, let's face it, was really reaching by that time) and by Charley Pride (whose days on the charts were numbered).

I remember that Waylon had become an "outlaw".

The rest is really a blur.

Wikipedia lists a lot of songs that were hits. A lot of them, frankly, I couldn't identify if a gun was held to my head. And I was listening to country radio then.

Just goes to show you that songs are like quicksilver. Catch 'em while you can.

20 Best Country Songs Of All Time - Could This Be The BEST Country Song Of All Time?

Okay, a bit superfluous, but this was recorded by Patsy Cline, and written by Willie Nelson. Produced by Owen Bradley.

New Music Recommendation - I Report, You Decide (ha)

I picked up a new CD today. Well, I was returning two CD's that I got for Christmas, two CD's that I already had.

Luckily, I read magazines in my spare time, or I would be ignorant to new, interesting CD's.

So, my mission was to find "Goin' Home - A Tribute To Fats Domino".

Luckily, my local Borders had it in stock. Buying music is a pain, which is why I rarely buy any. Face it, most new music is a waste of money and time.

To digress for a minute, do you have a hard time finding good music in your local stores? I do. The closest store to me is Target, which carries the newest offerings by Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney, et al, but would I find "The Bluegrass Sessions" by Merle Haggard there? No. I never buy CD's at Target, because they don't have anything I would want.

We do have a local, independent record store close by, but their selections are minimal in my categories. My categories being, I guess what you would call Alt Country. What used to be just "country" back in the day. Artists like Dwight Yoakam, Marty Stuart, Gene Watson. My other category is older rock artists who sound more country than the so-called country artists of today. Those would include The Eagles, Neil Young, John Fogerty, Tom Petty.

So, I do most of my music shopping online.

You can find anything you want online (I usually shop at Amazon). BUT what if you want music NOW? What if you don't want to wait five business days to get your music?

Oh, you can download music (again, I use Amazon. And if the song I want is unavailable on Amazon, I go to ITunes or WalMart).

That's all fine and dandy if you want just a song or two. Even if you want a whole album, unless it's an artist you cherish. If it's Dwight or George or Marty, for example, I want the actual physical CD. It's just a personal pecadillo of mine.

So, back to my shopping (returning) expedition today. I headed off to Borders, hoping that I could find "Goin' Home". I returned my two CD's (the lady was rather rude, by the way). Then I went off to flip through the CD racks. Surprisingly, I found it rather quickly. And it was worth it. This is a double CD, with artists such as Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Robert Plant, Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams, Elton John, Randy Newman, Bonnie Raitt, Norah Jones, and many, many more. Also lots of New Orleans blues.

I am very much enjoying it.

So, here's a promotional video for the CD that I found on YouTube:

<