Latest World News on Internet Business Money Market: Tuesday September 18th , 2007 C O U N T R Y M U S I C C L A S S I C S

C O U N T R Y M U S I C C L AS S I C S

Doug Davis
Owner/Publisher/Manager/ Editor/Writer/Gopher/Chief Cook & Bottle Washer
Email to: Classics@countrymusicclassics.com

Tuesday September 18th , 2007

CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE AT www.countrymusicclassics.com

STORY BEHIND THE SONG

A lot of hit songs have been written on tour buses and according to Hank Cochran, Vern Gosdin’s hit, “Right In The Wrong Direction” was one of those!

Hank commented: “That song came from Vern Gosdin. That was his idea. That was when he and I and Mack Vickery was on Vern’s bus. And we were on the way to North or South Carolina….I don’t remember which one. Vern has two or three days off. So we wrote songs on the way. And Vern told us that he had a title “Right In The Wrong Direction” that he wanted to write. So we started writing on it and when we got to where we were going, we had just started on it and Vern went in his room and went to bed. So me and Mack Vickery stayed up and finished the song. And when Vern got up the next morning we sang it for him and he liked it. So when we got back to Nashville, he sang it for Bob Montgomery and Bob liked it, so they recorded it.”

“Right In The Wrong Direction” entered the country music charts February 3^rd, 1990 and peaked at # 10. It was Vern’s 34^th charted song and was on the charts for 26 weeks.

READ MORE “STORIES BEHIND THE SONGS” ON A WEBSITE AT WWW.COUNTRYMUSICCLASSICS.COM

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

QUESTION: I heard the guy on radio talking about a big birthday party for George Jones. Do you have any information?

ANSWER: George Jones received a surprise 76^th birthday party at Logan’s Roadhouse in Franklin, Tennessee, along with some 250 of his friends.

QUESTION: Any information on a Hank Williams exhibit at the hall of fame? My son says he heard it on the radio.

ANSWER: “Family Tradition: The Hank Williams Legacy,” will open at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum next March 28^th. and will include Williams family scrapbooks and correspondences. Instruments and costumes belonging to Hank Sr. and Hank Williams Jr.

QUESTION: My daughter was telling me a bout a new Dolly Parton song that I could get from the internet. Do you know anything about it?

ANSWER: Dolly Parton's new single "Better Get To Livin"' is available exclusively for download on iTunes and will be shipped to country radio stations on September 28th. It's the first single from "Backwoods Barbie,” which should be available early next year. "Better Get To Livin"' is also one of the songs from the forthcoming Broadway musical "9 to 5 The Musical," for which Dolly wrote all the words and music. It's expected to open in New York City in the Spring of 2009.

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· * * *“LAST OF THE BREED,” the Double CD featuring Ray Price-Merle Haggard-Willie Nelson

· * * *”THE LEGEND AND THE LEGACY” The 20 track CD featuring Ernest Tubb singing with George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Paycheck, Marty Robbins, Merle Haggard , Johnny Cash, Charlie Rich, Conway Twitty, and others

· * * *”Ernest Tubb” The Last Sessions-A TWO CD-- 47 song package produced in 1997

THE ABOVE THREE COUNTRY MUSIC PROJECTS ARE YOURS F-R-E-E WHEN YOU PURCHASE OUR ‘STORY BEHIND THE SONG” CD PACKAGE FOR $75.00....An audio CD of ALL of the “Stories Behind The Song” features from our newsletters beginning in 1998 thru the end of 2006 ... on one CD....and the entire package is shipped anywhere in the world for $75.00

You may pay with PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, check or Money Order.

Email credit card information to: classics@countrymusicclassics.com

OR mail check or Money Order to Doug Davis-Country Music Classics-3702 Pleasant Grove Road-Texarkana, Texas 75503.

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QUESTION: Elvis Presley’s first recordings were my favorites, especially “I Forgot To Remember To Forget.” My sister in law says that Johnny Cash also recorded that song, which is hard to believe. Is that true?

ANSWER: “I Forgot To Remember To Forget” was the flipside of Cash’s 1959 # 11 hit, “Katy Too.”

QUESTION: Do you remember a song from back in the 60’s about “Honey I’m Home” and who had that record?

ANSWER: “Honey I’m Home” was a #17 hit for one of country music’s unsung heroes, Stan Hitchcock, in 1969. Although Stan placed 14 songs on the country charts, his talent was never truly recognized! And if you ever meet Stan, ask him to tell you about playing cards with Ernest Tubb on E.T.’s bus!

QUESTION: My neighbor says that Cal Smith was not his real name and he was actually Ernest Tubb’s son. Is that true?

ANSWER: Cal Smith is actually Calvin Grant Shofner but he is not related to Ernest Tubb.

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COUNTRY MUSIC’S TOP TUNES IN:

1944 --Soldier’s Last Letter - Ernest Tubb

1952 --Jambalaya (On the Bayou) - Hank Williams

1960 --Alabam - Cowboy Copas

1968--Mama Tried - Merle Haggard

1976 --I Don’t Want to Have to Marry You - Jim Ed Brown/Helen Cornelius

1984 --You’re Getting to Me Again - Jim Glaser

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FROM TANDY RICE:

Special Friends.....

This column brieflly departs from the theme of the last few weeks because of an extraordinary experience I had two days ago and just had to share with you "while the iron was hot".

Twas my privilege to receive and quickly say YES to one of the hottest parties of the year in Music City: The 70plus plus surprise birthday party for the One and Only Possum George Jones at Logans Roadhouse locally. It was a "Who's Who". jampacked turnout, standing room only and I jotted down my thoughts while

standing in the crowd. And I wanted to share them with you. Here they are for YOU, my nameless, faceless friends out there whom I love.....

1. George and Nancy Jones are true royalty here in this tuff, snooty town. They are simply adored by everyone. I've never heard an unkind word said about them.

2. George and Nancy never looked better. They looked like movie stars.

3. No one drank or smoked.

4. Nancy Jones, who co-hosted the party with an Alabama land developer friend, may very well be the most powerful woman in the music industry, a spot held for years by Frances Preston. She's magazine cover beautiful as well as powerful. There's nothing she can't do.

5. The Oak Ridge Boys MUST go into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Ditto for Tom T Hall. They...and he...are true giants of legendary stature.

6. Tom T and Miss Dixie are regal, too. I just love to look at them. His face , so uniquely chizeled, could go on Mt Rushmore.

7. Sonny James may be the nicest guy in the business. Next to him I'd put Joe Bonsall of the Oaks.

8. Little Jimmy Dickens is a treasure beyond value. He was mobbed by the mob.

9. When Happy Birthday was sung, it was the most expensive group to ever harmonize in Nashville.

10. Food was delicious: Baby Hamburgers in yeast rolls, fried okra, peanuts and bottled George Jones water. Plus the biggest birthday cake I ever saw.

11. Naomi Judd gets prettier as she gets older. Must have something to do w/that zen-type philosophy she espouses. I like her husband Larry a lot.

So there you have my take on one of the best parties ever. I just had to share it w/you!

Have A Rice Day!!!

Tandy C Rice Jr

Nashville

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Your comments, suggestions, gripes, etc. concerning this newsletter---are welcome. Email to:Classics@countrymusicclassics.com

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If you’re reading someone else’s copy of this newsletter OR it has been forwarded to you by a friend --- AND--- you’d like to receive your personal copy, get your complimentary subscription by emailing to Classics@countrymusicclassics.com with “SUBSCRIBE” in the subject box

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It’s worth the trip!

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HANK THOMPSON DAY

Country Music Legend Hank Thompson will be honored in his hometown when he performs at 5:30pm on October 8th at The Heart O’ Texas Fair in Waco. Governor Rick Perry and Mayor Virginia DuPuy have declared October 8, 2007, “Hank Thompson Day” in The State of Texas and in The City of Waco.

Few country music artists can claim a longevity and track record to equal that of Hank Thompson. Between 1948 and 1974 he scored no less than twenty-nine Top Ten hits, with another nineteen in the Top Twenty, and continued to chart into the 1980s. Many of these, including “Green Light,” “Whoa Sailor,” and “Waiting in the Lobby of Your Heart,” he penned himself, thus proving his stature in country music’s great singer-songwriter tradition. Along the way Thompson forged a potent blend of honky-tonk and western swing that has long served as a source of continuity amid country’s experimentation with rock and pop sounds.

Like many country stars, Henry William Thompson took an early interest in music, winning several amateur contests on the harmonica. After he became enthralled by cowboy movie idol Gene Autry, however, the guitar became Thompson’s instrument of choice. With a Christmas present from his parents, a four-dollar guitar bought at a secondhand store, young Hank was on his way. By the time he finished high school he was broadcasting over radio station WACO as Hank the Hired Hand, sponsored by a local flour company.

After graduating, Thompson enlisted in the U.S. Navy. While stationed in San Diego, he persuaded his superiors to let him play area clubs, and after putting out to sea, he entertained his shipmates as well. He kept on broadcasting, too, over a network of small stations organized by American military personnel in the South Pacific. While in the navy he also took advantage of training programs and studied electrical engineering at Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas, and Princeton University—making him one of country music’s better-educated stars.

Although he pondered an engineering career after his navy stint was over, radio work and his first hit record, “Whoa Sailor,” kept him on a show business track. Assisted by prominent DJ Hal Horton of the 50,000-watt KRLD in Dallas, this Globe Records release became a minor regional success. Thompson also recorded four sides with the Blue Bonnet label before Tex Ritter, then a prominent star on Capitol Records, helped him gain a contract with this larger, major label. During 1948–1949 Thompson justified Ritter’s faith in him with hits such as “Humpty Dumpty Heart” (based on the children’s nursery rhyme), “Green Light,” and a remake of “Whoa, Sailor.”

During the 1950s Thompson’s songwriting talents, smooth baritone, precise diction, and powerful combination of western swing and honky-tonk sounds helped him continue his string of hits. The year 1952 brought his first #1 disc, “The Wild Side of Life,” a song that inspired the hit that launched Kitty Wells’s career: “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels.” Subsequent Thompson chartmakers of the 1950s included “Waiting in the Lobby of Your Heart,” “Rub-A-Dub-Dub,” “Yesterday’s Girl,” “Wake Up, Irene,” “Honky Tonk Girl,” “Most of All,” “The Blackboard of My Heart,” and “Squaws Along the Yukon,” all in the Top Ten.

During these years Thompson also made inroads into television, hosting a variety show on WKY-TV in Oklahoma City from 1954 to 1957. In addition, he was one of the earliest country performers to entertain in Las Vegas showrooms, and he recorded one of country’s first live albums, Live at the Golden Nugget, there in 1960. Meanwhile, he brought his engineering knowledge to bear on his stage show and built top-flight sound and lighting systems that heightened his drawing power at the more than 250 show dates he typically played each year. Thanks to his musical and technical leadership, his Brazos Valley Boys were Billboard’s top-ranked band from 1953 to 1965, a record that has yet to be equaled.

Into the 1960s and beyond, Thompson’s easy manner made him a welcome guest on network TV variety shows, as did a dynamic stage presence magnified by his size (he stands six feet, two inches tall); a rough-hewn, handsome appearance; and custom-made western outfits for which he became famous. But following “A Six Pack to Go” (#10, 1960) and “Oklahoma Hills” (#7,1961), he didn’t make the Top Ten again until 1968’s “On Tap, in the Can, or in the Bottle” and “Smoky the Bar,” both recorded early in his association with Dot Records, which he began after a brief stay at Warner Bros. in the late 1960s. Two more Top Ten hits came in 1974, but the 1970s belonged to country pop, and Thompson’s chart success dwindled to the point where he pared down his road schedule and spent more time hunting or tending to his various real-estate, broadcasting, and music publishing interests.

In the 1980s, however, as harder-edged sounds enjoyed renewed popularity, Thompson hit the road again in earnest, playing dates in Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America as well as in the United States. He also kept recording, and he signed with Nashville’s Step One Records in 1987. In 1997 Curb Records released Hank Thompson and Friends, a critically acclaimed collection of duets pairing Thompson with Lyle Lovett, Vince Gill, George Jones, Kitty Wells, and others. Thompson’s 2000 HighTone Records album Seven Decades featured his sure handling of both new material and classic country songs he’d never recorded before. Thompson’s hard-core honky-tonk–western swing sound—marked by a strong rhythm section of piano, bass, guitar, and drums; lead and fill parts supplied by twin fiddles, electric guitar, and steel; frequent shifts from 2/4 to 4/4 time, and above all his powerful vocals—continues to influence country artists such as George Strait, Dwight Yoakam, Asleep at the Wheel, and others among country’s newer generation.

Hank Thompson was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989. He still performs throughout the world. He and his wife of 37 years, Ann, reside in the Fort Worth area.

For ticket information to the event, please contact the Heart O’ Texas Fair ticket office at 254.776.1660

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THIS I BELIEVE:

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life (John 3:`16)

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