Old...I Mean, Old Music

A guy at work posted a classified ad, looking for old 45's; specifically country singles from the 1940's through the 1960's.  I contacted him, because I have a trunk of old singles, for which I have no use.  I told him, though, that the oldest singles I have are most likely from the seventies.

He responded with an odd (to me) statement:  The 1940's through the 1960's were the best times for country music.  Really?  This guy is younger than me!  I can get on board with the sixties.  After all, that was my time ~ you know, Merle Haggard, Tammy Wynette, Loretta, to some extent.  But that's as far back as I go.  I didn't even know they made 45 rpm records in the nineteen forties!

It got me to thinking ~ was there actually good country music in the nineteen forties?  Yes, I am familiar with Hank Williams; thank you.  I mean, besides Hank.

Wikipedia to the rescue!

Off the bat, I will admit to having a sonic bias.  While I detest the current trend of recording songs "hot"; I also do not like "tinny".  I'm sure Hank and the boys sounded great at the barn dance, but, had the technology been available at the time, it would have jazzed things up a bit.

(Also, I do not understand how they made do, mostly, without drums.  Apparently, the Opry, at the time, banned them; because I guess they were the devil's handiwork or something.  Ahhh, times were different....)

Nevertheless, let's travel back about seventy (!) years and see what was hot in country when my mom and dad got married.

This video is apparently a mash-up of news footage and random Hank mutterings and/or singings (sort of like when Hank, Jr. did the Tear in My Beer video).  I am assuming that there is little actual film documentation of Hank, Sr. performing.  Shame.

1949: 





Wikipedia is rapidly teaching me that there were but a handful of big country stars in the 1940's.  One of them was obviously Eddy Arnold, because he seems to pop up all over the '40's record scene.

My dad was a big fan of "Make the World Go Away", but that song was recorded in the sixties.

This is 1948:



In 1947, Merle Travis had a hit record with Steel Guitar Rag.  Astonishingly (to me) this song actually has lyrics!  The only version of Steel Guitar Rag that I knew was an instrumental.  It really was an old standby for any guy (and later for Barbara Mandrell) who could play the steel guitar.  My friend Alice's band's steel guitar player did this number for a statewide competition and won first prize for instrumentalist.

This video is not the Merle Travis version, but it is from the 1940's.  In all honesty, it was the only song title I recognized from the list for 1947.  This is Leon McAuliffe and the Cimmaron Boys, YouTube tells me:



1946 seems to be the year of Bob Wills.  Now, I wouldn't really know anything about Bob Wills (and his Texas Playboys) if it wasn't for Merle Haggard and Asleep at the Wheel introducing them to me.  But make no mistake; this guy and his band were huge in the forties, especially in Texas; which to Texans is the be-all and end-all of the world.  Just ask them.

In this video, we apparently find Bob and the boys setting up to play a concert in the county jail.  I do not know why ~ perhaps they didn't have money for bail, so they had to work it off.  I'm just conjecturing.  The ways of the world in 1946 are foreign to me.



Interestingly, a big, big hit in 1945 was a song called, Smoke on the Water.  I'm guessing it was a different song from the Deep Purple hit, but I would be flabbergasted if it had a guitar intro as memorable.  Nevertheless, I don't know that song, so I have to pick one that I've actually heard of.

In the 1940's, too, covering other artists' records ran rampant.  My Wikipedia list shows hits of the same name by two, and sometimes three different artists.  Which leads me to ask, were songwriters not yet invented?  You know, songwriting isn't rocket science.  Seems like pretty much anyone could have done it; had they put their mind to it.  

This song was written by Woody Guthrie, and became a hit for his cousin, Jack.  But I remember the Hank Thompson version (also a big star in the nineteen forties), so I'll go with that one:

 

Cindy Walker wrote tons (by which I mean about 400) top hits.  So, Ah Ha!  There was a songwriter in the 1940's!  But just one.  I only learned a bit about Cindy Walker through an album of her songs that Willie Nelson later recorded.  It's good that guys like Willie and Merle educate people like me; or we'd be musical imbeciles.  

Cindy had a top hit in 1944 with this song:




1943 found a man named Jimmie Davis topping the charts with a song that we all, unfortunately, had to stand up on risers in the second grade and sing, as an ensemble.  (Thanks, Jimmie!)

Jimmie Davis later became the governor of Louisiana, solely because Louisiana voters really liked sunshine.  No, I'm sure there were other reasons.



Let me say, off the bat, that 1942 was a very patriotic year, judging by the list of hit records.  I like patriotic.  Too bad we lost that somewhere.  Titles like "Goodbye Mama, I'm Off to Yokohama", "I'm a Prisoner of War", "Mussolini's Letter to Hitler" (bet that was a bouncy tune), "Remember Pearl Harbor", "There's a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere", etc.; dominated the charts.

I'm not going to feature any of those songs.  Because Texans TOTALLY RULE! ~ I wanted to showcase this song by Gene Autry.  I do know that Gene Autry was a Hollywood cowboy.  His horse was named Champion (I looked up), but the only famous Hollywood horse I am familiar with (besides Mr. Ed) is Trigger, because I once saw some black and white episodes of Roy Rogers' TV show, featuring his wife with a man's name, Dale Evans.  (I really wasn't into TV westerns at all as a kid).   



Patsy Montana, I've read, was considered the first female country singer.  In reading her Wikipedia page, I learned that she grew up near Hope, Arkansas (I think there was some guy who also grew up there ~ can't put my finger on his name, though).  She went out to Hollywood and worked with those famous pseudo-cowboys, Gene Autry and Pat Buttram; and also with Red Foley (another huge country star of the forties).

I like this song from 1941.  Yodeling really is a lost art, isn't it?  Remember those TV commercials with Slim Whitman, hawking his album of yodeling songs?  



He yodeled every song!  And yet, he sold more records than the Beatles and Elvis combined!  (they said).  When you think about it, though, it's quite a feat to turn every song into a yodel.  I would love to hear his yodeling version of something like Norwegian Wood or Jailhouse Rock (speaking of the Beatles and Elvis combined).

Yes, I have digressed.  Sorry.

But back to Patsy Montana, Suzy Bogguss also did a great version of this song on one of her albums.   



1940 found the charts being topped by that good ol' country boy, Bing Crosby (?)   Here was another guy who bugged the hell out of me.  He was always walking around with his stupid pipe and his stupid golf club; wearing his stupid Scottish hat.  My sum total of knowledge regarding Bing Crosby:  He played a priest in some movie; he had some kind of vocal tic that made him pronounce "B" words as ba-ba-ba.  Or maybe that was SCTV.  I get my history mixed up sometimes.  

Regardless, he, like singers who came after him, such as Pat Boone, liked to appropriate other artists' songs and turn them into bland cocktail-party hits.

The most famous version, though, of Tumbling Tumbleweeds was recorded by the Sons of the Pioneers, who were also apparently featured in TV westerns; understandable since Roy Rogers was a prominent member of the group.



For someone like me, who loves to blog about music, this was certainly the most excruciating exercise I have ever done.

I don't want to offend anyone who may still be alive from that time period, but aside from Hank Williams and maybe Bob Wills, the music was....let's just say, "not good".

I would imagine that people like my mom and dad probably preferred listening to the Glenn Miller Orchestra, but I may just be projecting my own tastes onto them.  I have a sneaking suspicion, though, that if I have good taste in music, I must have gotten it from them.

Too, there was no differentiation in music back then.  Much like the early sixties, one heard ~ maybe not on the radio, but let's say, on the juke box ~ both b-b-b-Bing Crosby and Hank Thompson.  And people accepted what they liked, and discarded what they didn't.

In a future post, I will explore the nineteen fifties in country music.  You and I both know that the fifties will be better.

But that guy who told me the '40's totally rocked?  I guess we'll just agree to disagree on that.








 














 

The CMA Awards - Feelin' Fine in '89

Almost all the way through the eighties! Wow! Time flies!

I wonder what happened in 1989. Well, let's take a look.

In the world of news, the Berlin Wall came crashing down:



Remember in 1961, when JFK said this?



"Ich bin ein Berliner"......He learned it phonetically, of course.

I myself prefer this one:



But enough about world events. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The only thing we truly remember about a certain moment in time is ~~ entertainment!

So, let's take a look at the top movies of 1989.

Remember when Tom Hanks was co-starring in a lousy sitcom? I do. "Bosom Buddies" - with Peter Scolari. Who knew? Now, Tom Hanks is a "major motion picture star". Here's a clip from when he was still starring in comedies, and hadn't yet become a serious "AC-torrrr":



And remember when Robin Williams was still funny? Here's an example of Robin Williams being funny, in "Good Morning, Vietnam"; a movie that featured a great performance by the late Bruno Kirby:



In pop music, the downturn continued. There were some good songs, but overall, pop music began to bite the dust in 1988, and 1989 was no better.

Here's one you've probably forgotten, by the Fine Young Cannibals:



Here's a much better one. A live performance by Aaron Neville (what a voice!) and a much thinner than now Linda Ronstadt, of "Don't Know Much" (introduced by Garry Shandling, with Japanese subtitles!):



With that bit of background for the year 1989, let's move on to the CMA awards, shall we?

Normally, I don't start out my posts with one of the highlights, but I don't really do anything "normally", so here's the MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR and VOCAL EVENT OF THE YEAR, Hank Williams, Jr. AND Hank Williams, SENIOR! "There's A Tear In My Beer":

Hank Williams Jr.   More CMT Music   More CMT Music Videos

Digital "trickery" wasn't as advanced in 1989 as it is now, but this is still pretty good! And it kind of puts a lump in your throat, watching Hank, Jr. singing a duet with his long-departed dad. I give this video two thumbs up! Of course, I'm actually using my thumbs to type this, but the two thumbs up are implied.

The MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR award, settled by an arm-wrestling contest with Chet Atkins, was ultimately bestowed upon JOHNNY GIMBLE!

I've posted almost all of the embeddable videos available of Johnny in previous posts, but here's one I haven't posted yet. And, as an extra-added bonus, it features my hero and yours, Merle Haggard! With the Strangers! Featuring Roy Nichols and Norm Hamlet!



SONG OF THE YEAR, given to the songwriter, went to this fine song, recorded by Vern Gosdin, and written by Vern and Max D. Barnes, "Chiseled In Stone":



The ALBUM OF THE YEAR in 1989 was "Will The Circle Be Unbroken", by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. I love the Dirt Band, but I'll admit, I'm more partial to their country hits, a la "More Great Dirt"; songs such as, "Down That Road Tonight", "Workin' Man", et al.

"Will The Circle Be Unbroken" was one of those "concept albums", and it got a lot of press and a lot of kudos. Have you ever listened to it, though? I bought it later ~ much later, and I listened to it exactly one time. Maybe I need to listen to it again, because, let's just say, I wasn't knocked out by it.

Regardless, it won album of the year in '89, and seeing as how the Boys were on a roll, they decided to record volumes 2 and 3. This one is from #3:



I have to say, I do like this performance. So I guess I do need to dig out that CD one more time, and give it another chance. Bluegrass is a genre that had to grow on me, but once it did, I became a fan.

The SINGLE OF THE YEAR was recorded by Keith Whitley: "I'm No Stranger To The Rain":



It always makes me sad to watch clips of Keith in performance. What a shame. And what a loss.

The VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR was, once again, The Judds.

In total, the Judds won the duo (and strangely at one point, "group") of the year award seven times! Had they not broken up, who knows? Maybe they'd still be winning! Rather than Wynonna doing commercials for Alli. You know that drug that, hey, might work, but the side affects really aren't worth it! So, I'm guessing that Wynonna is sticking pretty close to home these days.

And now that I've veered completely off track, here's "Give A Little Love""


And now to the MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR.

Having aced the Horizon Award the previous year, Ricky Van Shelton was victorious in 1989 in the Male Vocalist category.

Again, I enjoy RVS a lot, but I do have to repeat my previous quibble regarding all of his remakes. You know, there's a lot of starving songwriters out there, and Ricky could have thrown them a bone, and recorded a new song once in awhile. But no.

So, here's "Statue Of A Fool" (originally recorded by Jack Greene):



Okay, "Statue Of A Fool" is one of my favorite country songs, so I'm just going to forgive Ricky this one time.

The VOCAL GROUP award again was won by my favorite country group, Highway 101. I have searched, and I have searched, and believe me, there are no videos to be found on the net of the original Highway 101, except for "Who's Lonely Now", and I'm not going to post that again. I'm guessing there's some kind of legal mumbo jumbo going on; probably because the Highway has gone through a couple of lead singers since Paulette left the group. But dang! It sure would be nice to be able to watch some of those videos!

So, in lieu of any additional videos from Paulette and the guys, let's all look at the nice old-fashioned radio, as we listen to, "Whiskey, If You Were A Woman":



The FEMALE VOCALIST winner was one of the best voices in country music, Kathy Mattea. I'm glad to hear that Kathy is doing her own thing, her own way, nowadays.

This single is chronologically incorrect (it was from 1994, actually), but I find what I can find!



In 1989, the HORIZON AWARD was given to an artist who actually ended up having a career! (These things are hard to predict, and as you know, the CMA has messed up a couple of times).

If you ever ventured into a honky tonk in the late eighties/early nineties, you, of course, heard this song on the jukebox. Here's Clint Black:

clint black "killin' time" @ Yahoo! Video

Which leads us to the BIG award of the night, ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR.

I'll just preface this by asking, whatever happened to this guy?? Man, you'd think he could've had a real career in music, had he played his cards right. Surely, you'd think he would've had an ace in the hole.

I will console myself, however, with the knowledge that he did have a couple of hit songs, and I guess he did win a couple of awards during the course of his career.

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR - GEORGE STRAIT



HALL OF FAME

Three folks were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989. I always find it interesting reading about people of whom I'm only semi-familiar. It's a real lesson in the history of country music.

Jack Stapp

Jack Stapp began his career in broadcasting by becoming program director of a radio station located within a hotel! And the station was only heard by the hotel's guests. Cool! Too bad they don't do that now. I could go for a gig like that!

From there, he moved on to much bigger and much better things ~ program director for WSM Radio in Nashville. Since WSM broadcast the Opry, Mr. Stapp also was involved with auditioning new talent for the broadcast. Thus, during his tenure at WSM, artists such as Hank Williams, Eddy Arnold, Kitty Wells, Webb Pierce, and many more, joined the Opry ranks.

From WSM, Mr. Stapp moved on to create Tree Publishing. Well, that turned into a nice little endeavor! He hired some staff writers, such as Roger Miller, Curly Putman, Bobby Braddock, and a bunch more. And the hits rollled on in....

So, there you go. A very influential pioneer in the world of country music.

Cliffie Stone

Cliffie Stone did his work far away from Nashville ~ in that other (soon-to-be) bastion of country music, California.

Mr. Stone was a musician, a comic straight man, a record producer, a personal manager, a publisher, a talent scout, an emcee, a TV personality. Whew! I'm tired just from typing all that!

Cliffie Stone worked at Capitol Records in the mid-to-late forties, both as a session player, and as a producer. Acts such as Tex Ritter and Merle Travis were recording for Capitol at that time, and in fact, Cliffie signed Merle Travis to the label.

Mr. Stone's most famous discovery was Tennessee Ernie Ford, who had begun his career as a disc jockey. Later, Mr. Stone went on to become TEF's personal manager.

It is also interesting to note that Cliffie Stone is the father of Curtis Stone, who was a founding member of my favorite country group, Highway 101! So, the apple does not fall far from the tree, or some other cliche like that.

Another true country music pioneer; Cliffie Stone.

Hank Thompson

Of course, today's country fans have no idea who Hank Thompson was.

Let me tell you, if you are a Willie Nelson fan, read the biography, "Willie Nelson - An Epic Life", and you will find just how influential Hank was to not only Willie, but to other artists of refined taste, such as Dwight Yoakam and our one and only George Strait.

Hank was a pioneer in the western swing style of music, along with Bob Wills, of course. And he had a bunch of hit songs. Here's his most famous:



Of course, Hank had other hits as well. (Oh, and by the way, Kitty Wells can thank Hank Thompson for, in essence, creating her career. See "I Didn't Know God Made Honky Tonk Angels").

All in all, though, it's really hard to compete with the lovely words of one of Hank's other hit songs; that go something like this: Ooga ooga mush-ka, which means that I love you. Ahh, were truer words ever spoken?

I am a Hank Thompson fan, and I didn't need to read his bio to come up with stuff to say about him. Maybe I'm just old, but I haven't forgotten Hank Thompson.

So, whew! We got through the eighties! And to think, it was only a short time ago (or was it?) that I started writing about the CMA awards, beginning with the very first awards in 1967.

That's a lot of ground covered! And a fun time, for me, at least.

Oh no, I'm not done yet, but it's important to mark the milestones, isn't it?

I'm looking forward to finding out what the last decade of the twentieth century holds for country music. So onwards and upwards, as the decades turn.