Some guys are smart, some guys are clever, some guys are completely alien. Roger Miller, I think, was an alien.
I first became aware of Roger Miller in (I think) 1964. You couldn't miss him. From '64 to '66 there was no one hotter in country music. 1964 was a time when radio stations weren't segregated by genre. We heard a little bit of everything -- The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Dean Martin, J. Frank Wilson (bet you forgot!), Manfred Mann, Al Hirt, Roy Orbison, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Vinton (!?) and Roger Miller.
In 1964 and 1965 alone, Roger Miller had Dang Me, Chug-A-Lug, Do-Wacka-Do, England Swings, Engine Engine #9, and of course, King Of The Road. You couldn't miss him. I was nine years old in 1964 and (just like now) I liked songs for their melody, not necessarily their lyrics, but Miller's words were so foreign, that even though I didn't actually understand their meaning, his songs were impossible to ignore. Part of the genius of Roger Miller's songwriting was the accessibility of his songs. Even a nine-year-old girl could sing along. He was an expert at unexpected rhymes. I knew even then that most songs were pap and only their melodies and production saved them, and I'm not excusing The Beatles here, either. I wasn't exactly jaded, but I could pick out originality. Miller's songs were unlike any other. I do believe, however, that as silly as some of those tunes were, they all had a grain of Roger Miller truth (maybe not You Can't Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd).
But let's start at the beginning.
He was a bellhop at the Andrew Jackson Hotel in Nashville before signing on with Minnie Pearl's band as a fiddler, although he didn't know how to play the fiddle. Eventually he joined Ray Price's Cherokee Cowboys and wrote this hit for Price, which he sings harmony on below:
In fact, Roger Miller wrote tons of songs for tons of artists, from Ernest Tubb to Faron Young to Jim Reeves.
"Roger was the most talented, and least disciplined, person that you
could imagine", citing the attempts of Miller's Tree Publishing boss, Buddy Killen
to force him to finish a piece. He was known to give away lines,
inciting many Nashville songwriters to follow him around since,
according to Killen, "everything he said was a potential song." (source)
It's impossible to list all the songs Miller wrote, or the swarms of artists who recorded them. He eventually went on tour as Faron Young's drummer, though he was as much of a drummer as he was a fiddler, before at last landing a recording contract with Smash Records.
And then he exploded.
One couldn't turn on network television without seeing Roger Miller. He appeared on everything from The Tonight Show to Shindig.
(I like how Dick Clark calls him a "humorist" - I don't think Dick actually got it.)
This was self-loathing at its finest:
Well, here I sit high, gettin' ideas Ain't nothin' but a fool would live like this Out all night and runnin' wild Woman's sittin' home with a month old child
Dang me, dang me They oughta take a rope and hang me High from the highest tree Woman would you weep for me?
Just sittin' 'round drinkin' with the rest of the guys Six rounds bought and I bought five I spent the groceries and a half the rent I lack fourteen dollars havin' twenty seven cents
Dang me, dang me They ought-a take a rope and hang me High from the highest tree Woman would you weep for me?
They say roses are red and violets are purple And sugar's sweet and so is maple syrple Well I'm seventh out of seven sons My pappy was a pistol, I'm a son of a gun
I said dang me, dang me They ought-a take a rope and hang me High from the highest tree Woman would you weep for me?
(Don't feel bad, Dick. I didn't get it until recently, either.)
My favorite Roger Miller tune remains the same fifty-seven years after its release. At age nine, as opposed to age thirty-nine, I didn't internalize the heartache in this song. Maybe the brilliant rhyming obscured my emotional cognizance. Or maybe I was nine.
Naturally, this song was everywhere, and established Roger Miller's bona fides:
But long after Roger passed away, artists kept recording his songs:
(Okay, that's gotta be the actual, real, original Roger Miller in this video.)
Roger Miller was probably the most prolific, most original songwriter Nashville has ever, or will ever see.
I think it was my older sister who first introduced me to Ricky Van Shelton. Carole was not necessarily a music aficionado; she just liked what she liked. She'd breeze in from Texas once a year and lay down the gauntlet of songs we all needed to hear. As an example, she was an early fan girl of "The Devil Went Down To Georgia", and I thought, well, okay...
Like all music people tell me I need to like, I was naturally resistant to Ricky Van Shelton. I think he had a cover song on the charts at the time, and I was inherently scornful of artists who earned their chops by copying someone else. Grudgingly, however, I went out and purchased Van Shelton's debut CD, "Wild-Eyed Dream". I was buying CD's like they were candy gumballs anyway, so what was one more pointless purchase? Turned out the album had some original tracks that beat the covers all to hell. A hot artist, I'm assuming (maybe naively) should have his pick of songs; so why Ricky recorded so many cover songs perplexes me. Maybe he simply wanted to memorialize the classics. Regardless, I preferred the songs I'd never before heard, like this one (of course the official video is unavailable ~ because we need to scrub the late eighties/early nineties from everyone's consciousness):
Much like this one:
Those two tracks alone, never mind all the covers, made the album an A plus for me.
There's myriad reasons why shiny careers fade ~ the label loses confidence; tastes change. Not everyone can be a George Strait, with choice songwriters breaking down their door. Ricky Van Shelton's career suffered from either the lack of good original song choices or his own proclivities. I would have loved to see Ricky perform in a bar setting ~ his natural milieu was stacked speakers, a thumping bass, and a telecaster.
That aside, he recorded a great rendition of "Statue Of A Fool", whose original recording by Jack Greene suffered from the lack of a great singer:
My sister was right. I'll cop to it.
After all these years, he deserves more than a faint memory. Number one, he needs a website that isn't lame ~ Ricky, are you listening? I would link to it, but I don't want anyone to be embarrassed. Wix dot com is essentially free ~ even my band has a site.
Granted, Ricky retired in 2006, which is almost unheard of in the music business. Retire? The brittle-boned Rolling Stones are still touring, for God's sake! According to his pitiful website, he's a painter and a collector (still need a site to sell your paintings, though.) Maybe the good songs weren't forthcoming; maybe he just wanted to enjoy life off the road. More power to him.
Nevertheless, Ricky Van Shelton is worth remembering.
By the spring of 1990 I was desperate to escape from Farm Credit Services. It felt like I'd been there forever, when in fact it had only been a little over a year. I'd made friends, one of whom in an attempt to "help", I'd inadvertently had to say goodbye to. Linda's husband was a ranch manager who was ready to move on. I found an ad in the classifieds that was just up his alley and pointed it out to my friend. Before I knew it, Kirk had accepted the job and Linda's whole family moved clear across the state. Aside from the stultifying cloud I worked under, fun came from unexpected sources. Our local United Way conducted a promotion in which people could have someone "arrested" and the person would have to call everyone he or she knew in order to raise "bail" and be released. Before Linda left town, we arranged to have our boss arrested. It was all for charity....
In the fall of each year Bismarck held its annual street fair, which consisted of arts and crafts shopping galore and various corny events, like a pageant that featured contestants from local establishments. We decided to get into the spirit and sponsor an entrant from FCS. We talked one of our co-workers, eventually, into allowing her name to be placed into contention. (Paula ultimately, despite her initial revulsion, found the whole experience exhilarating.) I think half the contender's score was based on the creativity of her sponsor's promotion, so I busied myself drawing up posters and concocting catchy slogans. I believe that was the only time Nancy, my boss, ever offered me a compliment (I knew my strengths). Alas, Paula didn't prevail, but it was a win-win experience for everyone involved.
As a result of quitting smoking, my weight had shot up...and up. I'd gained fifty pounds and was most likely viewed in the office as the FCS schlub. Ultimately, even I became disgusted with myself and plunked down money I couldn't afford to spend to enroll in a program called "Diet Center" (admittedly, not the most original, but at least the most honest, commercial program at the time). Who wouldn't lose weight on a regimen that basically consisted of baked fish, asparagus, and Melba toast? I think a lemon was considered a "free food". I'd done Weight Watchers in the past with my mom, but this was infinitely more restrictive. But once I committed myself to something, I was determined not to fail, and I succeeded wildly. I lost all fifty pounds and more and reduced to a size three before I stopped. I bought clothes at the local consignment shop because my frame continued to shrink. My Diet Center "counselor" tried to talk me into posing for an ad, but my aversion to attention put an absolute kibosh on that notion.
As a downside, I took up smoking again. Damn, I was starving!
(After I'd left FCS, I joined my former cohorts one evening for a get-together on a local bistro's patio, and one of the guys was perplexed when Paula pointed out that I was there. He searched the area for a time and shrugged. I was unrecognizable ~ no longer the schlub.)
In my zeal to get away from Nancy and her disapproving glances, I had been scouring the want-ads for a while. When I spied one that said, "National Insurance Company Seeks Claims Examiners For a New Local Branch", I became obsessed. I fixated on that ad and staked my existence on garnering one of those positions. I knew absolutely nothing about health insurance, but for some unknown reason I understood that this was my destiny, which sounds utterly dumb, but there it was. I applied and received an appointment for a group interview, and henceforth sat in my garage every day after work and smoked and practiced answering hypothetical questions and hyping myself.
The group interview was an assembly line. I'd move to the first queue and answer a question, then shuffle on to the next cluster of interrogators and respond to another. All my practice evaporated. The only thing I had going for me was my medical knowledge from St. Alexius ~ I knew nothing about insurance and they all grasped that.
I was informed I'd hear from them within the week.
I didn't get a callback.
One of the few things I'd ever strived so hard for and I'd utterly failed. My lot was working for FCS and Nancy until I either reached retirement age or chopped her up with an axe.
Out of the blue a couple of weeks later, US Healthcare called and offered me the job.
The pay was exactly the same salary I was making at FCS, but I leapt at the offer. I didn't stop to question why it took them a fortnight to call. The next Monday when I told Nancy I was leaving, she was perplexed and disappointed. When the time came to tell Nancy how inadequate she'd always made me
feel, I deflated. What was the point? Why bother? I was gone. Would I
feel good about myself unloading on her? I lied and told her I was offered twenty-five cents more per hour. She apologized that she was unable to match the offer, but budgets, you know...Funny how they never tell you they appreciate you until you quit.
It felt strange leaving FCS. It had been a filler job all along, but I'd formed relationships. Unlike the hospital, I was on an even par with most of the people I worked with. They didn't wave their degrees in my face, because like me, nobody had one. They were working class; trying to pay their mortgages and attempting to scratch out a moment of happiness in the midst of their eight-hour slog. I was moving on to a new group of thirty girls I didn't know and I'd have to start all over again. And I was thirty-five, twice most of their ages. I was a mom who bought her clothes at the consignment shop and who had to count her pennies to buy a new pair of pantyhose. I figured, however, at least we were all in this leaky boat together. And if it didn't work out, shoot, I'd become an expert at sussing out the one or two jobs in the newspaper that fit my meager skills.
Musically, I'd become torn. At Farm Credit Services, I mostly tuned my portable radio to the local rock station. Part of that may have been that I liked the morning DJ, Bob Beck; part of it was that I wasn't ready to let rock go. When I'd turned away from country in the mid-eighties because it reeked, I became the quintessential MTV fan, and my sons shared my enchantment with Huey Lewis and Dire Straits. We bonded over pop music and baseball cards.
Country music, however, was harkening me back. Changing one's essence is ultimately a hopeless quest. One can change for a while, but we always come back to the person we intrinsically are.
Luckily for me, Eddie Rabbitt was still around:
One of the best country groups of all time, Highway 101:
A pristine country voice, Patty Loveless:
Mark Chesnutt will forever reside in the top five of my favorite artists:
Tanya Tucker and T. Graham Brown:
Gotta love Steve Wariner:
My lord, Marty Stewart:
Like Eddie, Ronnie Milsap was still hangin' in there:
Some dude named Garth appeared on the scene:
Ricky Van Shelton:
When someone says "ninety country" (although no one actually does), this will be the song on the tips of everyone's brain:
My new career in health insurance commenced, with country music as a backdrop.
Fair-weather sports fans no doubt anger the die-hards. I was a fair-weather fan. I understood baseball (unlike football), because I'd been tutored. My dad was not a sports fan. My first husband taught me about baseball, although hearing it on the radio was not quite the same as watching a game. I learned what a double-play was, and an RBI. I learned that Rod Carew was the best player the Twins ever had (I now disagree).
Having sons who were baseball (or baseball card) aficionados helped nudge me in 1987. From buying pack-upon-pack of Topps Bubble Gum, I learned who the best players on each team were (or whose cards were the hottest, at least). I learned that rookie cards are great "gets". I began paying attention to the box scores in the newspaper. Amazingly, our hapless Twins were on a tear that year. So, I began watching. There was a Twins Channel on our cable system, so instead of tuning in to Cheers or Unsolved Mysteries, I sank into Minnesota Twins fanaticism. I was still working second shift, so I missed some games (I didn't quite resort to recording them on our VCR), but if the game was important, I switched shifts with another girl so I could have the night off to watch the game. Yes. I actually did. Gary Gaetti, Kent Hrbek, Kirby (of course), Dan Gladden; our star pitcher, Frank Viola. Our skinny shortstop, Greg Gagne, who never failed to pop up. Steve Lombardozzi was not the world's best second baseman, but second base is a rather second-tier position, so....Tim Laudner, our catcher.
It was a cold October evening when an actual miracle occurred. The Minnesota Twins won the world series! I had so much adrenaline coursing through my veins, I barely slept that night. And yes, I had a Homer Hankie. 1987 began my odyssey of following the Twins for more or less six years. They won again in 1991, barely (but barely still counts), thanks to Jack Morris. Then things went downhill, and I moved on with my life. By then I'd begun what I didn't know at the time would be my life-long career. It does help to have a skill, I've learned. Now I spend my days teaching others how to have that skill. And to think I only got hired for that job because someone else dropped out. Thanks, Someone, I guess.
Musically, 1987 was the year I discovered country music again. I don't remember how I stumbled upon it. I think I was sitting in my car in front of my kids' elementary school and I didn't like the song playing on Y93, so I switched the channel out of irritation. I heard something I liked. I do believe it was this:
It's funny how an act that proved to be short-lasting is what drew me back into country music. I drove to Musicland and purchased two cassette tapes; one by the Sweethearts of the Rodeo and one by this act:
The O'Kanes also didn't last.
As I cleaned my house on Saturdays, I clicked those cassettes into my boom box and carried them around with me.
That's how I relearned country music.
The other artist who caught my attention was:
Here are the artists I'd never heard of:
George Strait
Randy Travis
Dwight Yoakam
Steve Wariner
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
The Judds
Ricky Van Shelton
Kathy Mattea
Highway 101
Foster and Lloyd
Earl Thomas Conley
Restless Heart
Once again, as country was wont to do, it blindsided me.
I discovered there was a country bar only about six blocks from my house. And it featured live bands! I had been so immersed in MTV, I'd missed it. The new Friday night routine was to get dressed up in Levis and a spangled shirt (sometimes with a neckerchief) and a puff of perfume and cruise down to Dakota Lounge to...of all things, dance!
Thus began my country dance phase.
Phases are interesting, in hindsight. I've had so many phases in my life -- things I couldn't get enough of -- until I could. I wouldn't give any of those phases back, because I learned something from all of them, and carried away valuable treasures. I loved observing the patrons of the Dakota Lounge and I learned a lot about human nature. I'd been so sheltered! I was a naive waif, but it wasn't my fault. Unfortunate family circumstances stopped me from venturing into the world...or at least they only allowed me to dip one toe into the waters of life. I was a late bloomer who'd only lived life inside my head.
I, sometime in late 1987, as I was celebrating the Twins' improbable victory, chanced upon things like this:
(Sadly, there is no live performance video to be found, but I loved this song, which was written by Rodney Crowell)
Apparently there exists a trend of not featuring live videos from 1987, but I wanted to include this song in all its glory:
At last - live!
I don't think I've ever featured a Ricky Van Shelton video in any of my posts. This is not my favorite (there are so many better RVS songs), but shoot:
Restless Heart (Larry Stewart was such a cutie):
The hardest song ever to dance to -- try to capture the beat -- it's impossible. Still a classic, however:
"The Man":
(Thanks, Mom and Dad for cluing in a neophyte who thought she was the country music expert)
I really miss Randy. I know he's still here, but he's not, really. I love Randy.
In 1987 I was thirty-two years old and learning. I learned about baseball and I re-learned country music. I was a mom. That was my Number One. My kids probably don't realize it because they've forgotten. I still had my parents and I had my kids.
My dad liked Ned Miller. I think Mr. Miller only had two hit songs, but my dad was on board with both of them.
I read in the New York Times this week that Mr. Miller passed away. I generally only read the New York Times for their political reporting, but one thing the paper does well is recognize those who've left us, people we forgot we even knew.
The albeit brief obituary of Ned Miller is interesting, in that it seems the man had such bad stage fright that he rarely performed in front of an audience. Still, his recordings managed to reach the top of the charts.
As testament to Mr. Miller's shyness, I can find no performance videos on YouTube. I did, however, find Ricky Van Shelton's version of From A Jack To A King, which introduced the song to a new crop of fans in the nineteen eighties. My dad still preferred the 1962 original.
I forgot how much I love that thumping bass and four-four shuffle beat. Ahh, it's a country lover's dream. No wonder Dad loved the song.
Even though there are no performance videos from Ned Miller, it's only right to include the man himself singing his own song:
It's funny how long-term memory works. I'd completely forgotten both of these songs, but I could sing along with both of them and I remembered all the words. Dad taught me well.
Nobody younger than me would recognize either of these songs unless they're big Ricky Van Shelton fans, but that's my job here: cataloguing the past.
And I kind of owe it to my dad.
Rest in peace, Ned Miller. Thanks for making my dad happy.
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":
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:
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.
Isn't it great to look back and remember all those things from, say, 21 years ago? Things that maybe we'd rather forget, but then again, who knows what we might rediscover? Maybe something good!
In the world of news in 1988, we got ourselves a new President. Remember this?
Yea, that guy did a lot of great things for us. Hmmm, let's see now. What did he do? Well, he went into Iraq, sort of, but didn't finish the job; leaving us to inherit this big mess that we found ourselves in, just a few short years later. He begot a son who single-handedly demolished the Republican Party. Oh yea, and he DID raise taxes. So, I guess our new President in 1988 hit a triple!
Which is why I prefer to talk about pop culture!
In 1988, we enjoyed this classic movie from Tim Burton. (And boy, doesn't Alec Baldwin look young here!)
Another hit movie from 1988 was "Cocktail"; a movie that I never actually saw. But I do own the soundtrack CD.
Why didn't I see it? Well, c'mon. It did star Tom Cruise.
The only reason I'm including it here is so that I can include the Beach Boys video of "Kokomo". For some reason, this song gets dissed a lot. I don't get what the vehement hate of this song is all about. It's catchy. It's the Beach Boys. I like it.
And it not only features the glorious voice of Carl Wilson singing the high parts, but also Mike Loooove "fake playing" the saxaphone!
I'm not sure what happened to pop music in 1988, but according to the top songs of the year, it took a steep nosedive.
However, here's a good one (did you forget about this one?)
Here's another pop hit from 1988. Remember Rick Astley? Of course you do! Sure, he looks like a little kid, but he does have a great voice. Although the whole disco beat thing is sort of dated - even for 1988.
So, with that bit of background information, let's move on to the 1988 CMA awards, shall we?
Probably the most amazing happening of 1988 was that Chet Atkins stepped up to again claim the prize for MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR! Sure, you (and I) thought that Chet's time in the spotlight had passed. Oh no! Chet was back! And frankly, I think the CMA should rename this award the "Chet Atkins Musician of the Year Award". I mean, really.
Here's a clip from way back in 1954, just for fun. Chet, playing "Mr. Sandman" (those red houndstooth jackets were BIG in 1954!):
VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR was the Judds! Yes, I know that the Judds tended to waver between vocal duo and vocal group. But this time, it was vocal DUO!
Here they are, doing, "I Know Where I'm Goin'":
The SONG OF THE YEAR in 1988 was "Eighties Ladies", written (and recorded) by K.T. Oslin.
K.T. had that one big hit, in 1988, and I guess some smaller follow-up singles, but "Eighties Ladies" was her moment in the sun. As I watched this video, my thought was, "What exactly is the point?" But I'm sure there was one. Maybe I didn't get it because I was only 33 years old in 1988. But the thing is, I still don't get it. Nice song, though.
K.T. Oslin also garnered the FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR award.
Never to be heard from again. Okay, I guess that's a little harsh. Harsh, but basically true.
1988 ushered in a new award from the CMA's, VOCAL EVENT OF THE YEAR. I guess vocal event means that some people get together, who don't normally get together, and they record a song.
These gals recorded more than a SONG. They did a couple of albums, I think. And henceforth, they will be known as the TRIO.....Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt. Three superior singers. A match made in heaven, as they say.
The MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR in 1988 was my friend, and everybody's, Randy Travis.
Here's a nice video from 1988, "I Told You So":
For some strange, unknown reason, the Country Music Association apparently decided NOT to name a MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR in 1988.
Surely, it couldn't have been because there were no good videos! For example, what about this one?
Rodney Crowell got robbed in 1988 anyway (see ALBUM OF THE YEAR), so I'm happy to include him here. And I'm giving him my own personal MAA (Michelle Anderson Award) for 1988 Video of the Year.
Moving on to categories that were actually awarded by the CMA, the SINGLE OF THE YEAR was a good one!
Here's one of country's best voices, Kathy Mattea, with "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses":
And, hey CMA's! If you didn't like my Rodney Crowell video choice, how about Kathy Mattea's? See, I think there were a LOT of great videos in 1988. Morons.
The VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR happens to be one of my personal favorites, Highway 101.
I can't emphasize enough how influential Highway 101 was in the country music world of the eighties. The original members (the real band) were Cactus Moser, Curtis Stone, Jack Daniels, and, of course, Paulette Carlson. Paulette, the Stevie Nicks of country music (only better!)
There seems to be a dearth of Highway 101 videos available on the web, and this is really the only one I could find (of the original band). Chronologically, this is incorrect, since this recording is from 1989, but here's one of many good ones from Highway 101:
Paulette is originally from Minnesota, and she is just a very lovely person. I was sad when the original group disbanded.
1988's HORIZON AWARD winner was Ricky Van Shelton. Ricky is a fine singer, and he had a lot of hit songs. My one wish for Ricky, however, would have been for him to record more originals, rather than remaking so many older songs. I guess it was a managerial decision. I just don't know why. There's a lot of great songs floating around. I'm sure Ricky would have had many to choose from.
Here's "Somebody Lied" (originally recorded by Conway Twitty):
This leads us to our last two awards of the evening ~ ALBUM OF THE YEAR and, of course, the biggie, ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR.
Both awards were won this year by none other than Hank Williams, Jr. ALBUM OF THE YEAR - Born To Boogie
Ol' (young?) Hank was on a roll!
Here's a video of one of the tracks from the album of the year, featuring a few people you'll recognize, such as Foster & Lloyd, Ricky Van Shelton, Highway 101, The George Satellites, Vince Gill, Restless Heart, Waylon, and many, many more. Here's "Young Country":
Sure, we know that Roy Rogers was a singing cowboy, and that he had a wife who was named for a guy, and he had a horse named Trigger. And he did western serials and he had poor Trigger stuffed (after Trigger died, of course).
But Roy did much more. Roy formed the Sons of the Pioneers. Take a listen here:
And I always heard that Roy Rogers was a heck of a nice guy.
Loretta Lynn
Lorett-y (sorry, I just recently watched "Coal Miner's Daughter" again) was one of the female pioneers of country music. She followed in the tradition of Kitty Wells and Patsy Cline, but her songs had a perspective all their own, because she wrote 'em. Loretta would never had had a career in country music, had it not been for the hard work and perseverance of her husband, Mooney (or Doolittle - you choose). And I'm sure that Loretta would be the first to agree.
Here's Loretta performing one of her biggest hits:
So, we bid a fond adieu to 1988. A year that saw the rise of some of our (at least my) most cherished country stars. And Hank Williams, Jr., too.
