Country Music

[Professor Knowall]

You've already seen his 1944 wartime hit 'Smoke on the Water', a few posts back, so let's meet the man. Clyde Foley, known as 'Red' due to his hair (he would've been called Bluey in Australia), was one of the biggest stars during the post-war era, a radio and television personality, cut the first recording in Nashville and was a silky-voiced singer who sold some 25 million records and whose popularity went far in making country music a viable mainstream commodity.

Raised on a Kentucky farm, Foley began playing guitar and harmonica at a young age, and by age 17 had taken first prize in a statewide talent competition. In 1930, he was hired by Chicago radio WLS as the house band singer on the program 'National Barn Dance' - then the nation's most popular country music show.

After seven years on the 'National Barn Dance', a new show, Renfro Valley Barn Dance, was created to especially showcase Foley's talents. He remained with the program until 1939, performing everything from ballads to boogie to blues. At the same time, he became the first country artist to host his own network radio program, Avalon Time (co-hosted by comedian Red Skelton), and performed extensively in theaters, clubs and fairs.

Foley rerurned to another stint at the National Barn Dance show. In 1941, the same year he made his film debut in the Western 'The Pioneers', he signed a lifetime contract with Decca Records. His first chart single, 1944's "Smoke on the Water," topped the charts for 13 consecutive weeks. He then headed to Nashville in 1945, becoming the first major performer to cut a record in Nashville at Radio WSM's new Studio B, the start of Nashville's now massive recording industry.

In 1946, Foley signed on to MC and perform on the Grand Ole Opry program broadcast on NBC; his popularity with listeners is often credited with establishing the Opry as country's pre-eminent radio show. Beginning in 1947, he began recording with his backing band, the Cumberland Valley Boys, recording seven Top Five hits between 1947 and 1949, including "Tennessee Saturday Night," a #1 hit in 1948. Again recording solo in 1950, he issued the song that became his trademark tune, "Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy," which stayed #1 for 13 weeks.

In 1951, Foley's second wife committed suicide, reportedly over the singer's affair with another woman. In order to devote the majority of his time to raising his family, he cut back most of his performing, although he continued to release hit after hit in a variety of musical styles, including rockabilly and R&B; "(There'll Be) Peace in the Valley (For Me)," a 1951 smash, was the first record ever to sell one million copies on the gospel charts. After several years spent in virtual retirement, in 1954 Foley was named to host The Ozark Jubilee, a country showcase for ABC television; the show was a hit, and ran through 1960.

 

[Professor Knowall]

Having already seen his 1944 wartime #1 hit, 'Smoke on the Water', Red Foley went on to have a string of #1 hits, with his music moving on to a bluesy proto-rockabilly sound from 1947 onwards, when he began recording with his backing band, the Cumberland Valley Boys. Here's a selection of his bigger hits -

His number 1 hit of 1948, about a good night out "... there's gonna be a funeral if they start a fight ... they all go native on a Saturday night ..." -



Also from 1948, sticking with the Tennessee theme "... I picked her up in a pickup truck ..." -



And now, from 1950, his biggest hit - #1 on both the country and pop charts, and from then on his signature song -



Also a #1 hit in 1950, the rockabilly type 'Birmingham Bounce' "... when the music starts rockin, nobody's blue ..." -



Yet another 1950 #1 swinging down the Mississippi -

 

[Professor Knowall]

For the Red Foley bonus extra, I have 3 more of his hit songs - but all 3 very different from his 'mainstream' hits covered above - and also very different from each other.

First is his 1951 million selling smash gospel hit 'Peace in the Valley'. It was written in 1937 by the great African-American blues and gospel composer, Thomas Dorsey for Mahalia Jackson. Needing an extra song for a record session, Foley heard it sung by an African American choir and decided it was the song. The producer and director of Decca in Nashville, Paul Cohen hated the song and didn't want Foley to record it, so he walked out, and Owen Bradley, the then engineer, finished the session, and took over Paul Cohen's role as head of Decca's Nashville operations.

Foley rendered a version faithful to it's African-American origins. His classic sold over a million, the first gospel record to ever do this. Elvis Presley also had a big hit with his 1957 cover, but I consider this better -



Now one for all dog lovers - and it's a real tear jerker! It was written by Foley way back in 1933 about a dog that he owned as a child. Foley first recorded the song in 1935, again in 1941 and the third in 1946. As it became a country classic (and amongst the saddest) here is a list of major artists who covered it:

Hank Williams 1942, Elvis Presley 1956, Hank Snow 1959, Walter Brennan 1960, Dave Dudley 1965, Johnny Cash 1975, Everly Brothers & Garrison Keiler 1988, Pat Boone 1994, Burton Cummings (as Elvis) 1994, Alabama 2006.

A song also closely associated with Elvis Presley, in 1945 at age 10, he sang "Old Shep" in his first public performance for a singing contest at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair. Dressed as a cowboy, Elvis stood on a chair to reach the microphone. He came fifth, winning him $5 and a free ticket to the fair rides. As a 16 year old in 1951, Elvis sang it again for a talent show at His High School, winning with an encore performance. In 1956, Elvis’ cover version was released.

Here is Red Foley's 1946 'Old Shep' recording -



And finally, a curious number from 1947 - which nevertheless still went to #1. It's a cover of an old Cajun waltz from
the 1920's, but Foley's version has seemingly random lyrics mixing French and English, but with an unmistakable Cajun theme with the accordion and French shoutouts. I've been lucky to have some great nights out in Lafayette, the Cajun heartland of Louisiana, but as I can't really include the distinct Cajun music with it's quite separate French heritage in
this country music history, this is as close as I can get - even if it's an apparent parody (but still a #1 hit) -

 

[Professor Knowall]

Think you've seen the last of the singing cowboys? Not so fast - there's one more, but he's made it on our list for his post cowboy music career, having been overshadowed by Gene Autry and Roy Rogers while on the saddle. But, having left the movies behind him, he had the next #1 hit following Red Foley's 'Smoke on the Water'

Singing cowboy Tex Ritter was one of the biggest names in country music throughout the postwar era, thanks to a very diverse career that led him from the Broadway stage to Hollywood, back to his native Texas then finally to Nashville and the Grand Ole Opry. Born Maurice Ritter in Texas in 1907, he grew up on a cattle ranch. He studied law at the University of Texas but, bitten by the acting bug, moved to New York in 1928 to join a theatrical troupe. After a few years of struggle, he briefly returned to school, only to leave again to pursue stardom.

Ritter was playing cowboy songs on the radio when he returned to New York in 1931 to act in the Broadway production Green Grow the Lilacs; during scene changes, he also performed on his guitar. Thanks to his success on the stage, he began hosting radio programs like Tex Ritter's Campfire before entering the studio in 1933, where his deep, lived-in voice graced songs like "Rye Whiskey." He caught the attention of a Hollywood producer who was searching for a cowboy singer in the mold of the highly successful Gene Autry and was hired to star in the 1936 Western Song of the Gringo. Over the next 9 years, Ritter starred or featured in a total of 85 films.

As Ritter's Hollywood career went into decline, his music career began to blossom. In December 1944, Tex Ritter & His Texans topped the charts with the single "I'm Wastin' My Tears on You." The record's flip side, "There's a New Moon Over My Shoulder," peaked at 2, as did the follow-up "Jealous Heart." 1945's "You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often" was Ritter's greatest success, #1 for 11 consecutive weeks. Among his other successes in the 1940s were 1945's #1 "You Will Have to Pay," 1948's "Rock and Rye," and 1950's "Daddy's Last Letter" based on the actual correspondence of a soldier slain during the Korean War.

Ritter then recorded the theme to the Fred Zinneman classic High Noon in 1953, and the resulting single proved extremely successful with pop audiences, helping win him the job as the MC of the television program Town Hall Party, which he hosted between 1953 and 1960. After leaving Town Hall Party, he released the LP 'Blood on the Saddle', a dark collection of cowboy narrative ballads, and in 1961, he returned to the country charts after an 11-year absence with the Top Five hit "I Dreamed of a Hillbilly Heaven." In 1963 became president of the Country Music Association, and in 1965 he moved to Nashville to join the Grand Ole Opry and in 1964 was installed in the Country Music Hall of Fame. He died of a heart attack in 1974.

Here are his run of big hits from 1944 to 1946. I can hear the Ernest Tubb honky tonk influence in them -
Released in December 1944 and replacing Red Foley's "Smoke on the Water" as #1 -



And scoring another hit with the flip side -



From 1945, written by Jenny Lou Carson, one of the excellent songs she wrote for Tex Ritter and Red Foley -



Ritter's greatest success, #1 for 11 consecutive weeks - also written by Jenny Lou Carson -



And followed right along by another 1945 #1 -

 

[Professor Knowall]

Tex Ritter's extra has to be, of course, the timeless introduction song to the classic 1952 western movie "High Noon" -
'Do not forsake me oh my Darling'.
I've included 2 clips - this one has the actual movie intro vision, but with inferior sound quality -



And this one has the good sound quality -



And last, from his 1960 'Blood on the Saddle' album, I like his version of 'The Streets of Laredo'. Sang like a true Texan cowboy -

 

[Professor Knowall]

He spent years relentlessly searching, looking to make a reality of the sound he had inside his head. Finally, in 1946, Bill Monroe found the "missing link" - and thereby completed the creation of a whole new country music sub-genre that lives on to this day - and in doing so, he became arguably the most broadly influential figure in American popular music. Not only is the father of bluegrass — he was influential in country music, later in the folk music revival, and also a big early rock and roll, with Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Buddy Holly all huge fans - see this 1 minute intro -


Bill Monroe is the undisputed father of bluegrass. He invented the style, invented the name, and for the great majority of the 20th century, embodied the art form. Beginning with his Blue Grass Boys in the '40s, Monroe defined a hard-edged style of country, emphasizing instrumental virtuosity, close vocal harmonies, and a fast, driving tempo. The musical genre took its name from the Blue Grass Boys and Monroe's music forever has defined the sound of classical bluegrass - a five-piece acoustic string band, playing precisely and rapidly, switching solos and singing in a plaintive, high lonesome voice. Not only did he invent the very sound of the music, Monroe mentored several generations of musicians. Over the years, Monroe's band hosted all of the major bluegrass artists of the '50s and '60s and though the lineup of the Blue Grass Boys changed over the years, Monroe always remained devoted to bluegrass in its purest form.

Bluegrass combines elements of old-time mountain music, square dance fiddling, blues, gospel, jazz, and popular music. Like jazz, bluegrass allows performers to improvise and take turns playing lead. Its distinctive timing surges slightly ahead of or anticipates the main beat, creating an energized effect. Its vocal range is rather high, forcing vocalists into their upper ranges and creating a tight, almost austere, sometimes called "high lonesome" sound.


Born in Kentucky in 1911, Monroe grew up the youngest of eight children on an impoverished farm. He was born with his left one eye crossed and his vision severely impaired, for which he was teased. As was typical in rural areas, his family grew up playing and singing at home, but being the youngest, Bill had to make do with the least desired instrument, the mandolin, as his older siblings monopolised the fiddles, guitars and banjo. He came to master the mandolin like no other before and few ever since have.

When Monroe was aged 10 his mother died, followed by his father when Bill was 16, so he went to live with his mother's brother, his Uncle Pen Vandiver. He's the subject of "Uncle Pen," one of what Monroe called his "true songs." Uncle Pen was an old-time fiddle player, and they were able to bring in much-needed money by playing at local dances. The young Monroe also worked with an African-American blues musician, Arnold Shultz, in a rare integrated duo. Arnold taught Monroe how to play blues licks.

Monroe continued absorbing black and white musical traditions throughout the 1930s, closing in on the style that would become 'bluegrass'. He first went on the road as a duo with his brother Charlie as 'The Monroe Brothers', playing in other states and on various, before doing their first recording session in 1936 and recording another 60 tracks for Bluebird over the next two years. In 1938, Charlie split with the quick tempered Bill, declaring that "no-one could work with that hard bastard", with Charlie forming the Kentucky Pardners.

Bill then formed his own band with the intention of creating a new form of country that melded old-time string bands with blues and challenged the instrumental abilities of the musicians. He moved to Atlanta, where he formed the Blue Grass Boys, named after his home state and began appearing on Atlanta radio. Monroe debuted on the Grand Ole Opry in 1939, singing "New Muleskinner Blues", a well received performance that made his career as well as introducing the new genre of bluegrass. The most notable element of the band's sound was Monroe's high, piercing tenor voice and his driving mandolin. The Blue Grass Boys toured with the Grand Ole Opry's road shows and appeared weekly on the radio. Between 1940 and 1941, he cut a number of songs for RCA-Victor. But Monroe wasn't yet satisfied with the sound; to him, it was incomplete.

Finally, the classic lineup of the Blue Grass Boysfell into place in 1945, when guitarist/vocalist Lester Flatt and the revolutionary banjoist Earl Scruggs joined the lineup. At last, the demanding and driving Bill Monroe was satisfied and by early 1946, he had his first charting hit with "Kentucky Waltz," which climbed to number three; it was soon followed by the number five hit "Footprints in the Snow." Throughout 1946, the Blue Grass Boys were one of the most popular acts in country music, scoring hits and touring to large crowds across America, and they remained popular Through the late '40s, withfive additional Top 20 singles. Numerous other acts began imitating Monroe's sound, most notably the Stanley Brothers, thereby establishing 'Bluegrass Music' as a new genre.

Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys lasted 58 years and saw more than 150 different musicians pass through the band. But it was the group he formed in 1946 — Lester Flatt (guitar), Earl Scruggs (banjo), Cedric Rainwater (bass), Chubby Wise (fiddle), with Monroe playing mandolin and vocals — that defined the classic bluegrass quintet.

 

[Professor Knowall]

Concentrating on the key period 1946 to 1950, we start with Bill Monroe's most popular hit 'Blue Moon of Kentucky' he wrote in 1946 - and was also on Elvis Presley's very first hit single. He starts slow, finishes fast -



'The Kentucky Waltz' - another 1946 favourite that really displayed Bill Monroe's vocal skills -



And again from 1946 - 'Footprints in the Snow' -



Then from 1947, about Monroe's beloved Kentucky -



Finally, from 1950, a bluegrass cover of Jimmie Rodgers classic 'New Mule Skinner Blues' (not to be confused with the extremely similar 'Mule Skinner Blues' -

 

[Professor Knowall]

I can't close on Bill Monroe without his autobiographical 1950 tribute to his Uncle Pen who took him in at age 16 after both his parents died, and was his musical mentor -



Monroe, Flatt, Scruggs and Chubby Wise really going for it in this original 1949 recording of 'Bluegrass Breakdown' - Scruggs was incredible - until then, no-one had any idea a banjo could be played like this -



And finally Monroe at age 79 in 1990, showing he's still the master of the mandolin as he performs 'Southern Flavour' with Marty Stuart -

 

[Professor Knowall]

Merle Travis was a good singer, an even better songwriter and virtually without peer as a guitarist - famous for the "Travis Picking" style that virtually anyone who has taken guitar lessons would (or at least should) know of. A unique stylist, only Chet Atkins comes close to the influence that Travis had on the way the guitar is played in country and rock music. As a songwriter, he wasn't far behind, with originals such as "Sixteen Tons" crossing over as popular standards in the hands of other artists. He played two different vital roles in the development of rock'n'roll, and had his own share of chart hits.

Born 1917 in Kentucky, Merle Travis' father was a coalminer, the family living on the edge of poverty. This became the basis for what eventually became his most well known song "Sixteen Tons." His first instrument was a banjo, but at aged 12, his older brother gave him a homemade guitar. Travis was lucky to have as neighbors Ike Everly, later the father of Don and Phil Everly (ie 'The Everly Brothers) and Mose Rager, who played in a unique three-finger guitar style that had developed in that area. Travis learned this technique as a teenager, but using only two fingers and grew astonishingly proficient in a repertory that included blues, ragtime, and popular tunes.

While visiting his brother in indiana in 1935, his entertaining at a local dance resulted in him joining local bands and appearing on local radio. In 1938, he joined the 'Drifting Pioneers', with broadcasting gig on Cincinnati until World War II. As a member of the Drifting Pioneers, Travis acquired a national following, and also began playing with Grandpa Jones and the Delmore Brothers in a gospel quartet 'Brown's Ferry Four' then teamed up with Jones as 'The Shepherd Brothers' for his first recordings in 1943. He spent a short stint in the Marines, but was discharged due to discipline problems and in 1944, he went to Los Angeles, where he began making appearances in Western movies and playing with Ray Whitley's Western swing band.

With guidance from Tex Ritter, in 1946 he released the topical song "No Vacancy", dealing with the displacement of returning veterans, along with "Cincinnati Lou", both hits. His next major project was a concept album, Folk Songs of the Hills, was a failure at the time it was released in 1947. However, it yielded several classics, among them the originals "Sixteen Tons," "Dark as a Dungeon," and "Over by Number Nine," as well as introducing such standards as "Nine Pound Hammer"; it also became a unique document, depicting a beautiful all-acoustic solo guitar performance by this master virtuoso.

Aside from the initial failure of the folk album, 1947 began a boom period in Travis' career. He wrote the million-selling hit "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke!" for his friend Tex Williams and had a half-dozen top 10 records himself. Travis also devised the first solid-body electric guitar, coming up with a model which, when perfected by Leo Fender, became a key element in early rock & roll. Though his string of hits didn't last, Travis' career continued uninterrupted on stage, television, and record. In 1953, he landed a high profile role the box-office hit movie 'From Here to Eternity', performing "Re-Enlistment Blues," while also playing on Hank Thompson's records. In 1955, Tennessee Ford had his crossover hit with "Sixteen Tons".

Despite being referred to constantly, either musically or literally, by dozens of major figures, Travis never ascended the charts himself again, mainly due to his wild personal life. He was a hellraiser, especially when he drank. He was arrested more than once for public intoxication and drunk driving on his motorcycle and in 1956 there was a highly publicized report of police surrounding his home after he assaulted his wife. Then, during the early '60s, he was hospitalized after being arrested while driving under the influence of narcotics. He pulled his life together in the mid-'60s to do one new folk-style album, 'Songs of the Coal Mines', which, like its predecessor 'Folk Songs of the Hills', failed to sell on its original release. His other albums, mostly instrumental, such as 'Walkin' the Strings' were much more significant and influential as standard acquisitions for aspiring guitarists.

 

[Professor Knowall]

Starting with a few of Travis' Western swing influenced honky tonk hits from his prolific 1946/47 period -
Reaching number 2, his first real hit for himself, having written #1 hits for others like Red Foley and Tex Williams e.g. Smoke, Smoke, Smoke) - "I've got a girl called Cincinnati Lou. I don't know nothing but she won't do. She can drink more beer than a two ton truck can hold ..." -



Another favourite honky tonk theme (and and the first #1 for Travis) -



And his runaway top-seller, with 14 weeks at #1 in 1947, a honky tonk special "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed". The song title and lyrics have double entendres as they actually are taken from then current advertising slogans, especially cigarette ads -



And now for his other, more serious, music, which didn't sell so well at the time, but they've aged well and are now, apart from his immensely influential guitar technique, regarded as his main musical legacy, certainly as song-writer -

From his 1947 concept album, 'Folk Songs of the Hills', this song was inspired by his father's experience as a coal miner, being paid with tokens instead of cash which could only be redeemed at the company store, hence the song lyrics. It's long been rumoured the album failed commercially due to interference from the FBI as it was was seen as being potentially pro-communist, but in 1955 it was covered by 'Tennessee ' Ernie Ford and was a smash #1 hit on the pop charts. This is the original Merle Travis version -



Also from the then failed, but now highly regarded 1947 'Folk Songs of the Hills' album is another number about his family's coal mining experience -

 

[Professor Knowall]

As one of the most influential guitar players ever, rating very high on any list of great guitar players, as well as devising the first solid-body electric guitar, we need to look at Merle Travis' picking skills more closely. Why is he one of the guitar greats? Check this out -



And also this -



And for an expert analysis of his technique, first on his 'Cannonball Rag' performance -



And also on 'Nine Pound Hammer', emphasising the complexity of his performance -

 

[Professor Knowall]

If you even think you know bluegrass, you have to know Carter (born 1925) and Ralph Carter (born 1927), the Stanley Brothers, who grew up on a small Virginian farm. Their father Lee Stanley was a noted singer and their mother played banjo. They learned many old-time songs as children and soon began to sing at church and family functions. In 1941, with two school friends, they formed the Lazy Ramblers and played some local venues. In 1942, with Carter playing guitar and Ralph the banjo, they appeared as a duo on Radio in Johnson City, Tennessee. After graduation, Ralph spent eighteen months in the army, serving in Germany.

In 1946, after a brief spell with the Blue Ridge Mountain Boys, they formed their own Clinch Mountain Boys and began playing on Radio. Soon afterwards they moved to Bristol, Tennessee, to appear regularly on radio. Their intricate harmony vocal work (Carter sang lead to Ralph’s tenor harmony) and their variety of music, with styles varying from the old-time to bluegrass, then being popularized by Bill Monroe, proved a great success. In 1947, they made their first recordings and later moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. With their standard five instrument line-up, they became one of the most renowned bluegrass bands, much in demand for concert appearances.

Between 1949 and 1952 they made some recordings for Columbia Records which are now rated as classic bluegrass, including many of Carter's own compositions. They disbanded for a short time in 1951. Ralph briefly played banjo with Bill Monroe before being injured in a car crash. During this time, Carter played guitar and recorded with Bill Monroe. However, they soon re-formed their band and returned to Bristol radio. They recorded more self-penned numbers, honky-tonk songs, instrumentals and numerous gospel songs recorded with quartet vocal harmonies. Ralph Stanley has always maintained that this period produced their best recordings and experts have rated the mid-50s as the Stanley Brothers’ ‘Golden Era’.

Through the 50s and up to the mid-60s, they played at venues and festivals all over the USA and made overseas tours. The hectic schedules caused Carter to develop a drink problem; his health was badly affected and he died in hospital in Bristol, Virginia, In 1966. After his brother’s death, Ralph Stanley re-formed the Clinch Mountain Boys, continued to play and record bluegrass music. In 1970, he started the annual Bluegrass Festival (named after his brother), an event that attracts large numbers of musicians and bluegrass fans. Over the years, his style of banjo playing has been copied by many young musicians and he has become respected (like Monroe) as one of the most important artists in the popularization of bluegrass music.

Time for some Stanley Brothers Bluegrass -
We start in 1948 with a lovely little song of two favourite country music topics - jealousy and murder -



Also from 1948, with a two timing 'Little Maggie' -



On to 1949, and more death and sadness -



In 1951, a cover of a traditional song first published 1913 about a very unhappy man -



And we finish in 1956 with a live recording of the traditional 'Roving Gambler' -

 

[Professor Knowall]

For extras, there's this curious piece of miming from the "Brown Eyed Dirty Bottom Boys" that's had over 7.5 million downloads (really quite well done) to the Stanley Brothers 'Rank Strangers' - the music at least is from the genuine Stanley Brothers -
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Here's video of the real Stanley Brothers performing the same song live in 1960 with 'Rank Strangers' -



(Edit) Oops, I forgot that Good Ole Mountain Dew (that's moonshine, not softdrink), a great version from 1958 -



Why not finish up with 'The Soggybottom Boys' (actually a bunch of talented Nashville based musicians, not George Clooney and friends), playing a Stanley Brothers favourite -

 

[Professor Knowall]

It's 1948, which in country music will thereafter be known as the 'Year of Eddy Arnold', as he all but monopolises the number one spot for all but 6 weeks, having 5 of the 6 #1 hits for the year. So it's time to have a look at the curious case of Eddy Arnold. "Who was he?" I hear asked. Well only the biggest selling country singer in history! And yet, despite his staggering success, his name today is very rarely rated amongst the country music greats.

Arnold’s suave image and welcoming personality is credited with moving country music to the city, creating a sleek sound that relied on his smooth voice and occasionally lush orchestrations. In the process, he became the most popular country performer of the 20th century. His achievements are immense, spending more weeks at the top of the charts than any other artist. He not only had 28 number one singles, he had 147 charting singles on Billboard, both more than any other artist. More than any other country performer of the postwar era, he was responsible for bringing the music to the masses, to people who wouldn't normally listen to country music. When he sold his 50 millionth record in 1967, it was equaled only by Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles. His songs spent a total of 145 weeks in the #1 position on the billboard chart - again more than any other artist in history. So why isn't he better remembered now?

While Arnold’s “Tennessee Plowboy” nickname didn’t fit the debonair artist he aspired to be and ultimately became, Arnold came by it honestly, having spent the Depression years behind a mule and a plow. Soon after he was born in 1918, in Tennessee, his family was reduced to being sharecroppers on the farm they used to own. Arnold learned to play guitar from his mother and quit school at 16 to become a singer. He succeeded with a regular radio spot and steadily advanced, first as a member of the Golden West Cowboys, performing regularly at The Grand Ole Opry, and then as a solo artist. In 1944 he recorded “Cattle Call,” the song that became his signature. That same year he met Col Tom Parker, a master promoter (as Elvis Presley would later discover) who became his manager. In 1946, Arnold co-wrote and released “That’s How Much I Love You,” which went to No. 2 and established him as a nationally known recording artist. Thus began a decade of chart dominance.

In 1953 Arnold released “I Really Don’t Want to Know,” a #1 hit that introduced his more sophisticated "countrypolitan" sound. Lush strings replaced the steel guitar, and Arnold’s rich tenor voice became a smooth baritone. Also gone were his cowboy boots and jeans, traded for sport coats or tuxedos, helping his image as live country radio gave way to television. Arnold was so fond of this new sound - forerunner of what became known as “The Nashville Sound” - that he recorded new versions of many of his early hits, including “Cattle Call” and “Anytime.”

Arnold became a staple on both the country and pop charts for the next two decades.“I wanted to broaden my appeal,” he once said. “This may make the purists mad, but for every purist I lose, I gain five other fans who like country music the modern way.” Purists can debate, but it’s undeniable the success of Arnold helped put Nashville on the map as a major recording hub. He is the only singer to appear on Billboard's Top 50 chart for every decade from 1940 to 2010 (his last song last charted #49 in 2005).

So why isn't Arnold better remembered? His musical legacy hasn't carried like some others. He never got to be "cool" late in life like Johnny Cash. In addition, was his decision to change his sound in the 1950s, broadening his appeal by putting out records that were as much pop as country. It made him popular in the suburban middle class, but he was almost viewed as a sellout by country tradionalists - too 'pop' for country purists, and this has hurt him in terms of longevity. Finally, he had many very good songs over the years - but none that has quite lived on as an "enduring classic" country song - although 'Cattle Call' and 'Make the World Go Away' go very close.

From the 28 #1 songs from country music's most top selling singer ever to choose from, these ones made the cut -
My favourite Eddy Arnold number is a hauntingly beautiful cowboy trail song, showing his impressive voice range. It's probably now his most enduring song - it's also his oldest, written in 1934, first recorded by him back in 1944, he recorded it again in 1955 (going # 1) and yet again in 1963 for the album "Cattle Call" that went back to basic country roots, departing temporarily from his then current 'Nashville Sound' hits -



Those who may dismiss Arnold as an easy-listening artist would be wise to reconsider after listening to many of his sadly forgotten 1940s honky tonk recordings, like this No. 1 honky-tonk classic from 1947 -



One of five number 1 hits for Arnold in 1948, this heartbreak/betrayal ballad stayed #1 for 19 weeks and on the charts for more than a year - a record which stood until 2010 -



This was the song that heralded Arnold’s more sophisticated sound. It went to No. 1, but it also began a rebranding of
the artist as too uptown for country and too rural for pop — one reason why you don’t often hear his records on oldies stations from either genre. But by making that change, Arnold led country music out of its “hillbilly” music phase and into the mainstream of American popular music. A very nice song - but, asked the 'purists', is it "real" country? -



This tune was so popular, Arnold took it to #1 just one year after Ray Price’s version reached No. 2. This 'Nashville Sound' hit was also Arnold’s highest-ranking song on the pop charts, climbing to #6. At the 2008 Academy of Country Music Awards program, Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley sang the song as a duet to honor Arnold’s legendary career -

 

[Professor Knowall]

For Eddy Arnold's extras, here's a perfect example of one of the many early songs Arnold re-recorded in later years, showing how his recording style evolved. First the 1948 version of “Anytime”, which (of course) went to number 1, and then the 1967 version with its lush strings and smoothed-out tempo -


Now the 1967 'Nashville Sound' version-



But just to show Arnold never really left his 'real' country roots, in 1963 he released his 'back to his roots' "Cattle Call" album, which includes this number that I really quite like (the yodel is a killer) -

 

[Professor Knowall]

After looking at Eddy Arnold's immense career, being the top selling country singer of all time, he does deserve to be better remembered. So here is Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley at the 2008 Academy of Country Music Awards, singing as a duet to honor Arnold’s legendary career -

 

[Schauermann]

And this one has the actual movie intro vision, but with inferior sound quality -

Like that one. Haven't seen the movie for ages.

 

[Professor Knowall]

Like that one. Haven't seen the movie for ages.

It's right up there as one of the best movie intros ever - both song and vision (Van Cleef just had that perfect 'bad man' look about him).

 

[Professor Knowall]

Want some more top-line bluegrass? Formed in 1948, let's meet what's probably the most famous bluegrass band, Flatt & Scruggs and 'The Foggy Mountain Boys'. They made the genre famous in ways not even the inventor of bluegrass, the great Bill Monroe ever could. Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs pioneered a particular type of bluegrass music under Bill Monroe’s leadership - especially Scruggs’ revolutionary three-finger banjo technique - that so popularised bluegrass immensely. Both came from musical families.

A highly talented guitarist, singer and song-writer, Lester Flatt was born in rural Tennessee in 1914. A fan of Bill and Charlie Monroe, he formed a band, 'The Harmonizers', performing regularly on radio. By 1943, he was working with Charlie Monroe, playing mandolin and singing tenor. This was followed by another radio stint, and then in 1945 he was invited by Bill Monroe to join him and the Bluegrass Boys on the Grand Ole Opry.

Legends have a way of making whatever they do look easy, and as frenetic as the music could be, Earl Scruggs always played with such Zen like calm it was almost as if he wasn’t playing at all. Born in 1924 in the eastern Appalachians of North Carolina, an area already using a three-finger banjo style. But Scruggs evolved a newer style, fast, off-beat and rhythmic, blending in his three-finger banjo to make the bluegrass style sound fresh and alive.

By 1939, Scruggs was playing with the 'Carolina Wildcats' then moved to Nashville, working on Radio WSM when he was hired by Bill Monroe in 1945 to join his Blue Grass Boys on The Grand Ole Opry. It proved to be a meeting of like souls. Scruggs was given full rein by Monroe to develop his fluid banjo technique. Monroe even put the names of Flatt & Scruggs on some of his records. This precision and teamwork which characterised Monroe’s sound, soon attracted many new fans to what was then an exciting, new blend of mountain music.

In 1948, Flatt and Scruggs, both fed up with Bill Monroe's demanding playing schedule, resigned from the Bluegrass Boys, moved to North Carolina, recruited ex-Monroe men Jim Shumate and Cedric Rainwater, along with Mac Wiseman, and formed the Foggy Mountain Boys. In 1949 they released Foggy Mountain Breakdown, which remained one of their most consistently popular numbers and was included in the 1969 film, Bonnie & Clyde. Where the careers of other bluegrass and hard country bangs stalled in the early to mid-1950s, the Foggy Mountain Boys flourished. One of their first singles ’Tis Sweet To Be Remembered', reached the top 10 in 1952 and in 1953, the Martha White Flour company sponsored a regular radio show for the group on WSM in Nashville which ran for years and years. By 1955 they were also hosting their own syndicated TV show and became members of the Grand Old Opry.

The 1960s folk revival broadened their appeal even further. ‘Scruggs picking’ was by now used in instrument tutor terminology, and an album, 'American Banjo Scruggs’ Style' released. Then came the top rating TV sit-com 'The Beverly Hillbillies' with the theme tune, 'The Ballad Of Jed Clampett' becoming a number one hit in 1962. They were now selling vast quantities of albums. Towards the end of the 1960s, mainly driven by Earl, they began experimenting with new songs using drums, electric instruments and gospel-style harmonies in an effort to build on a younger audience.

Some of their older fans were unhappy about these changes and were vociferous in their criticism. In 1969 they split over artistic differences. Flatt returned to a more traditional sound, forming the Nashville Grass, composed mainly of the Foggy Mountain Boys. Earl went off in new directions with his Earl Scruggs Revue, with his own sons and later Dobro player Josh Graves in a unit which could also appeal to young rock audiences. Earl also played a major role in getting together the old stars for the seminal 1971 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album, 'Will the Circle be Unbroken'.

Now their music, starting with the obvious - from 1949 in turbocharge mode (pretty much the 'heavy rock' of its day) and now a bluegrass standard (and itself a re-working of 'Bluegrass Breakdown' which Scruggs co-wrote, they originally performed with Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys in 1947) -



A 1952 hit, with Scruggs again on overdrive -



'Dear old Dixie' from 1953 - once again Scruggs showing he's the greatest banjoist of all time -



From 1955, showing Flatt's vocal and guitar skills in addition to Scrubb's genius on banjo-



And hitting #1 on Billboard in December 1962, and bringing bluegrass to a far wider audience than ever, thanks to this being the intro song and also the closing credit to the top rating sitcom 'The Beverly Hillbillies', this video shows how the banjo master Scruggs made the very difficult appear so easy to him -

 

[Professor Knowall]

For more on Flatt and Scruggs, having heard their number one 1962 hit 'The Ballad of Jed Ballard, here is video of the actual intro and closing credits of the top rating sitcom 'The Beverly Hillbillies' showing just how the song fitted in -



That's not all the attention they got from an outside source. In 1953, the Martha White Flour company sponsored a regular radio show for the group on WSM in Nashville which ran for years and years. The theme song for this show became familiar to millions -

 

[Professor Knowall]

Famous as a prominent national TV personality, his booming baritone voice and as having one of the top selling singles of all time, born Ernest Ford in 1919, in Fordtown, Tennessee and raised in nearby Bristol (site of the famous 1927 Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers recordings), Tennessee Ford began his career in hometown Bristol, where he worked as a radio announcer before studying voice at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.

During World War II Ford served in the Army Air Corps, then settled in California, working as a radio announcer for two stations in the L.A. area, adopting the name “Tennessee Ernie”. Ford introduced songs in an exaggerated hillbilly voice and occasionally sang along with them. His potential was recognized with him then being featured him on the new T.V. show 'Hometown Jamboree'.

Ford’s solo singing career took off in 1949, signing with Capital Records and having several hits, including his first number one, “Mule Train.” In 1950 he made his debut performance at the Grand Ole Opry and continued his success with hits like the chart-topping “Shotgun Boogie.”

In 1954 Ford moved to network television as the game show host of NBC’s 'College of Musical Knowledge'. On this show he debuted his 1955 recording of “Sixteen Tons,” the coal-mining protest ballad first recorded by Merle Travis in 1946. Ford's cover became one of the fastest and biggest sellers in the record business. This was followed by NBC’s The Ford Show (actually named after the sponsor, Ford Motors) aired from 1956 to 1961. From 1956, Ford recorded several highly successful gospel albums and continued to make television appearances on numerous shows such as the Jack Benny Program and I Love Lucy. In 1974 he went to Russia as the featured performer in the Country Music USA show sponsored by the U.S. State Department.

During his career Ford recorded more than one hundred country and gospel albums. As a pioneering performer, he adapted his country style for popular audiences and made a successful transition to television. Ford was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame of 1990. A heavy drinker, he died of liver disease in 1991. The house in Bristol where he once lived has been turned into a historic house museum about his contributions to American popular music.

His first #1 hit from 1949, its loud yells, the "clippity cloppin" and the best whipcracks ever recorded, is a real hoot -



Really showing his rich baritone voice on this 1951 hit on the rambling life -



On the verge of rock'n'roll, double entendre lyrics and all, this #1 from 1951 is a rockabilly classic - "... Well I called on her Pap like a gentleman oughter. He said "no brush hunter's gonna git my daughter!" he cocked backed the hammer right on the spot. When the gun went off I outrun the shot! ..." -



On to 1952 and this number, with guitar great, Merle Travis and also Speedy West on the pedal steel, blurs the distinction between country and the new born rock and roll "... she said let's go to my place and bake a pie ..." -



And now for Ford's monster 1955 hit that unexpectedly sold over 20 million after he performed it on his nationally telecast - T.V. show. We've recently saw the original version of this performed by his friend and master guitarist, Merle Travis, who wrote and performed it in 1946, but Ford's rich voice and finger clicking beat made for a huge hit - "... "If you see me comin', better step aside. A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died. One fist of iron, the other of steel. If the right one don't-a get you then the left one will..." -

 

[Professor Knowall]

And for more on Tennessee Ford, I've first decided on a live performance on his national NBC TV show 'The Ford Show' showing his superb baritone voice on a traditional country folk standard -



Ford, after his country and rockabilly hit stage also had great success with gospel albums through the later '50's and sixties - so here, from 1961, is a great version - I can't think of a more soulful rendition of this song - of the traditional spititual standard 'The Wayfaring Stranger' -



And finally, a cover from the Disneyland TV show 5 part miniseries, Davy Crockett in 1954-55 (shown again in colour in the 1960's) followed by the massively hyped Disney movie 'Davey Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier', this was a #4 hit from 1955, 'The Ballad of Davy Crockett' - "... killed him a baarr when he was only three ..." -

 

[Professor Knowall]

It's the start of the fifties, and the dawn of rock and roll has arrived. "I make the bottles bounce on the table" is how Moon Mullican described his barrelhouse style of piano playing. Though he's not widely remembered now, Moon should
be a legend twice over, in country music and rock & roll. He merged them both - as well as blues, pop, Western swing
and honky tonk - into a seamless whole at the drop of a hat and the ripple of a keyboard. His style of music influenced country giants such as his band member Jim Reeves, Hank Williams who named Mullican as a favorite artist), Hank Snow and rock pioneers Bill Haley, Elvis Presley and especially Jerry Lee Lewis, who copied his style and covered many of Mullican's songs.

Aubrey Mullican was born on a farm in east Texas. As a child, Mullican began playing the organ, which his religious father had purchased in order to better sing hymns at church. However, Moon had befriended one of the black sharecroppers on the farm, a guitarist named Joe Jones, who introduced him to the country blues. His religious family did not approve so at 16, Mullican left home for Houston and started playing in saloons and bordellos. The origin of his nickname is hazy - perhaps it was to do with moonshine, his balding head or the dusk-to-dawn hours he kept.

In his twenties, Moon joined Cliff Bruner's Texas Wanderers, a band which fused Western swing and honky-tonk. With Bruner, Mullican developed his "three finger style," hammering the treble keys with a flat right hand, while his left walked the boogie-woogie bass lines. He also played with Jimmie Davis' band. Because he sang as well as he played, he didn't remain a sideman for long. From the mid 1940s to the early '50s, Mullican cut hits, including the million-selling "I'll Sail My Ship Alone", following on from all those other Texan honky-tonk performers, Ernest Tubb, Al Dexter, Red Foley, Tex Ritter and Merle Travis.

Moon's friend Hank Williams brought him into the Grand Ole Opry in 1951 as its first regular singer-pianist, after Mullican helped Williams write his classic "Jambalaya." As rock & roll suddenly exploded, singing pianists like Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard added their own raucous takes on Mullican's brand of ivory-pounding. In the mid-50s, Mullican delighted in rock ‘n’ roll's advent, saying he had been doing that all along. He recorded ‘Seven Nights To Rock’. Tragically, despite pioneering this new music, he found himself too old to take advantage of its sudden new popularity - teenage record buyers for some reason preferred a young gyrating Elvis and a wild Jerry Lee Lewis to a fat, balding, nearly 50 year old Mullican.

Jerry Lee Lewis acknowledges Mullican as a major influence - in particular, Mullican’s playing of the melody with just two fingers on his right hand - and covered ‘I’ll Sail My Ship Alone’. Meanwhile alcohol and too much jambalaya got the better of him. When asked why he chose the piano, Mullican replied, ‘Because the beer kept sliding off my fiddle.’ In 1962, the 19-stone Mullican collapsed on stage in Kansas City. He stopped drinking and returned to performing. On New Year’s Eve 1966, he resolved to cut down on pork chops but died of a heart attack next day. Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis, for whom Moon had once played in his band (remember him - see post #151) sang at his funeral.

Now his music. Growing up near the Louisiana border and later playing through that state, Moon would've had plenty of exposure to its French language Cajun music, so in 1946 he did an English language version of a Cajun favourite (which as we've already saw, Red Foley later did his own version #1 in 1947) and scored his first big (# 2) hit -



His biggest hit, from 1950 - and this video shows both his piano technique and why he was destined to fail at being a rock star, despite his pioneering music - the bevie of beauties by his piano aren't too excited -



Also from 1950 and though it's not the incomparably smooth version by emerging jazz superstar, Nat King Cole, Moon's rocky version of 'Mona Lisa' with his piano pounding, got to #4 -




Is this country? ... or is this rock'n'roll'roll - from 1951! -



And by 1953 when Moon brought out this rocking number, rock'n'roll has just been born ... Moon clearly one of its major influencers -

 

[Professor Knowall]

For more on Moon Mullican, given his pioneering work in the development of rock and roll over the years, I've got his 1956 attempt at being a rockstar - but at age 47, it came too late for him - despite having this rip-roaring song, he was too fat, too bald and too old for the young rock'n'roll audience compared to his much younger competition -



Early rock'n'roll legend and pianist, Louisianan Jerry Lee Lewis, more than anyone else, has long acknowledged his debt to Moon Mullican for his dynamic piano technique. Here' Lewis' 1958 cover of Moon's biggest hit, 8 years earlier, recorded at the iconic Sun Studio, Memphis -



And finally, I couldn't resist including this 1953 number by Moon - with the perfect video accompaniment -

 

[Schauermann]

Want some more top-line bluegrass?

Sure.

But you post heaps. Find it hard to give a listen everything. After all I am a working man.