Country Music

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Throughout the 1970s The Statlers stamped a touch of class on country music. Along with their smooth vocal work,they utilised the finest Nashville studio musicians, creating a rural backcloth with banjo, dobro, harmonica and steel guitar. They wrote and mostly recorded original material - unless otherwise stated, the song selections here were penned by DeWitt and Don Reid and all 4 worked together composing the music.

Even as they became nationwide stars in the 1970’s, The Statlers never forgot their roots and displayed a loyalty to their home town of Staunton, Virginia (a lovely town, the best and most prosperous in the Appalachians, loaded with historic buildings) and starting in 1970, they brought free Summer concerts to Staunton each July 4th for “Happy Birthday U.S.A“. Regularly drawing crowds of well over 80,000 and sometimes exceeding 100,000, coming from all over the South and beyond, the concerts were massive hits. Some Staunton residents remember years that it rained and the crowds still packed onto the muddy outfield at the Stadium, unwilling to miss the music. The concerts continued for 25 years and brought in big stars like Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, Conway Twitty, Charley Pride, Reba McIntyre and Neal McCoy and many more.

At the height of their popularity, in 1980, The Statlers purchased and renovated their old elementary school in Staunton. Beverly Manor was converted as a complex that featured offices for the group, as well as an auditorium, museum, and office space for unrelated businesses. There was a garage built to accommodate two of the group’s heavily used tour buses. When this complex was sold a second time, it went to Staunton’s Grace Christian Church where it once again became an educational facility. But time to get back to their music, starting in 1980.

‘We Got Paid By Cash’ is a tribute song, paying homage to Johnny Cash. As already outlined, it was he who discovered The Statler Brothers, mentored them, hot their first recording contract and served as a key influence to their crossover from gospel into country music. This catchy, biographical song - hence it must be included in this history - was all about the history they shared with Cash from when they first met him and took them to Nashville under his wing. They admit the value they place on Cash meant more to them as a mentor than how they were paid. This song came from the 1980 album, “10th Anniversary”, 10 years after The Statlers first signed up with Mercury Records. The video clip is from a 1980 TV special celebrating Cash’s first 25 years in music. The Statlers wrote the song for this show -


Released as the first single from the 1980 album “10th Anniversary”, ‘Charlotte’s Web‘ peaked # 5. It was also a part of the 1982 action-comedy film Smokey and the Bandit II soundtrack. The songs lyrics are somewhat reminiscent of the theme of their 1970 hit, ‘Bed Of Roses’, about a man finding love with a woman that has a small-town “reputation” -
“… She spins and weaves her magic spell / Her body speaks, what words can't tell /
I'm a moth, she's a flame / In a town that's all too quick, to smear her name …” -


’Don’t Wait On Me’ was the first single released from the 1981 album, “Years Ago”, peaking at # 5. Between Don Reid and Lew DeWitt, the two trade the call and response vocals during the verses of this breakup acknowledgement song, with some impossible or rather unlikely statements such as “… When my brother in law phones me / and the charges aren't reversed … ”, along with “… When you load up on a long shot / and you win by half a nose …”, this vintage sounding song served as an entire statement there was no chance of rekindling a lost romance in the foreseeable future. There were several cultural references that made that also this song highly favoured among the fans of The Statlers -


’You’ll Be Back (Every Night In My Dreams) was originally released by Johnny Russell in 1978, reaching # 23, and was later covered by Conway Twitty, but The Statler Brothers’ version turned out to be the most recognised one - the very simple song but with a very catchy harmonic chorus courtesy of the Statlers, peaked at # 3 in 1982 -


In 1982, in what could’ve been a devastating blow to the band, Lew DeWitt, founding member, tenor, guitarist and writer of such hits as ‘Flowers On The Wall’, was forced, at age 44, to leave the band due to the affects of chronic Crohn’s disease, leaving him unable to withstand the rigours of touring. However, the band had the good fortune of signing on Jimmy Fortune, who possessed a fine tenor voice as well as being a talented songwriter, as DeWitt’s successor. DeWitt had heard Fortune sing at a local ski resort and was suitably impressed, so when he needed a temporary replacement due to his incapacity, he asked Fortune to come to audition for the band in Nashville. Fortune started performing with the Statlers in 1982, originally intended as a temporary replacement for DeWitt, but he joined the group permanently just a week later when DeWitt decided to quit the group permanently due to his illness. Fortune, a fellow Appalachian Virginian who grew up not so far away from Staunton, fitted in seamlessly, both musically and personally, with the rest of the group.

Sadly, despite managing to record a 2 solo albums and even doing some limited touring in 1984 and 1985, Lew DeWitt’s health continued to decline and he died in 1990 at age 52 of heart and kidney disease, complications of Crohn's disease.

The Statler’s second # 1 song was also Jimmy Fortune’s first contribution to the band as a writer. Fortune took over the tenor spot from DeWitt shortly before the album “Today“ was recorded, and struck gold (the album sold over 500,000 copies) with thIs very simple, yet soaring love song when he was just 27 years old. It was the 3rd of 3 hit singles from the album that climbed the charts. Fortune later said he was inspired by Elizabeth Taylor’s performance in Giant (though I bet he made that bit up for publicity purposes - the group performed the song for Taylor on her 52nd birthday). In addition to peaking at # 1 in 1983, it remained as a chart hit for 13 weeks. The success of ‘Elizabeth’ ensured once and for all, the band’s continued success with the soaring tenor of Jimmy Fortune now established in it -


From the mid-1970s onward, The Statler Brothers continued to see their star rise, reaching the peak of their musical career during the 1980s, not only by their chart-topping success but also continuously packing out big concert venues with an entertainment package of their music and comedy, and becoming mainstream favorites on network television. But, as always, the times kept changing. Tomorrow will see the conclusion of the Statler Brothers career - going out on a high.
 
Don Reid once said the way the Statler Brothers musically representing the middle-American culture and values was the reason for their success and longevity - “We talked about small-town life and memories and good American stories that everybody could relate to, from 9 to 90”. From the late-1970s onward, The Statler Brothers continued to see their star rise, reaching the peak of their musical career during the 1980s, producing top selling albums and chart topping singles. Their 1984 album, “Atlanta Blue” and 1985's “Pardners in Rhyme”, each generated a # 1 hit - ’My Only Love‘ and ’Too Much on My Heart’ respectively - again both composed by Johnny Fortune.

So on to the final selection of their music, starting from 1984. The rare showcase for bass Harold Reid, ‘Atlanta Blue‘ includes a twist on their standard country-bluegrass fare with a period-appropriate reggae lite groove. The single gives run-of-the-mill longing and despair a specific geography, tying the narrator’s sadness to Georgia pines and summertime. It reached # 3 in 1984, arriving during the 3 year stretch in which every Statlers single peaked inside the Top 10. The group was flexing their might as performers, songwriters, and producers, including the subtlest pop touches within familiar country production and telling stories that stood out without reinventing the wheel -


‘My Only Love‘ topped the chart at # 1 in 1985 and also reached # 3 in Canada. It was the 3rd and final single from the 1984 “Atlanta Blue” album. This beautiful ballad almost instantly became a favourite song of choice at weddings, chosen by couples who felt it perfect as the first dance number for newlyweds. This video clip shows the Statlers performing ‘My Only Love’ at their home town of Staunton on one of their July 4th ”Happy Birthday U.S.A“ concerts (refer to yesterday’s 3rd paragraph) -

After the Statler Brothers stopped performing, The city of Staunton continued to host yearly 4th of July celebrations at the bandstand. In recent years, cousins (and sons of 2 of the Statler Brothers) Wil Reid and Langdon Reid have headed up a relaunched July 4th ”Happy Birthday U.S.A concert celebration intended to emulate those hosted by their fathers - and so it continues thus Every July 4.

Now for a cover. ‘Hello Mary Lou’ has been a hit to music artists Johnny Duncan and Ricky Nelson in the early 1960’s. The Statlers never did many covers, especially in the later phase of their career. But in reprising this rockabilly hit, they turned a 25 y.o. song into a hit, reaching # 3. It has a more straightforwardly country sound than the original, but maintains a solid groove (bolstered by bass Harold’s real low end harmonies) -


The Statler’s 4th and final # 1 hit in both the US and Canada was ‘Too Much on My Heart’, released in 1985 from the album, “Pardners in Rhyme”, while they were still at the height of their fame as a frequent chart-hitter on TNN. Jimmy Fortune took the lead on this, his 3rd # 1 composition for the Statlers. It’s a weighty ballad, the single having more of the synth and string adornments often found in pop music of that decade. Yet the lyrics help it avoid cliche, painting a couple on the verge of fracture that only has a vague sense of why. This remarkable ballad was a heartfelt acknowledgement of a once strong romance falling to the cusp of a breakup. Not sure where to start, the narrator looks for a solution to regain the magic that was lost between them, hoping his love interest was willing to do the same. I’ve chosen this version from the Statler’s famous farewell concert (more on this below) -

Not only was ‘Too Much on My Heart’ the Statlers’ final chart-topper; the album it appeared on, “Pardners In Rhyme”, would be their last # 1 country album.

Jimmy Fortune penned ‘More Than a Name on a Wall’, the saddest song the group ever sang, which peaked at # 6, their last significant hit. Released in 1989, it deals with the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington DC - designed as an escarpment in Washington Mall, with the names of over 55,000 U.S. servicemen killed in the war on the wall) and tells the story of a mother who goes to it in order to see her son’s name on the wall, only to try and explain to other people, who simply don’t understand, that these are not merely just a wall of engraved names, but representations of actual (mostly young) people who had hopes, fears and dreams of their own. The song is told through the mother’s eyes as she tells her son’s story through her own narrative. As Don Reid states in his introduction to the song, it pays tribute to all the servicemen who died their - or could have died. This clip is also from their final, farewell concert -


The Statlers‘ success went beyond just their music, as they presented an all-round entertainment package. During the 1980’s they were also regularly packing out the biggest concert venues with their hugely popular stage performances and they even became mainstream TV favourites. Thanks to the mix of comedy and parody into their music, they we’re the big draw that kept the audience coming back for more. They were nominated for various awards for their comedy in addiction to their singing by the film and TV industries that recognised the quality of their work. This led to them, in the 1990’s, even as their material was dropped by mainstream country radios and their records finally receded from the charts, to follow in the same footsteps of their mentor, Johnny Cash by having their own variety show. On The Nashville Network (aka TNN - since grown into the multi-national giant Paramount Network, but now based in L.A. and grown far beyond its country music roots), their show went for 8 years from 1991 to 1997 and it was the # 1 rated show on the network its entire run.

In 2002, The Statler Brothers, 2 of them now aged 62 and in their 47th year of performing and ready for retirement, decided to call it a day, retiring and disbanding after completing their farewell tour. Don Reid later said - “We had talked about it the last couple years, that we couldn’t last forever, so why not [stop performing live] when we want to-instead of when we had to. So we gave all our employees a year’s notice in January to get emotionally and financially adjusted. We felt that we had gone out still at the top of our game”.

So one of country music’s longest-running and most popular road shows came to a close in October 2002 when the Statler Brothers played their last concert performance in the packed out 10,000-seat Salem Civic Center in Salem, Virginia - which was recorded and released as a live album in 2003. Don Reid recalled - “It was the biggest place close to home that we could do“, adding that Salem is just “down the road” from the venerable quartet’s headquarters in its Staunton, Va., hometown. “When we came home a month ago, it was the first time I completely unpacked my suitcase in 35 and-a-half years.

The impressive discography of The Statler Brothers, as a Southern Gospel style quartet feature 38 studio albums, including 9 gold and 1 platinum certified albums, 5 compilation albums, 2 live albums and 69 singles, 4 being # 1 hits. They won 3 Grammy Awards, were named the top vocal group by the CMA 9 times. They were inducted into the Gospel HoF in 2007 and in 2008, all the band’s 5 members (including Lew DeWitt posthumously) were I ducted into the Country Music HoF in 2008. After the group retired from traveling in 2002, Don turned his attention to writing and is the author of 8 books – 4 non-fiction, 3 fiction, and 1 collection of “short stories and true stories.”

After The Statler Brothers stopped performing in 2002, Harold Reid, at age 64, went into retirement, not in a mansion in Florida, Hawaii or Nashville, but living quietly on his 35 hectare farmlet just on the edge of his origin home town, Staunton. A few years back, looking back at his 47 years of performing in the band, he mused - “Some days, I sit on my beautiful front porch, here in Staunton, Virginia … I literally have to pinch myself. Did that really happen to me, or did I just dream that?” Harold Reid died at his home in 2020 after enduring a long battle with kidney failure.

The 2 surviving original members of The Statlers, Don Reid and Phil Balsley, also continue to reside in their hometown of Staunton, Virginia. Phil in quiet retirement, but Don Reid has since pursued a writing career that has 6 books authored by him. The last, and youngest, of the group, Jimmy Fortune, currently resides in Nashville and continues his career as a solo artist. As a group, The Statlers have remained as one of the most respected, awarded and influential musical groups and entertainers in country music history.

So with The Statler Brothers and its brand of Southern Gospel quartet harmony “done”, I’m now once again called away from tomorro, this time to central NSW and into Southern Qld. When I get back in a few weeks time, it’ll be with something that after The Statler Brothers, is same, same … but just a bit different.
 
I admire and respect their achievements, but the Statler Brothers have never won me over. A bit too much polish, schmaltz and saccharine.
Although I do admit that "Flowers On The Wall" usually grabs me.
 

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THE A5 said:
Was told to listen to Charley Crockett Years ago but really just listened to the odd song here and there till recently. I’ve slept on him for far too long and bow totally hooked. Bit like Sierra Ferral (another one of my favourites) he just has a voice that is just timeless
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I’ve been a Charley Crockett fan for a while and have posted on him several times - the last being # 767 with the title track of his then most recent album “Waco” and commented - “…I‘ve really liked for a few years now, putting the western back into country & western …”. Like you said, he has a very distinct vocal - and yes, Sierra Ferral is another - which stands out from much of the current crop of singers who, relying on the auto-tune mic, tend to all sound the same. Charley hails from the far south Texan town of San Benito (where the great Tex-Mex singer with another distinctive voice, Freddy Fender also came from) and his music shows a knowledge and respect for Texan country and blues music over several sub-genres.
 
Professor Knowall said:
I’ve been a Charley Crockett fan for a while and have posted on him several times - the last being # 767 with the title track of his then most recent album “Waco” and commented - “…I‘ve really liked for a few years now, putting the western back into country & western …”. Like you said, he has a very distinct vocal - and yes, Sierra Ferral is another - which stands out from much of the current crop of singers who, relying on the auto-tune mic, tend to all sound the same. Charley hails from the far south Texan town of San Benito (where the great Tex-Mex singer with another distinctive voice, Freddy Fender also came from) and his music shows a knowledge and respect for Texan country and blues music over several sub-genres.
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Last week he announced an Australian tour for next year
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PatsFitztrick said:
I admire and respect their achievements, but the Statler Brothers have never won me over. A bit too much polish, schmaltz and saccharine.
Although I do admit that "Flowers On The Wall" usually grabs me.
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That’s a very fair judgement. I very nearly included a couple of their early songs in addition to ‘Flowers On the Wall’, before they really honed their music for there sought after market. There suit and tie wearing polish, schmaltz and saccharine (and one could add the oft corny, never edgy, humour they incorporated into their stage act), worked well with their comfortable, suburban, church going middle-American market they aimed at - but they weren’t for the hard-core bar room honky tonk crowd, where my own personal tastes are and definitely not for the younger Outlaw music followers of the era.

But in covering them, not just objectively, but subjectively, I couldn’t help but notice how good they were at their craft - Johnny Cash showed good judgement in choosing them as his opening touring concert act. When the Statlers left to pursue their own career, Cash found a new group to join his travelling road show as the opening act - another harmony quartet, long the most well known, successful Southern Gospel group, but who were very much inspired by the Statlers to turn to the more lucrative secular country music world - and have been compared with the Statlers ever since. Coming up next.
 
The Statler Brothers (of which 2 were actual brothers) formed back in 1955. But todays Southern Gospel quartet predates them by over a decade, their origin extending all the way back to WW2. The original group, formed in 1943, based in Knoxville, Tennessee, playing a mix of country and gospel, was called Wally Fowler and the Georgia Clodhoppers. They were contracted to perform for workers and their families (mostly construction and service workers from the South, not the elite scientists from the North who had separate quarters and jazz groups for entertainment) in the nearby instant city of Oak Ridge, the largest of 3 locations of the top-secret “Manhattan Project” (as outlined in the movie Oppenheimer), where nuclear fuel was extracted and refined for the first atomic bombs.

The group sang there so often, they changed their name to the Oak Ridge Quartet, and because their most popular songs were gospel, Fowler decided to focus solely on Southern gospel music. Their popularity increased even as the war ended, starting regular Grand Ole Opry appearances in 1945 and their first recording in 1947. In the mid-1950’s, they were featured in Time magazine as the top drawing Gospel group in the nation. In 1957, Fowler sold the rights to the “Oak Ridge Quartet” name to group member Smitty Gatlin in exchange for forgiveness of a debt. In 1961, Gatlin changed the group's name to the “Oak Ridge Boys" because their producer thought "Oak Ridge Quartet" sounded too old-fashioned for their contemporary sound.

Wikipedia has an unusually detailed and accurate outline of their history in there early Southern gospel era (including a list of every single group member) before they had their breakout into country music in the 1970’s, if you want to know more - it’s too much for me to cover. By the late 1960’s, with more than 30 members having come and gone, The Oak Ridge Boys had a lineup that included lead singer, Duane Allen, born 1943 in rural East Texas, baritone William Lee Golden, born 1939 in the small town of Brewton, South Alabama. Among the Oaks’ many acquaintances in the Gospel field were tenor Joe Bonsall, a streetwise Philadelphia kid born 1948, who nevertheless somehow embraced Southern Gospel music; and deep bass Richard Sterban, born 1943 in Camden, New Jersey, who was singing in quartets and holding down a job as a men’s clothing salesman. Despite being Northern Yankees, both admired the distinctive, highly popular Oaks, with Bonsall recalling - “They were the most innovative quartet in Gospel music. They performed Gospel with a Rock approach, had a full band, wore bell-bottom pants and grew their hair long … things unheard of at the time.”

The four became friends, and when the Oaks needed a bass and tenor in 1972 and ’73, respectively, Sterban and Bonsall got the calls. For a while, the group remained at the very pinnacle of the Gospel music circuit, their previous biggest competition, the Statler Brothers, having by now crossed over to the larger, more lucrative country music market. But even as the group stayed loyal to Southern Gospel (in which they recorded an incredible 32 LP’s from 1958 to 1973 and won 4 Grammys for best gospel performance) they refined the music that would soon make them an across-the-board attraction, with Bonsall recalling - “We did a lot of package shows. There was an incredible amount of competition. You had to blow people away to sell records and get invited back”.

The ever-changing ensemble still lived modestly on the southern white gospel circuit. Despite their Grammy awards annd general recognition in the Southern and mid-western Bible Belt, big financial success eluded them. Members were ready to disband the group during the mid-1970s, with Golden recalling - "We had reached the height of gospel success". Golden sought to preserve the group by persuading his colleagues to enter the lucrative country-pop market, like the Statlers had done so successfully. The Oaks, who, unlike the Statlers, already sported long hair and beards, didn’t fit the image of gospel singers, nor did their rock drummer meet with approval by the ultra-conservatives then prevalent in the Southern Gospel market.

The Oaks’ Gospel sound had distinct contemporary pop-country edge to it and although it made for popular excitement and crowd appeal, especially among younger church going families, it also ruffled the purist feathers and left promoters unsure about their direction.In 1975, looking for a replacement for The Statler Brothers who used to open his show, Johnny Cash booked the Oak’s to open his Las Vegas concerts. Sterban, who had previously worked in Vegas as Elvis Presley’s backing singer, recounted that Cash called the Quartet in his room.Though still employed and doing tours with established artists, the boys were in low spirits. Had it not been for Cash booking them in his Vegas show, they would have disbanded early. The boys were feeling dejected about their career’s direction and wanted to call it quits. But Cash, having seen their potential, rallied them. They were soon asked to open for the Hee-Haw TV show presenter and singer, Roy Clark. Clark’s manager, Jim Halsey, was impressed by their abilities and felt they could emulate the success of the Statlers. Bonsall recalled - “He came backstage and told us we were three-and-a-half minutes (meaning one hit record) away from being a major act. He said we had one of the most dynamic stage shows he’d ever seen but that we had to start singing Country songs.” They took his advice and the result was a breakthrough.

So the Oak Ridge Boys came to national attention when they left gospel singing to record secular music - very heavily influenced by the success of the Statler Brothers. Paul Simon tapped the Oaks to sing backup for his of pop hit ‘Slip Slidin’ Away’. With the pivotal 1977 album “Y'All Come Back Saloon”, they completed the crossover from religious to secular music - dubbed the "Nashville Syndrome". Their only real competition in their genre at the time were the Statler Brothers. They were welcomed with open arms, thanks to the success of their first secular single. The title song and first single from their first secular country album, ‘Y'all Come Back Saloon’ reached # 3 in the U.S. and # 2 in Canada. It was also the first song ever written by Sharon Vaughn, now a member of the Songwriters HoF (the second song she wrote was ‘My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys’). It was inspired by her own past as a lounge singer in Orlando - where she was discovered by Mel Tillis. The lyrics about the lonely bar-room cowboy includes a nod to Bob Will’s ‘Faded Love’ -
“… Every night in the shadows thinking back on Amarillo / He'd dream of better days and ask for Faded Love /
Lifting high his glass in honour of the lady and her song / He paid his check then lonely walked the broken cowboy home …” -


‘You’re The One’ was written by Bob Morrison and was originally recorded by Glen Campbell for his 1973 album “I Knew Jesus (Before He Was a Star)”, which influenced the Oak Ridge Boys' rendition. It was released in December 1977 as the second single from the “Y'all Come Back Saloon” album and narrowly missed going # 1 topping out at #2 in early 1978, but in Canada it topped the chart. The Southern Gospel influence, with the hand clapping and uplifting ending, is unmistakable in this -


Alan Rhody provided the powerful lyrics for the first Oak Ridge Boys song to top the U.S. charts from 1978. Released as their third single for ABC records, the poignant ballad ‘I’ll Be True to You’ proved the move to country music from the gospel genre was the right decision. From here, the Oaks would begin a long string of # 1 hits through the 1970’s and ‘80s. The composition, about a man who doesn’t realise what he has until it is literally too late has been named by Tim McGraw as his Oaks favourite -


When the Oaks segued from gospel to country, they faced significant pushback. Country music already had a top gospel-sounding group, The Statler Brothers, and record executives were generally nervous about bands - it’s more challenging to market a group concept than a single personality, and if the band breaks up, it instantly makes investments obsolete. Duane Allen recalled - “The Statler Brothers, they have one lead singer that had probably 90% or more of all the leads. And Alabama - Randy Owen has about all of them, like most every group that’s ever come out of country. In fact, we had to fight with our label and producers to get leads for all of us from the very beginning, and we finally got leads on hits by everybody”.

Though the group has split up the vocal approach on most of their singles, giving Duane Allen, Joe Bonsall, William Lee Golden, and Richard Sterban each a chance to sing lead on a hit, released in late 1979 as the second and final single from their “Room Service” album, reaching # 3 in early 1979, ’Come On In’ features all 4 trading off lines in the chorus, making for a melodious moment that stands in their live show to this day -

Curiously, and potentially confusingly, the song title ’Come On In’ would be used again in a different song they charted in 1985. The second ‘Come on In’ was actually subtitled (‘You Did the Best That You Could Do‘). Although the songs were completely different, they were both hits for the Oak Ridge Boys. Even more coincidentally, both songs peaked at the same position - # 3.

In 1978, the Oak Ridge Boys were named the CMA Vocal Group of the Year.

By the time 1979 rolled around, the Oak Ridge Boys already accrued 7 Top 10 singles. The next hit was delivered by songwriter Rodney Crowell, who wrote ‘Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight’ with Donivan Cowart. After the Oaks heard Emmylou Harris’ version of the song from her album ”Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town“, they knew it was a good choice for their style of country. One of the more traditional-sounding country songs from the group’s heyday, it became their 2nd # 1 in the U.S. and their 5th # 1 in Canada -


Thus established as country hitmakers, the Oak Ridge Boys embarked on a run of chart success that would last through the 1980’s - more on that tomorrow, starting with what has endured as their signature song.
 
We’re on to the 1980’s with the Oak Ridge Boys as they reach height of their popularity. Most critics note the Oaks are best appreciated in live concert settings - Richard Sterban attributes this stage presence to the group’s former long tenure in the gospel ranks - “The gospel industry is such a competitive one, we learned how not to be denied onstage. In a gospel song everybody is there to outdo you. I think we still carry that. We’re going to get to a crowd regardless of what it takes”. Having incorporated a large rock accompaniment band, complete with drums and electric guitars, into their sound, they were astutely described as “ a gospel group singing country songs to a rock band”. But let’s jump straight into 1981 and what has lived on to become their signature song.

Before being recorded for the Oak Ridge Boys' "Fancy Free" album, ’Elvira‘ was a cannily crafted song with a longstanding tradition. As well as being one of the most renowned country music songwriters in history, Oklahoma-born and Bakersfield, California raised Dallas Frazier wrote the' 1957 baritone and bass-heavy R&B prototype pop hit ’Alley Oop’, which became a # 1 pop hit for the Hollywood Argyles. Almost a decade later, in 1966, Frazier, now based in Nashville, wrote ’Elvira‘ - inspired by a street sign in Nashville rather than a woman - and recorded the song himself, but it barely made a ripple in the pop chart at # 72, though it made # 25 in Canada. It was covered for albums in 1970 by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition and by Rodney Crowell in 1978. Crowell's version served as an inspiration for the Oak‘s version for their 1981 “Fancy Free” album.

Duane Allen recalls first hearing ’Elvira‘ in 1966 when Frazier played it on Nashville's WSM radio -"I heard it once and never forgot it. That's when you know a song is a hit”. While producing the track, 15 years later, MCA’s Ron Chancey had a genius idea. He asked Richard Sterban to sing a bassline part as "oom poppa, oom poppa, mow mow". Said Allen - "We wanted 'Elvira' to be a summer record for families of 4 – 2 kids, a mother and a father – on vacation in an automobile, listening to the radio. Mom's singing the verses, the kids sing the ”giddy up“ hook, and dad comes in with the ”oom papa“ chorus. It's the best planning we ever did". It became the perfect pop country hit, not only topping the country charts in both the U.S. and Canada, but also crossing over to the Pop chart, peaking at # 5 -


’Elvira’ was named as both the CMA and ACM Single of the Year. The platinum selling record gained the Oak’s their biggest hit and made the term “oom poppa, oom poppa, mow mow” an unforgettable lyric. Its accompanying album, “Fancy Free” became their first to top the charts, their biggest seller to date. During that important time, the Oaks needed just the right song for a followup. The result was the album’s title track, ‘Fancy Free.’ Just as ‘Elvira’ had caught on and was now spinning on pop radio stations, country stations were playing the Oak’s next single, ‘Fancy Free’, which also climbed all the way to 1 in the U.S. And # 2 in Canada. So for a while in 1981, the Oak Ridge Boys’ feel-good music seemed to be everywhere -


The energetic number ’Bobby Sue’ is another from the bouncy, singalong ‘Elvira’ well, released less than a year later, in 1982, but its tempo owes as much to a 1950’s sock hop, complete with the saxophone work of The Muscle Shoals Horns. Some 40 years after it topped both the U.S. and Canadian charts, and crossed over to # 12 on the pop chart, it remains an essential part of their live set and, like ‘Elvira’, Sterban’s deep bass note does much to underpin the songs appeal. Dan Tyler, who wrote the song with his wife Adele, and Wood Newton, came up with the idea for 'B-b-b-b-Bobbie Sue' after he heard his baby trying to ask for the bottle by babbling ”bo-bo-bo-bo-bo”. Joe Bonsall has remarked - “So I guess there wasn’t even a girl involved in that, to be honest. To the best of my knowledge, there is not an ‘Elvira’ or ‘Bobbie Sue’, except all of those poor girls born in 1982 whose parents named them Elvira or Bobbie Sue because of the songs. We still hear from them - they’re still mad at us“ -


‘I wish You Could Have Turned My Head (And Left My Heart Alone) was written by Sonny Throckmorton, who was also the first to release it, from his 1978 “Last Cheater's Waltz” album in 1978, reaching a modest # 54. Conway Twitty covered it on his 1979 album “Cross Winds”, then T. G. Sheppard recorded it for his 1982 album “Finally!”. But it was the Oak’s, who also released the song in 1982 as the second single from their “Bobbie Sue“ album, that made it into an hit, their version reaching # 2 in 1983. Now this is a simple, even repetitive song, but it is relatable - there’s a few women from the past that come to mind for me! - and it‘s also included here for a most interesting line -
“… You walk by and you shake that thing and you know I'm not that strong …”


Songwriter Bob Dipiero came up with the idea for ‘American Made’ after realising he had just bought a bunch of stuff that was made in foreign countries - especially Japan which in the 1980’s made all the stuff now made in China. Teaming up with songwriter Pat McManus, they tapped into the patriotic mood prevalent in the U.S. in the 1980’s (something I’ve remarked on a few times in this history), and so devised this song combining 1980’s patriotism with a healthy dose of 1980’s sexism - or, as they would’ve assured themselves back then - honouring the ladies who were born in the good ol’ USA.
Miller Beer used the song as a popular commercial jingle shortly after it hit # 1 in 1983 -
“… I got a NIKON camera / A Sony colour TV / But the one that I love is from the U.S.A. / And standing next to me /
My baby is American Made / Born and bred in the U.S.A. / From her silky long hair to her sexy long legs …”

Up until this song, the Oak’s had charted better in Canada, with 8 # 1 hits to 1983, compared to 6 in the U.S, But for some reason I can’t put my finger on, while ‘American Made’ became their 7th # 1 in the U.S., it didn’t quite have the same impact in Canada, failing to even make the Canadian Top 10, peaking at # 12. I wonder why? But Ronald Reagan, in a presidential address, quipped - “If the Oak Ridge Boys win any more gold, they’ll have more gold in their records than we have in Fort Knox”.

During the early 1980s the Oaks really found their commercial niche in country music with "catchy and commercial" songs - a contemporary review of their 1982 “Bobby Sue” in Stereo Review describes it thus - "There's a fairly good mixture of songs, if you don't require that the songs be very deep, and most of the performances have a certain amount of zest. ... This is a fair sampler of the Oak Ridge Boys' activities - a bouncy little record for your bouncy little moods“. In 1983 People reported - "The band has to its credit 10 # 1 hits, 7 gold and 2 platinum LPs, and such spectacular pop breakthroughs as the singles 'Elvira' and 'Bobbie Sue”.

Just like The Statler Brothers, the Oak Ridge Boys, despite having a more contemporary look, with long hair, beards and clothing were all too aware of the conservative tastes of the middle-American (and Canadian) market that were the mainstay consumers of their music. Duane Allen was quoted in the 1983 People - "We don't do any cheatin' or drinkin' songs" (which unfortunately was true) indicating the once pure Southern Gospel group still held on to their principles despite plunging into the worldly riches of secular music. In fact, the Oaks refused opportunities to do cigarette and beer commercials as well as movie appearances they considered racy, including one in the film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, which starred Dolly Parton and featured appearances from other country music stars. Bass singer Richard Sterban divulged - "We don't want to do anything that's going to offend our audience".

Anyway, leaving the Oak Ridge Boys off in 1983, having covered the very height of their popularity, the remainder of their never-ending (so far) career will be covered tomorrow - including the drama over one particular very long beard.
 
That one line sums up my feelings about both the Oak Ridge Boys and The Statler Brothers; "we don't want to do anything that's going to offend our audience."
K-tel country.
 
PatsFitztrick said:
That one line sums up my feelings about both the Oak Ridge Boys and The Statler Brothers; "we don't want to do anything that's going to offend our audience."
K-tel country.
Click to expand...
I know where you’re coming from - but, having experienced a bit of the South and heard about what it was like back in the 1970’s and 80’s, I’m a bit more sympathetic to them - as professional musicians in a particular market which expected, or demanded, certain types of behavioural standards (and these standards being basically the opposite of that expected from a hard core punk or thrash metal band at that time, who often exaggerated their bad behaviour), they were pretty much trapped into presenting that pristine public image.However, there private lives, with 2 of them going through messy divorces caused by their philandering, were generally kept quiet from the public.

As for their music, The Statlers and Oak Ridge Boys are recognised as the two greatest Southern Gospel Quartets of all time - with constant debate to this day as to who was the best. But …. not everyone likes Southern Gospel - it‘s a very American sub-genre that doesn’t have much of a cultural connection to Australians, but has a long, strong tradition established in the South and mid-west of the U.S.

Anyway, that’s alI have for today, as I had an very busy day, having to unexpectedly go to Horsham, so todays final instalment of the Oak Ridge Boys will be held over until some time tomorrow.
 

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By that era, their polished look - but with an added rustic flair of Golden (more of this below) cled to a robust touring schedule plus myriad TV appearances, including "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson, plus specials with Jerry Lee Lewis, Loretta Lynn, Minnie Pearl and Kenny Rogers. Allen recalled that touring with Rogers while he was experiencing the peak of his mainstream country pop moment aided in how the Oak Ridge Boys ensured the endurance of their success - "Kenny didn't just teach us about concerts. He taught us how and when to release records, how to work them on radio, how to work with the label so that the records could perform well and when we needed to release records, too”.

’Love Song’, was composed by Steve Runkle in 1982 and was released in 1983 as the second single from the “American Made” album. The song was The Oak Ridge Boys' 8th # 1 U.S. single and 9th in Canada, helped, I suppose, by the music video featuring their tour bus -


It’s about this time the ”battle of the beard” began. William Golden was in high school in Alabama the first time he saw the group perform. He vowed to be a member someday and joined in 1964. Golden later was instrumental in the hiring of Bonsall, Allen and Sterban. Golden describes being "clean cut" or maintaining a 5 o'clock shadow until the group's run of 14 Top 10 singles began with 1977's ’Y'all Come Back Saloon‘. By 1982, the group took a break after an hectic schedule at the height of their popularity. Golden, having already endured one costly divorce and unhappy in his second marriage, decided to go out bush camping with "some scruffier-looking guys” which precipitated him joining the American Mountain Man Association, whose members believed in not only going bush, but letting their body hair, beard and all, grow freely and untrimmed his beard. Months later, he began to look in the mirror and was "startled by the man I saw looking back”.
(which reminds me of the time 20 years or so back I was staying in San Francisco when - by sheer chance - the Gay Chapter of this Association had a convention at the hotel I was at. It was … a most interesting experience, with the hotel full of fat, sloppily dressed, mostly very ugly, longhaired, longbearded bush gays behaving very badly).

When Golden - then the longest-standing member of the group - returned from the break donning beaded buckskin and his hair and beard grown very long, similar to his fellows in the Mountain Man Association, the rest of the Oaks became concerned. Rumours abounded he was leaving the group to pursue a solo career during the recording of the gold “American Made” album. Together for 17 years by 1983, Golden and Allen landed in the middle of a legal confrontation, and Golden was instructed through a "letter of reprimand" to conform to the Oaks' standards of appearance. Allen said - "He doesn't have to change, but the Oak Ridge Boys have an identity that we must keep up. If Golden's personal tastes are stronger than his commitment to his job, then he can dress or look however he wants - but the Oak Ridge Boys won't go on“. A few months later, though, Golden, Allen, and the rest of the group were back on speaking terms. In 1984 they released another gold record, “Deliver”, and Stereo Review glowingly called the album "… the most diversified LP they've ever done …" with "… more emphasis on music than hits“. The split had seemingly been repaired.

That 1984 “Deliver”, their 3rd # 1 album, is still rated by critics as the Oak’s best, containing some serious music, including ‘Ozark Jubilee’ and this one. The late Randy VanWarmer penned ‘I Guess It Never Hurts To Hurt Sometimes’, expressing his grief and reflecting on his feelings after the passing of his father. The song, which again went to #1 in the U.S. and Canada, became the ultimate ballad performance for tenor Bonsall, who mined emotional gold out of the song -
“… Sometimes I feel a wave / Of a past break in my mind / And I know it's gone for good / And it makes me want to cry /
Is this all we get to keep / As the years go rollin' by / Just a memory / For all the days gone by …” -


However, despite the success of “Deliver”, Golden, with the dissolution of his second marriage (which, he admitted was caused by the usual reason for musicians - infidelities while on the road) he became remote to the other 3 and recorded a solo album to help pay for his latest divorce settlement. Bonsall remembers communication problems - “He almost quit talking to us. If we three turned right, he turned left”. Golden's appearance on the Oaks' 1987 “Where the Fast Lane Ends” album was one of his last with the group. Oaks' record sales were already on the decline when Stereo Review called the album "… hardly the stuff to make you sit up and take notice. Unless you're just enthralled with the blend of the Oaks' voices - which, admittedly, accounts for whatever spark there is here - you might want to wait 'til they get their energy back”.

After Golden was fired from the Oaks in 1987, he was defiant. He sought millions in monetary compensation, but to no avail. Allen recounted - “I feel we chose the way we wanted to go and that, in one way or another, he did, too”. In 1990 Golden and the Oaks reached a legal settlement which involved, among other things, Holden forfeiting all future royalties on recordings made during his time with the group." A disappointed Golden said - “Things happen like that sometimes. When greed takes over, sometimes it can mess up a good team”. Of his ouster, Golden remarked - "I didn't even know what was going on for awhile. So all I knew is what I was readin' every day [in the papers] when it all went down”. Today, Golden is more willing to accept some blame for the split - “I was divorcing my second wife, and my mind wasn’t there like it should have been. I might’ve pushed things to the limit occasionally, and I’ve been guilty of having too much fun on some occasions, I guess”.

The Oaks recruited their touring guitarist of 5 years, Steve Sanders to fill the vacancy. At a very young age, Sanders was already an entertainment veteran. As a teenager, he performed in the Broadway version of The Yearling, acted in the big-budget picture, Hurry Sundown, appeared on TV’s Gunsmoke, The Ed Sullivan Show and To Tell The Truth. Musically, Sanders’ resume included being a gospel music circuit headliner as “Little Stevie Sanders“. The Oak Ridge Boys (while still just a pure gospel group) sometimes served as the opening act for his concerts. Later Sanders joined the Oaks’ backing band as a rhythm guitarist in 1981. He even wrote a song ‘Live In Love’, the B side of the Oak’s 1982 hit ‘Bobbie Sue’.

‘Gonna Take A Lot Of River‘ was the first Oak Ridge Boys song to feature Sanders as lead vocalist. It gave the group its 16th # 1 single in 1988, and elevated Sanders to a higher profile in the act. The “Monongahela” album essentially belonged to him, as he also sang lead on the second and third singles as well (‘Bridges And Walls‘ and ‘Beyond Those Years’, both making the Top 10. The vidéo here bears witness to the days long before i-phones, when big cam-corners were required for filming, and also features a genuine Cajun accordion. The song itself concludes with the Cajun “Joli” call - which translates as “pretty“ or “beautiful“ -


Though his time with the group was relatively brief, Sanders did give his all for the period he was with the Oaks, including this breathtaking ballad performance. For me, ‘Bridges And Walls‘ is not only the finest song the quartet recorded during the 1987-95 Steve Sanders era, but perhaps the best ballad in the Oak Ridge Boys song catalog. No bouncy, feel-good song here (which ironically meant it wasn’t (and still isn’t) the most popular amongst there usual fan base and only barely scraped into the Top 10 in 1988, this serious track dips into what traditional country music does best - and breaking up rarely sounded so anguished yet beautiful -
“ … Hope tomorrow brings good news / ’Cause I’m sure gonna miss you / If I look away now, please understand /
’Cause my eyes refuse to see / Something I can’t believe / The very best part of me, come to an end …”

As mentioned above, ‘Bridges And Walls‘ wasn’t such a big hit, certainly not compared to ’No Matter How High’, from their 1989 “American Dreams” album, which topped both the U.S. and Canadian charts, and I had originally slotted for here - but, in a “captains call”, I‘m convinced ‘Bridges And Dreams is just a much better and meaningful country song then the more pop oriented latter hit.

After ‘No Matter How High‘ hit #1 from 1989, like so many other country artists who had topped the charts in the 1980’s, the Oak‘s long run of chart successes declined markedly in the 1990’s, Though their concerts were still a popular drawcard. Sadly, Steve (like Golden before him) was having tremendous personal problems at home, and by 1995, his marriage heading to a messy divorce, these started to take their toll on the entire group. Just hours before a concert in late 1995, Sanders abruptly walked out and never returned. Duane Allen’s son filled in for a few weeks before William Golden was re-hired (his solo career had been unsuccessful).

Fortuitously, several years previous, Duane Allen’s father was on his death bed and made him promise “to make things right with Golden.” Shortly thereafter, he did so. Then in 1994, Sterban and Bonsall visited Golden as well and their friendship was restored. Golden’s scraggly appearance was still there (in fact, even more prominent than it was in 1987 when he was fired from the group - with his beard now silver, he looked like Gandalf or Saruman from LOTR), but the Oaks’ fans didn’t seem to mind. They accepted and welcome the unorthodox look of the Oak Ridge Boys’ “wild mountain man”. Meanwhile, Steve Sanders’ story ended tragically. Suffering from severe depression, like several before in this history series, such as Faron Young, Mel Street, Gary Stewart, Tom T Hall and Naomi Judd, he took his own life in 1998 in Florida at the age of just 45.

With Golden back in the fold, the group’s concerts have remained a top draw for decades to come. The classic lineup of Golden, Allen, Bonsall, and Sterban continued to tour frequently, mixing past hits with gospel and new material. They also performed at Branson, Missouri, leading to the release of “Branson City Limits” album in 1999. In 2001, they recorded “From the Heart”, their first pure gospel album in over 20 years. The album actually charted in the Top 50 Albums chart, thus renewing the band's commitment to its roots.

Since then, the Oaks have continued a mix of their secular and Gospel music - but all of their music is underpinned by their Southern Gospel roots. So I’ve decided to end the Oaks music with a rendition of a gospel standard that goes back to the 19th century, ’In Thé Sweet By And By’, which has been recorded by literally dozens of country artists. This clip from 2021 is from the RCA Studio B in Nashville - not quite as famous as the must visit Studio B but the next best The remarkable thing is how good there voices and harmony still is after 50 years -


Just last month, on 19/9/23, my favourite website for country music news and reviews, Saving Country Music reported - “One of the most legendary vocal groups in the history of country and Gospel music is calling it quits from the road, at least at some point in the not so distant future. … The Oak Ridge Boys are heading out for their last hurrah called “American Made: The Farewell Tour.” … Though country fans have been faked out by farewell tours before, there is reasons to believe this one could be legitimate. When Saving Country Music saw the band earlier this year, Joe Bonsall was on stage with a stool due to a recent injury, and Richard Sterban was not present and being spelled by bass singer Aaron McCune, which is not uncommon these days. Nonetheless, it was an excellent show, with The Oaks still evoking magic with their 4-part harmonies.

“I was 25 years old in 1973 when I joined The Oak Ridge Boys,” says Bonsall. “I am 75 years old in 2023 and I am STILL an Oak Ridge Boy. It has been and still IS an amazing ride.” Though the band has announced new tour dates as part of the revelation, they have also said their “farewell” doesn’t have an ending date just yet, … There won’t be much rest for the band through. The Oaks have 45 total appearances planned through the end of the year.

The Oak Ridge Boys have so far sold over 41 million albums worldwide, anchored by an impressive 17 #1 songs and have continue to record and release albums on a regular basis. They have won 4 ACM Awards, 4 CMA Awards, 5 Grammy trophies and 12 Dove (Gospel Music) Awards. After decades of Grand Ole Opry visits, they were inducted into the Opry in 2011, the Gospel Music HoF, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, and, to really crown their achievement, in 2015 they were inducted into the Country Music HoF. Golden had became a member of the Alabama Music HoF in 1997 and Allen entered the Texas Country Music HoF in 2014.

So that’s it for the Oak Ridge Boys - and for Southern Gospel quartets. Now I’m back for a week or so in the bush then after that I’ll be required once again in the Cape York Peninsula of FNQ, so it‘ll be a couple of more weeks before any more history - which, rapping up the 1970’s, will introduce an artist who had already made his name as a songwriter - and, like a few others already covered like Whispering Bill Anderson and Kris Kristofferson (not that he was in their class as a songwriter), was a better songwriter than singer. Nevertheless, helped by a few recording tricks, he found success as a solo artist starting in the late 1970’s and went on to have a string of hits.
 
rank and file said:
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Being the “Prof” here, I feel obliged to point out this isn’t really a Cash song as such but just a 1996 cover (just one of many done of this song over the decades by various artists) of what was a big hit for Hank Snow back in 1962 (see post # 202). However the song‘s author was Australian country singer, Geoff Mack, who wrote the original Australian version in 1959. Lucky Starr's supersonic delivery made it into an Australian #1 hit in 1962. Hank Snow heard it while on tour in Australia and contacted Mack to write an American version - which Mack did using a Readers Digest Atlas to get the place names! Snow took it back to Nashville to record - and it went all the way to # 1 in the U.S.

IMO, the original Australian version rolls off the tongue much better and Starr certainly had the fastest delivery -

Actually, I reckon I’ve been to every single one of those places too!
 
Professor Knowall said:
Being the “Prof” here, I feel obliged to point out this isn’t really a Cash song as such but just a 1996 cover (just one of many done of this song over the decades by various artists) of what was a big hit for Hank Snow back in 1962 (see post # 202). However the song‘s author was Australian country singer, Geoff Mack, who wrote the original Australian version in 1959. Lucky Starr's supersonic delivery made it into an Australian #1 hit in 1962. Hank Snow heard it while on tour in Australia and contacted Mack to write an American version - which Mack did using a Readers Digest Atlas to get the place names! Snow took it back to Nashville to record - and it went all the way to # 1 in the U.S.

IMO, the original Australian version rolls off the tongue much better and Starr certainly had the fastest delivery -

Actually, I reckon I’ve been to every single one of those places too!
Click to expand...

Too good Professor
Rank Jrs fave song

When you writing a book with the accompanying soundtrack?
 
Professor Knowall said:
Being the “Prof” here, I feel obliged to point out this isn’t really a Cash song as such but just a 1996 cover (just one of many done of this song over the decades by various artists) of what was a big hit for Hank Snow back in 1962 (see post # 202). However the song‘s author was Australian country singer, Geoff Mack, who wrote the original Australian version in 1959. Lucky Starr's supersonic delivery made it into an Australian #1 hit in 1962. Hank Snow heard it while on tour in Australia and contacted Mack to write an American version - which Mack did using a Readers Digest Atlas to get the place names! Snow took it back to Nashville to record - and it went all the way to # 1 in the U.S.

IMO, the original Australian version rolls off the tongue much better and Starr certainly had the fastest delivery -

Actually, I reckon I’ve been to every single one of those places too!
Click to expand...

As a kid I remember listening to his EP that the kid across the road had. It had 4 different versions, the Australian one, a NZ one, a US version and a British version. All sung at lightning speed. The UK version was sung in a pommy accent but the NZ one contained some tongue twisters.



And the Hank Snow version with a slightly different ending.
 
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So I’m finally back for just a few days, just enough time to include a solo artist (so no, not another Southern Gospel quarte) who, though coming from a most unlikely location (much more alien than Canada or Australia for country music), broke through, first as a song-writer, then, in the latter 1970’s, as a singer in his own right - though like singer-songwriters previously featured here, namely Whispering Bill Anderson (# 449-454) and Kris Kristofferson (# 661-667), he didn’t have great vocals. Nevertheless, for better or for worse (I would argue for worse), he eased country into softer, smoother territory, incorporating elements of soul and soft rock on a series of crossover hits that created the template for the urban cowboy era. He also pioneered this synthesis as a songwriter, while having a real flair for melody, which he credits to the influence of his parents.

Born Edward Rabbitt (yes, it was his real name) in 1941 Eddie had a very unlikely origin story for a country singer. He was born in the arid country music desert of Brooklyn, New York City. He spent his childhood in the equally country music devoid area of Northern New Jersey in what’s basically an outer NYC suburb. The son of poor Irish immigrants, who moved to the States in the depression period of the mid-1930s, Eddie was musically influenced by his father, who worked days as a refrigeration engineer in an oil refinery and played fiddle and accordion semi-professionally (he was very accomplished at both) at New York City dance halls and for many Irish community parties and get-togethers, while his mother was a singer of traditional Irish folk songs. Rabbitt later remarked - “A lot of that country music got into me through my dad’s playing, and my mom’s signing of the Irish songs” (a reminder that the hundreds of old English, Scotch and Irish folk melodies preserved for 2 centuries in the isolation of the Appalachian valleys until collated and recorded by A.P Carter are a huge part of the country music origin story).

By the age of 12, having been taught by a scoutmaster who performed under the name "Texas" Bob Randall, young Eddie was proficient on guitar and listening to country music on the radio. He fell in love with the music so much, he became an encyclopedia of country music - “I’m a guy who sat in East Orange, New Jersey … sitting on the edge of a bed, with my guitar, listening to country music coming out of the radio and loving it, and learning it, and remembering it, who dreamed about being a country star …”. A high school drop-out at age 16 - his mother later saying “Eddie was never one for school. His head was too full of music …" - in the late 1950s, Rabbitt, like his father, picked up a day job as a mental hospital attendant before landing a nightly singing gig at the Six Steps Down club in East Orange, New Jersey. By 1964, Rabbitt had become sufficiently popular in the hot New Jersey nightclubs (just across the Hudson River from Manhattan (where the likes of Frank Sinatra and Frankie Valli amongst others got their starts) he was signed by 20th Century Records and released his first single, ’Next to the Note‘, backed with ’Six Nights & Seven Days‘. However, the records bombed and for the next 4 years, fame and fortune alluded Rabbitt.

In 1968, finally realising he could never make it with country music in New Jersey and NYC, Rabbitt hopped a bus to Nashville with "$1,000 in my pocket and no music business contacts. and started knocking on doors, and slowly little pieces of the dream started coming true. I feel very fortunate that coming from where I come from, having the dream that I had which would be quite unusual anyone would think for a guy living in East Orange dreaming about being a country star. But it worked.". He soon realised "singers were a dime a dozen [in Nashville]. But there weren't a lot of good songs". Hoping to fill that void, Rabbitt began writing his own songs, and on his first night in Nashville penned ’Working My Way Up to the Bottom’. Grand Ole Opry star, Roy Drusky (posts # 433-434) recorded it in 1968. However, success wasn’t overnight - “I came to Nashville thinking it was going to be easy to break through and by sheer luck it started off pretty good with Roy Drusky recording ‘Workin’ My Way Up From The Bottom’, but then it became harder and trying to live off the proceeds from that one song was just about impossible”. Rabbitt was forced to work a variety of odd jobs including truck driver, soda jerk and fruit picker to survive. Yet, Rabbitt continued writing and knocking on record and publishing company doors.

A door finally opened for Rabbitt at the Hill & Range Publishing Company where he was hired as a staff writer with a weekly salary of $37.50 - “I was hanging about with other writers like Kristofferson and Chris Gantry. We used to hang about in a place called Wally’s Club House and Eddie Miller, he wrote Release Me and a bunch of other songs, gave us all kinds of moral support. Eventually I signed a writers contract with Hill & Range, who paid me $37.50 a week. It was just enough to live on until the royalties started to come in. They were in a position to place my songs and over the years people like Willie Nelson, Tom Jones, Roy Clark, Jack Greene, Tommy Cash, and of course, Elvis, have recorded my songs”.

With a little help from Elvis Presley, Rabbitt finally hit it big - at least as a songwriter - in 1970. As Rabbitt later explained - “My publisher, Lemar Fike, who ran the Hill & Range publishing company and knew Elvis, was preparing some material to take to him and ‘Kentucky Rain’ was included on the tape. I told him not to play ‘Kentucky Rain’ for Elvis, as I was going to record that song. Well, he played it and Elvis liked it enough to consider it for his next single. I had to decide if I should let Elvis record it, probably have a hit, or keep it for myself and chance that my first record would do nothing and the song would be forgotten. Also, I knew the producer would tear up my recording contract if I couldn’t record that song. In the end the decision went to Elvis and he sold over a million copies of it!”

So Elvis recorded the Rabbitt penned ’Kentucky Rain’, which became his 50th gold record (post # 281). A haunting, eerie tale about a wanderer looking for a long lost love on a rainy Kentucky day, like some other great Elvis recordings - and Eddie Rabbitt compositions - 'Kentucky Rain' blurred the lines between rock, pop and country and did well on all 3 charts becaming one of the most played songs of 1970 -

For Rabbitt, this song, as noted in Contemporary Musicians Vol 5 - "showed the earmarks of future Rabbitt hits - it had country emotions interwoven with a pop melody and it suggested the young songwriter might be a candidate for crossover success“. But Rabbitt told People magazine he credited his Irish roots for his emotion and inspiration - "Country music is Irish music. Appalachian music was brought over by the Scotch and Irish. I think the minor chords in my music give it that mystical feel”. Rabbitt later shared this mystical feel with the world by recording ’Song of Ireland’ - an Irish jig-like tune with lyrics reflecting Rabbitt's love of the Emerald Isle with its "… shamrock hills and 40 shades of green..."

In 1974, Rabbitt wrote another smash hit, ’Pure Love‘, this time for Ronnie Milsap (post # 732). This romance number, with it’s strong pop overtones was Milsap’s first # 1 single and a sign of things to come, both from Milsap as a singer and from Rabbitt as a singer-songwriter -


Mel Street then took the Rabbitt penned traditional honky tonk cheating song ‘Loving On Borrowed Time’ (post # 627) to #11 in 1974 and singers from both the country and pop field were regularly requesting Eddie Rabbitt songs. For a while the New Jersey songwriter’s initial purpose for coming to Nashville - to be a singing star - was forgotten - “I discovered very early on, when I reached Nashville, that any guy who is good in his home town comes to Nashville to become a star. It was really depressing seeing all these talented guys around who couldn’t get a thing going. If they couldn’t get a break then I thought I would never get one. But I’m Irish and a little stubborn so I stayed and broke down the barriers”.

It also all began happening for Eddie Rabbitt as a singer in 1974 at age 32 when he met up with David Malloy, the son of Jim Malloy, a noted producer who was involved in the Mega label set up that launched Sammi Smith to stardom with Help Me Make It Through The Night (post # 822). As Eddie explained back in 1976 - “Between Even Stevens, who I write with, and David Malloy, who is my producer, we have come up with some interesting sounds that I guess are a little different, some might call my records progressive”.

By ‘stealing’ time in the recording studios, Rabbitt and Malloy were able to put some of their ideas and songs on tape. They had been working in the studios at odd periods when no one was around, neither of them being able to pay for the expensive time they were using, but this little bit of cheating certainly paid off. Mike Suttle of Elektra Records happened to hear some of what the pair had put down, enthused about the result, he immediately signed Eddie Rabbitt to a recording contract.

Released in 1976 as the first single from his second album, “Rocky Mountain Music”, ‘Drinkin’ My Baby (Off My Mind)‘ was Eddie’s fourth Country song. The song, to the by then long established Ray Price beat (see post # 269 for its origin), finds Rabbitt self-destructively drowning himself with alcohol just to forget the love of his life. Thanks to the song’s traditional honky tonk theme, Ray Price beat and relatable bar-room lyrics, it went all the way to # 1 in both the U.S. and Canada and remained on the chart for 12 weeks -

German singer Jurgen Drews released a German version of this song that also made big in the German Pop chart, peaking at # 6. Ironically, despite the bitter bar-room tears of the song, in real life, Rabbitt was faring much better, getting married just as the song hit # 1 to what turned out to be his partner for the rest of his life.

Rabbitt further showcased his knack for story telling songwriting skills in ‘Rocky Mountain Music‘, released in 1976 as the second single and title track from his “Rocky Mountain Music” album, reaching # 5 -
“… Little brother was never quite right / He used to sit on the floor in the sunlight / Play with the dust that danced /
On the beams in the window / And sister had to cook and clean / 'Cause mama, she got sick and lean /
Sometimes I think she just died away / Missing papa …”

What I find curious about this song is its title, as the lyrics seems to invoke the Appalachians and the accompaniment includes a banjo and fiddle - key components of Appalachian Mountain music, not so much the Rocky Mountains. Maybe Rabbitt couldn’t smoothly fit in the extra 2 syllables of ”Appalachian” - but then again he could’ve gone with “Smoky Mountain Music”, the Smokies of East Tennessee/Western North Carolina being in the very heart of Appalachians and its music (e.g. Loretta Lyn and Dolly Parton amongst a whole host of others hail from there). Anyway, enough of my musings.

With ‘Two Dollars in the Jukebox‘, released in 1976 as the third single and title track from his “Rocky Mountain Music” album and reaching # 3 in early 1977, Rabbitt, delves into the nostalgia of the jukebox and bittersweet memories associated with lost love. Like ‘Drinkin’ My Baby (Off My Mind)‘, this is another solid honky tonker (a sub-genre that had been revived by Mel Street (# 627-631), Gary Stewart (# 840-842) and Jerry Jeff Walker (# 844-847)), in which Rabbitt again employed the Ray Price beat to good effect -


From what‘s been presented so far, after making his way from an unlikely northern New Jersey background, first becoming one of Nashville’s most prominent song-writers, Rabbitt finally established himself as a successful singer-songwriter at age 35 with his 3 successful singles from his 1976 “Rocky Mountain Music” album - and all of these songs comfortably fitted into the traditional country music genre. But Rabbit was ready to push the boundaries of what could pass for country music as he chased further commercial success - but more on that tomorrow.
 
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By the time Eddie Rabbitt broke through to stardom in 1976 as a performer in his own right and not just a song-writer, he was in his mid thirties and a seasoned pro in the music industry. Working closely with producer David Malloyand also forging a close working relationship with fellow song-writer, Eddy “Even” Stevens, whose background was in pop/rock, Rabbitt brought innovative techniques to tie country music themes with light rhythm and blues-influenced tempos. In large part due to his limited vocal strength, his songs often used echo, as Rabbitt routinely sang his own background vocals. In a process called the "Eddie Rabbitt Chorale", he compensated for what Billboard Magazine described as a "somewhat thin and reedy voice" by recording songs in 3-part harmonies. While he was not yet a globally known artist, Rabbitt also took his chance to tour and open for established stars Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton (separately - this was before Kenny and Dolly got togethe).

Anyway, on to the music. Following his break-out in 1976 with 3 top 10 hits from his “Rocky Mountain Music” album, Rabbitt followed up in 1977 with his ”Rabbitt” album. The first single from the album, ‘I Can’t Help Myself‘, co-written with Even Stevens, was released in 1977. Fuelled by Rabbitt’s highly accomplished guitar skills, it was no longer a surprise when it reached # 2, his fourth consecutive Top 5 hit -


Country music purists tend to scoff or dismiss Rabbitt as, if not one of the first, the most prominent, pop-country crossover country star. But, as we saw yesterday, Rabbitt grew up as a country music “nut” and his early hits like ‘Drinkin’ My Baby (Off My Mind)‘ and ‘Two Dollars In The Jukebox‘ from 1976, were pure traditional country music gold. However, in the late 1970’s, the outlaw era and honky tonk revival faded - not helped by the often excessive cocaine fuelled problems of some of the major protagonists such as Waylon Jennings and Johnny Paycheck and aided by the new conservative wave sweeping America, driving the rise of Ronald Reagan to the Presidency by a huge landslide in 1980.

This change in the national mood at the end of the 1970’s stands out starkly in the country music hits of the time - hard-core country was out. Softer, more romantic pop/soft rock influenced tunes were the order of the day. But Rabbitt, collaborating very productively with Even Stevens and producer David Malloy, adapted to this change in taste like a duck to water - becoming the highest selling country artists as the 1970’s came to an end - though many debated just how ”country“ some of his big hits were. Suffice to say I’ve overlooked not a few of his # 1 hits in my song selection here.

While Eddie Rabbitt’s 1978 album “Variations” wasn’t as great as his previous two - at least that’s the general judgement 45 years later - it still spawned 3 more hit singles - the first, ‘Hearts On Fire’, peaked at # 2, while the next 2, ‘You Don’t Love Me Anymore’ and ‘I Just Want To Love You’, both went all the way to # 1. However, while these soft pop-country offerings have dated to relative obscurity, ’The Room at The Top of the Stairs”, where the singer lauds his favourite (and presumably secret) love nest, is the song that has endured through time and changing tastes as the best in the album for both critics and fans alike, despite it not being released as a single at the time -


Back in 1978, in California, songwriter Steve Dorff had quite a challenge on his hands. He recalled - “I was home, it was about 7 o'clock at night. I get a frantic phone call from Snuff Garrett, the musical supervisor for the Clint Eastwood movie ’Every Which Way But Loose‘ He called me up and said, "Hey, what's up? I need you to write something right now. I need a song called 'Every Which Way But Loose‘. I said, "What does that mean?" He said, "I don't know. I just know that Clint Eastwood plays a guy who likes to beat people up, and he travels around in an old beat-up pickup truck with an orangutang”.

Eastwood literally needed it written overnight, having just rejected a Hollywood written version submitted to him. Luckily, Dorff’s mate Milton Brown in Alabama was just a phone call away. Having Brown dragged out of bed, the song was written over the phone in double quick time of just 30 minutes, by Brown, Dorff and producer Snuff Garrett, even though they knew virtually nothing about the comedy-action film. This appears to have been no obstacle at all because the team somehow captured the spirit of the film's side plot (which they didn’t even know about), a romantic entanglement with a free spirited young woman who gets under Clint’s character skin.

Eastwood quickly approved the song the next morning so the next step was to find a country star to record it - and, very conveniently, Rabbitt just so happened to be in L.A. at the time and when contacted, was able to spare an hour or two. After Rabbitt made a few changes to the song, it was released just prior to the film's nationwide premiere, topping the Country charts (his 4th # 1) and also crossing over, making its way to the Pop chart at # 30. Remarkably, it entered the Country chart at # 18 – the highest debut since the launch of the country chart -

The movie isn’t good - apart from the orangutang, it might possibly be Clint Eastwood’s worse - but the soundtrack is very good. Apart from the title track, it features, amongst others such as Hank Thompson, several songs each from Charlie Rich (including his # 1 classic ‘Behind Closed Doors’) and Mel Tillis (including his # 1 hit ‘Coca Cola Cowboy’)

As his career stretched into 1979, and specifically the first single from his 1979 album, “Loveline”‘, Rabbitt started infusing more pop sounds into his music, so when ‘Suspicion’ became a # 13 hit on the pop chart along with notching yet another #1 in country, Rabbitt was given that “crossover” distinction, with its mixed blessings of even greater commercial success but earning the ire of the purists. ’Suspicions‘ was a combined songwriting effort by Eddie Rabbitt, David Malloy, Even Stevens, and Randy McCormick.

The song was literally written during a lunch break for the album, as Even Stevens recalled - “It was the last day and we were on break for lunch. We’d already cut the whole album pretty much. David Malloy, Eddie and I stayed back with Randy McCormick, the great piano player from Muscle Shoals and Nashville. There was a Rhodes (piano) out in the middle of the studio. It was on a cabinet and had a speaker in it. He started doodling on this thing and we started writing this song. In 20 minutes we had ‘Suspicions‘ written. David yelled to the engineer who had come back - “Hey, just throw on a cassette or something so we can get this idea down”. So Randy started playing, Eddie sang it and we were throwing out harmonies and stuff. When we were done, we were going - “Man, that was really good!”. We said (to the engineer) - “Hey, did you get that on something?” He said, “Oh, I got that on the 24(-track) and I got the piano“. Rabbitt added - “Roger Hawkins, the drummer from Muscle Shoals, came back from lunch and he sat down at the drums. Without the earphones on, he just sat down and played along. And that is the record. That piano and those drums are the record itself”.

Even Stevens also jokingly said ‘Suspicions‘ was co-written during his “paranoid years.” During that period, he and Rabbitt also came up with the similarly themed ‘When You’re In Love with a Beautiful Woman’, a major pop hit for Dr Hook. Both songs have a dose of paranoia and mistrust -
“…Suspicions, I can't help it you're just so good lookin' / I'm afraid somebody's gonna steal you away from me /
When I go out to a party with you / You always turn every head in the room / And I just know what's on every man's mind …” -

In 1980, BMI named ’Suspicions‘ as their Song of the Year. Nearly 3 decades later, the song saw renewed popularity, with Tim McGraw releasing his version off his 2007 “Let It Go” album.

‘Drivin’ My Life Away‘ is surely Rabbitt’s best song. Featured in his signature album, 1980 “Horizon”, the truck driving song, co-written by Rabbitt, who did is own time driving big rigs when he first moved to Nashville and actually ended up putting together an entire catalog of truck driving songs throughout his career, was inspired by the hectic lives of the drivers who spend most of their time on the road and how endless travelling made them almost a stranger to their families and friends.
When Rabbitt released “Horizon” in 1980, it couldn’t be helped if the singles were being played on the pop dial too - they were just too damn good for anyone to ignore. ‘Drivin’ My Life Away’, along being Rabbitt’s 7th # country # 1, also hit # 5 on the pop chart - his biggest crossover hit up to that point. But listen to the song, and try to convince someone it ain’t country -
“Hey waitress, pour me, another cup of coffee / Pop it down, jack me up, shoot me out, flyin’ down the highway /
Lookin’ for the moooornin’…” -


‘Drivin’ My Life Away‘ started Rabbitt’s peak popularity as a crossover artist. Thanks to the song’s popularity, it was the most used Rabbitt hit song in commercials, films, and media in general. Rabbitt made a fortune with the song having it sell more than a million copies in 1980. But as hugely successful as ‘Drivin’ My Life Away‘ was, the 1980 “Horizon” album produced an even bigger selling single, the biggest of Eddie Rabbitt’s career - but I’m saving that for tomorrow, which will chart Rabbitt’s career through the 1980’s and it’s sad conclusion.
 
When pundits habitually bemoan both the homogenisation and the dilution of country music over the past 10-20 years, it is all too easy to forget that 40-45 years ago the genre was, at least based on many of the major charting hits of the time, also in a doubtful state. Nashville seems to at least have a recent renewed awareness of its need to retain that all-important "twang". In the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, the trend was very much in the other direction with musicians and producers only too keen to distance themselves from the music's roots as the Urban Cowboy era (posts # 907-909) took hold and the boundaries between country and pop were blurred even more than the previous Nashville Sound (#354 & 404) and Countrypolitan (# 772) eras. The result was something which owed more to L.A. than The Grand Ole Opry and Eddie Rabbitt was among its most successful exponents.

For sure, purists at this point were rolling their eyes as this pretty boy, dressed like a disco artist, singing pop with a popped shirt collar and who hailed from the suburban pop heartland of New Jersey, of all places, trying to pass himself off as country - or so they scoffed. But, Rabbitt, as quoted in the The Guardian, never thought of his music as being anything other than country - "I came to Nashville with nothing in mind about pop music. I was country and it just so happened that the kind of music I was making crossed over to the pop charts". And on close listening to the arrangements of his landmark songs, he has a point. Almost from the beginning, the songs spring from the rhythm of the acoustic guitar strum and feature sparse, smart arrangements that bring the soul out of the music. This was the heart of the Eddie Rabbit sound, crafted in part by producer David Malloy.

Who doesn’t love a rainy night (coincidentally, it’s raining outside as I type this) - especially with some thunder and lightning thrown in? ‘I Love a Rainy Night‘ was 12 years in the making. Rabbitt had a collection of old tapes he kept in the basement of his home. While rummaging through the tapes one day in 1980, he heard a fragment of a song he had recorded one rainy night in the late 1960s - “It brought back the memory of sitting in a small apartment, staring out the window at one o'clock in the morning, watching the rain come down”. He had sang into his tape recorder ”I love a rainy night, I love a rainy night". Upon rediscovery of the old lyrics, Rabbitt completed the song (with help from his frequent songwriting partners Even Stevens and David Malloy) and recorded it.

The song's distinctive feature is its rhythmic pattern of alternating finger snaps and hand claps, which was included with the help of percussionist Farrell Morris, who mixed 2 tracks of each to complete the record. The lyrics include vivid descriptions of a fondness for thunderstorms and the peace it brings -
“… I love to hear the thunder / watch the lightnin' when it lights up the sky / you know it makes me feel good …” -
and a renewed sense of hope the storms bring (which many rural folk can relate too) -
"… Showers wash all my cares away / I wake up to a sunny day … »
‘I Love a Rainy Night‘ instantly became Rabbitt’s most famous song and signature track following its release in 1980 as the second single off his seminal Horizons album. It became a # 1 super hit right across the spectrum, topping all 3 country, pop and AC charts 1980, as well as going worldwide e.g. reaching # 6 on the Australian Top 40 Pop chart and # 8 in NZ.

‘I Love a Rainy Night‘ succeeded Dolly Parton's hit film theme song ’9 to 5‘ as # 1 on the Pop chart on March 14, Parton's song returned to the top spot. This was the last time the Pop chart featured back-to-back "country" singles at # 1 until just 3 months ago, in August 2023, when Jason Aldean's ’Try That in a Small Town‘ succeeded Morgan Wallen’s ’Last Night’.

David Malloy and Eddie Rabbitt carried the magic into his next studio album “Step by Step”, with the title track becoming another big crossover hit. Rabbitt stuck to the familiar groove that had gotten him to the peak of his popularity. ’Step By Step‘ sounds like it was written that way, with a clear set of sequenced actions giving the chorus its structure. It’s pretty solid, friendly advice on how to attract a woman’s attention, even if the novelty wears off by the end of the song. It worked well enough for the New Kids On the Block to borrow the concept for their own pop hit a few years down the road. ’Step By Step‘ reached # 5 on the pop chart and #3 on the AC chart in 1981 -


Rabbitt teamed up with pop-country star (and Dolly Parton’s sister), Crystal Gayle (posts # 897-902), shown in this video with her famous ankle length hair, for the crossover hit, ‘You and I‘, yet another # 1 for each - his 11th and her 11th - and which also peaked at # 7 on the Pop Chart in 1982. The song finds them celebrating the bond of love in as they look forward to building their dreams together. It also ranks # 7 on CMT’s 100 Greatest Duets in Country Music -


The love ballad ‘You Can’t Run From Love’ is actually the follow-up to Rabbitt’s ‘You and I’ duet with Crystal Gayle, It became Rabbitt’s 12th # 1 hit in 1983, coincidentally displacing Crystal Gayle’s, ’Our Love Is on the Faultline’ from the # 1 position. It also reached # 2 on the AC chart -


In 1983, with the birth of his second child, Timmy, Rabbitt stepped out of the country and pop music spotlight. He backed out because Timmy was born with biliary atresia, a disease that attacks the liver. Timmy's only chance of survival was a liver transplant. So Rabbitt, against the advice of his manager, mothballed his career to stay near his wife and ailing son. Rabbitt felt he had "to be there if I'm any kind of man". Sadly, in 1985, after an unsuccessful liver transplant, Timmy died. Rabbitt said Timmy's death “… took the cockiness out of my walk”. Another son, Tommy, was born in 1986.

Despite returning to the recording studio in 1984, after a year totally out of the spotlight to be solely with his family, the crossover pop hits dried up after ’You and I’, a slowing that coincided with Rabbitt's move to Warner Bros for 1984's “The Best Year of My Life". By 1986, he had signed with RCA Records. Rabbitt still continued to reach the Top 10 throughout the '80s, landing yet more # 1’s with ’The Best Year of My Life’, the Juice Newton duet ’Both to Each Other (Friends and Lovers)’, ’I Wanna Dance with You’, ‘The Wanderer‘ (a cover of the 1961 Dion original) and ’On Second Thought’. That was the year - 1989 - he released his “Jersey Boy” album, a return to traditional country that he had first made his breakthrough with back in 1976. The album embraced the current mood in country music trends brought on by the neo-traditional movement led by George Strait. It started with a bluegrass song, then went straight into the traditional honky-tonk tearjerker ‘On Second Thoughts’. Just like his first 1976 hits ‘Drinkin' My Baby (Off My Mind)‘ and ‘Two Dollars in the Jukebox’ featured 2 days back, ‘On Second Thoughts’ even has the traditional Ray Price beat accompaniment -

‘American Boy‘ another single from 1989's “Jersey Boy” - his first and only album for Capitol - became Rabbitt’s last Top 40 hit in 1990. But then, the Class of ’89, the country neo-traditionalists led by George Strait was now in charge, and Eddie Rabbitt along with many others from the 1980’s were soon put out to pasture. He was immediately dropped from his major label despite his continued success up to that date. Rabbitt then focussed on touring with his band, Hare Trigger. He had, as stated in Contemporary Musicians - "become a wholesome performer without sacrificing his popular offbeat sexiness." Rabbit himself commented - "I don't ever get down and dirty. I think the stage is no place for that. I think you have to be very careful as an entertainer about what you bring to the stage because some people try to think of you as more than human. I figure if we're going to be role models for people, we should at least try to be good role models. Rabbitt became a role model off stage by becoming a spokesperson for many charities including Special Olympics, Easter Seals, and the American Council on Transplantation.

A long time heavy smoker, Rabbitt died in Nashville in 1998 from lung cancer at age just 56. But nobody reported on the passing of Rabbitt when it happened at the request of his family (for no given reason). It wasn’t until well after the burial that the word got out. Not even his agent knew, nor anyone else beyond his family. The public didn’t even know Rabbitt had part of his lung removed, and had been diagnosed as terminal.

Despite his massive cross-chart success, his 20 # 1 country hits, the fact he wrote or co-wrote his own songs and was innovative in his sound and recordings, unlike many others, Eddie Rabbit never was really acknowledged by his peers in the country music industry, so his slide into obscurity was more pronounced than most. Seen as too pop by some or too much of an outsider as a Jersey boy northerner by others, Rabbitt just never quite fit in perfectly. Twenty #1 hits and millions of records sold, and Eddie Rabbitt shockingly never saw even one CMA Award. He did win the Top New Male Vocalist from the ACM Awards in 1977. But after that - crickets, he was completely shut out. At least his contributions to country music was posthumously recognised with his induction into the Songwriters HoF in 1998 but that’s all there is.

In truth, Eddie Rabbitt’s career wasn’t just accomplished, it was downright Hall of Fame worthy. From the late 1970’s and early 80’s, nobody was a bigger hit machine than Rabbitt and he continued to land hits throughout the 1980’s all the way to 1990. But you almost never hear Rabbitt’s name brought up in the context of the HoF. In fact, you barely ever hear the name of Eddie Rabbitt in country music at all these days.

This is one of the many reasons the legacy of Eddie Rabbitt seems scandalously lost to country music. The lack of reporting on Eddie Rabbitt’s death and the fact that he died so young, the fact that he wasn’t from the South but (gulp) from the suburban pop heartland of New Jersey of all places, the fact he found some of his success with songs that crossed over to pop and the fact awards and many of his peers failed to recognise Rabbitt’s greatness is one of the reasons this artist has gone so criminally forgotten in time. Just go and listen to his songs, from the hits to the unknowns. There’s nary a bad song in the bunch, albeit some are more pop than country, and the good ones are downright great. But that‘s the way in country music - if nobody is screaming one’s name to the rafters, it just sort of fades away.

Unlike so many on Nashville’s big cemeteries that are packed with country stars one can easily hunt down as many do, Eddie Rabbitt is the only country star of note in the Calvary Cemetery. Why? Because he was one of the very few country performers who was Catholic. Being in a cemetery all by himself means you have to make a special effort to see his grave. He’s not buried in the shadow of a gaudy headstone either. Aside from the emblem of a guitar, you may never know it’s him buried in a family plot not far from his mother, and his son who died at the age of 2. There is a cross though with a Celtic knot - he embraced his humble Irish-Catholic roots right to the end and even in death.

So with this farewell to Eddie Rabbitt, I’m also required to hit the road again tomorrow for another 2 weeks or so in the wilds of NSW. The next history instalment, when it comes, will be the final artist who, like Rabbitt, got his break in the mid 1970’s and had major success from the late 1970’s and through the 1980’s - which, if you’ve read through much of the stuff about the last half dozen or so artists featured is also a big clue as to his style of country. So back again, if all goes well, in a couple of weeks.
 
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