Country Music

[PatsFitztrick]

Compared to the two brotherly duo’s previously covered in this history - The Louvin Brothers (posts # 294-294) and The Everly Brothers (# 393-399), which were both raised in the Appalachians and imbued from childhood in the incredibly tight harmony (in the case of The Louvains, unsurpassed, and the Everly’s also near perfection) of the Appalachian tradition, the Bellamy’s, from their central Florida farm, weren’t so tight, but were still very effective for their music, which never relied so much on having so tight a harmony as the other duos.

As we have seen, one other thing Louvin’s and the Everly Brothers differed from the Bellamy’s is that both sets of brothers in these groups were complete opposites in temperament, politics and basically everything else apart from music and famously never got on with each other, constantly bickering and bitching off-stage - and sometimes even on-stage. They generally made the lives of each other fairly miserable until both groups eventually split-up. It seems the better the musicical harmony, the worse the personal relationship. But this has never been the case with the Bellamy’s, who have always presented as a united front and now, after more than 40 years together, still get along well.

It may help that neither Howard or David’s vocals are so strong or have a broad range, making any solo career, even for the prolific writer if hits in David, doubtful. They are defined better harmonising as a duet. But the brothers say their parents deserve a tip of the hat for teaching them to get along with each other from an early age. As per David - “Our parents used to make us work together when discipline was a thing in the old days. There was a such thing as a switch. If you didn’t do your work, you got a thrashing”. David says ”We worked the farm together, picking oranges, milking cows and doing various other chores, so it really wasn’t a job to start singing together. We have a pretty good chemistry mix as well“. Howard adds - “If that wasn’t true, it wouldn’t matter how much discipline we had; it wouldn’t have worked. Forty years speaks for itself”.

Yesterday, we saw that from c1990, the brothers slipped songs started sliding down the charts as tastes changed and their music had become formulaic. st century, thanks not just to their longevity as an act, but their ability to still provide genuine quality and creativity - David in particular has never stopped writing new songs, and they have embraced their position as being now “old men” in country music, with all the gravitas that status offers. So let’s look at a few snippets of what the brothers, now aged 77 and 73 respectively, have produced since 2010.

From 2010 ‘Heart of My Heart‘ is the second single from their career-spanning greatest hits collection, ”The Anthology, Volume 1” which was co-written with the iconic (but often overlooked) songwriter Jerry Williams before his death in 2005, “Heart of My Heart”. Says David - “Jerry Williams’ been called the most famous unknown songwriter in music history. Howard and I only wrote a few songs with Jerry because we met him just a couple of years before he died, but he was one of the best writers we’ve ever worked with. We are really proud to have written ‘Heart of My Heart’ with him”. Williams’ songwriting credits include Eric Clapton’s ‘Running on Faith‘ and ‘Pretending‘, Bonnie Raitt’s ‘Real Man‘, Delbert McClinton’s ‘Givin’ It Up For Your Love‘ and Jimmy and Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “’Tick Tock‘. He also contributed tracks for legends such as Ringo Starr and B.B. King.

The song they all came up with was about 20 years out of fashion by the time it was released in 2010. In short, it was too good of a song to be a 2010 hit, but has to be included in the song selection -
“… Heart of My Heart, brings back a memory / When we were kids on the corner of the street /
We were rough 'n ready guys / But oh, how we could harmonise ” -


I’m only showing the following 2014 video due to public demand, as it’s very popular on-line for some reason I can’t quite fathom - well, that’s my excuse. Filmed at a private ranch in Weatherford, just west of Fort Worth, Texas, the video features a bevy of mostly bikini clad beauties and a rapper, partying, Bellamy-style. As per David - It’s called ‘Boobs’ and I gotta tell you, we had a lot of fun making this video”. With the raunchy poolside video filled (in advance to the bikini babes) with lines such as "please tell your boobs to stop looking at my eyes," the song horrified the usual assortment of PC police, but coming from what are now a pair of affable granddads, they (mostly) got away with it as just a bit of quaintly harmless fun. Howard adds - “We enjoy being un-PC. But we do it in a very non-offensive way. We have a lot of laughs, mostly at ourselves”.
’Boobs’ -


In 2015, The Bellamy Brothers honoured their 40th year in the music industry with their 2-disc album “40 Years The Album”. The first disc was a compilation of 20 past hits. The second disc was all new material written by them. The new material had some interesting stuff. Some have even suggested that like a fine wine, they’ve improved with age. Their sound never sounded more traditionally country - and with lyrics to match - as in ’Dyin Breed’, from their 2015 40th anniversary album. It has a theme similar to Hank Williams Jr’s ‘Dinosaur’ (post # 802). From 1980 (but only became popular some decades later). However, instead of Hank Jr’s somewhat defiant, angry tone, the mood here is more melancholy, just an acceptance they have grown old and out of touch with the modern world and at peace with that. The first verse, which references their first # 1 country hit back in 1979, sets the scene -
“… I like the slow dance / With a young thing / To an old melody / A full figured woman / Who can really hold against me …”


It took me a second hearing to realise ‘If You Ever Leave’ 2019 had a heavy nostalgia element for those old or obsessed with American social history enough to get the references. It tells the story of 2 passionate lovers who make a promise to never leave each other. Set in the desert, it features 2 archetypes of the 1970’s counterculture - the psychedelic cowboy and the hippie girl from Austin. The vivid lyrics describe the couple's journey as they drive their Studebaker toward the sunrise and spend the night at the Cactus Tree Motel. The sky has a mescaline glow as they promise a love that no love song could fulfill. As the years pass and they age, their symphony still plays a sweet refrain, and they remain committed to their promise to never leave each other. The lyrics are full of references to the counterculture of the 1970s, mentioning psychedelics, painted ponies and morning lullabies, capturing the spirit of the era when young people were rebelling against the mainstream and seeking new forms of expression and experience. Notice how the song starts with ‘Old Hippie’ softly playing in the background -


‘No Country Music For Old Men’ was included on the Bellamy Brothers’ EP, “Bucket List”, released in 2020. Written by David Bellamy, the song was inspired by Kenny Rogers’ death - “Bucket List“ was meant to be light-hearted and up-tempo. We figured lockdown was depressing enough without lamenting more about hard times. Then Kenny Rogers passed away on March 20, and I wrote the song that night. It felt like in addition to the pandemic, there was a cloud over country music at that moment.” According to David, he kept hearing Anderson’s voice in his head singing the lines, so he and Howard decided to invite their longtime friend to join them on the track. The video captures the Bellamys and Anderson lamenting on the loss of the old guard interspersed with shots of Nashville’s historic landmarks and murals honouring the legends

The prevalence of these sort of country protest songs over the years has resulted in a fair bit of fatigue and apathy from the public over them. But this really resonated with traditional country fans young and old - including pg me - in a way that elevates it above being “just another country protest song”. The risk you run when you choose to work in the protest subgenre is with so many of these bellyaching odes about how bad country had gotten, you can wind up being as cliched as some of the songs and artists you’re trying to criticise. What helps this song is The Bellamy’s, after nearly 50 years in the business, have the skins on the wall to sing something like this from their own perspective, giving it emotional resonance it may not otherwise have. Add in the earthy voice of Texan troubadour, John Anderson and it really sets ‘No Country Music For Old Men‘ off as something that speaks deeply to the disillusioned country music fan with what been marketed as “Countey” music. So many have felt disenfranchised by much of today’s country music (though things have improved over the last 2 years), and this song touches a nerve with them -

Notice how the last verse referenced the great George Jones classic from 1985 ‘Who’s Going To Fill Their Shoes? (See post # 412) - and suggests no-one has. For the record, the song name drops, or makes clear reference to the following legends, in order - Hank Williams (# 205-214), Patsy Cline (# 387-389), Lefty Frizzell (# 216-219), Merle Haggard (# 497-502), Dolly Parton (# 581-607), Buck Owens (# 456-463), Loretta Lynn (# 489-493), Conway Twitty (# 514-520), George Jones (# 405-412), Tammy Wynette (# 503-506), Johnny Cash (# 338-345), and June Carter-Cash (# 222).

The brothers have always been a rather unusual outfit in country music, from their signature pop hit ‘Let Your Love Flow‘ (which they estimate they have performed live over 8,000 times and still enjoy it), with its more folk rock feel, to doing the first country rap song (called ‘Country Rap”), even if they were being more than a little ironic. They’ve remained strangely in touch by touching on little zeitgeist nerves that may feel just nostalgia to some, but still resonate with many. This is what ‘No Country Music For Old Men‘ does

As we’ve seen, The Bellamy Brothers became one of country music’s most popular acts in the 1980’s with a string of # 1 hit records and even as they departed the charts, they retained a packed schedule of top dollar live dates. They built a worldwide loyal following that fills clubs and theatres 140-plus nights a year and they’re showing no signs of slowing down yet. They still live on the farm they were raised on, now grown to be a family compound with several houses and their own recording studio where they still produce and write their albums. It’s also still a working ranch, the spread consisting of purebred brahman cattle and quarter horses. In 2018, the brothers became the feature of the popular reality TV series Honky Tonk Ranch, which follows the Bellamys in addition to their friends and family. They have a thriving book publishing company and developed a powerful merchandise arm. Now not so isolated as back in the 1950’s - suburbs have spread out from Tampa to be very close by on 3 sides of the ranch - their ranch has become a popular local tourist attraction

They have also enjoyed open during success in continental Europe, and have even had over 2 dozen hit songs released outside the US market, with David noting “For the international releases, you have to have a strong melody. The lyric is very important, but internationally the melody is something fans can lock into, even if they can’t understand the lyrics“. Howard and David continue to perform and film TV specials in Europe and around the world. A compilation album topped the Norwegian pop charts in 2011. In 2013, their “Bellamy Brothers & Friends: Across the Sea“ album took the top spot for weeks in album sales in Switzerland. It was their third major release in Europe in 3 years. Their album “Mermaid Cowgirl”, recorded in Switzerland and released in 2014, went to # 5. They also recorded 4 albums in Germany with Ralph Siegel for release to the European market. Along with Johnny Cash, they are the only American members of the German Country Music Hall of Fame. In recent years they even have also cracked the Indian and Sri Lankan music charts and have successfully toured there - there music is now popular at Indian weddings!

After the Bellamy Brothers first broke through with their massive international # 1 on the pop chart in 1976 with ‘Let Your Love Flow‘, then, after 3 years finally breaking free fro. The L.A. chokehold to rack up 10 # 1 country hits among 25 top 10 hits from 1979 to 1992. Howard assesses the past and the path of the Bellamy Brothers’ success carefully - “I just think it never occurred to us to be stopped. But I’ll tell you this. We may have learned the hard edges of business in L.A. and Europe, but we had to go home to the farm. That’s where we really found our music.”

And with that, I’m back in the bush for another week or two but I’ll be back … sometime.

I have to admit that the Bellamys haven't featured large on my appreciation index - until now.
Thanks Prof, for yet another introduction.

 

[Professor Knowall]

Lost someone today that should be on the “Mt Rushmore” of the genre.

Toby Keith, may you rest in peace you brilliant man.

Yes, sad news - he was a country music giant from the mid 1990’s to c2010 and worked right up ‘til he could no more due to his terminal cancer. I’ll admit to not having been such a fan at his prime - apart from Hank III, I wasn’t so much into country at all back then, but have matured and grown into it since. I’ve selected 2 of his songs in tribute of his passing.

Being a lover of American honky tonky tonks (where I truly discovered country music), I couldn’t go past ‘I Love This Bar’, describing both the joys and menace of the best southern honky tonks - (though Keith is taking the piss, as he often did, with the video depiction of beer bottles being hurled at the chicken wire. I’ve never once seen any chicken wire protected band stand even at the roughest honky tonk bars. But it does recall the very roughest, most dangerous dives from decades earlier that did indeed have the chicken wire to protect the band from flying bottles, especially in the Texan oil fields where Ernest Tubb and Ray Price first started out in the 1940’s. But it’s a good fun song, observing the various types of patrons and desperados found in a pulsing hard core country music honky tonk, with plenty of typical Toby Keith humour thrown in -


Being into country music history, I also couldn’t go past ‘I Should’ve Been A Cowboy’ - a tribute (as per the lyrics -
“… I'd be wearin' my six-shooter, ridin' my pony on a cattle drive / Stealin' the young girls' hearts /
Just like Gene and Roy / singin' those campfire songs …”
- to the two legendary singing cowboys, Gene Autry (posts # 125-126 ) and Roy Roger’s (posts # 154-157) -


RIP Toby Keith

 

[Professor Knowall]

I have to admit that the Bellamys haven't featured large on my appreciation index - until now.
Thanks Prof, for yet another introduction.

I‘m glad to be service! There’s no doubt David Bellamy, who wrote most of the songs they recorded, is really the one responsible for their success, driving his brother along for the ride. And though their biggest commercial success was in the early part of their career (which is typically the case), for me, their music actually got better with age and experience.

I’m not so confident the next singer will feature at all in your appreciation index - I’ve put him the narrative for being, along with Mickey Gilley, the most representative example of the Urban Cowboy era of the early 1980’s.

 

[Professor Knowall]

So I’m back for the next history instalment, as we once again journey back to 1980 and the famous (or infamous, depending on your POV) Urban Cowboy era. As I’ve already written in previous posts, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, musicians and producers were only too keen to distance themselves from the music's roots as the Urban Cowboy era (posts # 907-909 & # 974) took hold and the boundaries between country and pop were blurred even more than the previous Nashville Sound (#354 & 404) and Countrypolitan (# 772) eras. More than anyone else, today’s artist, previously mostly just a resident honky tonk nightclub singer (albeit he was at the world’s biggest and most famous honky tonk at that time) fully cashed in on that wave of popularity while it lasted.

Born John Lee Ham in 1945 in Texas City and grew up on a dairy farm in nearby Alta Loma (now an outer southern suburb of Houston). He came of age listening to first-generation rock‘n’rollers such as Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. Billing himself as Johnny Lee, Ham went from fan to performer in high school, when he and his friends formed a rock band "Johnny Lee and the Roadrunners". The Road Runners' local success came to a halt when, after graduation, Lee, like dozens of others in this history series, entered the armed services, enlisting in the US Navy. He served a tour of duty on the USS Chicago, a guided missile cruiser in Southeast Asia as America's involvement in Vietnam grew.

Lee was discharged from the Navy in 1966 - “When I first got out of the military, I was going to be a cop out in California. I took all of the tests and passed everything, but then I got in an old Chevy and drove back to Galveston, Texas“. He had his name legally changed from John Lee Ham to Johnny Lee. Taking any gig he could get, he played cover tunes in any bar of honk Tonk that allowed him in, performing on the highly competitive Texan nightclub circuit.

Lee landed his first serious break when he met honky tonk man Mickey Gilley in 1968. Lee astutely reminded Gilley over a few drinks of the time they had previously met and talked music in Galveston 2 years earlier. That led to Gilley invicing Lee to join him on-stage when performing that evening. Gilley eventually signed Lee as a backing vocalist and trumpet player. But Gilley was unaware at that time that Lee had fabricated his back story of their previous meeting - in fact the 2 had never previously met! But this was the start of their life-long friendship.

For 5 years, from 1968 to 1973, Lee was part of Gilley‘s band for his standing engagement at Gilley's Pasadena honky tonk in Dallas, Texas, billed as the worlds largest honky tonk (see Mickey Gilley, posts # 907-909 for a fuller rundown on Gilley’s. When Gilley was was touring on the road, Lee was the headline act in his absence. Lee stepped out as a solo act in 1973, cutting a few songs for the tiny local Astro label, but when they failed to chart, he started working with Gilley again.

I’ve read several bios of Lee that have his chart success starting only from 1980, but that ain’t quite right. In 1976, 3 years after his first unsuccessful 1973 recordings, Lee actually scored a # 22 hit on the ABC/Dot label with his version of the standard, ‘Red Sails In The Sunset’. He then had some further modest chart success in 1977 with his “H-e-e-ere's Johnny!” album (the title inspired by the intro to the top rating The Late Show, hosted by Johnny Carson. Along with ‘Red Sails In The Sunset’, this album spawned 3 more singles in 1977 - ‘Country Party‘, a slight re-write of Rick Nelson’s ‘Garden Party’, became a Top 20 hit, peaking at # 15, selling very well in Texas, while his cover of Nat King Coles ‘Ramblin Rose’ (post # 469) reached # 37. He had enough success to get nominated by the ACM for “Most Promising Male Vocalist” and he won the “Top New Male Vocalist” for 1977. However, his real shot at the big time (and his reason for making this history series) came in 1979, when filmmaker James Bridges came to Texas to shoot the movie Urban Cowboy.

Gilley’s became a home away from home for most of the residents in the area. These were mostly blue-collar people working in nearby oil refineries and at other such gritty working class jobs - very few were rural folk. They headed to the club after work in their droves to dance, drink, sometimes fight and to try find love - either for the night or for longer - somewhere across the vast expanse of the club’s concrete floor. By 1978 it had become a Texan institution and journalist Aaron Latham wrote a piece about the scene at Gilley's for the elitist Esquire Magazine, titled "The Ballad of the Urban Cowboy: America's Search for True Grit”. Eventually, the reputation of Gilley’s as an enormous rough and tumble honky tonk got Hollywood’s attention. In 1979, a highly-budgeted movie production rolled into Pasadena. Filmmaker James Bridges adapted the story into a movie, and 1980's Urban Cowboy, starring John Travolta and Debra Winger and shot largely at Mickey Gilley’s famous Dallas honky tonk, Gilley‘s, became a major box office hit, impacting the country music world, as did its soundtrack album - see post # 908 for a brief history of this movie and its cultural impact.

Irving Azoff, the high-powered music business mogul who was producing the film and coordinating the soundtrack, helped Lee land a small part in the film playing himself performing at Gilleys, and asked Lee to record a song for the soundtrack. Lee was given the song ‘Lookin' for Love‘, written by Wanda Mallette, Bob Morrison and Patti Ryan and over 20 artists had rejected. When Urban Cowboy's soundtrack album came out in tandem with the film in 1980, ‘Lookin' for Love‘ rose all the way to # 1 and then crossed over, rising to # 5 on the pop charts. Lee earned a Grammy nomination for Best Male Bocal Performance, and ACM nominations for Song of the Year and Best Single Record of the Year -

Urban Cowboy became a phenomenon and country music’s popularity hit an all-time high, albeit with a northern suburban audience that either despised or just disregarded its rural or blue collar origins and tradition, but provided an even bigger market for the smooth pop country that had grown around the Urban Cowboy era of 1980. It’s soundtrack leaned heavily on pop-flavoured country and generated 5 Top 10 country singles - ‘Love the World Away‘ by Kenny Rogers; ‘Look What You’ve Done to Me‘ by Boz Scaggs; Mickey Gilley’s ‘Stand by Me’; ‘Lookin’ for Love’ by Johnny Lee and ‘Could I Have This Dance?‘ by Anne Murray. The latter 3 all went to #1, and all 5 crossed over to the Pop Chart.

Lee was doubly fortunate to get both a song on the album and it then being the most featured song of Urban Cowboy and a huge commercial hit, helped by John Travolta (the movie's co-star) publicly expressing a liking for it. As Lee later put it - “I figured it was going to catapult my career or set me back 10 years. I had no idea it was going to be as big as it was. All I know is that it’s got staying power. It’s still played all the time.”

Now signed to Irving Azoff's Full Moon label (distributed by Warner/Elektra/Asylum), Lee, cashing in on his newly found fame, soon dropped his own album titled “Lookin' for Love”, which peaked at # 8 on the album chart and it promptly spun off 3 more big country hits, ’One in a Million’, ‘Pickin' Up Strangers‘ and ’Prisoner of Hope’.

’One In A Million’, written by Chick Rains, was first released by the short lived pop/rock group, Rains and Harris in 1977 on their one and only album. Lee’s cover was released in 1980 as the second single from the “Lookin' for Love” album. The lyrics do nothing to get the listener on the side of its protagonist. He’s basically saying (just paraphrasing the lyrics here) - “Your friends don’t like me, and I just like sleeping with you and spending time with you occasionally, but we’re going to stick together anyway. What are ya gonna do, leave?”. But he does say it nicely -


Lee’s Urban Cowboy appearance was followed by another movie, a forgettable country flavoured rom-com, Coast to Coast, in which he sang the soundtrack, ‘Pickin’ Up Strangers’. The 1980 movie, starring Robert Blake (who ”won” the very first Golden Raspberry award for Worst Actor in 1981) and Dyan Cannon, was about a rich madwoman who breaks out from a New York mental hospital and gets a lift back to California with a grumpy man in a cattle truck. They eventually fell in love while running away from a repo man and some thugs. The movie is bad enough to be quite watchable very late at night. Lee’s ’Pickin’ Up Strangers’, penned by Byron Hill, was released in early 1981 as the third single from Lee’s “Lookin’ for Love” album. Lee’s laidback delivery doesn’t really convey any real sense of the danger he sings about, but didn’t stop it going to # 3 -


’Prisoner Of Hope’ written by Sterling Whipple and Gerald Metcalf, was released later in 1981 as the 4th single from the “Lookin’ For Love“ album It’s a nice enough song, I supposé, about a man who is allowing himself to fall for a woman who is way out of his league, as we do. At least he admits the total futility of his desire. There’s not much more to say about it other it was good enough at the time to have another # 3 hit -


’Bet Your Heart On Me’, written by Jim McBride, was released in 1981 as the lead single and title track from the “Bet Your Heart on Me” album. The song is a basically a romantic country ballad wherein the narrator begs a woman to take a chance on him. Knowing the lady had her heart broken by her previous lover, the singer assured her she won’t go through the same pain again with him, trying to comfort and strengthen her feelings with the tender love that he has. And, betting her heart on him would make her a real winner. I can’t help but think he’s just encouraging her to continue gambling, using stock standard pick-up lines. Anyway, this type of song was so much in favour at the time, that it became Lee's 3rd # 1 -

This was the last of Lee’s # 1 singles produced by the notable Jim Ed Norman, though Lee’s work with Norman produced a few more hits - with Lee’s music so typical of the early 1989’s Urban Cowboy era. He also had a few more chart topping hits to come, before changing tastes saw him tumble from the charts but into a long afterglow of live performing. Johnny Lee’s career, will be concluded tomorrow or the day after.

 

[Professor Knowall]

As one might discern from some of my comments yesterday, I have to admit I wasn’t really a fan of Johnny Lee’s music. as we saw yesterday, he came to prominence in 1980 via the Urban Cowboy movie and the country-pop crossover smash ‘Lookin’ For Love’. Prior to that breakthrough, he had played the Texas honky-tonk scene for years, mainly ensconced at the legendary Gilley’s nightclub in Pasadena, Dallas. He was basically a second division country singer with a pleasant, easy-going baritone, who happened to be in the right place at the right time to land a role in the hugely popular John Travolta movie. However, he cashed in brilliantly on this lucky break and in his defence, I reckon Lee’s vocals and delivery improved in the following years after the initial Urban Cowboy craze had faded. So for me, today’s music selection is overall better than yesterday’s offer.

Today starts with my favourite Johnny Lee song. The western swing ‘Cherokee Fiddle’ was written by Michael Murphey, who took it to a modest # 58 in 1977. The story is based on a fiddle player named "Scooter"; his real name was Dean Kirk, of Choctaw Indian and Irish descent. Having taken lessons as a child from Clayton McMichen, he played the fiddle his entire life, once working with the country music and movie star, Rex Allen. In his later years he played for tips in the quintessential Old West mountain town of Durango, Colorado, when the narrow gauge line train came in (it still does) filled with tourists. Lee’s version was included on the Urban Cowboy soundtrack album for the 1980 motion picture, but a remixed version featuring backing vocals from Murphey and Rosemary Butler and fiddle by Charlie Daniels was re-released in late 1982 as the first single from Lee's “Sounds Like Love” album and reached # 10 -
“… He was always there, playing for the miners / Devil's dream was a song they understood /
Then, he'd go back to Oklahoma, and he'd wait 'til the trains / Was running and the weather was good /
But when he'd smell the smoke and the cinders / He slick back his hair, opened up his case /
Play Cherokee Fiddle, he'd play it for the whiskey / 'Cause good whiskey never let him lose his place …” -

Lee also did a complete re-recording of ‘Cherokee Fiddle’ for his 1990 compilation "The Best of Johnny Lee".

Considering Johnny Lee spent his first 12 years as a professional singer in the Texan honky tonks and bars (mostly at Gilley’s), and also many more years after his rise to fame and fading again, it’s only right to include this song - Lee sure knew his way around a bar. The R&B ’Hey Bartender’ was written by Dossie Terry and first recorded by Floyd Dixon in 1955 and many have covered it since. A cover by Laurel Aitken in 1961 titled ’Bar Tender‘ made the song a success, though the label wrongly credited "L. Aitken" as composer. It was subsequently covered and recorded live by The Blues Brothers in 1978, although the composer credit on this record was wrongly stated as "Floyd Dickson".

Lee‘s cover, which thankfully kept much of its original R&B elements, also wrongly credited "Floyd Dickson" as composer. Released in 1983 as the first single and title track from his “Hey Bartender” album, it reached # 2 in the U.S. and all the way to # 1 in Canada. The video looks like it was filmed in his basement, everyone having lots of fun -
“… Well we was having so much fun / I didn't know it was half past one /
Turned around gonna have one more / I looked at the clock and it was half past four …” -


With a memorable military marching melody, ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas’ is a traditional American song dating back to at least the 1850s and popular during the American Civil War in both the North and South.Several different versions existed, with titles such as ’The Gallant Hood of Texas‘ and ’The song of the Texas Ranger‘, but the earliest known version is found in Christy's Plantation Melodies. No. 2, a songbook published in 1853. Christy was the founder of the black face minstrel show known as the Christy's Minstrels.

Like most minstrel songs, the lyrics were written in a cross between a parody of a generic creole dialect historically attributed to African-Americans and standard American English. The original lyrics were written in the first person from the perspective of an African-American singer who refers to himself as a "darkey" longing to return to "a yellow girl" (i.e. a light-skinned or bi-racial woman). In a 1858 revision, the lyrics changed from "yellow girl" to "yellow rose". Thanks to it’s bouncy, catchy, winning melody, the song became a standard and particularly associated with Texas. Its popularity continued into the 20th century. In 1933, Gene Autry and Jimmie Long made it into a cowboy song, revising the lyrics to take out racial elements e.g. replacing "… no other darkey knows her, no darkey only me …" with "… no other fellow knows her, nobody else but me…". Roy Rogers performed the revised version in the 1944 film The Yellow Rose of Texas. The lyrics continued to evolve in the 20th century into a totally racially neutral song.

Many versions of ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas’ have since been recorded, the most popular of which was by Mitch Miller, whose version went to # 1 on the pop charts in 1955 (and also # 1 in Australia and # 2 in the UK). Lee joined forces with Lane Brody for ‘Yellow Rose Of Texas’ in 1984, which they recorded as the theme song to the NBC nighttime soap of the same name. Released as first the lead single from the “Til the Bars Burn Down” album, it topped the charts in both the U.S. and Canada -

Members of the Western Writers of America have ‘The Yelloe Rose Of Texas’ listed as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

‘You Could’ve Heard A Heart Break’, written by Marc Rossi, was released in 1984 as the lead single from the “Workin' for a Livin” album. It was Lee's 5th and final # 1 - and easily his strongest # 1 single. It feels like a spiritual predecessor to Reba McEntire’s ‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter‘, as we get a birds-eye view of all of the happenings at a local bar from the view of the bartender. The storytelling is perfectly crafted, and Lee gives an empathetic performance that heightens the impact of the lyric. You get the sense that everyone is this bar knows everyone in town, and as a man tries to cheat on his wife, the onlookers hold their breath. He makes the phone call home to say he he’ll be late. He makes his move on the innocent girl who has no idea he’s married. And then in the second verse, his wife shows up. How many hearts could you have heard break? At least 3 by my count -
“… Behind the bar I see some crazy things / I watch those disappearing wedding rings …”


While Lee didn’t return to the top after this, he had a handful of top 10 hits, with the final one coming in 1985 - a trucking song. ‘Rollin’ Lonely’ written by J.D. Martin and Gary Harrison, was released on New Years Eve 1984 as the 2nd single from the “Workin' for a Livin” album, reaching # 9 in early 1985. The lyrics express a truckie's emotional state through vivid imagery. The reference to the rain, flashing signs, and passing cars represent the chaotic and distracting nature of the outside world, but they pale in comparison to the tears in his lover's eyes when he said goodbye. This indicates that his focus is solely on reconciling and seeking forgiveness from his partner. As he speeds through the never-ending landscape of Texas and up the uphill battle against time, he expresses the mental toll the journey is taking on him, overwhelmed and driven to madness by the distance separating him from his loved one.

The lyrics emphasise the urgency and intensity of his longing. The repeated chorus further emphasises the emotional desperation and the need for affection. The truckie acknowledges the mistakes he made and feels a profound need to rectify them. The lyrics convey a sense of acceptance that only by reaching his destination and reuniting with his loved one can he mend the emotional rift between them. Overall, ’Rollin' Lonely’ is a song that explores themes of distance, longing, regret, and the desire for redemption. It portrays the emotional struggle of a truckie who is willing to go to great lengths to make things right with their loved one, showcasing the sacrifices and emotional turmoil that can come with a life on the road, that many can relate to.

Instead of opting for the standard 1984 studio recording, I’ve opted for this live 2019 performance on Country Road TV. Here, Lee is singing better than ever - at 72 years-old he has the kind of heartfelt, wizened voice that lots of veteran country vocalists have: It’s a warm, pull-up-a-barstool-and-I’ll-tell-you-a-story-of-heartbreak kind of a voice -


Over a short 5 year period from 1980 to 1985, Lee scored 5 # 1 singles and another 7 that hit the Top 10. But, as rapidly as he made the top so he faded into relative obscurity - swept aside, as so many others featured in this series, as the rise of the neo-tradionalists, led by George Strait, swept aside the pop-country urban cowboy sound. Lee’s time in the spotlight may have been relatively short but he made the most of it.

In 2019, Lee‘s autobiography Still Lookin’ For Love was published , which I haven’t yet read but is, I’ve gleaned, loaded with entertaiNing anecdotes about his younger wild years as a chart topping star, with story behind ‘Urban Cowboy’, the movie that changed his life forever, hoe he beat colon cancer and backstage stories about everyone including Waylon Jennings, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Paycheck, Loretta Lynn, T.G. Sheppard, Alan Jackson, Charley Pride And Mickey Gilley. In contrast to his laidback, smooth singing style, Lee off-stage, in true country music tradition, was a real hell raiser, popular with other country singers, especially fellow Texan honky tonker, Moe Bandy as well as Mickey Gilley and enjoying all the entrapments of stardom - lots of cocaine fuelled parties with hot, wild women and so forth.

Lee’s often turbulent private life included his marriages. From 1982 to 1984, he was briefly married to actress Charlene Tilton of the top rating nightime TV soap, Dallas. with whom he had a daughter, Cherish, born 1982. He married his second wife, Deborah Spohr in 1986. They had a son, Johnny Lee Jr., in 1990 then divorced years later. Deborah died in 2002 after a long battle with prescription painkillers. Johnny Lee Jr. died in 2014 at the age of 23 of a drug overdose, This death devastated Lee and prompted him to become active in the fight against the drug trade - something he has never since ceased to advocate.

Although Lee's chart topping career had faded, he remained active as a touring act, playing regularly in Texas and the Southwest, recording 2 shows with independent live albums, 1999's “Live at Gilley's“ and 2002's “Live at Billy Bob's Texas” (Billy Bobs in Fort Worth had now replaced Gilly’s as the worlds largest honktonk - and still I’d). Lee continued to record for smaller labels, releasing “The 13th of July” in 2003, “It's a Long Way Back” in 2004 and the holiday-themed album “Santa Claus Is Lookin' for Love” in 2005. In 2008, Lee began appearing regularly in Branson, Missouri, playing his hits for his longtime fans.

While business dealings led to a falling out between Lee and Mickey Gilley in the 1980s, the two buried the hatchet in 2015, reuniting for a concert tour celebrating the 35th anniversary of the release of “Urban Cowboy”. Lee returned to recording in 2016 with “You Ain't Never Been to Texas”, which combined his trademark smooth country sound with his take on soul and blues classics like ’Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me‘ and ’Two Steps from the Blues’. His most recent album, 2021's “Everything's Gonna Be Alright“ featured a timely message of resilience in its title tune, while Willie Nelson contributed guitar to the song ’Did You Enjoy Hurting Me’. The most notable aspect of this album is that, having long dabbled in songwriting with only minor success (all of his major hits were penned by others), at age 74 he wrote all the songs on this album.

Lee continued to perform, especially around Texas, playing barrooms and oldies venues. Apart from Texas, he regularly performed in his home town of Branson, Missouri, amongst other veteran country artists. However, having been diagnosed with Parkiinsons Disease, by 2023 he was using a mobility scooter to get around and performed while sitting on a stool that he admits to downright loathing - "I'm going to sing until I die. I like to keep my band working. I'm fortunate that I still get to do this stuff. I look forward to going out singing. I don't look forward sitting on a stool while I am singing, but I don't think my fans mind". But with his health steadily declining, Lee finally called it quits and retired at the end of 2023, aged 77

At the 2020 CMA Awards, Lee and longtime friend and collaborator Mickey Gilley were recognised for their contributions to the hit movie Urban Cowboy, with Old Dominion performing ’Lookin' For Love‘. And based on feedback via social media from fans of all ages, they couldn't get enough of the Johnny Lee classic - "They say that country music fans stick with you till the end. Even after the end”.

Despite the recent revival of interest in his music (a phenomenon shared by a number of vintage 20th century country former stars), I can’t see Johnny Lee making it into the Country Music HoF - there’s a few too many in the queue ahead of him. However, back in 2004 he was honoured by being admitted into the Texas Country Music HoF - a considerable honour, given that Texas has quite a few millions more in popular than Australia and country music has always had a huge presence there.

And with that, the Urban Cowboy era now well and truly covered over the last few months or so, I’ll be on the road again, heading back up on the back roads to some wild mountain parts of NSW, so you’ll have another couple of weeks respite from this history.

 

[Gough]

We never deserved this guy.

 

[Professor Knowall]

We never deserved this guy.

He searched for and found the beautiful. His potted story and music can be found from posts #560-570. He is long gone now, but his protege he took under his wing and tutored in harmony, Emmylou Harris, is still with us and she still speaks of how Gram opened her eyes and educated her to the beauty of traditional country music -

 

[Professor Knowall]

So I’m back after some much travel again and almost ready for some more history. But before I get back to that, today I’m paying a nod to my 2 favourite American rock bands. Both were very heavily influenced by country music and these days, much of their music is described as country rock. But back in the 1960’s and ‘70’s, no-one doubted they were rock groups - both never appeared on the country charts - and for that reason they won’t appear in the history series apart from this brief post (I have to draw the line somwhere and both fell on the rock rather than country side of the ledger).

Creedence Clearwater Revival (aka CCR) was formed in 1967, dominated by singer-songwriter, John Fogerty. I was very surprised when, years ago now, I found they were all from the San Francisco area, not at all southerners - it turns out John Fogerty had an obsession with southern culture, especially Louisiana, and adopted the southern accent in his singing and the swamp-rock in the bands sound. Their music style is often debated between country and rock, as they incorporated elements of both genres into their sound. However, though it’s sound can easily pass as country in 2024, contemporary country having long incorporated large elements of rock (which itself was born from country, and blues), CCR was regarded solely as a rock band in the period of their existence from 1967 to 1972 (the band fell apart after John Fogerty left it in 1971 over several disagreements to pursue a solo career).

Creedence’s musical roots are deeply embedded in the r&r tradition of the 1950s and 60s, heavily influenced by r&r pioneer artists such as Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Elvis Presley. Additionally, the band’s use of electric guitars, drums, and bass guitar were all typical of rock music instrumentation. Furthermore, Creedence’s lyrics often dealt with themes such as protest and social commentary, which became more commonly associated with rock music than country in the 1960’s e.g. their hit song ‘Fortunate Son’ was a scathing critique of the Vietnam War and the political establishment that perpetuated it. Unlike most other rock artists of the day, CCR eschewed drug use and didn’t contribute significantly to left-wing activism except for being against the Vietnam war. Their music went on to influence entire genres such as heartland rock, country rock, alt-country; and even punk and heavy metal.

CCR was rightfully inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 1993. But its country influence can’t be denied in songs like ‘Have You Ever Seen The Rain’, from 1971. Though deeper meanings can be inferred, the song literally describes a sunshower, such as in the lyric - "… It'll rain a sunny day …" and the chorus - "… Have you ever seen the rain, comin' down on a sunny day?". Sun showers are particularly common in the Deep South due to localised atmospheric wind shear effects from the Gulf of Mexico -


Lynyrd Skynyrd was formed in Jacksonville, Florida. The group originally formed as My Backyard in 1964 and spent 5 years touring small venues under various names and with several lineup changes before deciding on "Lynyrd Skynyrd" in 1969. They released their first album in 1973 and at the height of their fame in the 1970s, the band popularised the Southern rock genre with songs such as ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and ‘Free Bird’. After releasing 5 studio albums and a live album, the band's career was tragically halted in October 1977, when their chartered airplane crashed in Mississippi, killing lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, his sister, backup singer Cassie Gaines and seriously injuring the rest of the band. The group disbanded.

Their greatest song (imo, one of the greatest rock epic songs) was ‘Free Bird’, a tribute to the late Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band, was an immediate sensation, thanks to the interplay of its 3 lead guitars, and its themes of freedom and individuality that appealed to southern sentiments, while ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ , their most country influenced major hit, was a response to Neil Young’s derisive 1970 ‘Southern Man’, in which the lyrics makes several references to the area’s historical relationship with slavery and its ties to the Ku Klux Klan, but also seemed to condemn ALL southerners as irredeemable ignorant, uneducated, redneck fasciste. Two years on from ‘Southern Man’, Young doubled down, taking another shot at the South when he returned to the same contentious theme on ‘Alabama’.

Needless to say, these Neil Young songs upset most southerners who considered Young’s broad brush condemning all southerners as just plain wrong - and this included the members of Lynyrd Skynrd who felt Young unfairly insulted the whole south. Unfortunately for Young, the fury drowned out the message that he was trying to spread. Lynryd Skynrd’s Ronnie Van Zant felt forced to stand up for his people, later telling Rolling Stone - “We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two. We’re southern rebels, but more than that, we know the difference between right and wrong.” Not only did Van Zant speak in the press about the subject, but he also got the hometown pride off his chest in the studio, and the result was the iconic country tinged song (and all-around wedding party starter) ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, with Van Zant proudly singing - “… I hope Neil Young will remember / a southern man don’t need him around anyhow...” -


Lynyrd Skynrd‘s response song made Young reflect on his actions, considering that perhaps his inflammatory lyrics didn’t get his anti-racism point across in the succinct manner he had hoped in his pair of songs. To his credit, Young was more than happy to accept that, in this case, he was the one that was in the wrong. He reconciled with Lynyrd Skynyrd following the release of ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, and he took the track in good nature and with good humour, even saying: “They play like they mean it, I’m proud to have my name in a song like theirs.”

Young later discussed the feud with Lynyrd Skynyrd in a 1995 interview with Mojo Magazine, stating - “Oh, they didn’t really put me down! But then again, maybe they did! But not in a way that matters. s**t, I think ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ is a great song. I’ve actually performed it live a couple of times myself.” In his 2012 biography Waging Heavy Peace, Young went as far as apologising for both his anti-southern tracks - “‘Alabama’ richly deserved the shot Lynyrd Skynyrd gave me with their great record. I don’t like my words when I listen to it. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out and too easy to misconstrue.”

After they reconciled, Young sent Lynyrd Skynrd a demo version of ‘Powderfinger’ to apologise and eventually allowed the band to use it on their next record. However, tragic circumstances would ensue as Van Zant, along with other members of the group, were killed in the Mississippi plane crash before they had the chance to record the now-iconic track. Weeks after their death in 1977, Young played a charity show in Miami and treated fans to an emotional medley of ‘Alabama’ and ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ in tribute to the band.

One last thing - ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ also serves as a big clue to the next history instalment - coming soon.

 

[Professor Knowall]

Time for more country music history as we head back once again to 1980. As we’ve already seen, in the late 1970’s and into the 1980’s, country groups had come to the fore, with the Southern Gospel inspired quartets, The Statler Brothers (posts # 949-952) and The Oak Ridge Boys (# 961-964) and the duet Bellamy Brothers (984-997), all of which broke through at the end of the 1970’s, came a band that suddenly skyrocketed from relative obscurity to major stardom in 1980 and went on to become the most popular country group of them all, dominating the charts through the 1980’s.

This band had roots in both country and rock - in fact, many of their musical concepts, particularly the idea of a performing band, owed more to rock and pop that came to the fore in the 1960’s, than hardcore country. However, there is no denying they are a country band - though the band members' pop instincts come from rock, their harmonies, songwriting and approach are solidly country, particularly influenced by the Bakersfield sound of Buck Owen’s and Merle Haggard, along with bluegrass and, in their early hits, the Nashville Sound. Their sleek country-rock sound have made them the most popular country band in history, selling more records than any other artist of the 1980’s and earning stacks of awards.

Formed back in 1969 in Fort Payne, a small manufacturing town, but famous for long being thé world’s largest sock supplier, in the Northeast corner of Alabama, nestled in a valley of the southern Appalachians, the band was founded by first cousins Randy Owen, born 1949 (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and Teddy Gentry, born 1952 (bass, backing vocals). They had grown up on neighbouring cotton farms, but the pair had each learned how to play guitar and sang in the same church together before they were 6 years old. They first started out playing together as a duet called Young Country in their Fort Payne high school

Although country music roots run deep in the Fort Payne area, both musicians performed mostly bluegrass and pop tunes before Jeff Cook, born 1949 (lead guitar, fiddle, and keyboards) joined up with them in 1969. Cook, who had become a broadcast engineer at only 3 days after his 14th birthday and was working as a dj at a local radio station (he later went on to own radio and TV stations). The trio became a 4 man band when another cousin, Jackie Owen, joined them as a drummer. As a group, they performed and won a high school talent competition that earned them the opportunity to visit the Grand Ole Opry. Despite the win, these boys weren’t quite ready to pursue a musical career just yet. Randy Owen was still in high school, Teddy Gentry was a carpet layer and Jeff Cook was working in his engineering field with Western Electric after obtaining a degree in Electronic Technology and given a national award as “Outstanding Alumni”.

After high school, Randy Owen attended Jacksonville State University, as had his cousins before him. After he graduated, he reunited with Jeff Cook and Teddy Gentry in Anniston, Northern Alabama and the trio rented an apartment together. Now 1972, the trio was finally ready to reform their band and take this musical pursuit to the next level. Bennett Vartanian replaced their cousin, Jackie Owen, as their drummer. But the start of the young men’s musical career had them struggle to make ends meet in what felt like a music career moving too slowly for their liking. Despite the struggles, come 1973 the trio became determined to officially go pro.

In 1973, the band changed their name to Wildcountry, taking up residence in a honky tonk called The Bowery in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, often playing there for 13 hours a day for tips, working its way through 3 drummers over the next 6 years. Their versatile repertoire encompassed country, rock, pop, dance music and R&B (20th century R&B has no relationship to what’s now falsely labelled as R&B in the 2020’s), making a name for themselves by covering music previously recorded by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Merle Haggard. They also toured the Southeast bar and honky tonk circuit in the later-1970’s and began writing original songs together, building up a regional following for their live act, but not breaking through to any real success.

Despite the growth in popularity and their talent, the 3 cousins were not able to convince a record label to sign them up. This resulted in the group borrowing $4,000 from a Fort Payne bank to record and release their own albums to sell at their shows. Vartanian dropped out of the group, and following a rotation of 4 more drummers, they settled on Rick Scott in 1974. They self-recorded 2 albums, “Wildcountry” in 1976) and “Deuces Wild” in 1977, which they sold at their concerts. The group sent out demo tapes to record companies but received few responses until executives at minor label GRT Records signed the band to a one-record contract, issuing their debut single, ‘I Wanna Be with You Tonight’ in 1977. With only a limited regional release, it only reached a very modest # 78. In fact, GRT was more interested in the band as songwriters than recording music, but they did fortuitously convince the group to change their name to The Alabama Band, later shortened to just Alabama.

As fate would have it, GRT declared bankruptcy and the band found themselves stuck in a contract clause that prevented them from being able to sign up with another label just yet. It took about 2 years before the band could raise enough money to buy themselves out of the clause and record music again. In 1979, they busily performed over 300 shows on the road. The group hired independent radio promoters to receive radio play for the self-recorded single ‘I Wanna Come Over’ and they sent hand-written letters to program directors and DJs nationwide. It received the attention of the Dallas based minor label MDJ Records, who signed the band. Drummer Scott left the group at this time and was replaced by Mark Herndon, who helped solidify Alabama’s signature sound. The “Alabama Band No. 3” became the band's 3rd album, but it still had no publicity and was sold only at their concerts.

Randy Owen and his cousins Teddy Gentry and Jeff Cook were actually thinking of quitting in 1979, discouraged that they were not having any national success. During this time, Gentry and Owen penned the biographical song, ‘My Home’s In Alabama’, with the double meaning they had a "home" in both the state and also the group Alabama. The song helped recharge the group, and they landed their first Top 40 hit, ‘I Wanna Come Over’ released in September 1979 as the first single to feature drummer Mark Herndon. This was followed by the single ‘My Home’s in Alabama’, which proved to be their ticket to the big leagues upon its release in January 1980.

Despite being released on the minor MDJ label, ‘My Home’s in Alabama’ became their first Top 20 hit, making it to # 17. This led the band to having their MDJ contract being bought out by RCA, and the rest was history. The openly biographical song says, "… Then I moved on to LA / Up to New York City / All across the USA / I lost so much of me / But there's enough of me to say that / My home's in Alabama / No matter where I lay my head / My home's in Alabama / Southern born and Southern bred" - is about the band's desire to be true to their upbringing and heritage. Gentry explains - "Probably the most edited song that we've ever done was ‘My Home's in Alabama’, which was originally about 11 minutes long. It was edited down to six-and-a-half minutes for the single, which was still one of the longest singles ever at radio“. As well as expressing what the band meant to them, the lyrics also appeal to the burgeoning southern pride of that era -
“… Oh I’ll speak my Southern English just as natural as I please / I’m in the heart of Dixie, Dixie’s in the heart of me...”

The success of ‘My Home's in Alabama’ earned the group an invitation to the ‘New Faces’ show at the annual Country Radio Seminar in Nashville. The resulting performance, tightly honed by years of performing live together, along with the charting success of the song, earned them a contract with RCA Records, to which they signed in April 1980. Once this happened, the band finally achieved what they had been working so hard for much of the past decade. The major label’s move was unusual in country music at the time - although a driving force in pop and rock, apart from southern gospel inspired quartets, country had never been group-oriented.

Both ‘I Wanna Come Over’ and ‘My Home's in Alabama’ were subsequently issued on the band's first album for RCA records, with ‘My Home's in Alabama’ being the title track. Their first major label album galloped up to # 3 in the U.S. and all the way to # 1 in Canada, proving their sound had appeal well beyond their southern heartland, despite being unknown outside the South up to that point. But this was just the start. Within months, Alabama was the biggest name in country music.

Alabama’s remarkable record breaking streak of 21 consecutive # 1 hits began in the summer of 1980 with the invigorating ‘Tennessee River’, giving Alabama the distinction of being the first country group to top the charts with its first major-label single release. The group broke the long-standing record held by Sonny James (posts # 474-478), who had 16 consecutive # 1 singles in the 1960’s and 70’s. Written by Randy Owen, the song is about nostalgia for home - the Tennessee River winds, in part, through the Northern Alabama Appalachians where the group members had all grown up - and regret over leaving the place of their raising. If the tempo is too slow for your liking, wait until 2 minutes in, when Jeff Cook cuts loose with the fiddle, in true Appalachian mountain music style -
“I was born across the river / In the mountains where I call home / Lord, times were good there / Don't know why I ever roamed … " -

‘Tennessee River’ was also included on several of the group's compilation albums, including a live version with with an extra verse, which is on their first “Greatest Hits” album, released in 1986. The love expressed for the region of their raising was very real. From the sudden onset of wealth from the hit, Randy Owen made good on his lyrical promise about ‘Tennessee River’, buying a poll Hereford cattle ranch which he still proudly calls home, close to where he and his cousins, Jeff Cook and Teddy Gentry, grew up. When not touring or recording, Owen spends his time running the ranch.

Far from my favourite, but part of their history, ‘Why Lady Why’ has one aspect core to the Alabama style - the mellow love ballad, which would be repeated on their most successful songs. Originally, ‘Why Lady Why’ was recorded and released on the band's independent release, “Alabama Band: # 3” in 1978. When the band signed with MDJ records and started working with producer Harold Shedd, the original track was remixed and Kristin Wilkinson & the WIRE CHOIR's strings were added. A snippet of the track was issued as the B-side to ‘My Home's in Alabama’ in January 1980. The song later was issued as a single in its own right by RCA in August 1980 as the 4th and final single from the “My Home's in Alabama“ album and became the group's 2nd # 1, and got to # 3 in Canada -


Written by Donny Lowery and Mac McAnally, ‘Old Flame’ was released in January 1981 as the first single from the “Feels So Right” album and became the group's 3rd # 1 single. Despite the keyboard intro setting the tone for the loping, soothing tempo, this ain’t the sweet nostalgia soaked ballad you might expect from the song’s title. Instead, ‘Old Flame’ speaks of jealousy and insecurity over the singer’s partner’s reaction - whether real or imagined - on seeing an old flame. These things do happen in real life -
“… You said it ended when he left you / You say your love for me is strong /
But those old memories still upset you / Well, I might be a memory before too long …” -


The album title track, ‘Feels So Right’ became more than simply one of many # 1 hit singles for Alabama since its release in 1981. Proving their harmonic, laid back sound was in tune with contemporary American tastes of the time. Randy Owen’s lyrics were actually deemed a little suggestive at the time of its release, which probably helped it to cross over beyond the country music bounds. It not only topped the US country chart, but also crossed over to become a Top 20 hit in the pop chart, the first of 3 Alabama songs to make the Pop Top 20. It also went to # 9 in the AC chart, # 5 in the Canadian country chart and topped the Canadian AC chart. This powerful ballad became a fan favorite at weddings once it first came out and is still a popular choice today down in Alabama -


Instead of just becoming American country stars, Alabama reached superstar status on a global level in what seemed like no time at all. The down-home country style mountain music Alabama performed, mixed with their mellow pop-country romantic ballads that were so popular in the first half of the 1980’s, won over a younger audience in the country music scene but also had made quite an impact on the pop charts as well. The success of Alabama also inspired a healthy infusion of young bands into the genre. So we leave them off in 1981, after a decade of trying and honing their act into a tight, contemporary sound, now achieving the very height of success - and with much more to come (thankfully, it won’t be just their mellow romantic ballads to come … though there will be more of them too).

 

[Professor Knowall]

Clean through most of the 1980s, Alabama established itself as more than just some country band named after its home state. Thanks to their sudden and enormous rise in popularity, Alabama left Myrtle Beach’s Bowery venue after regularly performing there for about 7 years. At first, the cousins, ow aged in their early 30’s, felt their first taste of big success, after years of relative obscurity, was by sheer chance and it was difficult to wrap their heads around the reality they would become so much more than fly by night country stars. However, as their string of consecutive # 1 hits continued, along with recording sessions and sold out touring schedules, Alabama had come a long way since its humble high school beginnings. Due to their chart topping success, Alabama had a tremendous amount of creative freedom with RCA.

In 1981, after Alabama released its 2nd RCA album, it became something of an enigma. “Feels So Right” not only reached # 1 on the country charts, but crossed over to # 16 on the pop charts and hung around for more than 3 years, becoming one of the most successful Alabama albums. It spawned 3 # 1 hits, ‘Old Flame, ‘Feels So Right, and ‘Love In the First Degree’, 2 of which also reached the Pop top 20 (which says a lot about the pop/rock influence on Alabama’s country sound). It was the year when there were very few music fans who didn’t hear of Alabama, regardless of what genre of music they preferred at the time - which says a lot about the conservative mood of the U.S. at the time. In 1981, Alabama was named by Billboard as their New Group of the Year. Radio & Records announced them as Group of the Year while the ACM awarded the title Vocal Group of the Year. It was also in 1981 the CMA named Alabama as Instrumental Group of the Year and also Vocal Group of the Year.

Now back to their music - but with a warning. If you’re not in the mood for early 1980’s mellow, romantic pop country songs (and I most certainly won’t blame you if you’re not), then you may want to skip the first the 1st, 3rd and 4th songs from today’s selections and just head to the 2nd and 5th. Alabama could and did play traditional country music and had some big hits with them, as will be seen. But I felt, for the purposes of this history, I had to include a fair sample of their mellow pop influenced ballads as they numbered amongst their biggest hits, and was emblematic of the musical tastes of the early 1980’s in country music. So, with that warning, here we go - starting with the third # 1 single from their “Feels So Right” album.

Another #1 hit in 1981, their 5th straight, another penned by lead vocalist Randy Owen, ‘Love in the First Degree’ epitomises Alabama’s ease at merging pop balladry with a country croon to create clear crossover appeal. This is your classic Alabama mellow love song (your second warning), a style so popular in the U.S. in the early 1980’s. While the critics often bashed the band for conceding to commercial precepts, the formula made them the most successful country band of all time. As the supergroup filled arenas in the early 1980s, it was songs like this that had thousands of fans, long before the days of mobile phone torches, let alone electronic LED wristbands, holding up cigarette lighters (yeah - smoking was still a big thing back then) high in the air as the romantic lyrics swayed the crowd -


It seemed at the time nothing could diminish the shine of Alabama as superstars in the music industry. However, when Randy Owen learned his father died unexpectedly while he was on tour, this had a profound impact on the singer-songwriter. Despite the tragedy, Alabama released its 3rd major-label studio album, “Mountain Music” in 1982. Just like “Feels So Right”, it not only topped the Country album chart but established a powerful presence on the pop chart, going to # 14, even surpassing “Feels So Right’s” multi-platinum status as a 4-time RIAA certified seller to 5-time.

Now for one that isn’t a romantic love ballad - though it could be accused of being an updated version of yesterda’Tenessee River’, right down to the tempo being upped for Jeff Cook’s fiddle to take over 3 minutes into the song. Nevertheless, if you could only play one song to introduce someone to the music of Alabama, the obvious choice would be ‘Mountain Music’. Yet another penned by frontman Randy Owen, Alabama blends Southern rock and bluegrass genres in the song that takes the listener on a sentimental journey back to the good old days with an infectious rockin’ country melody that morphs into straight out fiddle led mountain music after some 3 minutes. ‘Mountain Music’ was a # 1 hit in both the U.S. (their 6th # 1) and also topped both the Canadian country charts and AC charts in 1982. It has since become one of the signature tunes that does more than define Alabama as a group -


In 1980, soft rock band Exile released ‘Take Me Down’ as a single but it was a minor hit for the group. As for Alabama, its 1982 version became the band’s 7th # 1 hit. It also crossed over to the pop charts, succeeding where Exile’s version failed, reaching # 18. In Canada, this single went all the way to # 1 on both the Canadian Country and AC charts. In fact, Alabama were, relatively speaking allowing for the much smaller market size, as much or even more popular in Canada than the U.S. The song itself is another of those mellow romance tracks -


‘Close Enough To Perfect’ was written by Carl Chambers, and released in 1982 as the third single from the ‘Mountain Music’ album. A pop-styled ballad, "Close Enough to Perfect" was Alabama's 8th # 1 song in 1982. According to Chambers, the title came about during a day of installing strips of wood on the Bellamy Brothers bus - “I’d pick one and she (his then-wife) would find something wrong with it. This would happen several times until, exhausted with frustration, looked at her and said “It’s close enough to perfect for me!” I then stopped what I was doing to go write that down because I thought it would make a good title for a song someday”. Apart from that, there’s little more to say -
“… Now, she's been known to wear her pants too tight / And drinkin' puts her out just like a light /
Heaven knows she's not an angel / But she'd really like to be / And that's close enough to perfect for me …”


‘Dixieland Delight’ written by Ronnie Rogers, was inspired by a drive that Rogers took in eastern Tennessee. Anyone young or once was young and has worked through the week in a small town or on a farm, just looking forward to the weekend of carousing can relate to this song. Bit it’s also loaded with southern references that made it particularly appealing in the American South, driving it to the top of the charts, Alabama’s 9th consecutive # 1 in 1983. The song lauding the small town joy of taking one’s gal out for a Saturday night spin is also loaded with Southern references -
“… Whitetail buck deer munchin' on clover / Red-tailed hawk sitting on a limb / Chubby ol' groundhog / Croakin' bullfrog /
Free as a feeling in the wind / Home grown country girl / Gonna give me a whirl / On a Tennessee Saturday night /
Lucky as a seven /Livin' in Heaven / With my dixieland delight …" -

Alabama won an American Music Award for this song in 1984 for Favourite Video (shown above). The song is also a favourite with Crimson Tide (University of Alabama) fans, still sang at every American football game at a packed Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.

So we leave off Alabama for now at the end of 1984, with them having charted an extraordinary 15 consecutive # 1 hits since 1980, in addition to 4 having crossed over to be Top 20 hits on the U.S. pop charts. Tomorrow will explore their career as it progressed further into the 1980’s, as they expanded their repertoire beyond soft romance ballads and fiddle driven mountain music to stay on top.

 

[Gough]

He searched for and found the beautiful. His potted story and music can be found from posts #560-570. He is long gone now, but his protege he took under his wing and tutored in harmony, Emmylou Harris, is still with us and she still speaks of how Gram opened her eyes and educated her to the beauty of traditional country music -

I found him via Evan Dando in the early 90s. I adore the Lemonheads and Dando would frequently name drop him so I bought the Rhino repackage of his first two albums and The Gilded Palace of Sin and was just blown away, I'd never heard anything like it. Back then he was a bit of a cool secret too, you met someone at a party who liked Gram and you knew it was going to be a good night. To me it's ridiculous that neither the Rock and Roll or Country Music Halls of Fame have seen fit to induct him but perhaps it also shows his continuing outsider status in both worlds.

 

[Professor Knowall]

From 1982 until 1984, Alabama won the CMA’s most prestigious award, the Entertainer of the Year. Alabama’s run as a dominant force in the music industry constantly saw chart-topping hit after another without fail. As we have seen, Alabama’s early work was much a mix of mountain harmonies balanced by a laid back rock and roll sensibility. They initially broke through with traditional sounding hits like ‘My Home’s in Alabama’, ‘Tennessee River’ and ‘Old Flame’. But, with their harmony perfectly suited to the task, they found even greater success by blending their music to the onservative tastes of the early 1980’s, in which laid back romantic love ballads ruled the radio airwaves (and a country music legend like Johnny Cash found himself without a recording contract). Alabama gained crossover airplay on adult contemporary radio stations with their hits like ‘Love in the First Degree’, ‘Feels So Right’ and ‘Take Me Down’.

When Alabama’s next album, “The Closer You Get…“ was released in 1983, those cult-favourite hits just kept on coming. Just like their previous 2 albums, it also became a multi-platinum success story, not only topping the country chart like their previous 2 albums, but also crossing over, reaching # 10 on the Pop chart, becoming the band's highest-charting album.
Its pop-friendly sound is a mix of easy listening pop country, in line with the current popular music taste. The songwriting is strong, and the vocal harmonies blend so well, the members of Alabama trade lead vocal roles throughout the album. However, it suffers from glossy over production and the use of synthesisers.

Just like yesterday, you are warned, you might want to skip the early 1980’s love ballads if you ain’t into these, though today, the warning really only applies to the first and fourth tracks - the second at least has a story and pathos to it, making it more traditional country, at least in theme, if not in sound.

Today’s first selection is perhaps the best of that particular early 1980’s laid back easy listening sound, with a hook-laden chorus and airtight harmonies - though the use of a drum machine is nearly unforgivable and the arrangement distracts the listener from an otherwise good song. In 1983, the albums title song, ‘The Closer You Get’, became Alabama’s 10th consecutive # 1. Written by soft rock group, Exile’s J.P. Pennington and Mark Gray, it was first recorded by Exile in 1980 before Don King and Rita Coolidge did the same in 1981, with King’s version reaching # 27. Producer Harold Shedd had a significant influence on Alabama’s version of the tune, beefing up the production with distorted guitars, a more elaborate arrangement and an altered vocal sound, using then innovative echo techniques, making it another crossover hit, peaking at # 38 on the pop chart and # 9 on the AC chart. It also topped both the country and AC charts in Canada. Like their other romance tracks, ‘The Closer You Get’ is told from a male POV about the woman he desires, trying to capture how it feels to fall in love -

‘The Closer You Get’ earned Alabama their second Grammy award for Best Performance by a Group in 1983. In addition, “The Closer You Get ...” album awon the ACM Album of the Year and the Favorite Album at the American Music Awards.

Now for a song with more true to life meaning than just another simple romance track. The group had already released two # 1 singles from “The Closer You Get…” album when Owen’s phone rang at his house on Lookout Mountain. The caller was Conway Twitty (posts # 514-520), who asked him what the band had planned do with a track off the album Owen had written called ‘Lady Down On Love’. Owen – who wrote the song years earlier with Johnny Rodriguez (# 713-716) in mind – told Twitty that RCA did indeed have plans to make the tune a single. Though he lost a chance to have a Conway cut, Owen and the band turned in what was one of the most emotional performances’ follows a couple’s divorce from a betrayed wife’s perspective – followed by the husband’s remorseful POV in the second verse. While they’re both saddened by the end of their marriage, the husband admits his wife could no longer live with a man she couldn’t trust -
“… Well, I know the lady that's down on her love / 'Cause I used to hold her and have that special touch /
But work took me a way from home late at nights / And I wasn't there when she turned out the lights /
Then both of us got lonely and I gave into lust / And she just couldn't live with a man she couldn't trust …” -


With Alabama’s 5fth studio RCA album, and 4th consecutive # 1 album, 1984’s “Roll On”, history repeated itself again as it became a 4 time RIAA-certified seller. This time, however, while 3 of Alabama’s previous albums also became certified platinum in Canada, “Roll On” was the first to earn this recognition twice over. In Canada, Alabama was already insanely popular among the music fans of that nation but the title song hit single, ‘Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)’ was an all-time Canadian favourite. It was heavily used as a trucker’s anthem during the 2022 Canadian Freedom Convoy, along with Tim McGraw’s ‘Truck Yeah’. These are also used among similar trucker convoys that are still protesting against political policies that seem to have little regard for what the men and women who drive for a living do.

It was around this time the neo-tradional movement, led by George Strait, began to shake up country music with its call to a return to tradition country music elements. Alabama’s response to this was to broaden their appeal to one of the main traditional country base - the average blue-collar American. One of their hard workin’ hits honored truck drivers with the story of ‘Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)’. Penned by 1970’s pop star Dave Loggins (of (‘Please Come to Boston’ fame), the a storytelling song, still relevant today, is about a long-distance truckie trying hard - perhaps too hard - to support his wife and 3 children.. There’s an accident; the father is missing; the mum and kids anxiously wait for news. In the end, all’s well and the man calls his family to report he’s safe. In some versions, the song begins with a CB radio call - “How about ya, Alabama, roll on.”

The truck driver anthem was heard from coast to coast when it first hit the airwaves in early 1984. But the song, was shortened about 40 seconds from its album version when it was released to radio song follows the story The amusing part today to an Aussie like me, used to interstate trucks here having from between 34 to 44 wheels these days is that 18 wheels seems so small! Anyway, Alabama made it a smash hit, topping the U.S. and Canadian charts. It soon became an Alabama staple and a singalong number at their live shows and an unofficial anthem among truckies worldwide -


Despite having songs targeting the traditional blue collar country music base, Alabama’s 1984 “Roll On” album still had a few of its reliable formulaic mellow romance tracks that had served them so well through the early 1980’s. In the 1980’s, there were 2 male vocalists who could turn female hearts aflutter with each ballad they released. One was Conway Twitty (# 514-520) and the other Randy Owen. Of all Alabama songs, ‘When We Make Love’ definitely qualified as their most sensual, helping to push their “Roll On album” to sell over 4 million units, once again topping both the U.S Canadian charts and also peaked at # 8 on the US AC chart. I have no more to say about it -


As Explained in Waylon Jennings’s 1975 hit, ‘Bob Wills Is Still The King’ (post # 778), things really are different when you cross the Red River border into Texas -
“… You can hear the Grand Ol Opry / In Nashville, Tennessee / It's the home of country music /
On that we all agree / But when you cross that ol' Red River, hoss / That just don't mean a thing/
Once you’re down in Texas / Bob Wills is still the king …”.

Bob Wills, thé king of Western Swing, left an indelible mark on Texas and Oklahoma - which remains to this very day. Merle Haggard, for one, idolised him and sparked a great revival in his western swing music in the mid 1970’s and later George Strait did much the same in the 1990’s and I to the early 2000’s, ensuring Bob Wills enormous legacy in Texas lived on (see post # 140).

When Alabama started touring nationally, they were shocked when they played in Texas clubs. They were confused over the reception of the crowd, because people were swing dancing and (so they mistakenly thought) not listening to their songs. Concerned they were bombing in the huge Texan country music market, they were reassured by their record company it was just a regional reaction. They quickly learned that in Texas, if people were swing dancing to your music, not just listening, you were actually a hit. Learning of the experience, songwriters Dan Mitchell and Murry Kellum went to work and created ‘If You’re Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)’, specifically written for Alabama to perform in Texas. Luckily for Alabama, they did have a fiddler in the band, and a very accomplished one in Jeff Cook.

‘If You’re Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band) was first released only as the flip side of the song intended as the single. But radio programmers had other ideas and, obviously enticed by references to Bob Wills’ ‘Faded Love’ and Doug Kershaw’s ‘Louisiana Man,’ made it a hit - and a hit well beyond the bounds of Texas, becoming Alabama's 14th consecutive # 1 in the U.S. and their 12th Canadian # 1 -
“… So we dusted off our boots and put our cowboy hats on straight / Them Texans raised the roof when Jeff opened up his case /
You say y’all all want to two-step, you say ya want to do-si-do / Well, here’s a fiddlin’ song before we go...” -

Alabama also earned a 1985 Grammy nomination for this song, in the category of Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Alabama still plays the tune in concert, with Megan Mullins Owen playing fiddle.

So we leave Alabama until tomorrow with Alabama, at the end of 1984, now country music’s undisputed superstar group, having chalked up 14 consecutive # 1 singles and also a string of chart topping albums. They were also gradually changing their music in line with changing tastes - not abandoning, but certainly becoming less reliant on their mellow romance tracks to top the charts, broadening their appeal with more traditional country story-songs aimed at the blue collar market. Stay tuned for tomorrow as we follow their outstanding and evolving success into the mid to late 1980’s.

 

[CliffMcTainshaw]

Molly Tuttle with an old Neil Young song. Just love her playing. Great singer as well.

 

[THE A5]

So I’m back after some much travel again and almost ready for some more history. But before I get back to that, today I’m paying a nod to my 2 favourite American rock bands. Both were very heavily influenced by country music and these days, much of their music is described as country rock. But back in the 1960’s and ‘70’s, no-one doubted they were rock groups - both never appeared on the country charts - and for that reason they won’t appear in the history series apart from this brief post (I have to draw the line somwhere and both fell on the rock rather than country side of the ledger).

Creedence Clearwater Revival (aka CCR) was formed in 1967, dominated by singer-songwriter, John Fogerty. I was very surprised when, years ago now, I found they were all from the San Francisco area, not at all southerners - it turns out John Fogerty had an obsession with southern culture, especially Louisiana, and adopted the southern accent in his singing and the swamp-rock in the bands sound. Their music style is often debated between country and rock, as they incorporated elements of both genres into their sound. However, though it’s sound can easily pass as country in 2024, contemporary country having long incorporated large elements of rock (which itself was born from country, and blues), CCR was regarded solely as a rock band in the period of their existence from 1967 to 1972 (the band fell apart after John Fogerty left it in 1971 over several disagreements to pursue a solo career).

Creedence’s musical roots are deeply embedded in the r&r tradition of the 1950s and 60s, heavily influenced by r&r pioneer artists such as Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Elvis Presley. Additionally, the band’s use of electric guitars, drums, and bass guitar were all typical of rock music instrumentation. Furthermore, Creedence’s lyrics often dealt with themes such as protest and social commentary, which became more commonly associated with rock music than country in the 1960’s e.g. their hit song ‘Fortunate Son’ was a scathing critique of the Vietnam War and the political establishment that perpetuated it. Unlike most other rock artists of the day, CCR eschewed drug use and didn’t contribute significantly to left-wing activism except for being against the Vietnam war. Their music went on to influence entire genres such as heartland rock, country rock, alt-country; and even punk and heavy metal.

CCR was rightfully inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 1993. But its country influence can’t be denied in songs like ‘Have You Ever Seen The Rain’, from 1971. Though deeper meanings can be inferred, the song literally describes a sunshower, such as in the lyric - "… It'll rain a sunny day …" and the chorus - "… Have you ever seen the rain, comin' down on a sunny day?". Sun showers are particularly common in the Deep South due to localised atmospheric wind shear effects from the Gulf of Mexico -


Lynyrd Skynyrd was formed in Jacksonville, Florida. The group originally formed as My Backyard in 1964 and spent 5 years touring small venues under various names and with several lineup changes before deciding on "Lynyrd Skynyrd" in 1969. They released their first album in 1973 and at the height of their fame in the 1970s, the band popularised the Southern rock genre with songs such as ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and ‘Free Bird’. After releasing 5 studio albums and a live album, the band's career was tragically halted in October 1977, when their chartered airplane crashed in Mississippi, killing lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, his sister, backup singer Cassie Gaines and seriously injuring the rest of the band. The group disbanded.

Their greatest song (imo, one of the greatest rock epic songs) was ‘Free Bird’, a tribute to the late Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band, was an immediate sensation, thanks to the interplay of its 3 lead guitars, and its themes of freedom and individuality that appealed to southern sentiments, while ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ , their most country influenced major hit, was a response to Neil Young’s derisive 1970 ‘Southern Man’, in which the lyrics makes several references to the area’s historical relationship with slavery and its ties to the Ku Klux Klan, but also seemed to condemn ALL southerners as irredeemable ignorant, uneducated, redneck fasciste. Two years on from ‘Southern Man’, Young doubled down, taking another shot at the South when he returned to the same contentious theme on ‘Alabama’.

Needless to say, these Neil Young songs upset most southerners who considered Young’s broad brush condemning all southerners as just plain wrong - and this included the members of Lynyrd Skynrd who felt Young unfairly insulted the whole south. Unfortunately for Young, the fury drowned out the message that he was trying to spread. Lynryd Skynrd’s Ronnie Van Zant felt forced to stand up for his people, later telling Rolling Stone - “We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two. We’re southern rebels, but more than that, we know the difference between right and wrong.” Not only did Van Zant speak in the press about the subject, but he also got the hometown pride off his chest in the studio, and the result was the iconic country tinged song (and all-around wedding party starter) ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, with Van Zant proudly singing - “… I hope Neil Young will remember / a southern man don’t need him around anyhow...” -


Lynyrd Skynrd‘s response song made Young reflect on his actions, considering that perhaps his inflammatory lyrics didn’t get his anti-racism point across in the succinct manner he had hoped in his pair of songs. To his credit, Young was more than happy to accept that, in this case, he was the one that was in the wrong. He reconciled with Lynyrd Skynyrd following the release of ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, and he took the track in good nature and with good humour, even saying: “They play like they mean it, I’m proud to have my name in a song like theirs.”

Young later discussed the feud with Lynyrd Skynyrd in a 1995 interview with Mojo Magazine, stating - “Oh, they didn’t really put me down! But then again, maybe they did! But not in a way that matters. s**t, I think ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ is a great song. I’ve actually performed it live a couple of times myself.” In his 2012 biography Waging Heavy Peace, Young went as far as apologising for both his anti-southern tracks - “‘Alabama’ richly deserved the shot Lynyrd Skynyrd gave me with their great record. I don’t like my words when I listen to it. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out and too easy to misconstrue.”

After they reconciled, Young sent Lynyrd Skynrd a demo version of ‘Powderfinger’ to apologise and eventually allowed the band to use it on their next record. However, tragic circumstances would ensue as Van Zant, along with other members of the group, were killed in the Mississippi plane crash before they had the chance to record the now-iconic track. Weeks after their death in 1977, Young played a charity show in Miami and treated fans to an emotional medley of ‘Alabama’ and ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ in tribute to the band.

One last thing - ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ also serves as a big clue to the next history instalment - coming soon.

I only recently learned about Skynrd and young’s relationship gia a couple drive by truckers songs.

 

[Professor Knowall]

For 15 years, starting in 1982, Alabama began sponsoring the June Jam, a music festival staged in their home town of Fort Payne, in the Appalachian corner of N.E. Alabama, close to the Tennessee border. Headlined by the group, this event drew as many as 60,000 fans at a time to the small town and raised millions of dollars for local charities. By 1985, Alabama had already earned 3 CMA Awards for Vocal Group of the Year and 3 consecutive honours as the CMA Entertainers of the Year, CMA’s most prestigious award, in 1982, 1983 and 1984.

After Alabama released their ”40-Hour Week” album in 1985 as their 6th major studio album, the train of success still continued. Clearly, the fans still highly favoured their brand of music as the album included 3 songs that topped the chart and continued the band's dominance during the 1980’s. As mentioned yesterday, Alabama continued to broaden there appeal as the decade progressed, not abandoning their pop-influenced romance ballads altogether, but adding more and more songs aimed at the male blue collar market. Their 6th RCA album topped the U.S. and Canadian charts, becoming double certified platinum by the RIAA, as well as single platinum in Canada.

Released as the first single from the ”40-Hour Week” album, ‘There’s No Way’ exemplifies the more pop-styled aspect of the band’s core musical style. It became Alabama's 16th consecutive # 1 single in 1985, allowing Alabama to equal Sonny James'
14 y.o. record for the most consecutive # 1 songs from as many single releases -


Saluting the average overworked and underpaid American, Alabama once again found success with another song targeting their increasingly blue-collar fan base buying their records and cassettes. Written by Dave Loggins, Don Schlitz and Lisa Silver, Alabama’s 17th consecutive # 1 hit served as an unabashed tribute to the American worker, flush with passion and patriotism. ‘Forty Hour Week (For a Livin’)’ recognised auto workers, coal miners, steel mill workers, construction workers, firefighters, mailmen and "everyone who works behind the scenes." With the success of the song, you could tell that farmers, waitresses, policemen and store clerks appreciated the long overdue praise. Its sentimental strains were later played over the closing credits during the Super Bowl XX broadcast in 1985 -

‘Forty Hour Week (For a Livin’) became Alabama's 17th-straight chart topper, surpassing Sonny James' 14 year old record of consecutive singles (see posts # 474-478).

At this point, with more than enough material to work with, RCA Records brought forth the band’s “Greatest Hits“ compilation album in 1986. This became the second occasion Alabama would earn a 5 time platinum certification with the RIAA. Again, it also went platinum in Canada.

Dave Loggins contributed the up-tempo rock tinged hit ‘She And I’ to the Alabama song catalog, one of their more contemporary arrangements. It was a new song when released as the single from their 1986 “Greatest Hits” album – at a time when putting a new song on a compilation album was still a novel approach - after all, how can it be a hit when no-one had even yet heard it? This is closest the band came to conjuring up the sound of The Beatles, the harmonies helping to make this another of their pop-tinged love song that soared to # 1, their 18th consecutive chart-topping single, helping Alabama stay on top as one of the hottest acts in music in the mid-1980’s. To me, the lyrics seem to describe a happy but rather boring couple. The video looks more like a rock than country video -
“… She and I agree / She and I lead a perfectly normal life / Ah but just because we aren't often seen socially /
People think we've something to hide / But all our friends know we're just a little old fashioned / She and I …”


Bob McDill wrote ‘Song of the South’; it was recorded by several other artists, first by Bobby Bare in 1980 for his 1980 “Drunk & Crazy” album, then Johnny Russell, who took it to a modest # 57 in 1981 and as a duet between Tom T. Hall and Earl Scruggs that struggled to an even more modest # 72 in 1982. But Alabama’s 1985 version, clearly influenced by Merle Haggard, is by far the most famous one, as they took it all the way to # 1, perhaps in part due to the song's accompanying music video, which was mostly black-and-white photos from the 1930’s depression era, featuring classic footage of Dust Bowl farmers (ten of thousands were forced from their farms and trekked to California’s Central Valley, centred on Bakersfield), and out of work Southerners juxtaposed with the few wealthy who could still manage to smile during the nation’s toughest economic times.The video, much more of a novelty in 1989 than all these years later, also showed actual footage of President Franklin D. Roosevelt speaking during the lines that say -
"… Well, somebody told us Wall Street fell / But we were so poor that we couldn't tell /
Cotton was short, and the weeds were tall / But Mr. Roosevelt's a-gonna save us all …”
This alludes to the massive Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) scheme, which, by building a string of major dams in the 1930’s, brought desperately needed employment to impoverished South, while also starting to bring electricity to most southern regions for the first time. The song is actually a celebration of the new economic and social rise of the South in the 1980’s boom time, saying they ain’t looking back -


After Alabama recorded and released the album, “The Touch” in 1986. It was followed by “Just Us” in 1987 then “Southern Star” in 1989. Each of them became certified platinum, as Alabama chalked up 8 consecutive # 1 selling albums from 1981 to 1989, in addition to their record breaking 21 consecutive # 1 singles from 1981 to 1987, a run which ended with the relative failure of ‘Tap Top’, which only peaked at # 7. Not all was lost, however, as there next 7 singles released from 1987 to the end of the decade all topped out at # 1, making for an unprecedented 27 # 1 hits in the 1980’s decade. Such was the domination of Alabama on the country charts in that decade.

The final song selection is the second single from their final 1980’s album, “Southern Star”, which became their 26th # 1 hit. Although none of the members of Alabama wrote the traditional country ‘High Cotton’, they were familiar enough with the subject of the song to make it their own. The lyrics, which say "I bet we walked a thousand miles / Choppin' cotton and pushing plows / And learnin' how to give it all we had," were very similar to how at least 2 of the trio grew up, picking cotton as children on their family farms (which, as I’ve mentioned many times over back in this history was hard and painful work). Owen, introducing the song at a performance at the country music mother-church Ryman Auditorium said - "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you, me and Teddy know what it's like to plant cotton, chop cotton and pick cotton. We're cotton-pickers ... along with pickup drivers" -
“We didn't know the times were lean / Round our house the grass was green / It didn't seem like things were all that bad /
I bet we walked a thousand miles / Choppin' cotton and pusing plows / And learnin' how to give it all we had ...”


In 1989, the ACM declared Alabama as Artist of the Decade. Given their chart dominance with both albums and singles - and the same applied to Canada - this couldn’t have been a difficult choice. They had a remarkable record breaking streak of 21 # 1 hits which ran until 1987 - then after one # 7 hit, the # 1 streak resumed for another 6 singles, resulting in a total of 27 # 1 singles during the decade. Taken alone, the number of chart-topping tracks is proof of Alabama's popularity, but the band also won numerous awards, had 7 multi-platinum albums and crossed over to the pop charts 9 times, including 4 in the Top 20 during the 1980’s.

But, they weren’t finished, with, arguably, their best, albeit not their highest selling, music still to come in the 1990’s, so stay tuned as their career to date is wrapped up.

 

[Professor Knowall]

In the 1990s, Alabama's popularity inevitably declined somewhat - as how could one possibly land another 27 # 1 hits in a decade. However, unlike most of the major country artists of the 1980’s, whose careers nosedived due to changing tastes, especially the rise of the neo-traditionalists, then the “class of 1989”, led by Garth Brooks. Yet Alabama adapted, largely dropping their 1980’s pop soaked romance ballads and moving ever closer to a traditional country sound. They were still scoring hit singles and gold and platinum albums with regularity, and it's unlikely any other genuine country group will be able to surpass the success of Alabama. Five out of the 8 studio albums the band produced during the 1990’s went platinum. Although they were not nearly as popular by the end 1990s as the impossible to match era of the 1980s, they still had a fiercely loyal fan following - most still just as loyal to this day.

Today’s music starts with my very favourite Alabama song - one I actually like! In the 1990s, the Alabama’s music definitely underwent a change to a more traditional sound and their lyrics reflected more country themes, rather than their pop infused mellow romance ballads of the 1980’s. At the heart of that era was the beautiful number, ‘Jukebox In My Mind’, which spent 4 weeks at the top of the charts in 1990 – their 28th # 1 hit spending longer at the top than their previous 27. This song comes from a pure honky tonk mold (perfect for my Tate),vastly different from anything else the band recorded. Lead singer Randy Owen puts on an excellent impersonation of Merle Haggard in his delivery. The nostalgia soaked song uses the jukebox as a metaphor for wistfully thinking back to better times, as the swaying steel guitar and Jeff Cook’s floating fiddle, sets the tone. This song goes straight to the barroom-
“In the corner of my mind stands a jukebox / It’s playing all my favourite memories /
One by one they take me back / To the days when you were mine. …” -

In 1991, the ACM nominated the song for Single of the Year. They should’ve done more like this one.

Written by Byron Hill and John Schweers, ‘Born Country’, as the second single from their “Pass It On Down album”, was one of 3 new tracks and the leading song on their 1991 compilation album “Greatest Hits Vol. 2”, the peaking at # 2 in both the U.S. and Canada. It's perhaps the one song that best sums up Alabama's entire ethos, Taki g pride in their country origins -


‘I’m In A Hurry (And Don’t Why)’ written by Roger Murrah and Randy VanWarmer, was released in 1992 as the second single from their “American Pride” album. It was their 30th, and one of their last, # 1 hits.It’s also one of their catchiest songs, with Eagles-esque a cappella harmonies. The country-influenced pop group, Florida Georgia Line, briefly revived the tune in 2013 with their cover for the “Alabama And Friends” tribute album. The up-tempo track - appropriate for the songs theme, discusses the rather fast pace of life -
“… Don't know why I have to drive so fast / My car has nothing to prove / It's not new / But it'll do 0 to 60 in 5.2 …” -


‘Thé Cheap Seats’ was the title song and third single from their 1994 “Cheap Seats“ album. It peaked at # 13 in 1994 and # 6 in Canada (making it the first song featured here that wasn’t a # 1 hit since the very first one, ‘My Hearts In Alabama’. It ended their streak of 41 straight Top 10 singles In the U.S.

This is the other Alabama song I actually like - at least for its subject matter. Just as I like taking overseas visitors to a country footy/netball game for a fully unique Australian experience, one of the things a traveller in the U.S. should do - I’d rate as a more authentic American experience than an NFL, Major League MLB or NBA game - is attend a smaller city minor-league baseball or a Texas High School football game. Perhaps one of the biggest departures for Alabama was the 1994 hit from the pen of Marcus Hummon and Randy Sharp. ‘Thé Cheap Seats’ pays tribute to what was then called America’s pastime, with the video focusing on a minor-league ball game. Interestingly enough, the song was a hit the year of a protracted MLB players strike, so for many major-league fans, this was as close as they would get to real action that year. The song was used as the theme song for Minor League Baseball games broadcast on ESPN in 1994 during the 1994-95 MLB strike.-

The music video, featuring the band at a baseball game was filmed at historic Engel Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee,

Before describing the next song, a clarification is required - even though it kinda lessens the fun to be had from the song. It’s about the word “shagging”. This has a certain meaning in British and Aussie slang - many older ones here carry fond memories
of the adventures they had with their “Shaggin’ wagon” back in the easy breezy 1970’s and ‘80’s. But in the American South, the word “shagging”, also refers to fun times - but nothing actually raunchy- it simply refers to various dances in the southern U.S. that employ lively footwork with a minimum of upper-body motion. So, with that cleared up, we proceed on.

Released in 1997 as the title song and 2nd single from the “Dancin' on the Boulevard”.album, ‘Dancin, Shaggin In The Boulevard’ written by Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry and Greg Fowler, became one of their final major hits, peaking at # 3 in the U.S. and # 4 in Canada. The song, one of several in the Alabama catalog paying tribute to their musical heritage, is a nostalgia laced throwback to their days playing at the legendary Bowery on the pier at Myrtle Beach for 7 years through the 1970’s, influencing this harmony-laden, quality song -

The music video was filmed on the famous pier at Myrtle Beach where Alabama performed for 7 years before they became famous.

Although the band was technically a 4, sometimes 5 man show, it was Randy Owen, Jeff Cook, and Teddy Gentry that were
the core and, indeed, the co-owners of the band - the rest were always paid employees. In contrast to vocal southern gospel influenced quartets such as the Oak Ridge Boys and the Statler Brothers, the family-based Alabama act was a self-contained
unit, playing instruments as well as singing - unprecedented for a country music band as successful as they were.

From 1979 until 2004, it was drummer Mark Herndon that gave the group the signature sound that played an instrumental role
in the band’s musical fame. But given he was a “hired hand”, he had rocky relationship with the group's 3 core members over the years, which later resulted in several law-suits between the founding trio and Herndon after he left in 2004 - details of which can be readily found on the internet .

The group took a break in 2006 following a farewell tour and 2 albums of gospel, 2006's “Songs of Inspiration” and 2007's “Songs of Inspiration, Vol. 2”. When Alabama announced its “retirement”, it was a decision to simply recover from the exhaustion each band member experienced after 20 years’ worth of an intensely busy schedule between recording music and touring. But the group never officially disbanded.

After Alabama went on its hiatus in 2006, Jeff Cook formed the duo Cook & Glenn as well as the Allstar Goodtime Band (AGB). A longtime Star Trek fan, Cook also recorded an album in 2018 with William Shatner titled ‘Why Not Me?’. Back home on Sand Mountain, he owned a recording studio, Cook Sound Studios, and local radio station. The latter brought things full-circle for the musician, who'd worked as a d.j. while he was a student at Fort Payne High School.

Meanwhile, Randy Owen focused on his career as a solo artist. Even after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2010, this wasn’t enough to put the man down. As soon as he recovered, Alabama opted to come out of retirement. In 2011, after the band’s home state was devastated by a series of tornadoes, the group held a benefit concert in Birmingham, Alabama that raised over $2 million. They realised retiring from the music scene was not for them and a 3rd gospel album, “Angels Among Us: Hymns & Gospel Favorites”, was released in 2014. In 2015, Alabama further sealed their career relaunch, delivering “Southern Drawl”, their first album of all-new material in 14 years.

A co-founding member with his 2 cousins, of Alabama and the group’s lead guitarist and fiddle player, Jeff Cook brought a Southern-rock bravado to Alabama’s often middle-of-the-road approach, helping to extend the group’s reach beyond country’s core audience to a new generation of listeners raised largely on rock ’n’ roll. in 2017 Cook revealed he had been diagnosed about 4 years prior with Parkinson's disease. Though Parkinson's disease limited Cook's touring activity, he was still on the road in early 2022 as part of Alabama's 50th Anniversary Tour. However, in November 2022, he died from complications of Parkinson’s disease. at age 73, marking the end of a era

While their fans couldn’t get enough of Alabama, the music critics in the industry seemed to hate them - and in truth, I can see why. They were certainly commercially formulaic - which worked brilliantly for them - never “edgy” or really innovative, just really good at what they did. I never blame entertainers, especially those from humble hard working rural backgrounds, to chase commercial success over any nebulous concept of “artistic purity”. In the end, it’s the opinions of the public that always matter the most as they are the ones who buy the records and spend money on the concerts and memorabilia. And keep in mind Randy Owen in particular, along with Teddy Gentry wrote most of Alabama’s song catalog.

What also made the formula of Alabama work so well was the mix of material that appealed to the younger audience while still maintaining a conservative style that won over the older. Prior to Alabama, the majority of country singles that became hits on the charts were either solo or duet performances. What Alabama did as a group broke the country music mold in a similar manner as the 1970s “outlaws” of country music did.

With over 75 million recordings sold worldwide, Alabama has firmly established itself as one of the best-selling musical acts of all time. They had an incredible 33 chart-topping singles between 1980 and 1993, including its recording breaking run of 27 consecutive # 1 hits. They aLao recorded 12 Top-10 albums, including 10 that peaked at # 1 on the albums chart. The band is credited for bringing to the country music industry a brand of music that triggered at least a new generation of young, mostly conservative, fans that loved pretty much anything and everything the trio of cousins did. They continued to make studio recordings until their last Christmas album came out in 2017.

Alabama is also the most awarded band in the history of country music, with over 200 awards from a variety of organisations. In 1981, they won both the CMS Vocal Group of the Year and Instrumental Group of the Year. It also won the ACM's Vocal Group of the Year award, and Billboard's New Group of the Year. The group won the CMA's most prestigious award, Entertainer of the Year, for 3 consecutive years, 1982-84, and the ACM's Entertainer of the Year 5 times (1982–86). In 1989, Alabama was named Artist of the Decade by the ACM. In 1998, they were honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1999, the RIAA recognised Alabama as Country Group of the Century. The band (including drummer, Mark Herndon), were inducted into Country Music HoF in 2005.

With Alabama done, I’ve now been ordered to pack my bags again and this time, I have to be away for at least a month, this time in Portugal and North Africa, so everyone here will get a good respite from this history series. I should be back in early May at this stage.

 

[PatsFitztrick]

Molly Tuttle with an old Neil Young song. Just love her playing. Great singer as well.

Oh, yes - nice fiddle break too.

 

[CliffMcTainshaw]

Ruthie Foster, better known for her blues songs, but this is just beautiful.

 

[rank and file]

Jonnny Cash is back

 

[PatsFitztrick]

Jonnny Cash is back

I hope I'm wrong, but I suspect this might be be another case of a record company heating up the left-overs.

 

[rank and file]

I hope I'm wrong, but I suspect this might be be another case of a record company heating up the left-overs.

TBF it's Johnny Cash,not like Taylor Swift pumping out a double album of shite.

 

[THE A5]

the grave may have held his body down but his music still lives on

 

[Schauermann]

Interesting cooperation:

 

[CliffMcTainshaw]

Jonnny Cash is back

So is Glen Campbell. Duets: Ghost On The Canvas Sessions.
Released on April 19th. He outsold the Beatles in 1968 and after listening to the album will probably do it again this year!
With Sting, Dolly Parton, Elton John, Brian Wilson, Eric Clapton, Daryl Hall, Dave Stewart and lots more.