Hank Locklin - The Country Hall Of Fame (3:08) Louie Setzer & The Appalachian Mt. Boys - Bluegrass Hall Of Fame (3:37) Yes, I'm partial but I'm awarding trophy to Hank Locklin, whose record wins hands down. It's not that I necessarily hate bluegrass music, but in my book it will always be country music's occasionally tolerable red-headed hillbilly step-child. As with the lunar battle fought between country and bluegrass, country emerges on top again. [...]
In the slipstream of Johnny Cash came what would become known as the Outlaw Movement, an informal response to Nashville's easy listening, corporate and safe style, often recorded in Texas, reviving the honky tonk sounds of Hank Williams with strong lyrical content. Starting in the mid-'60s with singers like Bobby Bare, Tompall Glaser and Johnny Darrell, the sub-genre's standard bearers would include Waylon Jennings and his wife Jessi Colter, Willie Nelson (after he grew his hair), Kris Kristofferson, Leon Russell, Billy Joe Shaver, Hank Williams Jr, Jerry Jeff Walker and Gram Parsons. More traditionally-minded country stars, many mentored [...]
In the late 1950s and early '60s country was in a good shape. The likes of Johnny Cash, George Jones, Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline (who like Reeves would die in a plane crash), Don Gibson, Kitty Wells, Marty Robbins, Skeeter Davis, Ray Price, Faron Young, Ernest Tubb, ex-boxer Lefty Frizzell and Wanda Jackson were recording prodigious success, even in rivalry with its progeny, rock & roll.These were the comfort years before the social upheaval of the 1960s put into question old certainties, even in the world of country music. By now, country was no longer confined to the [...]
In Volume 9 of the country history series, we look at the glory years of country, a time when the genre was at its most self-confident and profitable. It was still a vibrant genre, as this collection shows, though the crooners were already beginning to define the genre, a situation that would give rise to the outlaw movement, the protagonists of which were inspired by several of the artists on this mix. It's difficult to say who was the biggest star in 1950s country. The crooner likes of Eddy Arnold were immensely successful, but in terms of sales [...]
Some years ago, the brains at Rolling Stone grappled to identify the first ever rock & roll record. In the final face-off, they picked Elvis Presley's debut single That's All Right, a cover of R&B singer Arthur Crudup's song, over Bill Haley's Rock Around The Clock (itself a cover, though the song was actually written for the former western swing singer). It is, of course, a fruitless mission to identify a "first" rock & roll song, because the genre is a jumble of diverse influences that convened, not always simultaneously, in an untidy evolution. One might [...]
In this segment we briefly turn our focus on some of the individuals featured on this mix and the 1950/51 compilation . Pictured on the cover is the 1952 Cadillac in which Hank Williams died of heart failure on New Year's Day 1953, aged 30 (though he always looked much older than that). His was the first of a series of young celebrity deaths that created legends for all times. Among the more unexpected names in country must be that of Ole Rasmussen , a western swing bandleader who with [...]
Country music is a fertile field for answer records. So here we'll look at three answer records from that genre. Kitty Well's response to Hank Thompson was a massive hit, a breakthrough for country's first female superstar that outsold the hit song it was responding to. And I defy anyone not to like, even secretly, these songs — few things annoy me so much than people claiming categorically that they hate "all country music". * * * Should he stay or should he go now? [...]
Country music is a fertile field for answer records. So here we'll look at three answer records from that genre. Kitty Well's response to Hank Thompson was a massive hit, a breakthrough for country's first female superstar that outsold the hit song it was responding to. And I defy anyone not to like, even secretly, these songs — few things annoy me so much than people claiming categorically that they hate "all country music". * * * Should he stay or should he go now? [...]
Absent FriendsJim Carroll, People Who Died.John Martyn, Over The Hill.Jim Dickinson and the New Beale Street Sheiks, You'll Do It All the Time.Eddie Bo, Check Your Bucket.The Seeds, Pushin' Too Hard.Buck Griffin, Bawlin' and Squallin'.The Ronettes, Baby, I Love You.Billy Lee Riley, Red Hot.The Cramps, Human Fly.Hank Locklin, Please Help Me I'm Falling.Blossom Dearie, Tea For Two.Les Paul and Mary
Here is the second part of musicians who died in 2009. Part 3 will follow early in the new year. I make no claims of having arrived at a complete and exhaustive list of musicians who left us the past year. Some I didn't include because their names or output is unfamiliar to me, or just not my scene; and a few I left out because I have no music by them, and could not find any. Finally, in response to an e-mail, the photo gallery follows the order in which people are [...]
One of the best signs of the level of fame reached by a musical artist is the number of recordings appearing on the charts, but when a country music star also demonstrates the ability to cross over and show up repeatedly on the pop charts, you can bet that he's special. That was the case with Hank Locklin, who has died at age 91 at his home in Alabama. Although he was probably best known for his biggest hits, "Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On," (which he also composed) and " Please Help Me I'm Falling [...]
The passing of a legend. One of the best signs of the level of fame reached by a musical artist is the number of recordings appearing on the charts, but when a country music star also demonstrates the ability to cross over and show up repeatedly on the pop charts, you can bet that he's special. That was the case with Hank Locklin, who has died at age 91 at his home in...
In a cavern, in a canyon, Excavating for a mine, Dwelt a miner, forty-niner, And his daughter Clementine. About a century before the Joe Montana era, "My Darling Clementine" made "forty-niner" a household word. Alas, "Clementine" lacks a 49 in its title, but "The Days of '49," also rooted in the California Gold Rush, is a traditional folk song that has been covered by a long line of guitar-wielding troubadours, from singer-songwriter/real-life cowboy Jules Verne Allen to a guy who changed his name to Dylan. The song [...]
1960 Bobby Marchan, There's Something On Your Mind. Bobby Hendricks, Psycho. Hank Locklin, Please Help Me I'm Falling. "There's Something On Your Mind" opens with the singer realizing that his woman's found someone new--he takes the blow calmly, even with tenderness, quickly accepting that he no longer has a place in her heart. When the band cuts out, Bobby Marchan delivers a succinct,
Photo by Ted Barron (who also has a heck of a blog). Laura Cantrell is one of the most interesting country performers to come along in recent years. As I noted in a previous post , she sings a lot like Kitty Wells , but her music is innovative enough to have won high praise from the late great John Peel . Cantrell is a student of music history. For years she has been the "proprietess" of a great New York radio show called The [...]
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