I must have heard this song about a million times as I rode in Uncle Adultery's vomit green Ford pickup truck on the way to Lake Michigan in the early '70's. He and Aunt Rageaholic owned an unfinished vacation house on the shores of Lake Michigan near Pentwater. On the way up and back we'd "jam" to Freddy Fender and Charlie Rich 8 tracks in the truck.
I never reall appreciated Freddy's hair until I saw this clip on You Tube. RIP Mr. Fender.
Today we have the first family of country music, the Carter family. The gal sitting bottom left with the smile that's bright enough to power a small city is June Carter. She'd go on to become June Carter Cash, wife of Johnny Cash, a few years later. The Carter family is from around where I live now and they still own a performance space in a little town about 30 miles from me, it's called the Carter Fold.
Today's classic country video is "Crazy." Willie Nelson, who headlined the Democracy Now! 12 year gala the other night, wrote it and Patsy Cline made it famous. In today's clip Willie put down the bong long enough to do a great version of his now classic song with husband and wife Elvis Costello and Diana Krall.
Elvis's tour is coming to Knoxville in May. There's been no word on when Diana will show up in my neck of the woods, but I'll keep an eye out for her.
It all adds up to Junior Brown baby.
Junior is in a class all by himself.
I worshipped Buck Owens when I was a kid. I kept it hid well but in my mini country music mania when I was 8 or so I was Buck Owens crazy. When Hee Haw hit hard I dug him even more, Roy Clark did nothing but detract from the Buckness of Buck. Hail Buck! Hail the Bakersfield sound he made popular!
I have a feeling this won't be the last we see of his Buckness this month. Buck on Buckaroos!
Today marks the end of W Cubed, Webb Wilder Weekend, and I bring you one of his more obscure, oh wait, most of his stuff is obscure, videos. As I listened to the lyrics I thought of the old Gypsy saying that goes, "Bury me standing because I've been on my knees my whole life."
Here's something a little different for today's classic country month offering. It's part one of Webb Wilder, Private Eye. Webb is a singer/songwriter from Nashville and he tours and records almost non stop. When he does stop he makes short movies like this one. Bonus points to anyone who recognizes the guy in the picture Webb puts on the table in his room at the boarding house.
Tomorrow I'll bring you the exciting conclusion to Webb Wilder, Private Eye.
Admit it, you've never seen a dude work a flat top hair cut like George Jones does in this video. And those Nudie suits, boy oh boy, they are something aren't they? Ol' Possum face never looked better than he did in this video.
Let's get back to the music here on classic country month with one my friend Snad's favorites, Roger Miller. Roger was huge at one point, notice the screaming girls in this video, and then he kind of faded. But then in the 1980's he rebounded, via Broadway of all places, with this music and lyrics to the musical Big River. It is not an exaggeration to say that Big River saved American musicals on Broadway because for many years the only musicals being produced were the crap ones from the hands of Andrew Lloyd Weber and his ilk. Of course Roger's biggest hit was King of the Road, but since this clip has such kooky dancers and since it's about England, the country Roger saved Broadway from, here is England Swings (Like a Pendulum Do)!
Today's classic country offering is something a bit different. It's clip of the old Cas Walker Show I found on You Tube. Cas, as you'll find out in the clip, was the owner of a chain of grocery stores in the east TN/southwest VA/southeast KY area. He was also into country and bluegrass music. He had a TV show in Knoxville in the late 60's and he had all kinds of cheesy ads for his stores. One of the first ones I remember seeing when we moved to this area was an ad about how great the meat was in his stores, the tag line for the ad was "You may beat our prices, but you'll never beat our meat." I died laughing when I heard that. Cas was also an ardent right wing Republican and a sworn foe of Communism. He'd send out flyers with questions on them like "Do you support President Nixon?" and then you could check off one of the following choices "A) YES! I love freedom and America! B) No! I love Communism and I hate Jesus."
This clip is a true classic, it's got the clogging kids, the band who all look like sex offenders, and the man himself hawking that miracle cream. Cas was an institution in this area for many years but sadly all things must pass and now he's taking the dirt nap and his grocery empire has fallen by the wayside. I can't help but think how he would have hated Barack Obama and I shudder to think about the lengths he would have gone to to see him defeated.
(The title of this post comes from an ad that Cas ran about his watermelons. He claimed all his melons were "thumpin' good," whatever the hell that meant.)
Here's Johnny! And he's doing one of my favorite songs of his ever. I was addicted to this song when I was a kid. I'd insist I get to listen to it all the way through when it came on the radio or on TV and I throw a fit if anyone tried to turn it off. It's one of the greatest story songs ever.
Today's classic country clip is one of the most perfect examples of the genre I've ever seen. It's got Marty Robbins in a great western looking suit, he's singing a great song, and it's got chicks sitting around on hay bales looking adoringly at him. Ahhhh, what way to start the week.
Yesterday the great Johnny Cash made his first appearance in classic country month, I have a feeling he'll be back again, and today I bring you his lovely daughter Roseanne.
In this great duet with ol' possum face, that's George Jones in case you didn't know, she's got a much better hair do than she had in yesterday's video and her dress is nicer as well.
I've always loved this song even though it got me kicked out of the clubhouse bar at the Tri-Cities Golf and Country Club back in 1984. I was just a young thing back then, barely old enough to buy booze legally, and when this song came on the loudspeakers I started to sing along in a pretty loud voice, and of course I sang both parts of the duet. I thought I sounded pretty good but the gal running the bar that day didn't. She jerked my beer from my hand and she demanded to see my ID. I handed her my college ID and she said no that that would not do, she wanted to see my drivers license. I did not have one at the time and I would not get one until almost 5 years later, so she threw me out. I had to go sit in the car and wait on my friends to finish their beers. I didn't mind much because I was the one with the weed that day so I just rolled up a big ol' doob and I got stoned as I sang "Golden Rings" at the top of my lungs.
This classic country video goes out to Michelle Obama. Hang in there Michelle, we'll get you and Barack in the White House yet!
How could you not love Tammy Wynette? Oh get off it, you know you do. And you not only love her, you want more of her, and you'll get it too.
Jeannie C Riley sure can get down with her bad white self.
I love this song and I loved the 1970's made for TV movie starring Barbara Eden that was based on the song.
Yikes! That's Glen's mugshot from when he got caught doing a little drunk driving.
And there's Anne at a Canadian Country Music event from around the same time Glen got popped for driving with ol' Jack Daniels. I'd say Anne held up the best and from what I hear, she's waaaaaaaaay nicer than Glen.
