A half-dozen songs that never really were big hits (but may have been famous)

It is not so much true since the late 1970s but in all genres of music (except rock) there was a strong tendency for songs that were really big hits to be covered by many artists.

Here we will be looking at three really well-known country songs that never really were major hits for anyone, yet were so frequently covered that they became well-known hits, two songs that had Billboard not discontinued its regional charts, would have been recognized as big regional hits, and one song that was a huge copyright for a well known singer that isn’t well known and never charted at all.

1) Back in 1968, I purchased a few 45 rpm records. Lacking the patience to fool around with flipping records every 2:35, I soon switched to purchase of LPs. Among the few 45s that I purchased was Merle Haggard’s “The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde”. This record certainly was a hit reaching #1 on the Billboard and Record World country charts, but the B side was the revelation for me.

Back then I often didn’t get around to playing the B side of a 45 until later, but Dad had the Branded Man album that Haggard had issued the year before and every song on it was really good, so I flipped over the single to find one of the truly great country songs in “Today I Started Loving You Again”,

Back then Billboard did not usually track B sides and album tracks, so as far as Billboard is concerned the real hit on the song was Sammi Smith’s single from 1975 that reached #9. Kenny Rogers, Arthur Prysock and Emmylou Harris all issued singles that failed to crack the top forty. Record World, which did track B sides, had Haggard’s version reach #25.

I have no idea how many artists recorded “Today I Started Loving You Again” as an album track. Certainly, dozens of country artists did it (I probably have thirty country albums from the late 1968-1972 period that contain the song) and untold numbers of singers from other genres such as pop singer Al Martino, R&B singers Bobby Bland and Bettye Swann. I still hear country bands perform the song to this very day. For me, it’s a song I memorized on first hearing it and it has stuck in my memory since then

 What a fool I was to think I could get by

With only these few millions tears I cry

I should have known the worst was yet to come

And that crying time for me had just begun

2) Almost as well known as “Today I Started Loving You Again” is “Silver Wings”, which was an album track on Hag’s 1970 album A Portrait of Merle Haggard and was the flipside of “Working Man Blues. I can basically make the same comments about “Silver Wings” as I did about “Today I Started Loving You Again”. I heard the song frequently on the radio, but it never charted for Haggard. In fact, the only time the song ever charted was by the Hager Twins, Jim and Jon, who took it to #59 in late 1970.

 Silver wings shining in the sunlight

Roaring engines headed somewhere in flight

They’re taking you away, leaving me lonely

Silver wings slowly fading out of sight

“Don’t leave me,” I cried

Don’t take that airplane ride

But you locked me out of your mind

Left me standing here behind

3) Felice and Boudleaux Bryant wrote many famous songs that were big hits for the likes of the Everly Brothers, Carl Smith, Jimmie Dickens and countless others. While “Bye Bye Love” surely is their best-remembered song, I suspect that “Rocky Top” may be their second most famous song. The bluegrass duo of Sonny & Bobby Osborne got the song up to #33 on Billboard’s country chart in 1968 and Lynn Anderson got it to #17 in 1975 but that is it as far as chart success is concerned. The song ’s fame has spread far and wide beyond its limited chart placements it is an official Tennessee State Song, it is the University of Tennessee’s unofficial fight song, and has been recorded hundreds of times. The progressive bluegrass duo of Doug Dillard & Gene Clark (with Donna Washburn on vocals) issued the song in 1969, and that remains my favorite version of the song. Artists as diverse as Phish, Buck Owens, and Conway Twitty have recorded the song. Everybody knows the song and everybody sings along whenever the song is played

 Rocky Top you’ll always be

Home Sweet Home to me

Good ol’ Rocky Top

Rocky Top Tennessee

Rocky Top Tennessee

4) Bob Luman’s 1969 recording of “Come On Home And Sing The Blues To Daddy” probably was a regional hit in the southern states, reaching #24 on Billboard’s country charts (it reached #13 on Record World). Written by Ray Corbin, Luman’s record was featured in heavy rotation as a oldie when I returned to the US in August 1971; during its chart run WHOO DJ Clay Daniels told me that it often was the most requested song on the station and I know from personal experience that nearly every county cover band in Central Florida kept it in their playlist for a good decade after the song’s chart run.

Charley Pride, Wynn Stewart, Waylon Jennings and Bobby Bare recorded the song as an album track (so did many others) and I have heard Waylon and Bare perform it on stage.

 I hear say your new romance has faded

Just the way ours did some time ago

I’ve lost count of all the times I’ve waited

For you to tell me that you’ve missed me so

Come on home and sing the blues to daddy

If things don’t work out the way you planned

Come on home and sing the blues to daddy

Tell it all to one who understands

Just like a child that’s found a brand new plaything

Each one is more fun than those before

But there’s a faithful one that’s always waiting

To be picked up and kicked around some more

5) Nobody much remembers Pat Daisy, and RCA artist who got lost in the shuffle at RCA, but her recording of “Everybody’s Reaching Out for Someone” reached #20 on the Billboard country chart in 1972 (it reached #13 on Record World). Written by legendary songwriter Dickey Lee, the song reached #1 on the WHOO and WSUN Countdowns and I suspect that the tale for both Luman’s song and Daisy’s song is that either a station played the song and played it a lot, or simply never added the song at all (or perhaps added a different recording of the song). Whatever the case, the song was recorded by numerous artists including Lynn Anderson, Brenda Lee, Dickey Lee and Kitty Wells

Everybody’s reaching out for someone

Everybody’s knocking at some door

And long before I ever found you

You’re the one that I was reaching for

 

Just like the trees along the river bend

Lift up the branches to the sun above

We spent our lifetimes reaching for a friend

Cause everybody reach someone to love

 

And everybody’s reaching out …

Interestingly enough the song was revived in 1993 when the Cox Family recorded the song as the title cut for their first album on Rounder. The album was produced by Alison Krauss, and through their efforts, the song made its way into the bluegrass repertoire, where it is occasionally heard to this day.

6) Until “Harper Valley PTA” was released on August 24, 1968, Tom T Hall’s biggest copyright was a song that you may have never heard. By 1968 Tom had written a number a number of hits for other artists, including Johnny Wright’s #1 country hit “Hello Vietnam”, and had written a couple of minor hits for himself. “Hello Vietnam” received no pop airplay and sales of county singles in that era could be 50,000 copies.

On September 25, 1965, The Statler Brothers released a Tom T. Hall song as the B side of their debut single for Columbia. The single, “Flowers On The Wall” went #2 country, #4 pop and #1 in Canada, selling nearly a million copies in the process. The album Flowers On The Wall also sold well and for each 45 or album sold, Tom T Hall picked up a songwriting royalty. The song “Billy Christian” did not receive much airplay (I heard it a few times on WCMS) but I’m sure it helped keep the wolves away from Tom T’s door

It’s a pretty good song and is (or has been) available in a digital format

 If you’re listenin’ Billy Christian come on home

Are you listening Billy Christian if you are then go on home

Everything is like you left it she spends all the time alone

All that music never thrills her like it did when you were there

 

Go on home Billy Christian if you care

What a team they were together Billy Christian and his wife

People loved to hear them singin’ that was their success in life

But the eyes of Billy Christian were the wild and wandering kind

 

Now Billy’s wife sings solo all the time

Are you listening Billy Christian…

All the fellows tried to date me but she never blinked an eye

Every night she sings her same sad song and cries

 

Now where is Billy Christian does he ever hear the song

Does Billy Christian know he’s welcome home

Are you listening Billy Christian…

Go on home Billy Christian if you care

Retro Album Review: Steve Wariner – ‘Guitar Laboratory’

Chet Atkins had many disciples, not the least of whom was Steve Wariner. Steve was a major country star and chart presence from 1980-1994 with scattered success both before and after his peak years.

Steve grew up listening to his father’s record collection which included some Merle Travis and everything Chet Atkins recorded. After tours with Dottie West and Bob Luman, Steve signed with RCA as a recording artist and became a friend and student of Chet Atkins. Steve has won many awards and honors but the award of which he is most proud was being awarded the Certified Guitar Player designation by Chet (the only others were Tommy Emmanuel, Jerry Reed and John Knowles).

Guitar Laboratory is a sequel of sorts to his previous album, My Tribute To Chet Atkins, released in 2009 . This album is no stubborn copy or pastiche of Chet’s style but represents a tribute to the spirit of Chet Atkins, covering a wide range of styles and tempos. While I wouldn’t describe this album as a country album, it does contain some country (“Sugarfoot Rag”) as well as some jazz (“A Groove”), some rock (“Telekinesis”), some blues (“Crafty”), some folk/bluegrass (“Up A Red Hill”) and even some Hawai’ian (Waikiki ’79) On some songs such as “Crafty” and “Kentuckiana” Steve sounds very much like Chet; however , on other tracks, not quite so much.

Steve enlists several guest pickers on the album who acquit themselves admirably. Steve is joined on “Sugarfoot Rag” by legendary guitarist Leon Rhodes, a long-time Opry Band member and former member of Ernest Tubb’s Texas Troubadours. Paul Yandell, a long-time associate and musical colleague of Chet’s, joins in on “Pals” and Steve’s son Ryan Wariner shows his musical chops on the rocking “Sting Ray”. The review copy of the album did not include any notes so I am not sure of the identity of any background musicians such as the accordionist and violinist on “I Will Never Forget You (Je Ne T’oulbieri Jamais)” or the trumpeter on “Phyllis and Ramona”, but suffice it to say they are all excellent.

All songs on this album, except “Sugarfoot Rag” were written by Steve Wariner (“Sugarfoot Rag” of course was written by guitar legend Hank Garland). There’s something for everyone on this all instrumental collection, and while I generally prefer vocal albums, I’ve listened to this album five times through thus far, although I’ve played my two favorite tunes “Sugarfoot Rag” and “Up a Red Hill” far more often than that.

Album Review: Waylon Jennings – ‘Just To Satisfy You’

Waylon’s first album release of 1969 was Just To Satisfy You. Released in March, the album would eventually reach #7 on Billboard’s country album chart and would result in one single, “I Got You”.

Just To Satisfy You is an eclectic mix of covers and new material that shows Waylon’s versatility, if nothing else.
The album opens with “Lonely Weekends”, a song that Charlie Rich wrote during his years on Sun Records. The song never charted for Charlie on the country charts but it was an integral part of his stage show for years and did have some pop success. Waylon gives the song a strong vocal reading, but the presence of a ‘wah-wah’ guitar riff is a bit off-putting.

“(Come On Home and) Sing the Blues to Daddy” was one of those songs that had ‘hit’ written all over it but it just didn’t happen for anyone. Bob Luman got the song up to #24 Billboard/#13 Record World, and many artists used the song as an album track. Waylon’s version is slower and a bit more bluesy than most versions I’ve heard, and I think the organ could be eliminated. My ears tell me that Bobby Bare is singing along with Waylon on this song, although I haven’t see him credited.

During this period, Curley Putnam was having much success as a songwriter. While “Change My Mind” never really had any potential as a single, it is a very good song, a slow ballad, that Waylon
performs very effectively.

If I should get a look of leavin’ in my eyes
Put your arms ’round me, woman, and change my mind
If I ever seem too restless or dissatisfied
Put your arms ’round me, woman, and change my mind

Don’t let me separate your love from mine
Don’t let me leave you, I might get the urge some time
If I do, you’ll know what to do to keep me by your side
Put your arms ’round me, baby, and change my mind

Many artists recorded the Lawton Williams song “Farewell Party” before Gene Watson finally turned it into a hit single, among them Jimmy Dickens and Ray Price. Waylon’s effort would not have been a good single lacking the dramatic presentation that Watson gave it. Waylon’s version is a straight forward ballad, with piano and organ seeming to dominate the instrumental arrangement. Waylon’s version also lacks the key change at the start of the second verse that Watson’s version made the standard interpretation.

“Rings of Gold”, written by Gene Thomas, was a song that reach #2 as a duet by label-mates Don Gibson and Dottie West. Waylon is joined by Anita Carter and their version could have worked as a single. Both Waylon and Anita had better voices that Don & Dottie so I don’t doubt that Waylon & Anita would have had at least as big a hit as their label-mates managed. I believe that this track was recorded a year or so before most of the tracks on the album.

‘Isn’t there anyone who’ll take me like I am‘ is the question asked in “Alone”, a Dee Moeller composition sung to perfection by Waylon. The song is a slow ballad with a mostly acoustic feel that needs to be heard several times in order to get the full impact of this very sad song.

Isnt there anyone
Who’ll take me like I am?
Someone who is willing
To take the blue in man

Someone that’ pleased enough
With herself to let me be
Someone who would love me
And try to understand my needs

No, I guess there isn’t
And theres no place
I can go, I guess
I’m destined to be alone

Waylon and pal Don Bowman collaborated on “Just to Satisfy You”, easily the best song on the album. I love the song and I feel that RCA missed a real bet in not choosing the song for single release.

Someone’s gonna get hurt before you’re through
Someone’s gonna pay for the things you do
How many hearts must break,how many will it take
To satisfy you,just to satisfy you
Another love,another fool
To play your game
Another love,another fool
They’re all the same
Someone’s gonna get hurt before you’re through
Don’t be surprised if that someone is you
You’re gonna find when it’s too late,a heart that just won’t break
To satisfy you, just to satisfy you

Helen Carter was one of Mother Maybelle’s daughters and sister to June Carter and Anita Carter. She was a fine singer and better song writer. I think that Waylon does on outstanding job on this thoughful ballad:

You tear me down a hundred times a day I’ve cried enough to wash the world away
I’ve tried so hard to be what you’ve wanted me to be
Till somewhere along the way I lost me
To give and keep on giving I have learned
There’s no way but yours where you’re concerned
I tried till finally I lost my own identity and somewhere along the way I lost me

I usually associate Ben Peters with upbeat songs like “Kiss An Angel Good Morning” but he was capable at the slower ballads, too. “I’ve Been Needing Someone Like You” is wistful but given a believable treatment by Waylon with harmonica prominent in the mix.

Although often remembered for novelties, with “For the Kids”, Shel Silverstein shows that he can tackle serious topic as well. This song tells of the breakup of a marriage with focus on the affects of divorce on the children. Again, this is another slow ballad that Waylon nails.

Ricci Mareno is probably best known for the string of successful hit records he wrote and produced for Tommy Overstreet in the early 1970s. “I Got You”, a Ricci Mareno- Gordon Galbraithvco-write was the only single released from this album. Waylon is joined by Anita Carter on this medium tempo ballad that reached #4 on the Billboard charts. At the time this record was produced, RCA was looking for reasons to use the Nashville Brass on their country recordings. There are trumpets in evidence toward the end of this single. When RCA tried to have Danny Davis, the leader of the Nashville Brass produce his records, Waylon rebelled.
The album closes with another Dee Moeller composition in “Straighten My Mind”, a mid-tempo ballad with brass instrumental breaks. The song is a a good one which Waylon sings well:

A tiger always walks at night and marks his prey while everything’s still
He waits until it’s unaware and then he strikes and makes his kill
That’s the way you’ve done me girl you never let me breathe
Couldn’t feel the way I felt so you’d tried to punish me
Baby it’s time to straighten my mind

Waylon’s vocals are strong throughout this album and while there are a few dubious instrumentation choices, Waylon’s vocals are strong enough to salvage minor mistake. The album could use a few more up-tempo songs. I would rate this album in the B+/A- range – the substitution of a few faster songs and elimination of the organ would turn this into an A album.

Reissues wish list: part 3 – RCA and Columbia

When speaking of the big four labels we need to define terms
Columbia refers to records originally issued on Columbia, Epic, Harmony or Okeh labels. Okeh was used for so-called minority interest recordings. Columbia also owned Vocalion for a while. RCA refers to recordings on the RCA Victor and RCA Camden labels.

RCA

In addition to folks such as Chet Atkins, Jim Reeves, Dolly Parton, Eddy Arnold, Connie Smith and Charley Pride, RCA had a fine group of second tier artists including Kenny Price, Porter Wagoner, Jim Ed Brown, Stu Phillips, Nat Stuckey, Jimmy Dean, Norma Jean, Skeeter Davis, Dottie West, Bobby Bare, The Browns and Jerry Reed.

Bear Family has released multiple boxed sets on several RCA artists including Connie Smith, Don Gibson, Waylon Jennings and Hank Snow who have multiple boxed sets (essentially everything Hank Snow recorded while on RCA – forty plus years worth of recordings is available on Bear). Enough Waylon has been released that what remains doesn’t justify a wish list.

What is really needed is for someone to issue decent sets on Kenny Price, Jim Ed Brown (without his sisters or Helen Cornelius), Norma Jean, Dottsy, Liz Anderson and Earl Thomas Conley. There is virtually nothing on any of these artists. Jimmy Dean recorded for RCA for about six years but nothing is available from his RCA years which saw some really fine recordings, including the best version of “A Thing Called Love“.

I would have said the same thing about Charley Pride but recent years have seen various Charley Pride sets become available, so we can take him off our wish list.

COLUMBIA RECORDS

When you think of Columbia Records, names such as Johnny Cash, Ray Price, Carl Smith, Stonewall Jackson, Flatt & Scruggs and Marty Robbins spring immediately to mind, but the well is deep and that doesn’t even count sister label Epic which boasted names like David Houston, Tammy Wynette, Charlie Rich, Jody Miller, Johnny Paycheck and Bob Luman.

By and large foreign and domestic reissues abound for most of the bigger names, but even here there are some major shortfalls.

Carl Smith recorded for Columbia through the early 1970s and while his 1950s output has been thoroughly mined, his sixties output has barely been touched and his seventies output (“Mama Bear”, “Don’t Say Goodbye”) completely neglected. Smith’s recordings increasingly veered toward western swing as the sixties wore on, but he recorded a fine bluegrass album, and a tribute to fellow East Tennessean Roy Acuff. His outstanding Twenty Years of Hits (1952-1972) recast twenty of his classic tunes as western swing. A good three CD set seems in order.

I could make a good case for electing David Houston to the Country Music Hall of Fame. From 1966 he had thirteen #1 hits and a bunch more top ten and top twenty recordings. “Almost Persuaded” was his biggest hit but there were bunches of good songs scattered across his many albums. A good two CD set is a must, and I could easily justify a three CD set.

While Sony Legacy issued a decent Johnny Paycheck single disc hits collection, it is long on the later stages of his career and short on the earliest years. Paycheck released over thirty singles for Epic from 1972–1982 and it’s about time someone collected them on a good two (or preferably three) disc collection along with some key album cuts.

Moe Bandy achieved his greatest commercial success while recording for Columbia. Between chart singles and album cuts Moe warrants at least a decent two CD set, and please leave the ‘Moe & Joe’ nonsense out of the mix.

Columbia has a lot of artists that would justify a single or double disc hits collection: David Wills, Al Dexter, Ted Daffan, David Rodgers, Connie Smith, Carl & Pearl Butler, Tommy Cash, David Frizzell, Bob Luman, Jody Miller, Barbara Fairchild, Barbara Mandrell, Charlie Walker and Sammi Smith.

Favorite country songs of the 1970s: Part 4

For part four of this series, I’ll be using the same criteria as before – just some songs I liked, one song per artist (although I will feel free to comment on other songs by the artist). This part stops in the middle of the letter M.

“Joy To The World” – Murray Kellum (1971)

A nice country cover of a #1 pop hit for Three Dog Night, this reached #26 and was Murray’s biggest hit. He died in a plane crash in 1990 at the too-young age of 47. Hoyt Axton wrote this song.

“Honky Tonk Wine” – Wayne Kemp (1973)

Wayne Kemp was better known as a songwriter who penned major hits for the likes of George Jones (“Love Bug”), Conway Twitty (“The Image of Me”) and countless others. This song reached #17, and was Wayne’s biggest hit.

“Sweet Desire” – The Kendalls (1978)

A father and daughter duo, Jeannie took on most of the lead vocals while father Royce sang harmony. The Kendalls kept the radio airwaves safe for real country music during the middle and late 1970s. I liked everything the Kendalls ever sang, and have no idea why the new traditionalist movement of 1986 failed to re-ignite their career.

“Mama’s Got The Know-How” – Doug Kershaw (1974)

For someone as famous as he is, Doug Kershaw had only seven chart hits as a solo act, to go with his five hits as part of Rusty & Doug. This one got to #77, a fairly normal placing for his solo efforts. Although I liked this song, his Warner Brothers albums of the 1970s were mostly laconic efforts.

Spotlight Artist: Steve Wariner

This month’s Spotlight Artist is a multi-talented performer who has been neglected in recent years. Armed with a fine tenor voice, impressive guitar skills lauded by his peers, and no mean songwriting chops, Steve Wariner was one of the few artists to move successfully from mid 80s pop-country to the neo-traditional period, and across several major label deals.

Steve was born in Indiana on Christmas Day, 1954 (hence his seasonal middle name, Noel), and paid his dues playing in his father’s band. By the time he was 17 was working as Dottie West’s bass guitarist, and made his first appearance on record playing on her 1973 hit ‘Country Sunshine’. After three years with Dottie, Steve then worked with rockabilly-turned-country performer Bob Luman. Both sideman jobs helped him develop his performance skills and at just 21 he signed to RCA on a singles basis. The label was patient developing him, and it was another five years before he began to break through, during which time he also played bass guitar for guitar maestro Chet Atkins in the latter’s personal band. Atkins was later to name him one of a mere handful of musicians worthy of his own nickname CGP (Certified Guitar Picker).

The early 80s saw Steve’s first #1 hit single and a couple of modestly selling albums, before he moved to MCA in 1984. This was a canny move, as with MCA’s support, Steve became a mainstay of country radio, scoring a series of hits, many of them hitting the top of the chart. He won his first Grammy nomination at the same time for his hit duet with Glen Campbell, ‘The Hand That Rocks The Cradle’. In 1991, he made another decisive move when he signed to Arista and released his first platinum-selling record, I Am Ready, perhaps his finest artistic achievement, which bridged the shift from 80s pop-country to more traditional sounds.

For some years Steve’s public persona had concentrated on his vocal prowess and, to a lesser extent, his songwriting, but during the Arista years, his instrumental gifts came once more to the fore. He was one of the artists selected to guest on fiddler extraordinaire Mark O’Connor’s New Nashville Cats album, which celebrated the instrumentalists of Nashville, and this earned him a shared Grammy for ‘Restless’, where he, Vince Gill and Ricky Skaggs shared vocals as well as playing on the track. He has subsequently won Grammy’s for instrumental collaborations with Asleep At The Wheel and Brad Paisley. His final release for Arista was his own first instrumental album, No More Mr Nice Guy.

After his exit from Arista in 1996, Steve concentrated on songwriting for a while, penning hits for Garth Brooks (‘Longneck Bottle’) and Clint Black (‘Nothing But Taillights’) among others. Labelless, he even helped Anita Cochran to her only chart hit by duetting on ‘What If I Said’, which went all the way to #1. He was rewarded by his fourth major label deal, with Capitol, where he scored another brace of hit singles around the turn of the millennium.

The 21st century has been less successful commercially, but Steve is still active, releasing music on his own label, including another instrumental album, a tribute to his mentor Chet Atkins, in 2007. A third instrumental record is due out this month. He has also continued writing, and was responsible for Keith Urban’s 2001 hit ‘Where The Blacktop Ends’.

We hope to share some of the highlights of Steve’s career with you over the next month.