Country Music – Page 8 – Classic Country Music Hits

Country Music

ON AUGUST 8, 1975, HANK WILLIAMS JR. FELL ABOUT 500 FEET DOWN AJAX PEAK IN MONTANA. HIS FACE AND SKULL WERE SHATTERED—AND THE MAN WHO CAME BACK NO LONGER LOOKED, OR SOUNDED, LIKE THE SON NASHVILLE HAD TRIED TO MAKE HIM BE. By twenty-six, Hank Williams Jr. was already exhausted by his own name. He had been performing his father’s songs since childhood, appearing on the Grand Ole Opry at eleven and building a successful career largely inside the shadow of Hank Williams. By the early 1970s, he wanted out. In 1974 he moved away from Nashville, and in 1975 recorded Hank Williams Jr. & Friends with musicians including Charlie Daniels, Toy Caldwell and Chuck Leavell—an attempt to finally combine the country, blues and Southern rock he actually wanted to play. After finishing the album, Hank went to Montana. On August 8, he was climbing Ajax Peak when he slipped on an icy ledge. He fell roughly 500 feet down the jagged mountainside. His head and face took catastrophic damage. Contemporary accounts later described massive skull and facial fractures; the injuries required repeated operations and months of recovery. The timing was brutal. Just as Hank was finally trying to separate his identity from his father’s, he suddenly had to learn basic things again while doctors reconstructed his face. The Country Music Hall of Fame says he spent about eight months recovering. While he was recovering, Hank Williams Jr. & Friends came out. The album did not immediately turn him into the star he would become, but it marked the direction. Hank stayed with the harder mixture of country, blues and rock even when parts of Nashville and his older audience resisted it. The accident also changed what audiences saw. Longer hair, a beard, cowboy hat and dark glasses became part of his public appearance as he lived with the scars from the fall. A few years later, records such as Family Tradition and Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound finally connected that new image with the music he had been fighting to make. Both produced his first Top 5 country singles in six years and began the commercial run that defined the next phase of his career. Before Ajax Peak, Hank Williams Jr. had already been trying to stop living as a continuation of somebody else. Afterward, there was no returning to the boy Nashville had first put onstage. The next time the audience truly embraced him, they were looking at Bocephus.

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” ON AUGUST 8, 1975, HANK WILLIAMS JR. FELL…

Country Music

RAY PRICE WAS TOLD HE SOUNDED JUST LIKE HANK WILLIAMS. INSTEAD OF TAKING IT AS A COMPLIMENT, HE REALIZED HE WAS IN DANGER OF SPENDING HIS CAREER AS SOMEBODY ELSE’S SHADOW. In the early 1950s, sounding like Hank Williams was hardly a bad problem to have. Ray Price had met Hank in 1951, traveled with him, shared a house with him in Nashville and even used Hank’s Drifting Cowboys as his backing band. Price’s early recordings openly reflected Hank’s phrasing and style. But Price eventually heard the comparison differently. A fan told him he sounded just like Hank Williams. That was the moment Price began to understand that admiration had turned into imitation. If he kept going that way, audiences might always hear Hank first and Ray second. So he started changing. Price let more of his natural voice come through and built a new band, the Cherokee Cowboys. He began looking for a harder, more rhythmic sound that did not depend on the style he had inherited from Hank. The breakthrough arrived on March 1, 1956. Price went into the studio to record “Crazy Arms.” He had a particular fiddle sound in mind and whistled the phrase he wanted Tommy Jackson to play. Underneath it, Buddy Killen drove the record with a strong 4/4 bass pattern. The result sounded different from the country records Price had made only a few years earlier. “Crazy Arms” spent 20 weeks at No. 1. Price kept developing the shuffle rhythm behind it until musicians around Nashville began calling it the Ray Price Beat. Other singers copied it, just as Price himself had once copied Hank. The Cherokee Cowboys also became one of country music’s great proving grounds. Willie Nelson, Roger Miller and Johnny Paycheck all passed through the band, while Price’s recordings helped introduce songs by writers such as Harlan Howard and Bill Anderson to national audiences. The important change was not that Ray Price stopped admiring Hank Williams. He simply stopped needing to sound like him. By the time younger singers began borrowing Price’s own shuffle, the comparison had finally reversed: Ray Price had become the man other country singers were trying to sound like.

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” RAY PRICE WAS TOLD HE SOUNDED JUST LIKE…

Country Music

PORTER WAGONER HADN’T BEEN A CURRENT COUNTRY STAR IN DECADES. THEN MARTY STUART PUT HIM BACK IN THE STUDIO AT 79 — AND THE OLD SHOWMAN ENDED UP OPENING MADISON SQUARE GARDEN MONTHS BEFORE HE DIED. By the 1990s, Porter Wagoner’s place in country music had changed. The television show that once reached millions had been gone since 1981. He had largely stopped making new records after the early 1980s. After Roy Acuff died in 1992, Porter increasingly became the Grand Ole Opry’s elder statesman — still visible, still respected, but no longer treated as a current recording artist. Marty Stuart saw something else. Stuart had spent much of his life around the older masters of country music, and he believed Wagoner still had another serious record in him. Porter had released The Best I’ve Ever Been in 2000, beginning a small late-career revival, but Stuart wanted to push further. So they went back into the studio. Stuart produced Wagonmaster, surrounding Porter with traditional country instrumentation and songs that suited the older, darker voice he had grown into. There was no attempt to make him sound young or chase contemporary radio. The record leaned into the man Porter had become. It arrived in June 2007. Porter was 79. Instead of disappearing as a nostalgic side project, Wagonmaster drew unusually strong reviews and put Wagoner back into national music coverage. The Country Music Hall of Fame later described the response as a wave of rave reviews and major features. Then the comeback took an unexpected turn. On July 24, Porter Wagoner walked onto the stage at Madison Square Garden as the opening act for the White Stripes. It was an almost absurd pairing on paper: the rhinestone-clad Grand Ole Opry veteran who had started singing on Missouri radio in the 1940s opening for one of the biggest rock bands of the 2000s. But Porter played the room as Porter. That same year, the Opry celebrated his 50th anniversary as a member, with Dolly Parton among those returning to honor him. There was very little time to enjoy the revival. Later in 2007, Wagoner was hospitalized with lung cancer. He died in Nashville on October 28 at age 80. Wagonmaster became his final album. Marty Stuart had not tried to recreate the Porter Wagoner of 1967. He gave the 2007 version of Porter one last record sturdy enough to carry his own age, voice and history. And for one final summer, that voice traveled far beyond the Opry again — all the way to Madison Square Garden.

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” PORTER WAGONER HAD NOT BEEN A CURRENT COUNTRY…

Country Music

CONWAY TWITTY ALREADY HAD A ROCK & ROLL NO. 1 THAT SOLD MILLIONS. THEN, IN 1965, HE WALKED OFF A NEW JERSEY STAGE MID-SHOW AND DECIDED HE WAS DONE CHASING TEENAGERS—HE WANTED TO SING COUNTRY. Conway Twitty had already lived the career most singers were trying to reach. Born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, he broke through in 1958 with “It’s Only Make Believe,” a million-selling No. 1 that made him a rock & roll teen idol. More pop hits followed, along with movies and years of touring. But country music had always been underneath it. Twitty later said he initially avoided country because he respected singers like Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell so much that he was unsure he could compete with them. Rock & roll felt like the safer door. By the early 1960s, that door was closing anyway. His pop hits slowed, MGM dropped him, and Twitty began slipping more country songs into his shows. Then came a night in 1965 at a club in Somers Point, New Jersey. Twitty looked across a room of young dancers and thought about the wife and three children waiting at home. According to his official biography, he put down his guitar, walked offstage in the middle of the engagement and decided the rock & roll chapter was over. The decision did not produce an instant second career. Owen Bradley signed him to Decca, but country radio was suspicious of the former teen idol. Several singles struggled before “The Image of Me” finally reached the Top 10 in 1968. Then “Next in Line” went to No. 1. After that came “Hello Darlin’,” “Fifteen Years Ago,” “I’d Love to Lay You Down,” decades of hits, and one of country music’s most successful duet partnerships with Loretta Lynn. The remarkable part was not that Conway Twitty successfully changed genres. It was that he chose to become a beginner again after already knowing what it felt like to be famous—and spent several years proving that the second career was not an act.

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Country Music

A $17 SEARS GUITAR HELPED START LORETTA LYNN’S CAREER. THE HUSBAND WHO BOUGHT IT ALSO GAVE HER THE CHEATING, FIGHTS AND HEARTACHE SHE WOULD TURN INTO SONGS FOR DECADES. When Doo Lynn bought his wife a $17 Sears guitar, Loretta was a young mother in Washington state with four children and no real plan to become a country singer. She sang around the house because she loved Kitty Wells. Doo heard something more. He bragged that Loretta could sing better than almost anyone except Wells, arranged an appearance for her at a local Grange hall, and pushed his painfully shy wife onto a stage she might never have stepped onto by herself. Loretta later said plainly that she probably would never have performed publicly without him. Within months, she was singing with a local band and writing songs on the guitar he had bought her. Doo kept pushing. When “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl” became her first record in 1960, he got behind the wheel and helped Loretta carry copies from radio station to radio station across the country. They slept in the car, ate bologna sandwiches, and stopped whenever they spotted another broadcast tower. The single eventually reached No. 14 and carried them to Nashville. But the man driving her toward success was also making home increasingly difficult. Loretta later spoke openly about Doo’s drinking, infidelity and violence. Their fights could become physical, and many of the emotions she refused to hide in private eventually surfaced in her songs. That created one of the central contradictions of Loretta Lynn’s life. Doo had recognized her talent before Nashville did. He bought the instrument, arranged the early performances and helped promote the first record. But he also became the man behind much of the cheating, anger and marital conflict she later turned into country music. Loretta once explained her method simply: when something hurt, she wrote about it. So the same marriage that helped place a guitar in her hands eventually gave her something else to put into it. Not a career plan. Material.

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” A $17 SEARS GUITAR HELPED START LORETTA LYNN’S…

Country Music

PATSY CLINE HEARD THAT OTHER WOMEN WERE MEETING TO SLOW LORETTA LYNN’S RISE. SHE DIDN’T ARGUE FROM AFAR—SHE DRESSED LORETTA, TOOK HER BY THE HAND, AND WALKED HER STRAIGHT INTO THE ROOM. Loretta Lynn was still new to Nashville when Patsy Cline entered her life. They met in 1961 after Patsy was badly injured in a car wreck. Loretta appeared on Ernest Tubb’s Midnite Jamboree, dedicated “I Fall to Pieces” to Patsy, and sang it over the radio. Patsy heard the broadcast from her hospital bed and sent her husband, Charlie Dick, to find the young singer and bring her to visit. The friendship became immediate. Patsy was already a major star; Loretta was still learning how Nashville worked. She taught Loretta how to dress for the stage, walk in heels, handle men in the business and demand payment instead of allowing promoters to push her around. She also gave her clothes and helped her become more confident in public. That protection soon became more direct. Loretta later recalled that her frequent invitations back to the Grand Ole Opry were creating resentment among some other female performers. She said several women were calling her, questioning why she was appearing so often and even suggesting she return to the West Coast. Then Patsy learned that some of them were gathering at a house to discuss what to do about Loretta. Patsy had been invited. Instead of going alone, she called Loretta. According to Loretta’s account, Patsy told her to get her hair done, arrived at her house with a new outfit, and took her along to the meeting. Outside were Cadillacs belonging to some of country music’s leading female stars. Loretta walked in beside Patsy. Nobody said anything. Loretta later remembered that the confrontation effectively ended the effort against her: Patsy had publicly made clear which side she was on. Their friendship lasted less than two years before Patsy died in the March 1963 plane crash. But Loretta never treated those years as a minor chapter. Decades later, she wrote that Patsy had changed her life by teaching her not only how to perform, but how to stand up for herself. Loretta eventually became powerful enough that younger women came to her for the kind of support she had once needed herself. She had learned early what one established woman walking into the room beside another could do.

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” PATSY CLINE HEARD THAT OTHER WOMEN WERE MEETING…

Country Music

RAY PRICE’S CHEROKEE COWBOYS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HIS BACKING BAND. INSTEAD, IT BECAME A LAUNCHPAD FOR WILLIE NELSON, ROGER MILLER, JOHNNY PAYCHECK AND OTHER FUTURE STARS. By the late 1950s, Ray Price was already one of country music’s biggest names. His records had helped define hard honky-tonk, and the Cherokee Cowboys backed him on the road and in the studio. But Price also had a habit of hiring musicians who were far more ambitious than the job required. Willie Nelson joined the band in 1961 as a bass player. He was still struggling to make Nashville understand him as an artist, but Price valued his songwriting and kept him close. Willie’s “Night Life” eventually became one of Price’s signature songs, even though Willie had already sold the rights to it for quick cash before Price recorded it. Roger Miller also passed through the Cherokee Cowboys before his own career took off. Johnny Paycheck—then still working under the name Donny Young—played with Price too. Darrell McCall and steel guitarist Buddy Emmons were part of the same revolving circle. For Price, the arrangement was practical. For the younger musicians, it was an education. They learned how a major country star ran a road band, how sessions worked, how songs moved through Nashville, and how quickly a good piece of material could change someone’s career. Eventually, they began leaving. Willie became one of the central figures in outlaw country. Roger Miller developed into one of Nashville’s most distinctive songwriters and performers. Johnny Paycheck built his own hard-country career. Price kept going too, shifting styles and scoring major hits well into the 1970s. But one of the most remarkable things he built was not a record. It was a band full of men who were never going to remain sidemen forever.

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” RAY PRICE’S CHEROKEE COWBOYS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE…

Country Music

ON OCTOBER 4, 1978, TAMMY WYNETTE SAID A MASKED GUNMAN WAS WAITING IN THE BACK SEAT OF HER CADILLAC. HOURS LATER, SHE WAS FOUND 80 MILES FROM NASHVILLE WITH A BROKEN CHEEKBONE, SHIFTED TEETH—AND NO CLEAR ANSWER FOR WHY IT HAPPENED. Tammy Wynette was already one of country music’s biggest stars when the attack happened. She had twenty No. 1 country singles behind her, a turbulent marriage to George Jones in the past, and a new husband, songwriter-producer George Richey. But the months around 1978 had also brought threats, suspicious fires, warning notes and growing concern about her safety. On October 4, Wynette drove to a Nashville shopping center. She later told police that when she returned to her yellow Cadillac, a masked man was hiding in the back seat with a gun. He forced her to drive, wrapped pantyhose tightly around her neck, struck her repeatedly and kept her in the car as they traveled south from Nashville. There was no ransom demand. Roughly 80 miles away, the attacker released her with the car. Wynette was treated for cuts, bruises, a broken cheekbone and displaced teeth. She later said that once she saw the gun, her only thought was staying alive. The physical injuries were only part of what followed. Her Nashville home became heavily guarded. Security personnel stayed nearby, windows were protected, and Wynette admitted that ordinary things—shopping, driving, being alone—suddenly felt dangerous. The case never produced a clear public resolution. Authorities said they could not determine a motive, and no one was arrested in connection with the abduction. Rumors followed almost immediately, ranging from jealous relationships to publicity claims, which Wynette publicly rejected. She kept recording and performing. But after that October night, the public image of Tammy Wynette—the elegant voice behind songs about heartbreak and endurance—was carrying something the records did not fully show. She had spent years singing about women surviving difficult men and difficult lives. In 1978, survival stopped being a lyric and became a security guard outside her own front door.

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” ON OCTOBER 4, 1978, TAMMY WYNETTE SAID A…

Country Music

CONNIE SMITH WAS STILL A COUNTRY STAR WHEN SHE STEPPED BACK — NOT BECAUSE THE HITS STOPPED, BUT BECAUSE FAMILY MATTERED MORE. By the late 1960s, Connie Smith had already done what most singers spend a lifetime chasing. “Once a Day” had made her an instant star. More Top 10 records followed, along with television appearances, touring and a growing place inside the Grand Ole Opry. From the outside, there was no obvious reason to slow down. But Smith’s life offstage was getting harder to fit around the career. She was raising children while spending long stretches on the road, recording constantly and moving through the machinery Nashville expected successful artists to keep feeding. The pressure built until Smith began making a decision that ran against almost everything the business wanted from her. She started pulling back. By the late 1960s, Smith reduced her touring and shifted more of her attention toward family and faith. She did not abandon music entirely, but she no longer treated career momentum as the only thing that mattered. That choice became even clearer after she moved to Columbia Records in the 1970s. Smith insisted that gospel music remain part of her recording life and arranged to make regular gospel albums alongside her country work. It was another sign that she was becoming less willing to let the industry decide what her career was supposed to look like. Eventually, she stepped much farther away. Smith spent years putting family ahead of the road, raising five children and taking far fewer dates than Nashville stars were normally expected to accept. At times, she was largely absent from the recording business even though her voice and reputation had never disappeared. She later explained that when her youngest daughter reached school age, she began taking more work again and returning more regularly to the Opry. The comeback was gradual, not dramatic. There was no single night when Connie Smith announced that she was reclaiming a career. She simply began singing more often again, and by the late 1990s she returned to recording with a new studio album after a long gap. What followed gave the story a different kind of ending. Smith did not have to rebuild her reputation from zero. Younger artists and musicians still knew exactly who she was, and her voice had lost none of the authority that first stopped Bill Anderson in his tracks decades earlier. When she returned more fully to recording and the Opry, she was no longer chasing the pace Nashville had once set for her. She was singing on terms she had already spent years defining for herself.

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” CONNIE SMITH WAS STILL A COUNTRY STAR WHEN…

Country Music

DOLLY PARTON TURNED A COAT MADE FROM SCRAPS INTO ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL SONGS OF HER LIFE—BECAUSE TO HER, IT WAS NEVER REALLY ABOUT THE COAT. “Coat of Many Colors” came directly from Dolly Parton’s childhood in East Tennessee. Her mother, Avie Lee, made the coat by sewing together pieces of colorful fabric the family already had. Money was scarce, so there was no trip to a store for something new. Instead, Avie Lee turned what was available into something her daughter could wear. While she worked, she told Dolly the biblical story of Joseph and his coat of many colors. That story changed the way Dolly saw what her mother was making. When she wore the coat to school, Dolly was proud of it. Other children saw something different. They laughed at the patches and mocked her for being poor. Years later, Dolly wrote that memory into “Coat of Many Colors.” Released in 1971, the song became one of the clearest examples of what made her songwriting so powerful. She did not try to hide the poverty or make the childhood prettier than it was. She simply placed the humiliation beside the love that had created the coat and let the contrast do the work. The song eventually became much larger than the original recording. Its story inspired the television movie Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors in 2015, followed by Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love the next year. The films brought Dolly’s childhood, her parents, siblings and Smoky Mountain home to millions of viewers who knew the superstar but had never seen the family world behind the songs. By then, Dolly had worn gowns worth more than her family could once have imagined. But one of the pieces of clothing most closely tied to her name was still the one her mother had made because buying a new coat was not an option. That is why the story lasted. The scraps disappeared. The lesson inside them did not.

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” DOLLY PARTON TURNED A COAT MADE FROM SCRAPS…

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