Plus One: The Wrap Up to Country Music Month – Bocephus

It’s been a great Trip Through Time and Country Music over the last four weeks, but like all things, this too must end. We began our tribute with a bang with Garth Brooks, and now we’re gonna end it with a BOOM! 

My favorite artist from any genre of music, bar none, is Hank Williams, Jr. I am very familiar with Hank’s trials and tribulations over the years. He has told me about many of them in person, during the three times I had a chance to talk with him. As we drank shots of whiskey and nursed a few beers, Hank related to me one great story after another. Most of them were just general stories about the music biz, his role in it, his Dad (of course) and some other stuff. The one subject that Hank told me about was when on Augusta 8, 1975, he fell almost 500 feet down the side of Ajax Mountain in Montana. He went over the accident that nearly killed him in chilling detail. He probably would have fallen further down the side of the mountain except for one thing – a BFR. A Big Fuckin’ Rock. He smashed into it face first into it and it opened his skull like it was on a door hinge, his brain exposed to the elements. Hank was hiking with his buddy, Dick Willey and Willey’s son, Pete (I think, his name escapes me) when the accident happened. The senior Willey had to hike several miles back down Ajax to get help, while his son, who was about 10 years old, IIRC, tried to keep Hank awake and alert. The boy prove to be a hero. Hank told that if it hadn’t been for the cold weather, he probably would have died right then and there. Two years of reconstructive surgery and rehab, including learning how to talk all over again, followed the fall down Ajax. Amazing story.

Already recorded prior to Hank’s accident, was an album called Hank Williams, Jr and Friends. The link provides only clips of the songs, but I urge you to take a minute to listen to them. this album, in my opinion, is the single greatest album ever recorded. It was the single most influential album that initiated the Outlaw Movement in Country Music. I know, I know, Willie and Waylon and all that. I agree that W & W were the ones that popularized Outlaw Country, but Hank, Jr and Friends was before all that. Hank and Friends consists of nine songs that are my life set to music. It’s the ultimate Country record. It’s that great.

We know what many of Hank’s hits are. Below I will list some of his better-known songs and some that aren’t. But I promise you, they will all be good, and maybe you’ll look at Hank from a different point of view.

• A Country Boy Can Survive – Arguably Hank’s most popular song. A classic.
• Family Tradition – Another Bocephus classic.
• I’ve Got Rights – Justice, country style when the system fails.
• Country State of Mind – If the sun don’t come up tomorrow, people I have had a good time.
• The American Way – Blue collar anthem.
• Hotel Whiskey – Clint Black makes a cameo.
• Honky Tonk Women – Hank rocks The Stones.
• Lone Wolf – I no longer run with the pack. 
• Outlaw’s Reward – Gospel. Thinking of eternity.
• Whiskey On Ice – Whiskey on ice, women on fire.
• Feelin’ Better – Becoming Bocephus. Waylon does harmony. Killer story.
• Blues Man – Bad ass tune. 
• Born to Boogie – Title cut from the 1986 Album of the Year

What a great way to end our tribute to Country Music Month. Hank Williams, Jr, who once had NINE albums in The Top 75 at one time (!), has a ton of YouTube pages with his music on them. Make time to listen to some of Hank’s songs that were never released as singles. There’s a treasure trove of kick ass Country tunes and songs that paint a vivid image in your mind that I think you’ll really like.

Country Music Month: The Texas Connection – Oom Papa Maow Maow

Most people who read this story will associate the Oak Ridge Boys with Tennessee and rightfully so. However, there is a Texas Connection with the Oaks. That would be lead singer Duane Allen who was born in Taylortown, Texas. This current iteration of the Oak Ridge Boys has been together for at least thirty years, except for a few years when William Lee Golden left the group only to rejoin them later. I met these guys when I was the emcee for their concert in Wichita Falls in about 1980 or ’81. They were a great group of guys just to sit and talk with and they couldn’t have made things easier for me because at the time I was a baby DJ. They put on a good show and the audience loved them and the guys loved the crowd right back. A more detailed bio of the Oaks can be found here on wikipedia.

I was lucky enough to have emceed their show just before the release one of the biggest songs of the year, or several years for that matter. The song? A remake of an old Dallas Frazier hit called Elvira. when the Oaks sang that song at the show, the crowd went ape! Elvira went on to become a super smash hit. The four guys we know as the Oak Ridge Boys today, Joe Bonsall ( a very funny man), Duane Allen, Richard Sterban and William Lee Golden, had some great songs in the ’70s and ’80s that should be staples on any Classic Country radio station in the USA. That they are still together after all these years is a testament to not only their talent, but to the quality of music they sing and they way they relate to their audience. They are plain old good guys who are happy doing what they do and it shows.

Some of my personal favorites by the Oaks are:

• Thank God for Kids – Written by Eddie Raven, recently re-made by Kenny Chesney, this is a timeless song. I sing it to my little girls sometimes and, like the song says, “I look down in those trusting eyes” and realize how much God has blessed me and what a great job I have as a father. 
• Y’all Come Back Saloon – Any song that has the phrase “late night benediction” in it is classic to me. Damn good song.
• I Guess It Never Hurts to Hurt Sometimes – Remembering a lost love. Joe Bonsall sings and you feel the sense of loss.
• Dream On – Because I like it.
• I’ll Be True to You – Lost love found again…but too late. Mucho el sad-o.
• Sail Away – “go to sleep together with rocking of water”…I am all in on that.

Other than the Statler Brothers, I can’t think of another group that has done what the Oak Ridge Boys have done for Country Music. And I don’t include Rascal Flats and all those “boy bands” that claim to be country. I don’t mean to disparage Rascal Flats and groups like them, but who will be listening to Rascal Flats’ music in 20 years? Anyone? Anyone? Buehler?

Country Music Month: The Texas Connection – Mac Davis

I was a Mac Davis fan the minute I heard, what was for me, his first song on the radio on KLIF, The Mighty 1190, in the early ’70s. That song was Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me – a damn good tune. I don’t know what’s in the water in Lubbock, but it must be something good. Besides Mac Davis, Lubbock has given such superstars as Buddy Holly and Waylon Jennings. That’s a trio that Lubbock has so kindly shared with the rest of the world and we should be thankful for it.

Scott Mac Davis is one of my personal all time favorites. Besides his great musical abilities, when I saw him in a movie, he was so damn slick. (Audience shouts: How slick was he?) He was slicker than greased owl shit on a glass doorknob. I mean the guy oozed “cool”. I remember watching his Emmy-winning TV show back in the day and it was a riot. Great music, some real funny stuff and, if memory serves me right, eefin’ and eiffin’. One of my favorite parts of the show was when Mac let the audience give him a subject for a song and out of the blue WHAM! Mac would ad lib a verse that was flat funny. I tried to find some clips of the show, but my search proved futile. Dammit.

Not only was Mac a great singer, he was also a helluva songwriter. You might recognize one of these songs written by Mac – a guy from Memphis did OK with Memories and In the Ghetto. And let’s not forget Don’t Cry Daddy, another Mac Davis penned tune. Bobby Goldsboro also had a hit with one of Mac’s songs, Watching Scotty Grow. The story I heard about Watching Scotty Grow was that Goldsboror wanted to record the song in the worst way, but wanted to change it from “Scotty” to “Brian” or whatever his son’s name was and Davis said “No way, Jose. This was written for my son Scottyand that’s the way it is”. Bobby relented and it turned out pretty damn good for both guys.

In addition to the songs scattered throughout the post here are some other Mac Davis songs I really like:

• One Hell of a Woman    
• Stop and Smell the Roses
• It’s Hard to Be Humble (with the Muppets)
• Hooked On Music 

I wish I could list all the great songs by Mac Davis, but that would take a while. I do have for your listening pleasure a YouTube page of them. Look around that page and a flood of memories will come gushing to you. Like Mac wrote, “memories pressed between the pages of mind, memories sweetened through the ages just like wine….sweet memories”.

Country Music Month – The Texas Connection: Clint Black

I was driving through the Metroplex in about 1990 on my way to Puerto No One Knows when I heard this song. I thought to myself, “Damn, Haggard’s done it again.” One problem. It wasn’t Merle Haggard singing that song. It was some new guy named Clint Black. Whoa! This guy was good and I was hooked. As Clint cranked out the hits, I was amazed at the way he told a story with the lyrics of his songs, like the phrase “Puerto No One Knows” (from When My Ship Comes In) That’s great stuff.

Clint was born in New Jersey, but moved to his Dad’s hometown of Houston when he was less than a year old. The story from there is a familiar one where boy teaches self to play guitar, writes songs, gets recording contract. But unlike many others who traveled a similar path, Clint went on to become a star. His first album Killin’ Time was a smash, selling over a million copies. Black was consistently in the Top 10 with his albums and singles, when, in May, 2001, he became a Daddy to a little girl and took a three year break from the music industry. People in the industry told Clint he was committing career suicide, but he stood by his decision saying, “..it ended up not being a smart career move, but it was a real smart Dad move…” Now, I like this guy even more.

Here are some of my favorite Clint Black tunes:

• Like The Rain – probably my favorite CB song.
• Good Run of Bad Luck –  from the movie Maverick
• Untanglin My Mind – co-written by Merle Haggard. Enuff said.
• Cadillac Jack – Good deed gone bad.

With over twelve million albums sold, I am in good company with 11,999,999 other Clint Black fans who really like the man’s music. If you wanna flash back to an earlier time, here’s a Clint Black YouTube page for your viewing and listening pleasure. Until next time, I’m off to Puerto No One Knows.

Country Music Month: The Texas Connection – TNT

TNT

The town of  Seminole, Texas is the birthplace of two of the biggest Country Music stars of the ’70s and ’80s – Larry Gatlin and one of my all time favorites, Tanya Denise Tucker. Tanya Tucker (TNT) exploded onto the Country Music scene in 1972 at the age of thirteen with a song that remains a Country Classic today, Delta Dawn. Her way beyond her years vocals and style belied the fact that she was still barely a teenager. Over the years Tanya churned out hit after hit after hit on the Country Charts and as she grew up cultivated a sex kitten image that garnered a lot of notice from Country Music fans. In the vernacular, she was hot! That sexy, party girl persona was more than just an act, Tanya was, shall we say, an “independent” young lady, a lady Outlaw. Songs like Texas When I Die did nothing to disprove her images. Some of her songs did, however, show a softer side to this rowdy girl. Songs like Two Sparrows in a Hurricane (my favorite TNT song) were tender ballads of love, dedication and perseverance that tell a story of young love growing into a lifetime of commitment and devotion between a man and woman. Tanya could be rowdy and raunchy one minute, then tender and retrospective the next.

Here’s a short list of Tanya’s hits that I think are her best songs, in no particular order:

• Love Me Like You Used To – A damn good song of a love that’s lost its spark and Tanya’s plea to her lover to rekindle the romance.
• Lizzie and the Rainman – I really like this song because it reminds me of Neil Diamond’s Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show. Good story in the song.
• What’s Your Mama’s Name? – Pretty heavy subject in the song. Just remember she was only 15 when she sang it.

Looking back, it’s very difficult to believe that it’s been almost forty years since that little thirteen year old girl sang about Delta Dawn. Wikipedia has a pretty good bio on Tanya if you want to delve into the details. If you’d rather take a trip back in time to catch some of Tanya’s hits, YouTube has a great channel with some of TNT’s best songs.

Tanya Denise Tucker, Lady Outlaw. And a damned fine performer.