Country Music

[Professor Knowall]

Criminally underrated is Glen Campbell.

Such a talent and wow oh wow what a guitarist.

I’m not sure he’s so underrated by those old enough to recall his late 1960’s and 1970’s prime, or anyone who delves into country music history, where his standing is definitely as one of the greats - though you might be right in regards to his guitar mastery being not fully appreciated. This is how I introduced him (in part) to the potted history feature of him in post # 507 -
“… his fusion of country mannerisms and lyrics with pop melodies and L.A. pop production techniques as well as having his own TV show made him one of the most popular musicians of the late 1960s and '70s - and not just in the U.S. country charts (such as more hard-core country heroes like George Jones and Loretta Lyn) but also on the U.S and internatiomal pop charts (such as in Australia). And if the very obvious pop overlay on his music sometimes made country music fans feel somewhat ambivalent, nevertheless his outrageous talent and crossover pop appeal must be admitted and admired - and he delivered some truely great songs, he was a great vocalist and there's no question he was one of the most skilled guitarists of them all …”

 

[Monocle]

I’m not sure he’s so underrated by those old enough to recall his late 1960’s and 1970’s prime, or anyone who delves into country music history, where his standing is definitely as one of the greats - though you might be right in regards to his guitar mastery being not fully appreciated. This is how I introduced him (in part) to the potted history feature of him in post # 507 -
“… his fusion of country mannerisms and lyrics with pop melodies and L.A. pop production techniques as well as having his own TV show made him one of the most popular musicians of the late 1960s and '70s - and not just in the U.S. country charts (such as more hard-core country heroes like George Jones and Loretta Lyn) but also on the U.S and internatiomal pop charts (such as in Australia). And if the very obvious pop overlay on his music sometimes made country music fans feel somewhat ambivalent, nevertheless his outrageous talent and crossover pop appeal must be admitted and admired - and he delivered some truely great songs, he was a great vocalist and there's no question he was one of the most skilled guitarists of them all …”

His diversity was a real point of difference.

Played with Elvis Presley , was a member of the Beach Boys , masterfully presented his own music and style and who can forget his role in the Wrecking Crew, one of the best ever group of secession studio musicians of their era.
His ability to sing lead and just as masterfully harmonise be it a duet or with a larger group.

The finger span on the fret board and the reach those nimble finger had were so rare and something special.
And I haven’t even mentioned his finger picking, some of his guitar solos are something else.


He nimbly and effortlessly was able to spread his fingers in a manner that defied physiology and the human anatomy , and yet he did so, while simultaneously producing such rich and pure sounds.

As a old timer now myself, the more the years pass the higher my esteem and admiration of his body of musical work has grown.

Loved some of his get togethers at the Ryman Auditorium, The Mother Church of Country Music, with some of the old time greats when doing the coming home shows.

Bobby Bare, Jeannie Freckel, Lorrie Morgan, Chet Atkins, Willy Nelson, Chrystal Gayle, BJ Thomas, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson - to but name a few, we were spoiled to ever hear such talent singing together.

Alas I digress - lol - as old folk often do.

 

[CliffMcTainshaw]

Just wonderful.

 

[Professor Knowall]

Interesting cooperation:

Now I know Willie has done duos with just about everyone (even Julio Igelsias, as George Strait ruefully sang when he finally got to sing one with Willie), but even I didn’t quite expect this. There’s a string of honky tonks on the cowboy trail from West Texas up to Montana where I reckon this song ain’t getting on any jukebox soon (it might be a little to close to the truth)!

 

[Gough]

His diversity was a real point of difference.

Played with Elvis Presley , was a member of the Beach Boys , masterfully presented his own music and style and who can forget his role in the Wrecking Crew, one of the best ever group of secession studio musicians of their era.
His ability to sing lead and just as masterfully harmonise be it a duet or with a larger group.

The finger span on the fret board and the reach those nimble finger had were so rare and something special.
And I haven’t even mentioned his finger picking, some of his guitar solos are something else.


He nimbly and effortlessly was able to spread his fingers in a manner that defied physiology and the human anatomy , and yet he did so, while simultaneously producing such rich and pure sounds.

As a old timer now myself, the more the years pass the higher my esteem and admiration of his body of musical work has grown.

Loved some of his get togethers at the Ryman Auditorium, The Mother Church of Country Music, with some of the old time greats when doing the coming home shows.

Bobby Bare, Jeannie Freckel, Lorrie Morgan, Chet Atkins, Willy Nelson, Chrystal Gayle, BJ Thomas, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson - to but name a few, we were spoiled to ever hear such talent singing together.

Alas I digress - lol - as old folk often do.

Growing up in the 80s these guys went unappreciated and were dismissed as old fashioned in the new computer age or they suffered a fate even worse than that and ended up on those dreadful AM easy listening stations. It took people like Evan Dando championing Gram, Rick Rubin reimagining Johnny Cash or grunge fans finding their first Neil Young acoustic LP for them to get a look in again.

 

[Professor Knowall]

… Loved some of his get togethers at the Ryman Auditorium, The Mother Church of Country Music, with some of the old time greats when doing the coming home shows.

Bobby Bare, Jeannie Freckel, Lorrie Morgan, Chet Atkins, Willy Nelson, Chrystal Gayle, BJ Thomas, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson - to but name a few, we were spoiled to ever hear such talent singing together. …

Oh lord - you’ve named some great ones there (most still alive). If only I had a time machine to have also been there - I envy your great memories. Of the names above that I’ve got to, the potted histories of their career and music appear as follows -
Glen Campbell - posts # 507 to 509
Bobby Bare - posts # 464 to 468
Chet Atkins - posts # 353 to 356
Willy Nelson - posts # 782 to 793
Chrystal Gayle - posts # 897 to 902
Waylon Jennings - posts # 774 to 781
Kris Kristofferson - posts # 661 to 667
And for the Mother Church Roman Auditorium - posts 146 and 175

But I dunno who Jeannie Freckel is - could you have meant Janie Fricke?

 

[Monocle]

But I dunno who Jeannie Freckel is - could you have meant Janie Fricke?

Yes correct - Janie Fricke, who whas a backup vocalist for many of the Country stars in the day and then became a name in her own right.

Very humble and down to earth person and a fine singer, an original and a real talent.

 

[Monocle]

Growing up in the 80s these guys went unappreciated and were dismissed as old fashioned in the new computer age or they suffered a fate even worse than that and ended up on those dreadful AM easy listening stations. It took people like Evan Dando championing Gram, Rick Rubin reimagining Johnny Cash or grunge fans finding their first Neil Young acoustic LP for them to get a look in again.

And the test of time has them now remembered as greats of Country Music, where as much of the marketing department manufactured tripe that was spoon fed to the masses, has sunk into oblivion.

Speaking of great talent in that era, I wish I had been able to go back in time and see The Highwaymen live, such a gathering of talent the likes of which we will never see again.




Willie Nelson
Waylon Jennings
Johnny Cash
Kris Kristofferson

My favourite of theirs is the Arlo Guthrie song " City Of New Orleans", not only a great song but a great piece of poetry that captured a colourful slice of American History.

My favourite line

" Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle"

Favourite verse.

"All along the southbound odyssey
The train pulls out of Kankakee
Rolls along past, houses, farms and fields
Passing trains that have no name
An' freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles "


Speaking of great talent in one band.





Such a shame the Travelling Wilburys were so short lived (Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne )

And just quietly I would love that collection of guitars in that photo, in my music room.


A good sign that I am getting "real old" is when I keep start a thought or conversations with " Remember When" lol

 

[Gough]

And the test of time has them now remembered as greats of Country Music, where as much of the marketing department manufactured tripe that was spoon fed to the masses, has sunk into oblivion.

Speaking of great talent in that era, I wish I had been able to go back in time and see The Highwaymen live, such a gathering of talent the likes of which we will never see again.

View attachment 2007143


Willie Nelson
Waylon Jennings
Johnny Cash
Kris Kristofferson

My favourite of theirs is the Arlo Guthrie song " City Of New Orleans", not only a great song but a great piece of poetry that captured a colourful slice of American History.

My favourite line

" Pass the paper bag that hold the bottle"

Favourite verse.

"All along the southbound odyssey
The train pulls out of Kankakee
Rolls along past, houses, farms and fields
Passing trains that have no name
An' freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles "


Speaking of great talent in one band.

View attachment 2007146



Such a shame the Travelling Wilburys were so short lived (Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne )

And just quietly I would love that collection of guitars in that photo, in my music room.


A good sign that I am getting "real old" is when I keep start a thought or conversations with " Remember When" lol

This is a great line up too, I highly recommend this album.

 

[Professor Knowall]

So, after having a month in Africa and Portugal, then being sent over to Western Australia, I’m finally back for a whole week, so able to resume the potted history series. So welcome back again to 1980, when Air Supply and REO Speedwagon ruled pop and, as we’ve already seen a couple of times in this series, disco’s #1 movie star ditched his white suit for a black hat in Urban Cowboy, the 1980 movie where John Travolta remakes Saturday Night Fever at Gilley’s nightclub in Pasadena, Texas. The movie sparked a cultural phenomenon that did for Country’s mainstream appeal what Saturday Night Fever did for disco, a genre that started brightly with the early disco hits of the Bee-Gees and Donna Summer, but, aided by the worst exploitative instincts of the major record labels, all too quickly sank into a mire of dire crap, in which rubbish like ‘Disco Duck’ actually topped the charts.

So from 1980 to 1982. the pop charts included multiple pop-friendly hits from Kenny Rogers, Eddie Rabbitt, Juice Newton. Johnny Lee, Ronnie Milsap and The Oak Ridge Boys and also found non-Country fans for bona-fide Country songs. Finally, Dolly Parton cemented her place as an American icon with both the movie and the song “9 to 5”. Anyone following this history series would’ve noticed this shift as we covered the late 1970’s after the Outlaw movement collapsed over its own excesses - and the whole U.S. went into a more conservative phase, highlighted by the landslide election of Ronald Reagan. But there was one emerging artist that broke the pop-friendly mould, foreshadowing the movement against the pop-flavoured country music of the early 1980’s.

Our next artist was a precursor to the Neo-Traditionalist movement in country music which was to emerge in the mid-1980s. Like the leading figures in that movement (who included artists of the calibre of George Strait, Randy Travis, Dwight Yoakam, Ricky Skaggs, Reba McEntire, Keith Whitley and Alan Jackson), his music marked the start of the reaction against the bland slickness of much of the pop-oriented material then being recorded in Nashville. By contrast, his work always had a ‘down home’ feel (in the best sense of that term) and there was a directness and lack of pretension in his songwriting which was both refreshing and immediately engaging.

Before George Strait, Ricky Skaggs and Randy Travis were household names, our artist was Nashville’s young, hard-charging traditionalist, devoted to extending the legacies forged by Lefty Frizzell, Merle Haggard, George Jones and Johnny Cash and loathe to compromise When it came to making music, he knew he was right. marking the start of the reaction against the bland slickness of much of the pop-oriented material then being recorded in Nashville. As Emmylou Harris recalled - “Back then, it seemed like there wasn’t a whole lot of real country music, the way I think of it. Then along came John Anderson. John was doing this, and he was all by himself.” He made it with a voice that was traditional enough to make Emmylou Harris wonder if Anderson was a distant relative of Lefty Frizzell, yet that was (and still is) instantly identifiable. He also made it with original music that later landed him in the Songwriters HoF.

John Anderson was born in 1955 and raised in a small town near to (and now a suburb of) Orlando, in central Florida, one of 6 children, his father the landscaper at the University of Central Florida. He grew up listening to rock’n’roll, his favourites being Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones. He started playing guitar and singing from age 7. At age 13 in 1968, he debuted with his first band, The Living End (well before the Aussie rock band of same name) - "We played an awful lot of Top 40, rock’n’roll roll. But at age 15, I heard Merle Haggard's “Greatest Hits” album and it really got my attention. I thought this was more what I was looking for. This is music I can really sink my teeth into. It meant something to me as I came from pretty down to earth people. My mum and my dad were good hard working folks. We were a close family - 4 sisters and 1 brother”.

After graduating from high school, hoeing orange trees was less than ideal, so Anderson took up a plumbers helper. The pay was alright and the work was steady, but music pulled at Anderson’s 17-year-old heart - but one had to be 21 to play, sing, or drink in Florida honky tonks. So in 1972, Anderson left his home and headed 1,100 kms up to Nashville, staying at the house of his older sister, Donna, who sang in a country band. During his early years in Nashville, he worked on odd jobs during the day, living on wages that didn’t provide for essentials like bait and shotgun shells for his favourite pastimes of fishing and hunting. He finally took a job as a construction labourer, working on a newfangled building called the Grand Ole Opry House, then under construction.

Not long after taking the job in 1974, Anderson got a raise - up to the roof to work as a roofer plumber, where he stared down at a big, deep hole, with rebars sticking up. That hole soon become the stage where Anderson wanted to be. At night, he was one of all those hopefuls that still play to this day at the clubs on Lower Broadway. He and Donna formed a duo in 1972 and were promptly “discovered” by Wild Bill Emerson and joined Wild Bill when he cut 3 singles on Earl Richards Ace Of Hearts label. In 1973, Anderson met Nashville singer-songwriter Lionel Delmore, the son of thr Songwriters HoF member Alton Delmore. They became fast friends and eventually co-wrote many of Anderson’s biggest hits. Anderson has also collaborated on songs with sister Donna and some of his other siblings.

After recording singles for 2 obscure independent labels to sell at his club gigs, Anderson signed with Warner Bros in 1977 and released his first single in 1978. ‘Your Lying Blue Eyes’ was his first-ever Top 20 hit in 1979, reaching # 15 and kicking off a string of hits that would transform him from a virtually unknown fringe artist to hitmaker over the course of the decade ahead. This heartbreak ballad was simple and catchy, but it established Anderson's traditional country bona fides and prowess as a vocalist -


‘Your Lyin Blue Eyes’ gained Anderson notice from a legend. Merle Haggard heard it early on, and invited him on to his bus for a heart-to-heart. Anderson recalled - “He said his guitar player, Roy Nichols, brought him the 45 of ‘Your Lying Blue Eyes’, saying - ‘I’ve loved you ever since.’ But then he looked me in the eye and said, ‘Do you love this, son?’ ‘Yessir, I really do.’ No, do you really, really love it.’ I said, ‘Yessir. Hell, I’m talking to Merle Haggard and I can’t really stand myself right now, but I really love it.’ We went on to to 40 years of being buddies, Me and Merle“.

At the time ‘Your Lying Blue Eyes’ came out, Anderson was playing the honky tonk and club circuit with house bands around the South. Soon enough, the name “John Anderson” on a roadside club sign was enough to fill up a parking lot with pickup trucks. His first album, the imaginatively titled “John Anderson”, followed in 1980. The album was the very first signal of the rise of the neo-traditionalist movement in country music, and drew praise from country music critics as a return to the fundamentals of country music.

Released in 1980 as the third single from the album, Anderson's fiddle-filled ‘She Just Started Liking Cheatin’ Songs’ reached #13. He’s well known for his songwriting acumen, but this track, an outside cut from Kent Robbins, proved he's every bit as powerful an interpreter as he is at singing his own words. The tongue-in-cheek song was also an early indication of his ability to imbue his work with an air of easy good humour. Another highlight is the superb fiddle break by Tommy Jackson, one of the many consistently excellent musicians who appeared on Anderson’s records -


Written by Gary Gentry, released in 1980 as the 5th single from the “John Anderson” album, the nostalgia-filled ‘1959’ was Anderson’s first Top 10 single, reaching # 7 - and # 4 in Canada. The singer reflects on the year 1959, starting with some nostalgic references (in a similar way - and sound - to Merle Haggard’s ‘1951’ - see post # 205 and, albeit a different sound, The Statler Brothers ‘Class of 57’ - see post # 950), but the song moves on to focus on a relationship he had that year with a girl named Betty, to whom he is singing the song, painting a picture of the lasting love between two high school sweethearts who are torn apart by circumstance and distance, but still hold a candle for each other through all the years.

The "… most important thing …" for them was making sure the singer's truck had gas so they could go to the drive-in movie. He was drafted into the military after graduation and Betty married someone else while he was away. He cries whenever he reads the letters she wrote to him, promising she would never leave him. He has even kept the old truck he had that year (in which the couple "… went all the way … "), and looking at it takes him "…back to '59” -


Soon the hits started to pile up. ‘I'm Just an Old Chunk of Coal (But I'm Gonna Be a Diamond Someday)’ comes from Anderson’s 2nd album, the even more imaginatively titled “John Anderson 2”, released 1981 and reached # 4 - and even better in Canada, peaking at # 2. It is a fine example of Anderson’s excellent taste in selecting songs to cover. In this case, he does full justice to this classic song, one of Billy Joe Shaver’s finest (post # 773). Anderson gives it a honky tonk layover, with some lovely dobro playing on it by the late great Pete Drake -


If a principal test of a great country singer is his ability to handle slower ‘hurting’ songs, then ‘I Just Came Home To Count The Memories’ shows Anderson passing that challenge with flying colours. Although the song clearly owes a good deal to the series of classic ballads that Geo.rge Jones recorded in the late 1960s/early 1970s (and to the classic ‘A Good Year For The Roses’ in particular - see post # 407), Anderson’s vocal performance here is so good that it is able to bear that comparison with relative ease, ranking very high among his best work. On it he also displayed a mastery of vocal inflection and a skill at conveying emotional undercurrents in an understated way which only the very best country singers could match.

This is the type of achingly longing material Anderson nails even better than his upbeat rockers. What I love here are the little details of what our character witnesses on his trip down memory lane – a mixed emotion of happy memories and the reality of the here and now that shows how time and a lack of care has caused them to weathered away - “… roses choking in the grass flaking point …” and “… a broken window pane …” for instance, where he’s not really coming home to reminiscence so much as saying one final goodbye to a place he’ll never be able to revisit again – physically or emotionally.

A couple of other country artists released this song in the '70s, but Anderson's 1981 rendition has become the definitive version and charted to # 7 - and # 5 in Canada. It's a powerful take on a heartbreak ballad, which looks at the wreckage of a relationship through the neglected home life left behind -


So that’s all for today’s music selection, leaving off in 1981 - it’s been a refreshing change (for me) from the prevalent pop-country sound of the day. And, of course, there’s more to come tomorrow, as John Anderson reaches his creative and career peak.

 

[Gough]

I've got Kristofferson's first album on now, so f***ing good.

 

[Professor Knowall]

Welcome back to John Anderson’s music. In the course of a musical career which now spans close to 50 years, Anderson established himself, at his best, as an excellent songwriter. In addition, he is one of the most accomplished and distinctive vocal stylists in all of country music. one of the few country artists who can bear comparison with the past giants of the genre, particularly George Jones and Merle Haggard. But the most marked influence on Anderson’s vocal style, however, is the great Lefty Frizzell (posts 216-219), regarded as the most influential vocal stylist in country music history (post # 216), Like Frizzell, Anderson mastered the arts of note bending and vowel stretching into syllables. He also frequently displays a panache with little “filigrees” which emulates Frizzell’s own. His singing style also has much of the relaxed and easy-going charm which was a key characteristic of Frizzell’s work.

Anyway, time to back to his music, heading straight back to 1982. Strangely enough, in a musical genre which more than any other, prides itself in story telling, it's not that often that you hear country songs about the gentle indignities of an elder star sliding out of mainstream popularity. It's even rarer to hear the topic covered with so much gentle ironic humour and grace as it is in the Bobby Braddock penned ‘Would You Catch a Falling Star’, the second single from the “I Just Came Home to Count the Memories” album. The song, with its lilting melodic chorus and humour mixed with the pathos of a once big time star now reduced to a boozed-up has-been performing to the handful of fans still loyal to him, offering a woman a song in return for the care and attention he needs, reached # 6 -
“… He had a silver plated bus / and a million country fans / Now there's just a few of us / and he drives a little van /
And they were beatin' down his door / the lovely women left and right /
And now he's on a hardwood floor / a wonderin' where he'll spend the night …”


It was Anderson’s next album, the critically acclaimed 1982 “Wild & Blue” album, which secured him a place among the leading country artists of his generation. The albums’s lead single and title track written by John Sherrill, was his 11th hit song but marked the first time he topped the chart at # 1. In short, leading to Anderson’s mainstream success and remains a cornerstone of his deep catalog of killer country tunes. It’s a fine bluegrass-tinged song in which Anderson sings in the true bluegrass Bill Monroe style “high and lonesome” voice, quite different from his normal singing style. His sister, Donna Kay, Anderson provides background vocals -

‘Wild and Blue’ has lived on. Hank Williams Jr. covered it on his 1984 “Major Moves” album. Punk-folk band The Mekons covered it on their 1991 album “Curse of the Mekons”. The alt-country band Freakwater also recorded their cover in 1991, for their "Dancing Under Water" album. The 2014 re-issue of Lucinda Williams' self-titled album includes a live cover of "Wild and Blue", recorded on her 1989 European tour. The Country/Southern Rock Band The Steel Woods covered it on their 2017 album “Straw in the Wind” and it was also covered by Brent Cobb on the 2022 John Anderson tribute album “Something Borrowed, Something New”.

Anderson’s breakthrough 1982 “Wild & Blue” album included Anderson’s first million-selling single, ‘Swingin’. Co-written with his old friend and running partner Lionel Delmore, it shot to #1 and became his signature hit of that time. ‘Swinging’ went on to become the biggest selling country record in Warners’ history. Its massive commercial success may have owed something to its skilful depiction of an all-American South down-home family scene. In it, for example, you have a father “… in the back yard rolling up a hose …”, his son “… on the sofa eating chocolate pie …” while the mother “… is in the kitchen cutting chicken up to fry …”. At the same time, the 2 young lovers who are the central fingers in the song are “swingin” in that most Southern American of institutions, the front porch swing. Along with this perhaps calculated appeal to US audiences, however, the song also has an infectious catchiness and good humour to it which also help explain its popularity -

‘Swingin won the 1983 CMA Single of the Year award and helped Anderson garner that organization’s Horizon Award. ‘Swingin’ was named Song of the Year at the 1983 Music City Awards.

Having explained above the immense influence of Lefty Frizzell, I thought it appropriate to include this third song from Anderson’s seminal “Wild & Blue” album, though it was never released as a single. Despite mastering Lefty’s legendary note bending and vowel stretching syllables, Anderson isn’t anything like merely a Lefty Frizzell copyist. Rather he has long since internalised that great singer’s influence and developed a singing style which sometimes resembles Lefty (with undertastes of Haggard and Jones), but is very much his own. He recorded excellent cover versions of 2 songs Lefty Frizzell songs. These were ‘I Love You A Thousand Ways’ which appeared on his second album, 1981’s “John Anderson 2” and the timeless classic ‘Long Black Veil’ (see post # 218), which he recorded as a duet with another of his musical heroes and fellow Lefty Frizzell devotee, Merle Haggard,

n 2019, Frizzell's version of ‘Long Black Veil’ was selected by the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

“All the People Are Talkin”, album brought us the anti-drunk driving song ‘Let Somebody Else Drive’ and also included Anderson's answer to Jerry Reed's black sheep anthem ‘Alabama Wild Man’. Anyone who says saxophone doesn't belong on a country track clearly never heard ‘Black Sheep’, which became his 3rd #1 hit in 1983. In the song, a young man, one of 4 siblings, moans that he is the family's “black sheep”, while his older brother and little sister have become very successful – the brother as a prominent physician, the sister after marrying a successful banker – and often brag about the things they've been able to do with their money. Meantime, the young man, a financially challenged, over-worked, truck driver, bemoans he is only able to afford a 2 room shack while his wife has to work to help make ends meet.

But here, one must consider the "Black Sheep" of the family in Anderson's well sung hit song is the only one that actually is a credit to his upbringing - NOT the rich doctor older brother of his who makes millions ripping off the medical insurance plans of those lucky enough to have insurance. Nor is his gold-digging sister who married the mega-rich banker owning the country club and Japanese yacht. The only one who truly learned the lessons of his honorable father, the "highball train" brakeman is the singer touting his "black sheep" reputation. He has a simple, respectable, hard working life driving a truck, supporting his kids and an understanding, supportive wife, who rubs his painful back at nights. He promotes good values in their children by suggesting prayer and he's kind to animals like his dogs.

So, in true country music tradition, it’s the “black sheep” who’s the real winner! Not the rich bastard brother who, with his ill-gotten gains, could’ve helped his little brother and his back breaking job. Nor his (again) gold-digging sister who is only interested in the banker for his money. The singer put family, values and integrity above money. He loves his wife and tells her to "… wake me up early, be good to my dogs and teach my children to pray" -


So we pause again, at the end of 1983, with Anderson just achieving his 3rd # 1 hit and 15 songs placed in the Top 15 since 1979. At this point in his career, at age 28, John Anderson appeared to be on a roll both in a commercial and an artistic sense. It was from this point onwards, however, that the sure touch he had displayed up to then began gradually to fade. In part, this was due to the emergence of a group of young imitators of his back to basics approach to country music (lead by George Strait and including Randy Travis and Dwight Yoakam) on to the music scene, the neo-traditionalists, who combined country music tradition with greater sensitivity to ensuring the commercial appeal of their music than Anderson.

The eventual result of this relative dip in Anderson’s commercial popularity was that Warner Brothers let Anderson go in 1986 and he subsequently signed to MCA Records. This marked the beginning of a relatively fallow period in his career, at least in sales terms, and, as the 1980’s ticked over to the 1990’s, most thought his days as a contemporary top charting artist were over. But Anderson had other ideas, as we will see - tomorrow.

 

[Professor Knowall]

It was clear by 1990 that John Anderson needed to refine and refresh his musical style if he were to regain the commercial success he’d had in the early 1980’s. The first step towards this revival in his fortunes came in 1991 when he signed with the BNA label in Nashville. The label then partnered him with a new producer, James Stroud, who had previously worked on records by artists like Hank Williams Jr. and Carlene Carter. Stroud’s previous work had demonstrated he was comfortable with introducing elements from rock, folk and even pop music elements into the records. This approach worked well with Anderson, whose own instincts lay in a similar direction albeit so long as this did not interfere with the country “feel”, which always underlay his work. By this time too, his own songwriting had achieved a new maturity and the subject matter of his lyrics had gained a great deal both in range and depth.

The results of this new musical partnership were to be outstanding ones. Indeed, it is arguable the albums Anderson made with Stroud (either as producer or co-producer) over the following 4 years represent the most consistently excellent body of work he has produced in his career. The first of these collaborations, “Seminole Wind”, released in 1992, contains several of Anderson’s best songs and produced no less than 4 Top 7 hits, one of which went all the way to # 1 - and another that has lived on to become his signature song. After 11 consecutive misses, failing to land any song into the Top 20 over the previous 6 years since 1986, the 1992 seminal “Seminole Wind” album kicked off the comeback of the decade, propelling one of the best 1980’s traditionalists into a new creative and commercial peak.

December 1991 saw the release of ‘Straight Tequila Night’, penned by Debbie Hupp and Kent Robbins, as the 2nd single from the up-coming “Seminole Wind”. With a strong hook and a beautiful fiddle track perfectly intertwined with Anderson’s distinctive vocals, the record rejuvenated Anderson’s career, and rightfully so - this is masterfully emblematic of the early 1990s country sound. It was a slow burn at first, but shortly after the release of the “Seminole Wind” album in February it soared all the way to # 1 in March 1992, Anderson’s first # 1 since “Black Sheep” topped the chart 9 years previous in 1983 and sealed his comeback as a relevant chart-topping artist.

In ‘Straight Tequila Night’, Anderson takes us inside the honky-tonk - and a heartbreak - in a song about a woman (rather than the usual honky tonk subject of a drunken heart-broken man), whose drink of choice also doubles as a warning to any man who dare approach her. It finds Anderson treading lightly around the broken-hearted barfly. The singer kindly advises a fellow patron about how to woo her - but was quick to warn that she's known for hitting rock-bottom if tequila starts flowing -
“… She just loves to hear the music and dance / K13 is her favorite song / If you play it, you might have a chance /
Tonight she's only sippin' white wine / She's friendly and fun lovin' most of the time /
But don't ask her on a straight tequila night / She'll start thinkin' about him, and she's ready to fight /
Blames her broken heart on every man in sight / On a straight tequila night …”

‘Straight Tequila Night’ was covered by Ashley McBryde on the 2022 John Anderson tribute album “Something Borrowed, Something New”.

‘When It Comes To You’ was written by Mark Knopfler for the 1991 Dire Straits album ‘On Every Street’. But Anderson’s cover is the version most people think of when they remember this song – maybe even Mark Knopfler himself, considering he contributes guitar to Anderson’s version. The 3rd single from the “Seminole Wind” album, it peaked at # 3 in 1992. From the bigger focus on robust groove to the far moodier, menacing tone from a character truly broken down to his core, this track truly comes alive under Anderson’s hand. His delivery can be buttery sweet when he wants to let his melancholy linger, but this catches him in rare defensive form, where if this relationship is destined to sink he’s going to make sure he’s thrown the last verbal punch. It’s a definite mood piece, but one that can throw its weight behind its sentiment to be so much more -


Anderson wrote the albums title song ‘Seminole Wind’ and released it as the album’s 4th single in 1992. It “only” peaked at # 2 on the U.S. chart, but went all the way to # 1 in Canada. It would undoubtedly had top the U.S. chart had it not already been been included as the B-side of the album's 2nd single release, ‘Straight Tequila Night’, before it became recognised as a great song in its own right.

Anderson is an underrated songwriter, and there’s no better example of that than ‘Seminole Wind’. It covers a topic not typically heard about in country music, which is strange, given its affinity for the rural outdoors. You’ll certainly hear all the tales of how much better country life is versus life in the city, but nothing quite like this. And I’m not sure we’ll ever hear anything quite like it again – a song that can approach political territory in its ties to Native American history and Anderson’s own personal ties to their ancestral land with a harrowing look at the tensions between the natural and artificial elements of the Florida Everglades topography – the destruction of natural land and resources for financial gain, in other words; greed, to put it bluntly.

For most, particularly 30 years on, this is Anderson’s enduring signature song. A native of Florida, John Anderson, a real outdoorsman, an avid hunter and fisher in the Florida swamps, no doubt drew on his personal experience of the Seminole land when he wrote "Seminole Wind." It's a vividly-imagined story song about how people - and specifically, white settlers invading Seminole Native American land - gutted the Everglades in pursuit of wealth and progress. It showcases not only his knowledge of history and love and respect for Mother Nature but also his ability to paint a vivid picture with words. One of the few to deal with conservation issues; it does so in a very subtle and poetic way and the lyric is, perhaps, Anderson’s most accomplished to date. When combined with its haunting melody, this renders the song a remarkably impressive one even by his own previous standards -
“… Ever since the days of old / Men would search for wealth untold / They'd dig for silver and for gold / And leave the empty holes / And way down south in the Everglades / Where the black water rolls and the saw grass waves /
The eagles fly and the otters play in the land of the Seminole … -


‘Let Go Of The Stone’ written by father and son Max D. Barnes and Max T. Barnes, was released in 1992 as the 5th single from his seminal “Seminole Wind” album. Reaching # 7, the heartfelt song, somewhat reminiscent in theme of the immortal Hank Williams standard, ‘Cold, Cold Heart’, explores the theme of letting go of the past and moving on from a toxic relationship. The song uses the metaphor of wading out in deep water without knowing how to swim to signify the danger of holding onto a failed romance. In the first verse, the protagonist is warned the relationship is over, but despite this, they choose to continue following their ex-partner. This decision is compared to being caught in a whirlpool of emotions, which indicates the relationship has become turbulent and out of control. The line "… It's killing you, but you won't let him go …" expresses the emotional toll the protagonist is enduring by holding onto a relationship already ended.

The chorus, "… Let go of the stone, if you don't want to drown / in the sea of heartache that's dragging you down…" urges the protagonist to release the burdensome memories and emotions tied to the failed relationship. The "stone" symbolizes the emotional baggage they carry, which prevents them from moving forward and finding happiness. The repetition of the line emphasises the importance of letting go, not only for her (and their?) own well-being. Then In the second verse, the singer urges the protagonist not only to let go of the past but to put her trust fully in himself -
“… You should realise the danger and the hurt you're headed for / Put your arms around me and swim with me to shore /
Let go of that old memory I know it's hard to do / But I'll be here holding on to you …” -


As his 1992 comeback, Anderson didn't just stumble upon a string of great hit singles. His “Seminole Wind album was full of up-tempo twangy rabble raisers mixed with moving, yearning ballads. Of course, he wasn't really riding the crest of new country that swept the early 1990’s, led by Garth Brooks; instead he was harking back to its more traditional roots. But while able to bridge the gap between old and new, he also demonstrates his ability to meld the two as he mourns the erosion of small towns and southern culture in general, in ‘Look Away’ - the song title taken, of course, from the famous repeating chorus of the Southern anthem ‘Dixieland’

The first verse has “Bobby” visiting his old home town in Georgia, only to find it deserted due to a shopping mall out of town on the interstate highway junction (and yes, this has really happened - and ruined - hundreds or thousands of small U.S. towns - one sees mostly deserted small town main streets all over the place). He also notices the “… Southern belles talking like Valley Girls …”, Valley girls referring to the Californian accent (Valley Girls being from L.A.’s suburban San Fernando Valley) imported into the South via the pernicious cultural influence of Californian made TV shows and movies (and I’ve noticed the same thing especially amongst too many Australian girls). It concludes with - “… He scratched his head and said, "What in the world?"

The second verse sees “Johnny” taking a trip to his Florida hometown, but “… At first he thought that he was on the wrong road / 'Cause he didn't see any orange groves / Now, trailer parks and condos grew on the land that he once knew / … There were strangers everywhere he went / with loud sport shirts and strange accents / They took the north and they moved it south, he said, "Shut my redneck mouth!". Thirty years on from this song sees millions of more northerners having moved to Florida. Even Anderson’s old small home town has now been gobbled up by the ever rapidly expanding Orlando suburbia.

In the third and final verse, Billy returns to his Tennessee town, being Nashville, only to find it’s now just a big, impersonal city, not “… the land of his dreams …”. He looked for “… some barbecue at a little place that he once knew / But all he found were sushi bars / and dealerships for foreign cars / And buildings that reached for the sky, he said, "Where the hell am I?" …”. Well, let me tell you, Nashville’s growing like crazy now - it’s a helluva lot bigger than 30 years ago. Anyway, what’s left to the song is the repeating chorus, acknowledging the changes but lamenting what’s now gone -
“… Dixie's had a facelift, I guess she's looking better / But I kinda liked the old one, I never will forget her /
Look away, gone away, far away, Dixieland …” -


So with John Anderson’s comeback with his string of hits from 1992 seminal “Seminole Wind’ album, including it’s beautiful title track, he wasn’t so washed up everyone thought - and the rejuvenated Anderson had more to give, but that’s more than enough for today.

 

[Professor Knowall]

Ready for another John Anderson day. The rich musical vein which Anderson had explored on the 1992 “Seminole Wind” album was further mined on his follow-up album, “Solid Ground”, his 13th studio album, released in 1993. So let’s get straight to it.

Written by Bob DiPiero, John Jarrard and Mark D. Sanders, ‘Money In The Bank’ was the lead single from the “Solid Ground” album. Anderson typically included at least a couple of up-beat and often humorous songs to balance his albums so they weren’t all just full of slow, serious or sad songs. ‘Money In The Bank’ represents the cleverness and fun of revved-up, honky tonk-inspired songs of circa 1993, and it hit the mark with his audience, who took it all the way to # 1, Anderson’s 5th and last # 1 hit (so far). In the song, Anderson finds a woman worth spending all his money. Lyrically, it spoke to fans who've learned a worthwhile partner is worth more than easy money -


‘I’ve Got It Made’, written by Max D. Barnes, was the 3rd single from the “Solid Ground“ album and reached # 3. The song explores about the idea true happiness and contentment are found in the simple things in life, rather than in material possessions. The narrator describes a hot but high-dollar woman in a low-cut dress and a 40 room mansion - both unattainable for him, but he recognises these aren't needed to make him happy. Instead, he finds joy in the natural beauty of the world, the love of his partner, and the company of good friends. The lyrics suggest the pursuit of wealth and status can be a hollow pursuit, and true happiness is found in the things that can't be bought. The narrator values a cane pole and a shady spot to sit over a gold mine or a long limousine, and he considers the moon and stars above are worth more than mere material possessions. So, in keeping with the long tradition of country music appealing to the working class and battlers, ‘I've Got It Made’ is an up-beat celebration of the joys of simple living and a reminder that the things that truly matter in life are often the ones that can't be bought with money -

In August 2020, Josh Turner recorded a cover version of "I've Got It Made" featuring Anderson on duet vocals on his “Country State of Mind” album.

Consider ‘I Wish I Could Have Been There’, that Anderson co-wrote with Kent Robbins, as the forlorn early 1990’s country music answer to Cat Steven’s classic ‘Cat's in the Cradle’. Anderson sings from the perspective of a father who regrets prioritising work over time with his kids. Released in 1994 as the 4th and final single from the “Solid Ground” album and peaked at # 4. Anderson’s naturally affecting vocal sells the nuanced emotion of the narrator aware of the rift that lost time has caused between him and his children. It’s not as dark and heavy as its source material, but it’s certainly more melancholic and better sketched-out from the perspective of the touring musician (or truck-driver or salesman etc) constantly torn away. And so you have it – a tried-and-true heartbreaking country song on a theme that’s all too often true and life -
“… Little Bobby hit his first home run / He was the hero of the home town crowd / Two to one, it was a winning run / Everybody was cheering loud / And mommy she was smilin' saying he's a chip off of the old block /
But I was on the road somewhere between Memphis and Little Rock …” -


‘Bend It Until It Breaks’, another Anderson co-write with his old mate, Lionel Delmore, was released in 1994 as the 2nd single from his “Country 'til I Die” album. It reached # 4. Here, Anderson lets intensity fly in full force with a fantastic fiddle lead by Joe Spivey, a haunting melody, excellent solo, and smouldering outro. The narrator seems a hen-pecked man (though the reverse also often applies) who’s had enough, refusing to let a partner emotionally manipulate him further as he just wants desperately to escape the toxic cycle. And yet, for all the apparent exasperation of the lyrics, it’s surprising how infectious this is -
“I'm tired of having all these troubles / Think I've had enough / Excuse me for saying, but baby / I'm calling your bluff …” -


‘Mississippi Moon’ penned by Tony Joe White and Carson Whitsett, was released in 1995 as the 3rd and final single from his ‘Country 'til I Die” album and reached # 15. Anderson appropriately shows off his bluesy side in this evocative love letter to the Deep South - specifically the Mississippi Delta. Now, way back in post # 528, I wrote quite a bit about the delta that Anderson here pays homage too. I’ll just include a couple of paragraphs from that post -

“I can't overstate just how important the Mississippi delta - and one can include the Arkansas delta area on the other side - is
to American and world popular music. To name just the greatest legends of the many blues greats from the delta - Son House, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, BB King, Elmore James, Memphis Slim, John Lee Hooker, Bo Carter, T-Bone Walker and on it goes. The great migration of 400,000 delta residents (escaping abject poverty and the mechanisation of the cotton fields) to the big northern industrial cities like Detroit and Chicago spread the blues to these cities, where the likes of Muddy Waters pioneered the electrified Chicago blues (which led on to The Rolling Stones and heavymetal etc).

But the delta and nearby areas also produced more than it share of country legends - from the heavily blues influenced Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams, then Elvis Presley from just beyond the other side of Choctaw Ridge to Johnny Cash on the Arkansas side, Jerry Lee Lewis, Charley Pride and Conway Twitty. So, with so many blues and country legends hailing from this most southern heartland of the south, it's ground zero to visit, wander around and explore, places like the crossroads (in Clarksdale) where Robert Johnson supposedly "sold his sold to the devil" for his mastery of the guitar (and made famous by a later blues legend, Eric Clapton - a frequent delta visitor). … For me, the delta, with it's flat cotton fields and it's small languid towns, each with its honky tonk bars - and one surviving juke-joint in Clarksdale - has a sort of magic
in its very air”.

So, though not one of Anderson’s big hits, one can see why I just had to include this in my song selection -

‘Mississippi Moon’ was covered by Eric Church on the 2022 John Anderson tribute album “Something Borrowed, Something New“.

So it’s time to call it a night once again, leaving off in 1995 with John Anderson now aged 40 - but tomorrow will bring his career and music right up to date, with another career drop-off - and another revival.

 

[Professor Knowall]

Today will complete John Anderson’s career right up to now, starting from where we left him off, in the 1990’s.

I’m starting with a song that can be something of a clique, given the vast number of country songs that talk about small towns - only natural, given the rural origins and traditions of country music. Give me just one hour and (with the help of the internet), I could easily list 100 songs about or referencing small towns, mostly sung by artists who actually grew up in them (as did I). So rich is this field, it’s also spilled over to rock, so, to make my choices to list easier, I’ll just list 3 rock small town songs, the first two sung by artists who also grew up in a small town. These are
1) ‘My Home Town’, from Bruce Springsteen’s 1985 “Born In The USA” album
2) ‘Small Town’, a big hit for John Mellencamp in 1985.
3) ‘Quiet Town’, a more contemporary example from The Killers in 2020.

Anderson’s ‘Small Town’, co-written with Gary Scruggs, released in 1997 as a single from his ‘Takin’ the Country Back’ album. is like a reprise of the lovely, nostalgic hit ‘1959’, with a gorgeously simple melody, exquisite steel guitar from Paul Franklin, and bits of poetry like - “That rich young widow keeps talking to the preacher / Lord help their souls be saved”. Showing that Anderson’s career was heading into another commercial decline, it only reached # 44 - it’s hobbled only by a meh chorus, but some up-front mandolin and Anderson’s ever searching baritone are redeeming. The song captures the essence of small town life with the storylines of small town gossip, people leaving town and never coming back (an all too real small town problem) and familiar sights and sounds of childhood and youth. Unlike many songs about small towns, this gives both the positives and negatives (though more negatives than positives) of a small town - though which is what depends on one’s preferences or stage of life -
“… You can count the stars in the clear night sky / Or sit back and listen while the train rolls by /
Hey it's a small town / They roll the sidewalks up / Come around sundown …” -

For the last 40 years, Anderson has lives in a property on the edge of a small Tennessee town of Smithville, some 100 km’s out of Nashville.

From the later 1990s onwards, however, Anderson’s career appeared to fall into something of a rut. While he continued to make some fine, if occasionally patchy, records, these did not match the high standards he had set with his earlier ones. The years started piling up for John Anderson. He spent the better part of 4 decades on the road, with his glory days of the early 1980’s then the early 1990’s laying the groundwork for years of touring and the occasional comeback. What was termed a comeback album of sorts, “Easy Money”, produced by John Rich of Big & Rich fame, appeared in 2007. “Bigger Hands” followed in 2009 and when he released “Goldmine” in 2015, he seemed on track to stay on this course until he suffered a serious health scare in the late 2010’s.

So some 50 years after it began, Anderson’s career seemingly came to an abrupt and unintended conclusion. It wasn’t due to retirement, but rather it was the result of a medical procedure, the details he kept quiet, that found him at death’s door in 2018, not once, but 3 times while on the operating table. When he came out of it, he had not only lost the ability to sing, but most of his hearing as well - “At one point, I had real questions and doubts if I’d ever be able to write or sing another song. I had been very sick and at one point I had lost 95 or 98 percent of my hearing, and of course at that point, I couldn’t play or sing. It was amazing how hard I was trying. I was playing guitar and trying to hear the same note. The people that were trying to help me, I could see in their eyes that it was real serious. It was pretty rough.”

“My hearing started coming back slowly. I had missed my music so much, and I remembered that old adage - ‘you don’t miss something til it goes away.’ Music’s been a big part of my life for nearly 60 years, and suddenly, not being able to do it was a real shock. On the other hand, I was so sick physically, I couldn’t hardly concentrate on not being able to hear.” Fortunately, the luck he had gained with his recovery luck didn’t end there. Seemingly out of nowhere, he got a call from an ardent fan, none other than the successful producer, songwriter, The Black Keys guitarist and vocalist, Dan Auerbach - , who just so happened to have been a long time John Anderson devotee. Dan asked if they write some songs together for an album.

Said Anderson - “Dan kind of convinced that we should at least try. I remember saying - ‘If we do this, we ought to treat it like it could be my last one.’ It wasn’t a matter of dying and not being able to do it. It was a matter of physically being able to do it, and knowing that at any minute, that hearing could go right back away and I wouldn’t able to sing again. I sure didn’t want to lose that again. ”Along with Auerbach’s collaborator David Ferguson and a number of gifted co-writers - Pat McLaughlin, Dee White, Joe Allen, Larry Cordle, Paul Overstreet, and Bobby Wood - they composed the 10 songs that comprise the “Years” album, Anderson’s 22nd studio album, released in 2020 just at the outset of the Covid lockdown, to much critical acclaim.

The heartfelt, time-seasoned and tender album reflects Anderson’s optimism, gratitude, honesty and outlook in the aftermath of an experience that almost stole his gift of music and his very life out from under him. Allusions to survival are scattered throughout “Years”. Coming out relatively late in his career, the album proved that Anderson's potent, one-of-a-kind voice was still strong and well intact at age 65 - even if he now looked old as Willie Nelson - and his emotional sensibilities were as sharp as ever, too.

The title of the first track, ‘I’m Still Hangin’ On,” does a pretty good job of giving you the gist of the song. It’s basically a “Yeah, I’ve been through the wringer but you can’t get rid of me yet” song, as Anderson confirms - The song is about all those folks that had kind of written me off. My wanting to play music again so badly was part of the inspiration”. The lyrics tells the story of a military veteran who suffers from PTSD, and the pain of losing friends, but against the odds, he’s still hanging in there -
“… So many friends along the way / I lost and they’re not here today / One wrong move and you’d be history /
I was tryin’ to pull my life together / You could knock me down with just a feather / How I’m still here remains a mystery …” -


Released as the album's second single oin2020, ‘Tuesday I’ll Be Gone’ features guest vocals from. Blake Shelton. The upbeat road song reminds me of another old song about Tuesday - Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Tuesday’s Gone’. They’re both affirmations of the carefree, living-like-a-breeze life and celebrations of the beauties and pleasures of the open road. Now anyone who follows this history series will know it’s oft interrupted by me hitting the road - as I will once again be gone in a couple of days. So of course, I relate to these road songs -
“… Take a ride down the road out in the country / And drive the long way around /
It don't matter which way or what direction / Long as I am freedom-bound …” -


Now for one we’ve seen before - and not so long ago, in post # 997, but it’s such an appropriate song for the history series, I thought let’s just play it again. The Bellamy brothers grew up (and still live) in a farm just out of Tampa, only some 100 km’s from where Anderson who grew up. Apart from music, they share similar outdoor interests with Anderson and their friendship stretches back some 40 years, so it was about time they worked on a son together.

As I wrote back then (# 987) - “‘No Country Music For Old Men’ was included on the Bellamy Brothers’ EP, “Bucket List”, released in 2020. Written by David Bellamy, the song was inspired by Kenny Rogers’ death - “Bucket List“ was meant to be light-hearted and up-tempo. We figured lockdown was depressing enough without lamenting more about hard times. Then Kenny Rogers passed away on March 20, and I wrote the song that night. It felt like in addition to the pandemic, there was a cloud over country music at that moment.” According to David, he kept hearing Anderson’s voice in his head singing the lines, so he and Howard decided to invite their longtime friend to join them on the track. The video captures the Bellamys and Anderson lamenting on the loss of the old guard interspersed with shots of Nashville’s historic landmarks and murals honouring the legends lost -

Notice how the last verse referenced the great George Jones classic from 1985 ‘Who’s Going To Fill Their Shoes? (See post # 412) - and suggests no-one has. For the record, the song name drops, or makes clear reference to the following legends, in order - Hank Williams (# 205-214), Patsy Cline (# 387-389), Lefty Frizzell (# 216-219), Merle Haggard (# 497-502), Dolly Parton (# 581-607), Buck Owens (# 456-463), Loretta Lynn (# 489-493), Conway Twitty (# 514-520), George Jones (# 405-412), Tammy Wynette (# 503-506), Johnny Cash (# 338-345), and June Carter-Cash (# 222).

Early in this history series, I often held a “special” song back to the end of a featured artist. I ain’t done that for a while and here, it’s only slightly delayed by one place. The title track of “Years” is a powerful reflection on the passage of time, and the importance of letting go. is a both a Power Ballad and a powerful ballad. The lyrics are reinforced by music that could serve as a big ballad spot on any classic metal album, complete with piercing guitar solos. But it’s all anchored by Anderson’s ever sensitive vocal, which keeps the song focused on the passage of time and the ties that bind. ‘Years’ is a gem of a song -
“…You and me came to be / We raised a family / When we're gone, they live on / To see what we won't see /
Don't look back in sorrow / The children have tomorrow …” -


John Anderson has had a lot to be thankful for. In addition to finding major success as a performer, Anderson also achieved significant acclaim for his nuance and depth as a songwriter. That talent for emotional delivery only deepened with time and age, and he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2022, his small home town of Smithville, where he has lived for over 40 years with his family, changed the name of a downtown lane, Walnut Alley, to John Anderson Alley in a ceremony honouring him.

Following the critical acclaim of the 2020 “Years” album, in 2022 tribute album “Something Borrowed, Something New” that saw selections from Tyler Childers, Eric Church, and Sierra Ferrell, which speaks volumes to Anderson’s lasting influence. Fortunately - actually very fortunately, John Anderson has survived long enough - and kept working at hid craft - to reach a status of a living icon of country music, very widely admired by a new generation of country musicians. His status was confirmed and capped off just over 2 months ago, in March 2024, with Anderson finally announced to be the latest inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame in.

Truly living out his songs, Anderson has lived the Country lifestyle for more than 45 years, once he broke through to success and was able to purchase a property just out of Nashville. When not on the road, Anderson enjoyed spending time with his family, hunting and fishing expeditions (he has appeared on a number of TV shows about his hunting and fishing pursuits) and gardening. Anderson and his wife of more than 40 years, Jamie, reside on the family estate with their 2 daughters and their families - “I’ve been very fortunate and blessed to have such a great family life”.

And with John Anderson complete, it means once again I’ll be hitting the country roads once again - while I have my house in Melbourne, I’m really rarely there, you may notice. My house might be in Melbourne but I’m really at home on the road. But I’m sure I’ll be back at some stage with more country music history, plunging back to the early 1980’s with another artist.

 

[catscratchfever]

I've recently started listening to some of Jerry Lee Lewis' country stuff - just beautiful.

 

[PatsFitztrick]

I've recently started listening to some of Jerry Lee Lewis' country stuff - just beautiful.

Absolutely. Here's Jerry Lee singing Hank Williams, back in 1983...

 

[Professor Knowall]

I've recently started listening to some of Jerry Lee Lewis' country stuff - just beautiful.

Absolutely. Here's Jerry Lee singing Hank Williams, back in 1983...

A rock’n’roll legend and country music great (inducted into both the respective Hall’s Of Fame), Jerry Lee’s potted history appears in posts # 349 to 352, with some extras on posts # 365 to 367. A brilliant piano player, Lewis started his professional music career as the session pianist for Sun Studio, playing in recordings for the likes of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash before making his own mark. He grew up in a very musical family, and in the fertile music area of Ferriday, on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi Delta, as outlined in post # 349 -

“Lewis grew up in an area which was overwhelmingly black and thus dominated by the blues, traditional spirituals, gospel and rythmic field chants (when cotton was still hand picked). Now Ferriday is an interesting little place - still full of churches, still dirt poor and still a Delta Blues centre. But Lewis also listened to the Grand Ole Opry and the Louisiana Hayride on the radio. One of his earliest heroes was the East Texas singer-pianist Moon Mullican (posts # 198-199), one of his key influences on piano. His other country heroes were the 2 legends, Jimmie Rodgers (# 120-122) and Hank Williams (# 205-214).

 

[catscratchfever]

A rock’n’roll legend and country music great (inducted into both the respective Hall’s Of Fame), Jerry Lee’s potted history appears in posts # 349 to 352, with some extras on posts # 365 to 367. A brilliant piano player, Lewis started his professional music career as the session pianist for Sun Studio, playing in recordings for the likes of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash before making his own mark. He grew up in a very musical family, and in the fertile music area of Ferriday, on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi Delta, as outlined in post # 349 -

“Lewis grew up in an area which was overwhelmingly black and thus dominated by the blues, traditional spirituals, gospel and rythmic field chants (when cotton was still hand picked). Now Ferriday is an interesting little place - still full of churches, still dirt poor and still a Delta Blues centre. But Lewis also listened to the Grand Ole Opry and the Louisiana Hayride on the radio. One of his earliest heroes was the East Texas singer-pianist Moon Mullican (posts # 198-199), one of his key influences on piano. His other country heroes were the 2 legends, Jimmie Rodgers (# 120-122) and Hank Williams (# 205-214).

The recent doco, Trouble In Mind, is well worth watching.

 

[rank and file]

Love this bit of modern country,replete with Aussie twang.

 

[Schauermann]

I drink alot, but I am not lying when I say Dale Watson was great again tonight. Glad he plays a some of his very rare European club shows in Hamburg...

Only that I had a little too much JD for getting up at 5 AM for work tomorrow...

 

[Professor Knowall]

I drink a lot, but I am not lying when I say Dale Watson was great again tonight. Glad he plays a some of his very rare European club shows in Hamburg ...

Jeesuz, you get to some great gigs in Hamburg - Dale Watson has never quite made it big in the mainstream but on the traditional Texan honky tonk scene, with his mix of old school honky tonk and some western swing, this bloke is revered.

And of course the opening lines bolded above is a call for this -

 

[Schauermann]

Jeesuz, you get to some great gigs in Hamburg -

Not very popular music in Germany. Only a few enthusiasts booking those gigs. Dale Watson propably had a crowd of 200. Most other gigs they do are more like 50. But I really enjoy those small gigs that feel more like a barroom than like music club.

Yeehaw-Hamburg Konzerte | Hamburg

Yeehaw-Hamburg Konzerte, Hamburg. 1,072 likes · 6 talking about this. 👉 Real music. For real people.👈

www.facebook.com

 

[Professor Knowall]

Not very popular music in Germany. Only a few enthusiasts booking those gigs. Dale Watson propably had a crowd of 200. Most other gigs they do are more like 50. But I really enjoy those small gigs that feel more like a barroom than like music club.

Yeehaw-Hamburg Konzerte | Hamburg

Yeehaw-Hamburg Konzerte, Hamburg. 1,072 likes · 6 talking about this. 👉 Real music. For real people.👈

www.facebook.com

That’s exactly the type of gigs I love - intimate barroom or honky tonk venues, and very rarely mainstream.

Meanwhile, I’ve somehow found myself in Samoa over the last few days. My first hour and a bit here was bizarre, as my driver taking me to the opposite side of the island where I was required, aged 25 (but already married with kids in typical island style), actually loved old school country music and his favourite, which he played for an hour on the drive, was, of all the old time artists, the now relatively obscure Don Williams (posts 757-759)! He was singing along word for word to his songs and seemed totally unsurprised that I also knew the singer and his songs. It seems everyone here likes songs to sing along to, so a lot of classic old school country appeals to them - but I was still staggered about a bloke in his 20’s knowing the music of Don Williams (dec).

Anyway, I’ll be back to wintry Melbourne in a couple of days, in town just long enough for another history instalment, from circa 1980.

 

[stax on the mull]

R.I.P. to the "singing Texan Jew" Kinky Friedman. (1 Nov 1944 - 27 June 2024). Writer of the sh*t-stirring classics: "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore", and the song that earned him the Male Chauvinist Pig of The Year Award in 1973, "Get Your Biscuits In The Oven and Your Buns In The Bed".

He also wrote some sensitive ballads - of particular greatness are: "Ride 'Em Jewboy" - an allegorical c&w tribute to the victims of the holocaust and "Sold American", title song of his 1973 debut album for Vanguard Records.

Found this curious rendition of the latter song performed with Bob Dylan playing some less is more style accompanying guitar on a live TV recording for a Jewish Telethon.