“The Stories Behind The Songs” John Henderson The Stories Behind The Songs A compilation of “inside stories” behind classic country hits and the artists associated with them John Debbie & John By John Henderson (Arrangement by Debbie Henderson) A fascinating and entertaining look at the life and recording efforts of some of country music’s most talented singers and songwriters 1 Author’s Note My background in country music started before I even reached grade school. I was four years old when my uncle, Jack Henderson, the program director of 50,000 watt KCUL-AM in Fort Worth/Dallas, came to visit my family in 1959. He brought me around one hundred and fifty 45 RPM records from his station (duplicate copies that they no longer needed) and a small record player that played only 45s (not albums). I played those records day and night, completely wore them out. From that point, I wanted to be a disc jockey. But instead of going for the usual “comedic” approach most DJs took, I tried to be more informative by dropping in tidbits of a song’s background, something that always fascinated me. Originally with my “Classic Country Music Stories” site on Facebook (which is still going strong), and now with this book, I can tell the whole story, something that time restraints on radio wouldn’t allow. I began deejaying as a career at the age of sixteen in 1971, most notably at Nashville’s WENO-AM and WKDA- AM, Lakeland, Florida’s WPCV-FM (past winner of the “Radio Station of the Year” award from the Country Music Association), and Springfield, Missouri’s KTTS AM & FM and KWTO-AM, but with syndication and automation which overwhelmed radio some twenty-five years ago, my final DJ position ended in 1992. Since November of 1995, I’ve been a studio engineer at Meyer Communications, a group of radio stations in Springfield, Missouri. This continues my association with KWTO as it is now owned by that company. My parents actually met at KWTO in 1944 (Dad was hired away from KRLD in Dallas, while my mother was already working at the station as part of Aunt Martha Haworth’s “KWTO Belles” group). It was love at first sight and after a whirlwind courtship and marriage, they left KWTO and moved on to Nashville’s WLAC-AM to begin their duet act. My boss Ken Meyer, owner of Meyer Communications, gets a kick out of telling people that I got my “start” at KWTO, (a term most often used to describe an announcer’s first radio job). In Nashville, my parents adapted their stage name of “Ted and Wanda,” and achieved some regional success throughout the south via WLAC’s 50,000 watt signal. After only a few years, however, Dad grew disenchanted with the music business. They retired from the industry in 1951 and moved back to Southwest Missouri where my mother was raised. I was born in 1955. Dad’s older sister Dot, along with her husband Smokey, appeared for several years on the Grand Ole Opry and toured with Ernest Tubb’s entourage in the late 1940s, performing with Tubb at New York City’s Carnegie Hall in 1947 at the first of two famous country music concerts held there. Her daughter Dottie was married for a number of years to Hank Snow’s son, noted evangelist Jimmie Rodgers Snow, and is now married to songwriter Glenn Douglas Tubb, (Ernest Tubb’s nephew). Glenn’s most famous composition is Henson Cargill’s 1968 classic “Skip A Rope.” He also penned Johnny Cash’s “Home of the Blues” in 1958 and George Jones and Tammy Wynette’s last major hit “Two Story House” in 1980. Dad’s younger sister Irene Gibbs worked for Cash, serving as his personal secretary from 1973 through 1988. 2 I have always been fascinated with country music due to my family’s close relationship with those in the industry. The stories presented in this volume are for the entertainment of those who read them. My sources for these stories are numerous and I continue to edit them on a regular basis. I have attempted to provide a glimpse of unusual or remarkable events which make the stories interesting in their context of the recording industry. I am continually updating and researching the original stories as I interview people connected with them. Much has been written about the stars and their associates (writers, producers, musicians) who created these hits and I am hopeful that readers will be as enthused about reading these stories as I have been in presenting them here. - JH Dedication To my wife Debbie. Her inspiration and devotion nurtures my research and writing. Also to my late uncle Jack Henderson. Why he thought of his four-year-old nephew, I don’t know, but his gift of 150 duplicate 45 RPM records from his radio station in Fort Worth/Dallas in 1959 began my interest in the study of country music. 3 Contents VOLUME TWO: (alphabetized by artist) 1. WABASH CANNONBALL – Roy Acuff (1938) 2. TENNESSEE RIVER – Alabama (1980) 3. LOVE IN THE FIRST DEGREE – Alabama (1981) 4. WILD & BLUE – John Anderson (1982) 5. WICHITA LINEMAN – Glen Campbell (1968) 6. WILDWOOD FLOWER – The Carter Family (1928) 7. SUNDAY MORNING COMING DOWN – Johnny Cash (1970) 8. CRAZY – Patsy Cline (1962) 9. HOLDING HER AND LOVING YOU – Earl Thomas Conley (1983) 10. LAST DATE – Floyd Cramer (1960) 11. BIG BAD JOHN – Jimmy Dean (1961) 12. READY FOR THE TIMES TO GET BETTER – Crystal Gayle (1978) 13. ODE TO BILLIE JOE – Bobbie Gentry (1967) 14. STAND BY ME – Mickey Gilley (1980) 15. YOU DON’T KNOW ME – Mickey Gilley (1981) 16. STATUE OF A FOOL – Jack Greene (1969) 17. ALWAYS WANTING YOU – Merle Haggard (1975) 18. BIG CITY – Merle Haggard (1982) 19. THE YEAR THAT CLAYTON DELANEY DIED – Tom T. Hall (1971) 20. LUCKENBACH, TEXAS (Back to the Basics of Love) – Waylon Jennings (1977) 21. MAMMAS DON’T LET YOUR BABIES GROW UP TO BE COWBOYS – Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson (1978) 22. HE STOPPED LOVING HER TODAY – George Jones (1980) 23. PLEASE HELP ME, I’M FALLING – Hank Locklin (1960) 24. I WAS COUNTRY WHEN COUNTRY WASN’T COOL – Barbara Mandrell (1981) 25. IS THERE LIFE OUT THERE – Reba McEntire (1992) 26. AM I LOSING YOU – Ronnie Milsap (1981) 27. (THERE’S) NO GETTIN’ OVER ME – Ronnie Milsap (1981) 28. NOBODY LOVES ME LIKE YOU DO – Anne Murray and Dave Loggins (1984) 29. ALWAYS ON MY MIND – Willie Nelson (1982) 30. TAKE THIS JOB AND SHOVE IT – Johnny Paycheck (1978) 31. NIGHT LIFE – Ray Price (1963) 32. FOR THE GOOD TIMES – Ray Price (1970) 33. HONKY TONK BLUES – Charley Pride (1980) 34. DRIVIN’ MY LIFE AWAY – Eddie Rabbitt (1980) 35. THERE WON’T BE ANYMORE – Charlie Rich (1974) 36. SHE CALLED ME BABY – Charlie Rich (1974) 37. EL PASO – Marty Robbins (1959) 38. COWARD OF THE COUNTY – Kenny Rogers (1980) 39. DEVIL IN THE BOTTLE – T. G. Sheppard (1975) 40. UNCLE PEN – Ricky Skaggs (1984) 41. I’M MOVIN’ ON – Hank Snow (1950) 42. DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE – The Statler Brothers (1978) 43. LET’S FALL TO PIECES TOGETHER – George Strait (1984) 44. DELTA DAWN – Tanya Tucker (1972) 45. FIFTEEN YEARS AGO – Conway Twitty (1970) 46. I’D LOVE TO LAY YOU DOWN – Conway Twitty (1980) 47. I DON’T KNOW A THING ABOUT LOVE (The Moon Song) – Conway Twitty (1984) 48. COLD, COLD HEART – Hank Williams (1951) 49. HONKY TONKIN’ – Hank Williams, Jr. (1982) 50. STAND BY YOUR MAN – Tammy Wynette (1968) Plus a bonus non-hit: OLD TIGE – Jim Reeves (recorded: 1961, single release: 1966) 4 The Story Behind The Song: “Wabash Cannonball” (written by Williams Kindt, adapted by A. P. Carter) Roy Acuff (#12 pop, 1938) Roy Acuff scored only a dozen times on the country music charts, never hitting any higher than #3. His recording career after the 1944 debut of what was then the hillbilly record tracking system is so insignificant that few except hardcore fans can name even one of these releases. His appearances on the pop chart numbered only four, with a total of just seven weeks spent in the top one hundred. Yet, Acuff is widely known and revered as “The King of Country Music,” and was the first living artist to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1962. In spite of not having the chart numbers to make him any more than a minor bit player, Roy Acuff remains a genuine star. A one-time baseball player, young Roy was a Baptist minister’s son who dreamed of playing major league baseball until a heat stroke confined him to bed for the better part of a year. While recuperating, he began to rethink his career aspirations. For a while he wondered if he was being led to preach. Then one day, while listening to his father’s collection of fiddle records, Roy began to scratch around on one of the family violins. In no time he taught himself to play almost all of the fiddle jigs he had heard as a child. After he regained his health, Acuff hit the road playing in medicine shows. As the 1930s approached, he had formed his own band, the Tennessee Crackerjacks, and worked dances all around the area of Knoxville, Tennessee. His first real break came in 1932 when he and his band landed a regular spot on the locally-popular “Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round” on WNOX. After about a year, Acuff brokered a deal with WROL which gave him his own show.