Backforty Bunkhouse Newsletter Cowtown Society of Western Music ‗2009 Publication of the Year‘ Distributed by BACKFORTY BUNKHOUSE PRODUCTIONS 106 Roswell St., Ruidoso, NM 88345 (575) 808-4111 Home of Backforty Roundup and CD Chorale Backforty Bunkhouse Publishing BMI Venue / Show Productions Western Music Radio Marketing www.Backforty Bunkhouse.com [email protected] www.MySpace.com/BackfortyBunkhouse Twitter.com/backfortyBH Joe Baker Publisher The Backforty Bunkhouse Newsletter is sent to over 700 email subscribers periodically and is growing every day. There are DJs, artists and fans whose interest are Western Swing, Cowboy Poetry, Cowboy Heritage and Texas Honky Tonk music gen- res. We solicit your comments, suggestions and ways we may better serve you. If you do not want to receive this newsletter and want to be removed from our mailing list, reply to this email by entering ―UNSUBSCRIBE‖ in the subject box of the email. Joe Baker's Top 20 – February, 2010 10. Lynn Anderson, Cowgirl II 11. Fred Hargrove, My Sacred Ground Est. January, 2007 Western Swing 12. Gil Prather, Last Of The Border Cowboys Howard Higgins, 13. Mel Brown, 1977 Co-Founder & Advisor 14. Horse Crazy, Daughters Of The West Joe Baker, Co-Founder 1. Rebecca Linda Smith, True Love 15. Linda Lee Filener, One Life To Live & Publisher 2. Johnny Lyon, Wynn Stewart Fav. Vol #2 16. Backforty Roundup Vol. #43 Totsie Slover, Editor 3. Carolyn Martin, Cookin‘ With Carolyn 17. Stardust Cowboys, Ridin‘ Back To You 4. Hank Stone, Somewhere In Texas 18. Bob & Johnny Boatright, Lost Trails 5. Cornell Hurd, American Shadows 19. Chuck Cusimano, Wind Blow My Blues Away 6. The Desperados, Lucky Seven 20. Flying J Wranglers, My Adobe Hacinda 7. Jerry Webb, Theres A Song In That 8. Kelly Lee James, Did You Take Time 9. D. McCall-C. Potter-T. Booth, The Survivors mtdradio.com 10. Brady Bowen In My Spare Time, Vol.#5 backfortybunkhouse.com Lefty Frizzell 11. Wendell Solis, The Sidekicks AKA William Orville Frizzell 12. Kevin Carter-Little Red Hayes, East Texas Born Mar 31, 1928 in Corsicana, 13. Willie Nelson, Willie & The Wheel TX Died Jul 19, 1975 in 14. Billy Mata, This Is Tommy Duncan Vol.#1 Nashville, TN 15. 15. Ron Knuth/Chris Reeves, Things That Lefty Frizzell was the definitive Swing nchacutting.com honky tonk singer, the vocalist 16. Tony Grasso, Doin‘ It My Way By Dugg Collins that set the style for generations of 17. Bobby Flores, Eleven Roses vocalists that followed him. Frizzell smoothed out the 18. Dugg Collins, Looking Back-1977 rough edges of honky tonk by singing longer, flowing 19. Liz Talley, More Than Satisfied phrases — essentially, he made honky tonk more ac- 20. Stephanie Davis, Western Bling mtdradio.com ceptable for the mainstream without losing its gritty, bar- backfortybunkhouse.com room roots. In the process, he changed the way country vocalists sang forever. From George Jones, Merle Hag- gard, and Willie Nelson to George Strait, John Ander- son, Randy Travis, and Keith Whitley, hundreds of art- Western Music/Cowboy Poetry ists have emulated and expanded Lefty's innovations. westernmusic.com Frizzell's singing became the foundation of how hard 1. Charming Billy, Frank Fara country should be sung. 2. Patty Parker, Southwest Serenade 3. Mark Compere, Cowboy Songs Despite his influence, there was a time when Lefty 4. Bar D Roundup, Vol.#4 Various Cowboy Po- wsmss.com Frizzell wasn't regarded as one of country's definitive ets artists. Unlike Hank Williams — the only contemporary 5. Troy Bateson, Midnight Moon of Lefty that had greater influence — he didn't die 6. Ken Cook, Cowboys Are Like That young, leaving behind a romantic legend. After his 7. Stephanie Davis, Western Bliss popularity peaked in the early and mid-'50s, Frizzell 8. Rich Flanders, Ride Away continued to record, without having much success. 9. Chuck Woller, (D.L. Johnson Vocals)Desert However, his recordings continued to reach new listen- Moon cowtown-swm.org ers and his reputation was restored by the new tradi- Joe Baker‟s Backforty Bunkhouse Show is broadcast on 100,000 watt KNMB, 96.7FM “New Mexico Bear” & 100,000 watt KWMW, 105.1FM, “Regional Radio W-105” every Saturday morning 6 am to 10 am in Ruidoso, New Mexico covering New Mexico & West Texas. Member: Western Music Broadcast- ers Association (WMBA). Also available „Streaming live‟ 24/7 on the internet at W-105 1 tionalists of the '80s, nearly 10 years after Lefty's By now, the Lefty Frizzell sound was being perfected by death. the vocalist and Don Law. Frizzell was working with a core group of Dallas-based studio musicians, high- Lefty Frizzell (born William Orville Frizzell) was born in lighted by pianist Madge Sutee. In the beginning of awaawards.org Corsicana, TX, in 1928, a son of an oiler; he was the 1951, he formed the Western Cherokees, which was led first of eight children. During his childhood, his family by Blackie Crawford. Soon, the Western Cherokees moved to El Dorado, AR. As a child he was called became his primary band for both live and recording Sonny, but his nickname changed to Lefty when he situations. Lefty was in the studio frequently, recording was 14, because he won a schoolyard fight; it was singles. His third single, "I Want To Be With You Al- later suggested that he earned his nickname after win- ways," was number one for 11 weeks and its follow-up, ning a Golden Gloves boxing match, but that was "Always Late (With Your Kisses)" spent 12 weeks at eventually proven to be a hatched publicity stunt by his number one. At one point in early 1951, he had a total nwwsms.org record company. Initially, Lefty was attracted to music of four songs in the country Top Ten, setting a record through his parents' Jimmie Rodgers records. He be- that was never broken. Frizzell was a popular concert gan singing professionally before he was a teenager, attraction, playing shows with the Louisiana Hayride landing a regular spot on KELD El Dorado. and the Grand Ole Opry. He had three more Top Ten hits in 1951 — "Mom And Dad's Waltz," 'Travelin' Frizzell spent his teenage years playing throughout the Blues," and the number one "Give Me More, More, region, singing on radio shows, in nightclubs, for More (Of Your Kisses)." westernswingsociety.org dances, and in talent contests. He travelled throughout the south, playing in Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, The hits continued throughout 1952, as "How Long Will and even Las Vegas. During this time, he was refining It Take (To Stop Loving You)," "Don't Stay Away (Till his style, drawing from influences like Jimmie Rodgers, Love Grows Cold)," "Forever (And Always)," "I'm An Ernest Tubb, and Ted Daffan. Lefty's career was going Old, Old Man (Tryin' to Live While I Can)" all went to the fine until he was arrested in the mid-'40s, serving a jail Top Ten. Even though he was at the peak of his popu- sentence for statutory rape. larity, things began to unravel for Lefty behind the scenes. Frizzell fired both his manager and his band. ifco.org Frizzell's run-in with the law led him away from music, as he temporarily worked in the oil fields with his fa- ther. However, his time as an oiler was brief and he was soon performing in clubs again. By 1950, he had landed a regular job at the Texas club Ace of Clubs, where he developed a dedicated following of fans. At one of his concerts at the Ace of Clubs he caught the attention of Jim Beck, the owner of a local recording swinginwest.com studio. Beck recorded music for several major record labels, and he also had connections within the publish- ing industry. Impressed with Lefty's performance, he invited the singer to make some demos at the studio. In April of 1950, Frizzell cut several demos of his origi- nal songs, including a new song called "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time," which Beck took to demingradio.com Nashville. Beck intended to pitch the song to Little He joined the Grand Ole Opry, but he decided he didn't realwestoldwest.com Jimmy Dickens, but Dickens disliked the song. How- like it and left almost immediately. Lefty was earning a ever, Columbia record producer Don Law heard the lot of money but he was spending nearly all of it. He tape and liked Frizzell's voice. After hearing Lefty live worked with Wayne Raney, but the sessions were a in concert, Law signed the singer to Columbia; within a failure. In early 1953, he moved from Texas to Los An- few months, he had his first recording session. geles, where he got a regular job on Town Hall Party. That year, he had only one hit — the Top Ten "(Honey, cowboypoetry.com "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time," Lefty's Baby, Hurry!) Bring Your Sweet Self Back to Me." first single, climbed to number one upon its release. It was a huge hit — its B-side, "I Love You a Thousand Early in 1954, he reached the Top Ten with "Run 'Em Ways," even hit number one — with other artists hurry- Off," but it would be his last Top Ten record for five ing into the studio to cut their own versions; over 40 years. During the mid-'50s, Frizzell felt burned out and performers wound up recording the song. Within 17 he didn't have the energy to invest in his career. He had days of the single's release, Columbia had Frizzell a total of two hits between 1954 and 1959 — "I Love record another single.