John Conlee vintage recordings...

I was looking through Amazon and came across the news that a John Conlee CD will be released this coming May 8th. This particular CD will feature two of John's studio albums from his Columbia Records days (1986-1987). Upon leaving MCA after Greatest Hits, Volume Two and the big success of his single, "Old School", in 1985 John joined the Columbia label sometime later and his first release, Harmony, hit in 1986. The album contains three Top-10 hits: the socially aware title track, "Harmony", the wonderful life-lesson-in-song tale of "The Carpenter" which hit the Top-10 here in America but reached #1 in Canada, and the America #1 hit "Got My Heart Set On You". The second album on the CD is 1987's American Faces which builds on the socially aware sentiments heard in "Harmony" a year earlier. The socially aware theme would also visit John's following album in 1989, Fellow Travelers, but that release was on the 16th Avenue label and has no relevance to what will be on the upcoming CD in May but I figured I'd mention it because it fit the pattern of his album's using socially aware recordings as titles.

Like the 1986 album, the follow-up from 1987 also features three songs released as singles. "Domestic Life" became his last really big radio hit (hitting the Top-5) but a close second would be "Mama's Rockin' Chair" which had a nostalgic feel to it as John told the story of how imaginations develop while listening to stories. The rocking chair song reached the Top-20 in 1987 (almost making the Top-10).

The previously mentioned "Domestic Life" is still performed in his concert's to this day and it tells the story of a couple who are proud of their low-key, average lifestyle in spite of living next door to people with money and the trappings that go along with wealth. "Living Like There's No Tomorrow" was the third single from American Faces. It hit early in 1988 but it didn't reach the Top-40 country chart...a strange occurrence at that point in time for one of John's singles. What was happening was country radio was amidst their slow but certain airplay ban of practically every singer that didn't appeal to a specific age group. Some artists, even a few that had been in the business longer than John, were able to continue having Top-10 hits into the early 1990's but then they, too, saw their chart placement's sliding and airplay spots vanishing as country radio began playing more and more newer singers just for the sake of the singers being new (whether or not these new artists could sustain a career or develop a following apparently wasn't a priority).

But anyway...like a lot of his peers, John Conlee continued making music and touring throughout the late '80s and the '90s. He wasn't as active in the recording studio in the 1990's, unfortunately, but he was still on the road and becoming a semi-regular on the Grand Ole Opry (he became a member in 1981). By the late '90s he'd become what's known as a regular at the Opry...hosting his own 30 minute segments each Friday and Saturday night. He's still highly visible at the Opry and he continues to do show dates to this day...and sometimes he'll put out a new song or two. A religious CD from 2004, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, was his first studio album in 15 years and it featured the topical hit, "They Also Serve", which didn't get much radio airplay but it became a hit with the public through on-line exposure and repeated performances at the Opry.

Harmony and American Faces represent two of John's classic studio albums and I say it's about time those two albums were brought back into circulation again!

Charlie Douglas...

I couldn't let 2011 slip by without making mention of Charlie Douglas. A lot of you blog readers probably won't know who he is but some might...depending on where you live. Charlie, who passed away on Thanksgiving Day this year, was a famed disc jockey from the late '50s through the mid '90s. Aside from the career in radio he also became equally popular for his comedic stories. Charlie's biggest impact on radio came on WWL radio in Louisiana as the star of an all-night truckers show titled "The Road Gang". He was at the helm of this radio program from 1970 until 1983...from WWL he made his way up North to Nashville's WSM and remained on their airwaves through 1995. I first heard of Charlie Douglas by way of Jerry Clower! I have all of Clower's main comedy albums from his first one in 1971 on through his final one in 1998. It's on a 1975 comedy album from Clower titled Live At Picayune where you'll hear Charlie bring out Jerry Clower to thunderous applause. So, yes, a 1975 comedy album from Jerry Clower is where I first heard the name and heard the voice of Charlie Douglas!

As luck would have it I was also an avid listener of our own local all-night truckers show...but I knew nothing of Charlie's legendary radio career at the time. One night the local DJ played a comedy record about a bugle and a mule...the actual name of the story is "The Plantin' Bugle". It was rather funny...hysterical in places. Some time later the DJ played the story that for Charlie Douglas was his most requested...the one about the three-hole privy. Each story is lengthy but the build-up is well worth it. It would not be until I got on-line in 2004 that I was able to look up and research Charlie's career and was stunned to find out that he remained on the radio (at WSM) through 1995...I was stunned because it was around that point in time where I first heard of Charlie via the Jerry Clower comedy album. As you can tell, it was sort of ironic that I was just discovering who Charlie was a few years after he had retired from the radio.

You Tube has several of Charlie's comedy stories and eBay and other places have his celebrated comedy album: Me and Dammit Ray - Longtime Friends.

Hee-Haw: 1969-1992, Part Thirteen...

Howdy...fresh off of You Tube comes this nearly 7 minute promo piece for Hee-Haw that aired on an Oklahoma news program. The news story inserts clips lifted from the DVD collection I wrote about in Part 12. You will also see footage taken at the Hee-Haw exhibit which runs through the first half of 2012. Most of the clips shown in the video embed below come from the program's first season but toward the end of the embed they feature clips of later seasons, too. The DVD collection is available for purchase at Country Family Reunion's web-site.



RFD-TV is currently airing the 1972-1973 season. During the last several weeks saw the debut of Gordie Tapp's sketch, The Naggers, which featured an uncredited Roni Stoneman. George Lindsey, Gailard Sartain, and Roni Stoneman began making appearances uncredited during this time period. Of course, the reason I use the phrase "uncredited" is because their names weren't called during the familiar opening sequence (where the announcer runs through the cast-list). The Naggers would ultimately turn out to be a long-running sketch that often appeared twice in an episode (one per half hour) and it was still a part of the show for the rest of Roni Stoneman's involvement with the series (through 1991). The sketch was so popular that Gordie and Roni often appeared in-character as Laverne and Ida Lee Nagger during other comedy sketches. Examples being the Justus O'Peace sketch with Archie Campbell where the Naggers often complained to the Judge about their married life, The Kornfield one-liner segment, and in the early '80s the Hee-Haw Honky Tonk sketch. As the series went on The Naggers acquired a son, Elrod, played by cast member Kenny Price. Also, Ida Lee's mother became a frequent presence. The mother was played by Wendy Suites, a member of the show's back-up group, The Nashville Edition.

I'll be purchasing my copy of the Salute to the Kornfield DVD collection, hopefully around the end of this month. The cost, before taxes, is $79.80. The collection comes with 4 DVD discs plus an additional DVD of behind the scenes/backstage excerpts. This salute will eventually air on RFD-TV in 2012 but on-line shoppers can order the program prior to it's national airing.