Joe Diffie: 1958-2020

The news broke earlier today that country music artist, Joe Diffie, has passed away at age 61 from the COVID-19 virus. He had released a statement just this past Friday (March 27th) that he had tested positive for the virus but this is the first case that I'm aware of where contraction of the virus resulted in death only several days later. It doesn't follow the pattern that's been happening around the country or around the world...and I'm hoping more news surfaces. It's puzzling, to me at least, how quick it happened from testing positive and then passing away days later. I'm also sure underlying issues played a factor...

I first heard of Joe by way of a quirky music video that used to play on The Nashville Network in the early 1990s. I loved the video...I've always had appreciation for songs that injected comedy or humor into their stories...and the music video for "If The Devil Danced in Empty Pockets" was certainly memorable. I wasn't aware that he'd released another hit prior to that one...but that's the song that introduced me to Joe Diffie's music. His first hit, "Home", arrived late in 1990 and it hit number one. He is one of the very few country music artists to have their major label debut single peak at the top of the chart. Joe co-wrote numerous songs and a number of them were released as singles during his career. His songwriting, in my opinion, was under-rated. I'm always finding out that he helped write songs that I'd heard for years. One of those happened to be the Holly Dunn smash hit in 1989, "There Goes My Heart Again". Joe was also a co-writer of "I'm the Only Thing I'll Hold Against You" which appeared on Conway Twitty's final studio album, Final Touches, in 1993.

In 1993 Joe Diffie became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Some could argue that 1993 was his peak year even though none of his releases that year hit number one. It's arguable because a couple of the singles he issued that year dominated 1990's country radio and could still be heard as re-currents well into the next decade: "Honky Tonk Attitude", "John Deere Green", the mega-hit "Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox", and in late 1993/early 1994 the ballad "In My Own Backyard". However, later on in 1994, Joe had his biggest hit single...the novelty "Pickup Man" which hit number one and remained there for four weeks. This was a follow-up to "Third Rock from the Sun" which had also hit number one. So, there you go, he had two back-to-back number one hits in 1994 and so it's arguable that 1994 was his commercial peak. In 1995 he had his last number one, "Bigger Than the Beatles".

In his career he sent 17 singles into the Top-10 of the Country charts during the years of 1990 through 2001; of those 17 singles 5 of them went to number one. In addition to those singles he also enjoyed 11 additional 'Top-40' Country hits for an overall total of 38 singles that reached that portion of the Country music chart. He sold millions of records. He had several other singles releases that peaked outside the Country Top-40 during their promotional stage and from unsolicited airplay. He was one of those artists that didn't stir the pot or rock the boat that much...controversy was really never part of his career.

His music was championed by a lot of country music fans of all age groups and even though country airplay playlists have gotten so tight over the decades, and the airplay hits dried up, Joe had a solid packed itinerary of tour dates scheduled for 2020....prior to the COVID-19 pandemic upending normalcy as we knew it causing nearly all entertainment venues to close down (the Grand Ole Opry remains open to the performers, announcers, and production assistants because of it being a weekly radio show but the public isn't allowed to attend the performances). There were so many concerts that were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down large gatherings of people and then the news broke on Friday that Joe tested positive for the virus...and now it's two days later and he's gone at 61.

Joe Diffie: 1958-2020

Jan Howard: 1929-2020...

I came across an alert on one of the social media sites I visit concerning the recent passing of country music singer Jan Howard. If you're a dedicated fan of classic country music or if you call yourself a hardcore fan of all things Grand Ole Opry then you should already know of Jan Howard. Once married to songwriter Harlan Howard the two later divorced but she retained the last name in her professional career. She had a lengthy career as an artist/performer with the bulk of her commercial impact largely confined to the 1960s and early 1970s. She had several solo hit recordings but is much more known through her association with country music singer/songwriter, Bill Anderson. Her albums sold well...10 of her albums hit the Country chart with 9 of them reaching the Top-40...4 of those cracked the Top-10. Between the years of 1962 to 1970 she sent 12 singles into the Country Top-40; the biggest single release being "Evil on Your Mind", hitting the Top-10 in 1966. This was followed by another Top-10, "Bad Seed", the same year. She had her share of awards and nominations for solo recordings and for her duets with Bill Anderson.

Jan, at the start of the decade, at a Top-40 country hit with Wynn Stewart on a duet called "Wrong Company" in 1960. Her famed duets with Bill Anderson began in 1965. This is the same year that Bill began his long running syndicated television show. The Bill Anderson Show aired in syndication for 9 years...it's final season 1974. It is one of several syndicated country music television programs that used to fill the weekend airwaves and Jan was one of the show's regular performers for most of it's run. Their first duet album hit early in 1968 titled For Loving You and the lone single release was the title track which hit Number One on the Country chart in the latter half of 1967. Their next duet single arrived nearly two years later in the fall of 1969, "If It's All the Same To You", which hit the runner-up spot on the Country chart. Their album of the same name featured their first duet release from 1965, "Time Out", and another 1965 hit duet, "I Know You're Married But I Love You Still". In 1970-1971 the duo had two more Top-10 hits...beginning with "Someday We'll Be Together" and then in 1971, "Dis-Satisfied". Those last two releases come from the album, Bill and Jan (or Jan and Bill). She and Bill released one more album together...a gospel release in 1972 titled Singing His Praise.

In between her duets with Bill she continued releasing solo recordings...one of the most personal and hard to listen to given how emotional it is came along in 1968 titled "My Son". I knew of some of the personal hardships and emotional pains she went through in her life but after reading that she passed away I decided to look deeper and found so much more. I'm not going to re-post all of the things I discovered in my mini-research...I'm leaving that up to you readers to discover for yourselves. In one of her last appearances (which aired during the PBS documentary, Country Music, from Ken Burns) she was asked about the song and about the anti-war protests going on around the time that the single was issued. She's quoted in a lot of on-line sites as to what she'd do if another anti-war person rang her doorbell again asking to support their cause. The protesters were wanting to use her song to show the risks of war and based upon her commentary in that documentary she wasn't going to have any part of their anti-war sentiments. She wrote the song...one of several songs she wrote during her career. She and Bill Anderson wrote "I Never Once Stopped Loving You", a massive hit for Connie Smith. The two also wrote their "Dis-Satisfied" duet. She wrote Bill's hit, "Love is a Sometimes Thing". The Queen of Country Music, Kitty Wells, had a hit with Jan Howard's composition, "It's All Over but the Crying". Jan and Bill professionally parted ways not long after the success of "Dis-Satisfied". She also stepped away from her appearances on his television show.

Jan had become a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1971 and could be found appearing there on many Saturday and later, Friday, nights for the next 30 plus years. She was heard most often in the half hour portions hosted by Bill Anderson. It gave the two an opportunity to perform any number of their duets together. As the years went on she became part of an inner circle of female Opry members collectively referred to as the Grand Ladies of the Grand Ole Opry. It's arguable as to who fit into that distinctive collection but it was more or less the female Opry members who appeared regularly or semi-regularly every weekend: Wilma Lee Cooper, Minnie Pearl, Jean Sheppard, Jan Howard, Jeannie Seely, Connie Smith, Skeeter Davis, and Jeannie Pruett. Some may argue some of those weren't officially referred to as a 'Grand Lady' of the Opry but as far as my memory goes I recall all of them at one time or another being billed as a 'Grand Lady' many times over the years during their Opry appearances.

Some trivia is Jan was the female voice heard on the Johnny Cash hit, "Daddy Sang Bass". A lot of us, including myself, assumed it to be June Carter...but up until several years ago I didn't know Jan Howard was the one singing the line "Mama sang tenor...". The Statler Brothers are also on that record, too. I have not seen any details about visitation, funeral, or any of that kind of thing. I'm sure the Opry website and on-line sites centered around classic country music will have in depth information as the hours and days go by. The news broke only a couple of hours ago.

Jan Howard: 1929-2020

Kenny Rogers: 1938-2020

The news broke earlier this morning that legendary recording artist, Kenny Rogers, passed away yesterday night, March 20th. Born August 21, 1938 in Houston, Texas he was 81.

Long before I knew of his pop/rock career I identified him as a country singer. "Lucille" was the first recording of his that I'd heard in the early 1980s as a kid. I have several CDs by him of hit songs. Some of my favorites are "Coward of the County", "Buried Treasure", "The Gambler", "Lucille", "Crazy", "20 Years Ago", "Through the Years", and his duets with Dolly Parton "Islands in the Stream", "Love is Strange", and their Christmas song, "Bells". He and Ronnie Milsap recorded a spectacular duet, "Make No Mistake, She's Mine". Kenny teamed up with Wynonna Judd and recorded a song that often gets played during the Christmas season, "Mary, Did You Know?". Again, those recordings are just some of my favorites. I could easily triple the amount of songs. You can read a memorial article by clicking HERE. You can leave commentary here about Kenny or on the site I provided a link to. The very first Kenny Rogers song I remember hearing as a kid in the early 1980s was "Lucille". Later on "Islands in the Stream" with Dolly instantly became a favorite of mine. It was the first 45rpm single that I remember being purchased at a retail store...my grandparent's purchased the single at a local store, Gold Circle.

Kenny, as I mentioned, had a lengthy career in pop and rock music before he made the change to country music in the mid 1970s. In the early '60s he was a member of a group called The New Christy Minstrels. His most popular affiliation with pop music came with his membership with the First Edition...he eventually become the band's headliner on records and in concert. Their most popular recordings were "Just Dropped In to See What Condition my Condition Was In", "Reuben James", and "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town". Those two recordings hit in the late '60s. After making the move to country music in the mid '70s it took several releases before "Lucille" came along. Once that became a hit he more or less became a superstar in country music and within the next five years had racked up more hit singles and awards and had sold more records than at any time in his career. His music was also crossing over to pop and Adult-Contemporary radio formats with regularity. 

His trophy case is lined with awards from every major and fan-voted organization from the Country Music Association (CMA) to Music City News. In the realm of country music media the 'big award' is often the nickname for the CMA Entertainer of the Year award. Kenny didn't win Entertainer of the Year through the CMA organization...but he did win Entertainer of the Year from the Academy of Country Music (ACM) in 1978. He was named CMA Male Vocalist of the Year in 1979 and his album, The Gambler, was named CMA Album of the Year. He and Dottie West were named CMA Vocal Duo of the Year in 1979. The bulk of his awards come from the cross-genre organization, American Music Awards (AMA). His country singles were crossing over with such frequency that the AMA named him their Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist in 1981. He won a Grammy for "The Gambler" and later he and Ronnie Milsap won a Grammy for their duet, "Make No Mistake, She's Mine".

His duet recordings with Dottie, some music historians have said, helped a lot of skeptical country disc jockeys and fans, in general, to accept Kenny as a country singer. He would have several other duet partners in his career...he had hits with Sheena Easton as well as Kim Carnes...later on he recorded a duet with Ronnie Milsap and also recorded with Wynonna Judd, Gladys Knight, Don Henley, and others. He was part of a trio recording in 1984, "What About Me?". The two artists joining him were Kim Carnes and James Ingram. That single was a smash hit on Adult-Contemporary radio stations in America and Canada. The 1980 album, Greatest Hits, was another international smash album. It contained, at the time, a brand new song that became a monster hit throughout the world, "Lady", from the pen of his record producer, Lionel Richie. The single reached number one Country for one week but spent six weeks at number one Pop. The album also contained "Love The World Away", which had previously been featured on the soundtrack album of Urban Cowboy. It's appearance on Greatest Hits along side "Lady" and his recent duet hit with Kim Carnes, "Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer", helped this particular album sell millions upon millions of copies worldwide. The fact that is also contained "Lucille" and "The Gambler", too, only added to the sales. The album has sold more than 13,000,000 copies worldwide. The success of "The Gambler" provided Kenny with an unofficial nickname among music fans...the song would eventually spawn a series of television movies starring Kenny as the gambler, Brady Hawkes. Kenny starred in five television movies based on "The Gambler" between the years 1980 and 1994. His acting career wasn't limited to this series of television movies. He starred in several others: Coward of the County (1981), Six Pack (1982), Wild Horses (1985), Rio Diablo (1993), and a couple of films where he played a character named MacShayne... MacShayne: Winner Take All (1994) and MacShayne: Roll of the Dice (1994).

Career Achievement Awards are given to performers in the latter half of their career to recognize their overall contributions. The first such award/recognition for Kenny Rogers arrived in 2000. The Nashville Network Awards (TNN) presented him with their Career Achievement award. It was the equivalent of the Music City News Living Legend Award. In 2003 an organization called The International Entertainers Buyers Association presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2007 the music publisher, ASCAP, presented Kenny with their Golden Note Award. In 2009 he was part of a group of entertainers that were presented a Cliffie Stone Award at the ACM Awards. The other recipients that year were Jerry Reed, Hank Williams Jr., and Randy Travis. In 2010 Kenny received an American Eagle Award. In 2013 he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. The same year he was presented with a newly established honor, The Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. This award was created by the CMA and named for it's first recipient, Willie Nelson, in 2012. Kenny received this award in 2013. Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, and Kris Kristofferson have since been recipients of this award. In 2017 Kenny was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. He had been on a Farewell Tour for a couple of years but later in the tour health issues caused him to cancel all remaining concert dates. His last concert took place in Nashville,TN on October 25, 2017 but he had been scheduled to appear overseas, as well, in 2018 prior to the early 2018 announcement that the upcoming concerts were cancelled due to health reasons. The name of that farewell tour was The Gambler's Last Deal. I don't have any information on the cause of death or exactly what medical ailments he was going through in his final years. The official statement is he passed away from natural causes under the care of Hospice on March 20, 2020 at the age of 81.

Kenny Rogers: August 21, 1938 - March 20, 2020

Scooby Doo and the Mysteriously Missing Eight...

1976 Scooby Doo episodes

I've written about it before and I'm writing about it again. Why haven't the mysteriously missing eight episodes of The Scooby Doo Show ever been released properly on a DVD? I'm referring to the eight episodes that aired in 1977 as part of the Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics series. There have been a few 1977 episodes that have appeared as bonus extras and on thematic DVD releases but there's not been a DVD release of those 8 episodes in one collection. It remains a mystery as to why not. The Scooby Doo Show is the syndicated title for the 40 episodes of the series that originally aired between 1976 and 1978. In their original run the first 16 episodes aired on the 1976-1977 series, The Scooby Doo/Dynomutt Adventure Hour. The second 8 episodes aired in 1977 as a segment of Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics. The final 16 episodes aired in 1978 and were split between two programs: Scooby Doo, Where Are You? and Scooby's All-Stars. The first 9 episodes from 1978 aired under the title of the franchise's debut series in 1969 complete with the original 1969 opening and closing sequence. The remaining 7 episodes aired as a segment on Scooby's All-Stars. When the 1978 episodes were issued on DVD the manufacturers referred to those episodes as Scooby Doo, Where Are You?, Season Three because, as mentioned, when the first 9 episodes originally aired in 1978 the opening title sequence from 1969 was used. In syndication all 40 episodes air under the title, The Scooby Doo Show. It's the opening sequence that features villains from the 1976 episodes, show's Scooby water skiing, and slapping paws with Scooby Dum.

1978 Scooby Doo episodes

This particular DVD release...all these years later...continues to irritate collectors/fans...not because of the content or anything but because it's titled Season Three of a series that didn't officially have a third season. Scooby Doo, Where Are You? originally aired on CBS for two seasons, 1969-1971. This was followed by The All-New Scooby Doo Movies, also on CBS, for a two season run. After a repeat period of several seasons CBS dropped the show from it's Saturday morning line-up and it was immediately purchased by ABC. The first Scooby series for ABC was a program which introduced a couple of new characters...and the title of the show reflected that fact. The Scooby Doo/Dynomutt Adventure Hour premiered on ABC in 1976...and as you can see Scooby shared equal billing with this newcomer. Dynomutt was a robotic canine and sidekick of Big City superhero, Blue Falcon. The robotic dog was referred to most often as Dog Wonder. On a few episodes of Dynomutt's series there were guest appearances by Scooby and the Mystery gang (Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, and Velma). In 1977 the historic 2 hour program, Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics, debuted. Historic for the fact that it was the first Saturday morning cartoon with a 2 hour running time and it was filled with series of supporting segments. The main cartoon was Laff-a-Lympics, a series which parodied the Olympics and Battle of the Network Stars with elements of Wide World of Sports thrown in. Snagglepuss and Mildew Wolf acted as hosts/commentators as three teams: Scooby Doobies, Yogi Yahooies, and the Really Rottens competed for points and the ultimate prize: The Laff-a-Lympics Gold Medal. 8 all-new episodes of Scooby Doo aired as a segment of this 1977 series in addition to reruns of the 16 that aired in 1976. Those 8 all-new episodes are as follows:

1. The Curse of Viking Like
2. Vampire Bats and Scaredy Cats
3. Hang in There, Scooby Doo
4. The Creepy Heap from the Deep
5. The Chiller Diller Movie Thriller
6. The Spooky Case of the Grand Prix Race
7. The Ozark Witch Switch
8. Creepy Cruise

Those eight episodes have never appeared together in any DVD release, to date. Episodes 2, 3, and 7 have made appearances on select compilation DVD releases of the Scooby series but never has their been an official DVD release spotlighting all 8 episodes. It would be great if someday all 40 episodes produced from 1976 to 1978 would become available in one multi-disc DVD release.

In 1978 Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics was shortened from 2 hours to 90 minutes and given a new title, Scooby's All-Stars. In the meantime all-new Scooby Doo episodes had been produced and were airing on Saturday morning under the 1969 title of Scooby Doo, Where Are You?. When ABC removed that series from the line-up after the airing of 9 all-new Scooby episodes the remaining 7 episodes from 1978 aired as a segment of Scooby's All-Stars. Those 1978 episodes, as mentioned earlier, make up the content of the DVD titled Season Three of Scooby Doo, Where Are You?. The voice cast was large and varied when you take the time to look at all three seasons of Scooby Doo cartoons that were produced during 1976, 1977, and 1978 but the main vocal cast were: Don Messick as Scooby, Casey Kasem as Shaggy, Frank Welker as Fred, Heather North as Daphne, Pat Stevens as Velma, and John Stephenson was often heard as the villains, scientists, policemen, and other supporting roles. Series regulars Don Messick, Casey Kasem, and Frank Welker could also be heard in supporting roles, too. In the 1976 Dynomutt series you had Gary Owens as Blue Falcon, Frank Welker as Dynomutt, Larry McCormick as the Mayor, and Ron Feinberg as Focus One. John Stephenson, Don Messick, Casey Kasem, and Frank Welker could be heard in an assortment of supporting roles as cops, doctors, or criminals. The series was produced by Hanna-Barbera and based on characters created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears.