Loretta Lynn: 1932-2022

I just woke up about 20 minutes ago (I work nights) and I went to a news feed on my home page and seen the news that country music icon, Loretta Lynn, passed away earlier this morning at the age of 90. I first knew of Loretta, by face, before I knew her name. She used to do television commercials for Crisco. As a little kid I'd see those commercials...sometimes there would be a guy in them that I later found out was her husband...but at the time I didn't pay much attention to screen detail so if her name appeared on the screen identifying her I didn't notice. I only noticed her and the overall commercial for Crisco and how she reminded me of some of my relatives with her mannerisms and the way she spoke. She'd end the commercials with a catchphrase, too. 

As I got older I began to learn more and more about country music...Loretta, in addition to the Crisco commercials, would pop up on Hee Haw frequently. There are, and will be, numerous new websites and blogs that will show up on the internet beginning today that will detail Loretta's life and career. In an effort to not look like a carbon copy of all of those memorial sites, I'm inserting my own thoughts/opinions, in addition to looking back at her career, as a way to come off different. The thing to know about Loretta, if you're familiar with her career at all, is how she kept the roots of her origins alive within the songs she either wrote or recorded. Her earlier successes in the 1960s, prior to her major breakthrough, are all tied into an association with The Wilburn Brothers. She was part of their touring ensemble (1960-1968) and a cast-member of their long running syndicated television series, 1963-1971. 

Loretta made a name for herself by the mid 1960s...she'd been releasing singles since 1960. "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" reached the Top-20 in 1960. She signed to Decca in 1961...teaming up with record producer Owen Bradley for the first time. This artist-producer relationship would last nearly 20 years. Loretta's first Top-10 hit soon followed...a single called "Success". The song had been recorded by Loretta in the fall of 1961 but wasn't released as a single until the spring of 1962. Loretta had a couple more Top-10 hits ("Before I'm Over You" and "Wine, Women, and Song") before teaming up with Ernest Tubb for the first time in 1964. Their first duet recording, "Mr. and Mrs. Used to Be", was a major hit which spawned a duet album in 1965. In addition to the The Wilburn Brothers it was Ernest Tubb that also played a major, major role in Loretta's eventual launch into super-stardom. "Blue Kentucky Girl" hit right around the time of her duet with Ernest Tubb, "Our Hears Are Holding Hands". That song was written by Bill Anderson. "Blue Kentucky Girl" became Loretta's first signature song after it became a hit in the summer of 1965. 

Loretta was on her way to becoming a country music super-star everything was set in motion, in hindsight, in early 1966. She released a topical single in January called "Dear Uncle Sam". She wrote the song and it's about a woman's thoughts when it come to watching her husband have to go off to war. It reached the Top-10 but it was her next single, "You Ain't Woman Enough", that introduced an assertive side to Loretta's songs. This song is about a woman (Loretta) confronting the other woman in her husband's life. The song spawned a self-titled album which reached number one on the Country Album chart. It was Loretta's first number one album on Billboard's Country Albums chart. In November 1966 came the song, "Don't Come Home a Drinkin'". This song, and it's immediate predecessor, began to establish Loretta as a sort of feminist icon of the era. Women singers of all music formats had never had much success with the types of songs Loretta was writing and that Owen Bradley was finding for her. Loretta's solo recordings from this point onward became massive hits...and she continued a duet partnership with Ernest Tubb for the remainder of the decade. Some of her iconic country music hits in the late '60s included "Fist City", "Your Squaw is on the Warpath", "You've Just Stepped in From Stepping Out on Me", and in this era of feminist anthems Loretta issued "Woman of the World Leave My World Alone" which hit number one. A few months later she and Ernest Tubb issued a comical duet, "Who's Gonna Take the Garbage Out", and it's reached the Top-20.

In the 1970's Loretta Lynn was the super-star of country music female artists...with two close rivals during most of that decade being Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton. In 1970, her third single release, happened to be an autobiographical song called "Coal Miner's Daughter". This recording became her new signature song and her lifetime anthem. It also became her professional nickname...introduced as "The Coal Miner's Daughter, Loretta Lynn!!" in a lot of her TV appearances. The song would inspire an Oscar winning movie. In 1971 she teamed up with Conway Twitty and the two of them became a powerful duet for the next 10 years. The duo was often referred to as 'Conway and Loretta' and they enjoyed dozens of hits together as well as several duet awards from the CMA, ACM, and the Music City News organization. As a duo she and Conway had 12 Top-10 hits during a 10 year period (1971-1981) ...6 of those singles reaching number one including "After the Fire is Gone", which won a Grammy; "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man", and "As Soon as I Hang Up the Phone". Her solo recordings were also hitting the Top-10 with regularity. "You're Lookin' At Country", "One's on the Way", "Love is the Foundation" were massive hits...and she had a pair of controversial hits (at the time) called "Rated X" and "The Pill". In 1977 she had what turned out to be her final number one, "Out of My Head and Back in My Bed". She would continue reaching the Top-10 the rest of the decade. She had her final Top-10 hit with "I Lie" in 1982. The previous year she and Conway had their final Top-10 hits as a duo: "I Still Believe in Waltzes" and "Lovin' What Your Lovin' Does to Me". 

In 1979 Loretta began appearing in television commercials for Crisco...and this is where I first knew of her. As a child of the 1980s I'd see her grace the TV screen advertising Crisco, appearing on Hee Haw, and showing up on other country music programs. She did commercials for Crisco for practically the entire 1980s decade. Her touring never decreased. She became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1962 and she remained a member until today. Once an Opry member passes away they're no longer a member of the organization. She joined the Opry roster in September 1962...and so she was a member for a full 60 years. Loretta's career and her impact in country music and on the people she knew and the fans of country music was enormous. She was one of the last surviving members of country music royalty in my opinion. There aren't too many left. 

Vin Scully: 1927-2022

It's been several days since the news broke on the death of legendary broadcaster Vin Scully at age 94. He was born Vincent Edward Scully on November 19, 1927 in the Bronx, New York. Now, unless you do not like the game of baseball or simply don't pay much attention to broadcasters, Vin Scully's voice was an iconic symbol of broadcasting...and he set a record for play-by-play baseball broadcasting with his 67 seasons with the Dodgers baseball team. The team was in Brooklyn, New York at the time of Vin's hiring in 1950. He moved West with the team when they settled in Los Angeles. He was a play-by-play broadcaster for the Dodgers from 1950 until his retirement in 2016, his 67th season. 

This is one of the later photos of Vin Scully taken at the ballpark. He worked with several broadcasters over his many decades. One of the longest lasting pairings happened to be with Jerry Doggett for 32 seasons (1956-1987) but there was also Ross Porter (1977-2004), Don Drysdale (1987-1993), and Rick Monday (1993 until Vin's retirement). The pairings weren't formatted as a bantering duo like the type of commentary you hear on sports broadcasts today...Vin called the baseball innings solo, split with whoever happened to be his on-air partner, and the on-air partner called his innings solo, too...there wasn't any conversation going on between Vin and whichever broadcaster was sharing the play-by-play duties. In other words Vin, Jerry Doggett, Ross Porter, or Rick Monday worked solo as broadcasters and didn't utilize a color commentator/analyst. I happen to live in the Midwest and so I wasn't born into a West Coast sports culture...and I didn't know of Vin Scully until I got older (around my middle teenage years). I grew up on the baseball broadcasting team of Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall with the Cincinnati Reds. I'd heard Marty talk about Vin Scully's talents a lot during Reds games and Marty often cited Vin Scully and Red Barber as major influences. Marty was play-by-play broadcaster for Cincinnati Reds games for 46 seasons (1974-2019).  

Vin's broadcasting career wasn't limited to Dodgers baseball, though. Even though he was part of the organization for 67 seasons he expanded his reach and stepped into national broadcasting in by the mid 1970s. Vin worked for CBS Sports from 1975 until 1982. In his assignments from CBS he was most often placed inside the broadcasting booth for NFL games...rather than Major League Baseball games. It's with CBS that Vin branched out into NFL play-by-play and he also had assignments covering PGA Tour Golf, the Masters Golf Tournament, and Tennis games. His Golf assignments had him broadcasting the Skins Game for NBC (1983-1989) and then for ABC (1991-1996) as well as the Senior Skins Game on ABC (1992-2000). Vin's on-air partner for PGA Tour golf at NBC (1983-1990) was Lee Trevino. Vin also did Golf broadcasts for TBS. 

Like Curt Gowdy and Dick Enberg, Vin was now becoming nationally known as a multi-sportscaster...going beyond the local radio and television markets that covered Dodgers baseball. However, Vin's NFL play-by-play career was short lived by comparison to his baseball broadcasting. Vin called his final NFL game in January 1982...it was the NFC Championship Game. In his NFL broadcasting career at CBS he was paired with a wide array of broadcast partners during his 7 years with the network. Some of them happened to be: Hank Stram, Alex Hawkins, Jim Brown, Paul Hornung, and a relative newcomer to the NFL booth, John Madden. 

While Vin did a lot of NFL games for CBS Television he wasn't completely kept out of baseball broadcasting. He did All-Star Game broadcasts for CBS Radio every year from 1977 until 1982. His on-air partner, according to research, was Brent Musburger. Vin also called the World Series games for CBS Radio, along side Sparky Anderson, from 1979 until 1982. 

Vin moved to NBC Sports beginning in 1983 and was hired to do the play-by-play of the network's Game of the Week. This nationally televised baseball game aired every Saturday on NBC stations. He was with NBC Sports until 1989. In that 6 year time period (1983-1989) he not only called the Game of the Week broadcasts but he also was the lead play-by-play broadcaster for NBC's World Series coverage (1984, 1986, and 1988); The NLCS (1983, 1985, 1987, and 1989); and the All-Star Game (1983, 1985, 1987, and 1989). His on-air partner for the national NBC baseball games was Joe Garagiola.  

A remarkable broadcasting feat arrived in June 1989 where Vin pulled off an unheard of accomplishment...calling a combined 23 innings of baseball in two different cities...in one day's time. He called a 10 inning game in St. Louis for the NBC Game of the Week...and later that day flew into Houston and ended up relieving the Dodgers broadcasters who themselves were beginning an extra inning game just as he chose to visit the Astrodome instead of going to his hotel room. That Dodgers game against the Astros went 22 innings...and Vin broadcast the final 13 innings...which gave him the unusual accomplishment of calling 23 innings of a baseball game in two different cities on the same day. Joe Buck, decades later, did something similar when he broadcast an NFL game for FOX in the afternoon and then went across town to do the national baseball Game of the Week for FOX that evening...however, Vin's accomplishment has much more awesome flavor to it because he flew from St. Louis after calling a 10 inning baseball game and arrived in Houston and called the final 13 innings of a 22 inning game.

Vin left the NBC baseball booth at the conclusion of the 1989 season and departed NBC Sports altogether in 1990. From 1990 until 1997, in addition to his Dodgers broadcasts, he'd returned to CBS Sports and called the World Series games for CBS radio until 1997. His broadcast partners were Johnny Bench (1990 through 1993) and Jeff Torborg (1995 through 1997). There wasn't a World Series in 1994 due to a player's strike. 

In 1982 Vin Scully was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1995. He won numerous broadcaster awards from local organizations all over California...including 33 awards as California Sportscaster of the Year.   

Vin Scully retired at the conclusion of the 2016 baseball season. His 67th season as the play-by-play broadcaster for the Dodgers. He kept an intentional low profile in retirement. He and fellow play-by-play broadcaster, Dick Enberg, both retired in 2016. The two iconic broadcasters had reached similar heights in their profession...each became noted as multi-sportscasters on a national level and each had long-held ties to Major League Baseball, particularly on the West Coast. Dick Enberg spent a decade as the voice of Major League Baseball's California Angels, the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, the UCLA Bruins...and then he become a national broadcaster known more for the NFL and College Basketball and College Football. After Dick Enberg retired from national broadcasting he remained the voice of the San Diego Padres baseball team (2010-2016). He and Vin Scully appeared together in October 2016. Dick Enberg had announced his retirement from broadcasting in 2016 followed soon after by Vin Scully's announcement of his own retirement. Dick Enberg would pass away on December 21, 2017...and Vin Scully passed away on August 2, 2022. 

In 2016, when Dick Enberg announced his upcoming retirement, Vin Scully taped this message...this shows you the kind of character and modest man Vin Scully happened to be...

Here is the footage of Vin Scully and Dick Enberg from October 2016 in the final weeks of their broadcasting careers. The two had made their retirement announcements public by this time.

Here is Rick Monday's announcement, during a Dodgers game, breaking the news of Vin Scully passing away...and I felt this would be a fitting video embed to close this overview of Vin Scully's broadcasting career...

Mickey Gilley: 1936 - 2022

1936 - 2022

The news was released within the last hour that the country music community has lost another legendary figure. Mickey Gilley passed away today at the age of 86. March 9, 1936 - May 7, 2022. I like his singing and if I knew he was going to be on a TV show I'd always watch his performance. I saw him in concert only one time. He appeared at the Clark County Fair in 1990. My grandparent's and I went to the Fair and we sat next to a long-time fan of Mickey's who told us a lot of information about his career as well as her favorite songs. We were familiar with Mickey's songs but the more dedicated of fan told us a lot more about him. My grandparent's were aware that Mickey was a cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis and Jimmy Swaggart. I had no idea about it, at the time, until the fan told us. I recall that Mickey sang practically all of the songs of his that I was familiar with. "Paradise Tonight", the duet he did with Charly McClain, was performed with one of Mickey's harmony singers. I don't want to definitively say that he closed the show with "Don't The Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time" but I think he did. He did a lot of boogie-woogie piano solo's in between the songs. The photo that I chose to include in this blog post shows Mickey Gilley in what a general audience might remember. Mickey had a successful string of country music hits throughout the 1970s, including several number one hits, but the Urban Cowboy movie shot his career into the pop music mainstream. The movie was mostly set inside Mickey's huge bar, Gilley's, in Pasadena, Texas. Mickey appeared in the movie and contributed songs to the movie's soundtrack. Johnny Lee, a frequent performer at Gilley's, was catapulted to stardom in 1980 as a result of his participation in the Urban Cowboy soundtrack with "Lookin' For Love" and "Cherokee Fiddle". The soundtrack included a 1978 hit from Mickey titled "Here Comes the Hurt Again" and a new recording, "Stand By Me". 

Mickey's rendition of that particular song (a previous pop/rhythm and blues hit for Ben E. King) become his biggest cross-over hit. In addition to hitting the top of the country chart in 1980 it reached the Top-30 on the pop driven Hot 100 and the Top-10 on the Adult-Contemporary chart. In fact, four of Mickey's single releases appeared on Billboard's Hot 100 pop chart. After "Stand By Me", his second highest charting Hot 100 pop single is his rendition of "You Don't Know Me", which hit number one on the country chart in 1981 and reached the Top-20 on the Adult-Contemporary chart as well. Mickey had 6 consecutive number one country hits on the Billboard country chart during the 1980-1981 time frame. His first single release of the decade, in 1980, was "True Love Ways" and he followed that chart-topper with 5 more. The single that broke the string, "Tears of the Lonely" peaked in the Top-5 here in America but it did reach number one on Canada's country music chart. Mickey would have three additional number one country hits on Billboard taking us through the second half of 1982 and into 1983: "Put Your Dreams Away", "Talk To Me", and "Fool For Your Love". The latter being his final solo single to reach number one on Billboard's U.S. country music chart, with his duet with Charly McClain in the late summer of 1983, "Paradise Tonight", becoming his final chart-topper on Billboard's U.S. country music chart. "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" and "Too Good To Stop Now" hit number one for Mickey in Canada in 1984. Mickey's final Top-10 hits arrived in 1985 and 1986...with the nostalgic "Doo Wah Days" becoming the final Top-10 of his career. He had a Top-20 country hit in 1987 with "Full Grown Fool" and a Top-30 country hit in 1988 with "She Reminded Me of You". 

Epic Records, in 1980, released this compilation album on Mickey titled Encore. The Encore series of albums were label-wide...all recording artists signed to Columbia's various record labels had an album titled Encore released on them. The Encore album they released on Mickey, as you can see, heavily promoted his night-club without using it's name on the front of the album. On the back of the album Mickey is surrounded by mostly cowboy hat wearing girls. A couple of them are wearing tops that state: "I rode the bull at Gilley's". The bull, of course, is the mechanical bull...shown prominently on the front of the album. The mechanical bull became a staple in all kinds of country-oriented bar room's and night clubs attempting to emulate the ambience of Gilley's place. It was called the world's largest Honky-Tonk. Mickey co-owned the club with Sherwood Cryer. The club opened in 1971 and once Urban Cowboy hit theaters and became a massive box-office hit Gilley's night club in Pasadena, Texas became a super destination for locals and out of State tourists. The club branched out into television and radio productions...numerous country music singers stopped by and recorded concert performances for a local radio series tied to the nightclub and there was also a television program that originated from Gilley's for awhile. Gilley's became part of most tour stops for Country and Adult-Contemporary performers. The night-club burned to the ground in 1989 leaving some music critics and historians to point out that a night-club so synonymous with 1980's country music should happen to burn to the ground at the close of the decade. 

Mickey, following this period of his career, moved on and opened up a theater in Branson, Missouri...and he remained a fixture in Branson for the next several decades. An accident while helping move furniture in 2009 impacted his performing career and he spent a year or more recovering and in physical therapy. The accident left him paralyzed and although he did the rehab and physical therapy there were lingering effects for the rest of his life. In January 2018 Mickey and his son were involved in a car accident while traveling from Texas to Missouri. They never made it out of Texas, though, and neither were seriously injured. Mickey and Johnny Lee, during this point in time, had been on something of a national reunion tour with an Urban Cowboy theme. The movie, in 2015, turned 35 and by 2020, of course, it hit 40. The two had performed an extended reunion series of shows at Mickey's Branson theater for the last several years. The news of Mickey passing away today at the age of 86 seems surreal. He released numerous singles...and among my many, many favorite Mickey Gilley recordings is the cleverly titled "The Power of Positive Drinking". It was a Top-10 hit for him but it wasn't one of his signature songs and so it's sort of fallen into obscurity. I saw him sing it on an episode of Hee Haw and it became an instant favorite...

Benny Hill: Going Back to April 20th 1992...

I was going to begin this blog entry with a familiar greeting by Fred Scuttle, one of Benny Hill's famous characters, but I don't know if the phrase is copyrighted or not. We're a few days away from April 20, 1992...a sad day for millions of Benny Hill fans around the world. It was on that day Benny Hill passed away. Those who knew him personally may have expected it...but in the years since a lot of us fans have become aware of Benny's final weeks. There's been a lot of essays and commentary about his death in the last 30 years...and I'd say there's been a heavy dose of commentary circulating about him within the last 10 years. The video hosting site, YouTube, came along in 2005 and within 5 years video content from around the world had been accessed tens of millions of times, combined. Benny Hill videos...specifically his comedy sketches, comedy monologues, and Hill's Angels features...gained an entirely new audience. There had been a market established for Benny's comedy on VHS tape and on DVD...but with YouTube it enabled the content from those VHS and DVD releases as well as full episodes of his hour long television specials to be readily available. All a person needed to do is simply type in Benny's name in a YouTube search box and the results are nearly endless. Benny was chased off of television in 1989...after 20 years at Thames TV. Prior to his association with Thames he worked at the BBC. His television specials at the BBC were titled The Benny Hill Show. Highlights from his BBC programs have been issued on VHS and DVD...they're in black and white and can be accessed online. In the BBC episodes some of his supporting players were usually Jeremy Hawk, Patricia Hayes, and Rita Lloyd. 

It's been reported that his first performance to a mass audience was on a radio series, Variety Bandbox, in 1947. Benny made his television debut in 1950. He appeared regularly on the BBC airwaves throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In 1956 he starred in the comedy movie, "Who Done It?". He had a radio series, Benny Hill Time, for 2 years (1964-1966) and 26 episodes in total. He headlined a couple of television specials for ITV and ATV during his long association with the BBC but the most significant change happened in 1969 when he joined Thames Television. It's with this company that Benny became an international comedy star. His hour long television specials would be sprinkled throughout a calendar year...in most years he would deliver 3 or 4 one hour specials. His television specials became events and much anticipated. His supporting cast in the first decade of the Thames specials were Henry McGee, Bob Todd, Jackie Wright, and some faces familiar from his BBC years like Patricia Hayes and Rita Lloyd. In 1979 the syndicator, Don Taffner, brought Benny Hill to American television screens...and from America to television screens all over the world. Taffner conceived the idea of selling half hour installments of Benny's comedy to local television stations across America. An editing team carefully pieced together numerous half hour episodes using the footage from Benny's hour long television specials for Thames TV.

These half hour episodes aired practically all over the world in late-night time slots or in pre-dawn, early morning time slots. Benny also added a collection of female dancers to his show around this same time and he called them Hill's Angels. The dancers also doubled as comedic foils for Benny. As the 1980's progressed and the edited half hour Benny Hill programs were spiking local television ratings, becoming increasingly popular in various non-English speaking territories (thanks to a lot of pantomime sketches), the comics in his own homeland were on the verbal attack...and by 1989 with mounting pressures from British comics, critics, and feminist groups (collectively a very loud minority of people), Thames TV canceled the Benny Hill television specials. The last television special aired on May 1, 1989. The half hour episodes were still airing around the world...including America. 

Due in large part to the success that the half hour shows were still having in America the syndicator, Don Taffner, asked Benny if he would do another television special and that he'd handle the distribution. They hit on a concept called Benny Hill's World Tour. The television specials would spotlight a different major city/town in nearly every country on the planet. The first, in this proposed World Tour series of specials, spotlighted New York City. The USA Network bought the broadcast rights and Benny Hill's World Tour: New York! hit the airwaves on May 30, 1991. It was his first comedy special since 1989. Unfortunately, Benny's health began to decline as the year went on...in February 1992 he suffered a mild heart attack. He declined further medical treatment (a bypass) and experienced kidney failure and he passed away on April 20, 1992. His body was discovered by his long-time television producer, Dennis Kirkland, several days later. Several people had called Benny's house and there were no answers for several days. The lack of reply caused great concern, obviously, and with the help of the police Dennis Kirkland was able to get inside Benny's locked house where they found him sitting in front of the television in his favorite chair, non-responsive. 

The memorials and outpouring of grief was almost immediate once the news broke. It was revealed that among the mail in Benny's living room was a contract awaiting his signature...a contract for a series of new television specials for Central Independent Television. Apparently, and I'm just guessing, but this was the company Benny would've worked for on the World Tour series of television specials...with syndication rights perhaps held by Don Taffner. Nobody outside of a few has ever seen the actual unsigned contract so any number of us over the decades have made wild speculations as to what it may have contained. Benny Hill reruns have been scarce on television since the early 1990s. In the last 20 plus years BBC America and Antenna TV have aired variations of Benny's show. BBC America aired edited hour long episodes whereas Antenna TV in 2011, and added again to the line-up this year, air edited copies of the half hour edited programs. Antenna TV has been airing the half hour episodes in program blocks from 12am to 2am early Sunday morning. So, as I mentioned earlier, Benny Hill is always going to be there...ready to be discovered by successive generations of people. 

C.W. McCall: 1928 - 2022

A few months ago news was released that C.W. McCall had been placed under the care of hospice. The news was abrupt and matter of fact without too much information given as to the reason why. Then, out of the blue, news surfaced that C.W. had passed away on April 1st at the age of 93 from cancer. He was born Billie Fries, according to most websites, and later legally changed his name to William Fries, Jr.. He was born November 15, 1928 in Audobon, Iowa. He had a career in the advertising business when he created the character, C.W. McCall. He didn't portray the character in the television commercials but the product, Old Home Bread, became something of a major sales hit in the Omaha, Nebraska area in 1973. The commercial won a Clio Award, which is the Oscar of the advertising world, in 1974. The commercials spawned professionally recorded songs with emphasis on the sights and culture of the Plains States (Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado). Bill Fries became C.W. McCall on recordings. He wrote the lyrics to his recordings while Chip Davis wrote the music. His first single release, "Old Home Filler Up and a Keep on a Truckin' Cafe", was a direct tie-in with Old Home bread and it became a Top-20 country music hit and landed on the Hot 100 pop chart as well. "Wolf Creek Pass" was his second single and it, too, reached the Top-20 on the country music chart and reached Top-40 status on the Hot 100 pop chart. In 1975 "Classified" reached the country Top-20 followed by the chart hit, "Black Bear Road". 

His style was narration...meaning that he didn't sing too much on his single releases. He wasn't sad in his recitations like Red Sovine famously happened to be but given the narration approach and the mostly up-tempo, rollicking music arrangements it gave McCall a style and sound that set him apart. The massive hit single in his career came along later on in 1975... the iconic "Convoy". This recording was massively popular...a monster hit...a million selling country and pop hit. It was officially released in November of 1975 and it, as I said, was a monster hit. 

It reached Number One on the country and pop charts here in America. It was number one for 6 weeks on the country chart. It hit number one on the pop chart in Canada early in 1976 and the Top-10 on their country chart. It also hit number one in Australia and New Zealand. The single popularized the C.B. fad that swept the entire country and Canada. The recording cemented C.W. McCall's long-lasting popularity as a 'truck driver singer'. There are many compilation albums filled with songs specializing in the truck driving industry...and there's almost always inclusion of "Convoy" or several other singles from his career. The single, being incredibly popular and spearheading a national fad, ultimately had it's share of detractors/critics. The critics were definitely in the minority opinion, however. 

Now, as it turned out, 1976 turned out to be the peak year for C.W. McCall's recording career. There wouldn't be another recording by him that would match the phenomenal popularity of "Convoy" but he continued recording and releasing singles. He would have several chart hits during the remainder of the decade but nothing else reached the charts as the new decade began. Some of those latter day recordings that hit happened to be "There Won't Be No Country Music", a country Top-20. "Crispy Critters", "Four Wheel Cowboy", and "Round the World with the Rubber Duck" all reached the country charts in 1976. 

In 1977 he issued a couple of recordings...first up is "Audubon", a recording about his hometown in Iowa which serves as something of a prequel to his first single release. It's mid-tempo and highly entertaining...he mentions Mavis Davis, a character from the Old Home bread commercials and there's a refrain of his first single's chorus heard in this recording. For whatever reason it didn't register as high on the Country singles charts as his previous releases. The follow-up, the mellow "Roses for Mama", was his last major hit single...reaching the Top-10 on the country music charts here in America and in Canada early in the fall of 1977. Red Sovine recorded a version of the recording, too. McCall would have one final chart hit...a commentary on country music titled "Outlaws and Lone Star Beer" in 1978. It clocks in at just under 2 minutes and it features him singing...a departure from his recitations. In the song he laments that most people see country music as nothing but what the song's title says...so he decides to reveal there's more to country music. "Convoy", in the meantime, inspired a truck driver movie starring Kris Kristofferson, Ali McGraw, Ernest Borgnine, and Burt Young among others. The movie was released in 1978 and it featured a revised recording of the song by McCall. 

C.W. McCall officially 'retired' from country music following his 1979 album containing "Outlaws and Lone Star Beer". There is the existence of two rare single releases by him in the 1980's...the first being "Kidnap America" in 1980. A social/political commentary on the Iran Hostage crisis. The other is 1983's "Pine Tar Wars", commenting on the charged use of excessive pine tar on the bat of Major League baseball player, George Brett. Living in Colorado he ran for and was elected the mayor of Ouray, Colorado in 1986...a small town/hamlet in the mountains...and he remained mayor of the town until 1992. 

He maintained a low profile and kept out of the spotlight until just this year...soon after news broke that he was in hospice care he was asked about the Freedom Convoy that was taking place in Canada and the potential for it to move into the United States. The organizers received McCall's consent to use his "Convoy" song during the protests and he was quoted as being enthused and energized in the knowing that there was a revival of interest in his song and it's overall message. His quoted statements are from a February 9th conversation. He passed away on April 1, 2022 at the age of 93!

Ralph Emery: 1933-2022

It's been such a sad couple of weeks in the world of country music. On New Year's Eve (December 31, 2021) the wife of legendary entertainer/comic Ray Stevens, Penny Ragsdale, passed away at age 78. The two had been married since 1961. Songwriter, musician, music executive/record producer, Jerry Crutchfield, passed away on January 11th at 87. Legendary songwriter, Dallas Frazier, passed away on January 14th at age 82 and the news broke yesterday afternoon that legendary country radio and television broadcaster, Ralph Emery, passed away at age 88.

Born Walter Ralph Emery on March 10, 1933. Ralph, according to his memoir, became infatuated with radio as a way to escape the realities surrounding his childhood. He cites WLAC radio personality, John Richbourg, known on-air as John R, as a major influence. Ralph has often cited sportscaster, Curt Gowdy, as an influence, too. Ralph's broadcasting career began in 1951, first on regional small watt radio stations, and then onto larger radio stations. The early radio stations that Ralph Emery called home between the years of 1951 and 1957 were WTPR, WNAH, WAGG, WSIX, and WMAK. In 1957 he joined WSM radio and he became the all-night disc jockey there. The all-night show, as it was informally called, was officially titled Opry Star Spotlight. The focal point of the show was to play a majority of songs from Grand Ole Opry members, take requests/calls from listeners, deliver weather reports and other information. Truck drivers made up a lot of his listeners even though he didn't specifically tailor the show as a "truckers show". Eventually country music artists began to call-in. One thing led to another and Ralph's all-night radio show became must-hear conversation. Country music artists not only called in to Ralph's show but many of them stopped by in person to talk one on one with Ralph. He'd play their latest recordings or their most recent...if it happened to be a legendary performer Ralph more than likely played that artist's best known songs in between the conversation. On Ralph's programs he preferred to focus on conversation rather than act as a promoter. I've seen quotes from him stressing how didn't want his program to become an arm of a record label's publicity department and that publicity for a singer's latest product would be secondary to the interview/conversation. 

While at WSM Ralph became one of the announcers on the Grand Ole Opry in 1961. It was not too long after this that he ventured into television in a big way. In 1963 he became the host of an early morning local television show called "Opry Almanac" which aired 6-7am Central time. Now, keep in mind, Ralph was hosting the all-night radio program on WSM. This show aired from 12am until 5am Central time, Monday-Friday. This meant that an hour after his all-night show ended he'd have to be in the television studio awaiting his cue to go on the air. This schedule eased up considerably by 1966 when the morning show moved to the afternoons and was re-titled "Sixteenth Avenue". This series ended in 1969. In 1971 he began a brand new syndicated radio program. This show would feature a different guest co-host each week. The co-hosts were country music artists. The program ran 1 hour, five days a week. Ralph recorded 5 hours worth of shows in recording blocks. Those 5 hour recordings were edited down into 5 separate hour long radio programs. This syndicated radio series was in production for more than 15 years. In 1972 Ralph retired from the all-night radio program on WSM after a run of 15 years. The same year he returned to local morning television with "The Ralph Emery Show" in the same 6-7am time slot. 

Ralph's next major career move was becoming the host of the nationally syndicated country music show, "Pop! Goes the Country". This show, due to it airing nationally, is the program that introduced Ralph Emery to most of the television viewers in the United States. In the decades before this show came along Ralph was regionally popular/famous on local radio and television. "Pop! Goes the Country" aired all over the United States. The program debuted in 1974 and Ralph hosted it until midway through 1980. After Ralph stepped down as host in 1980 the show remained in production for another two years...hosted by Tom T. Hall. Cable television station, TBS, went country and hired Ralph to host it's talk/performance show, "Nashville Alive!". This program aired for a season, 1981-1982. The same year it was announced that a brand new cable television station was in the works...called The Nashville Network...it became known by it's initials, TNN. This channel went live in 1983...and Ralph hosted the nightly talk show, "Nashville Now", during the station's first 10 years (1983-1993). This program brought Ralph a lot of Cable Television awards and nominations during this era in his career. He became known as the Johnny Carson of Cable Television. Ralph's other industry nick-names were The Dick Clark of Country Music; The Mike Wallace of Country Music; and Dean of Country Music Broadcasters. He co-authored four books: Memories, More Memories, The View from Nashville, and 50 Years Down a Country Road. The last book, published in 2000, was in reference to Ralph's broadcasting career nearing it's 50th anniversary. 

Ralph's career as a broadcaster brought him numerous awards. In 1989 he was inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame. In 2007 he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2010 he was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. He married his wife, Joy, in 1967. They remained married until his death...a union of nearly 55 years. He had previously been married to country singer, Skeeter Davis, for four years (1960-1964). 

There hasn't been any information released about Ralph's funeral or what he passed away from. 

In 2019 Ralph was among those who spoke at the election of Ray Stevens into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Ralph and Ray were great friends...he was one of Ray's strongest supporters within the music industry. Ray appeared as a guest on every radio and television show Ralph hosted from the early 1960's to the early 2000's. 

Ralph Emery: 1933 - 2022