CMA 50th Anniversary: The Second Decade
By Deborah Evans Price

© 2008 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

During its first decade, CMA emerged as a vital tool for expanding the sound and business of Country Music. This process accelerated to the point that the next 10 years, from 1969 to 1978, became a remarkably productive decade for CMA, beginning that first year when the CMA Awards was broadcast live on national television for the first time.

“We had great ratings in the ’70s,” recalled former CMA Executive Director Jo Walker-Meador. “There weren’t as many cable channels and other things to distract people. Kraft Foods was the sole sponsor for the first 20 years, and we got to know all the people there, from the President of Kraft on down. It was just wonderful.”

The CMA Awards wasn’t the only television exposure afforded to Country artists during the ’60s and ’70s. Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Flatt & Scruggs, Dolly Parton, Jerry Reed and Porter Wagoner were among the artists who hosted their own series — and then, of course, there was “Hee Haw.”

“Those shows were very important because there’s nothing like network television exposure to get things known and it gave a lot of artists an opportunity to perform,” said Walker-Meador. “Glen Campbell’s show [“The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour”] came on as a summer replacement for ‘The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour’ and of course it turned out to be such a popular show. And ‘The Jimmy Dean Show’ was also important in bringing Country Music to a wider audience; CMA was proud to play a role in persuading ABC to keep it on the air. It was very important in getting the artists known and growing the interest in Country Music. A lot of people kind of turned their noses up at ‘Hee Haw,’ but I thought that was a wonderful show and that it did a lot of good for Country Music.”

Specifically, those early programs proved invaluable in reflecting the essence of real Country Music to the American public, according to E.W. “Bud” Wendell, member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, former General Manager of The Grand Ole Opry and former President/CEO of Gaylord Entertainment. “People like Glen Campbell and Johnny Cash were so dynamic and offered such great exposure for artists that it gave a whole new meaning to the industry than it had before,” Wendell observed.

Songs of faith were central to the King of Country’s recording career from the start, but it wasn’t until this 1963 release on Hickory (the recording arm of his own Acuff-Rose publishing company) that he purpose-built a themed album of gospel songs. All twelve of the album’s titles were taken at mid-tempo and full throat, which gives the album a toe-tapping, hand-clapping energy. The album’s songs mixed classic gospel titles (“Turn Your Radio on” and “I’ll Fly Away”) with contemporary tunes (Hank Williams’ “Jesus Dies For Me” and “I Saw the Light”) and several credited to Acuff’s partner Fred Rose (“Wait for the Light to Shine” and “Thank God”). The sole original was “That Glory Bound Train.” Acuff is supported by a string band (guitar, bass and fiddle). light honky-tonk piano and drums, and backed by ardent group harmonies. Varese’s CD reissue adds six bonus tracks, including the previously unreleased pair “Hallelujah Square” (from 1977) and “From Cradle to Cross to Crown” (from 1978). Also included is Acuff’s 1962 waxing of the song most closely associated with his career, “The Great Speckled Bird.” The original album was previously reissued as a two-fer with Acuff’s “Sings American Folk Songs,” on the UK Ace label, but for those seeking a straight shot of gospel, this is the edition to get. [©2008 redtunictroll at hotmail dot com]

Album, with five tracks produced by Dan Penn, represents the last work of singer Chris Gaffney, who passed away on April 17

McMurtry's built a sizeable resume since his 1989 John Mellancamp-produced debut and his 1991 collaboration with Mellencamp, John Prine, Joe Ely and Dwight Yoakam. The influences of that latter work still reverberates through his music, with Mellencamp's heartland rock, Prine's writerly words and Ely's maverick stance all providing input. Unlike those three, however, McMurtry often sings in a dry, near-monotone style that crosses the tuneful tunelessness of Dylan or Lou Reed with the wry asides of Ben Vaughn. His flat delivery seems at first like it would wear thin at album length, but his songs compel you forward, his band hits some exceptional grooves, and in the end, his singing and lyrical voices are closely aligned. McMurtry confronts current political issues with the sort of disgust that is surprisingly rare in contemporary music. The heavy blues "God Bless America" casts an eye on America's warrior-junkie pursuit of fossil fuels and the corporate soldiers taking point, and "Cheney's Toy" lays out the broad-scale and intimate impacts of the Iraq war. His measured vocals work perfectly here, keeping the bitter emotions at a steady, contemptuous simmer. Isolation pervades both "Hurricane Party" and "Fireline Road," the former allegorically tying to a storm's aftermath, the latter starkly spoken in its story of abuse. John Dee Graham plays a haunting guitar solo on the latter, Ian McLagan adds a terrific piano solo to "Freeway View," and Pat MacDonald blows blue harp for the harrowing homicide of "The Governor." McMurtry's a passionate man who ably expresses strong opinions with lyrical dexterity. He's effective with a limited vocal range, making up in tone and dynamics (and characters, stories and well-crafted phrases) what he lacks in notes. [©2008 redtunictroll at hotmail dot com]

It's always been a bit ironic that "outlaw," the mark of individuality and rebellion against the constraints of Nashville's industry machine, became such a potent marketing device. Initially applied retroactively to a collection of works from Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser, "outlaw" grew to include anyone who wanted to position themselves (or, more often, have their record companies position them) as outsiders. Legacy's 20-track collection stretches the definition to include hippies (The Allman Brothers), rebels (Johnny Cash, The Marshall Tucker Band, Lynynrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, Gretchen Wilson), iconoclasts (Steve Earle, Billy Joe Shaver), malcontents (Johnny Paycheck, David Allan Coe), problem children (Tanya Tucker), new traditionalists (Travis Tritt), and Hank Williams Jr., who fits easily with the rebels, iconoclasts, problem children and malcontents.

MEL TILLIS REISSUES ON COLLECTORS' CHOICE MUSIC

Three Elektra albums — Me and Pepper, Your Body Is an Outlaw and Southern Rain — formed some of the most critically and commercial successful work of his career.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Mel Tillis has charted more than 100 hits as a performer and songwriter, starred in half a dozen movies, and became one of the few country artists to figure out the business side of the music business. Some of the biggest hits of his career were created during his tenure at Elektra Records (1979-82). And now, three long-out-of-print Elektra albums — Me and Pepper (1979), Your Body Is an Outlaw (1980) and Southern Rain (1981) — will be made available as remastered CDs on Collectors’ Choice Music on April 29, 2008. Liner notes were written by Grammy Award-winning musicologist Colin Escott.

Tillis was born in Tampa, Fla. during the Great Depression. He began stuttering at age three, but soon discovered he didn’t stutter when he sang. After spending
1951-55 in the Air Force, he headed to Nashville to begin his musical career. Singers, of course, had to talk between songs in live shows, but Tillis’ stuttering soon became part of his act. In 1957, he signed to Columbia and later recorded for MGM.

Two decades later, in 1979, Tillis celebrated a No. 1 country record with “Coca Cola Cowboy” just as his MCA Records contract was coming to a close. He followed longtime producer Jimmy Bowen from MCA to Elektra Records. According to Escott’s liners, Tillis and Bowen “fought, but respected each other. Bowen liked full productions. Mel didn’t. “‘Do me an effin f-f-favor,’” Bowen remembered Mel saying, “‘Don’t put no more new sh** on my records.’” Asked why, Tillis replied, “Cause I’m up to two buses, a truck and a 15-piece orchestra, and it’s breaking me on the road!”

Fayssoux McLean - Early
By: Christie Bohorfoush, Senior Staff Writer

Fayssoux McLean’s beguiling voice was an integral element in some of the finest country music recordings of our time. She sang harmony (under the name Fayssoux Starling) all over the great early Emmylou Harris records “Luxury Liner,” “Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town,” “Elite Hotel,” and “Pieces of the Sky.” and had prominent duets with Emmylou on the songs “Spanish is a Loving Tongue” and “Green Rolling Hills.”

Given that Emmylou Harris is herself the greatest harmony vocalist in country music history, Fayssoux’s role as Emmylou’s harmony singer of choice should tell you nearly all you need to know. But also need to know is that Fayssoux possesses a stunning lead voice, one that she finally lets the world hear on her debut recording, EARLY.

For a while, it seemed as if that voice would never be properly heard and recorded, as Fayssoux dropped out of the music business in the 1970’s and ultimately became a teacher in her native South Carolina. But in 1996, a middle school teacher named Peter Cooper was writing a book about the extraordinary musical history of Spartanburg, South Carolina (Pink Anderson, The Marshall Tucker Band, Marshall Chapman, Hank Garland and numerous others hailed from the Hub City), and he found out that Fayssoux was living in Spartanburg. He wrote about her in the book, she sang at a book release party, and hundreds of unsuspecting listeners were instantly smitten.

Trent Willmon - Broken In
By: Christie Bohorfoush, Senior Staff Writer

In a perfect world, an honest singing cowboy would have to choose between the stage and the steed, the honky-tonk and the ropin’ pen. There would be time enough for both, with every rodeo championship win celebrated with a triumphant return to the Grand Ole Opry stage… And all of this would be possible without ever having to leave the Lone Star State, where everyone knows that real BBQ means brisket and pork is something you only really eat around Easter time.

No wait… that is a Texan’s perfect world. Or rather, the perfect world Trent Willmon probably fantasized about over a cold sympathy beer the day he had to sell his last horse. Not because of hard times so much as lack of enough time to ride. “I had to sell him about three months ago, because I’d come in off the road and want to go rope, and he’d be out of shape,” rues Willmon. “I figure the next one I buy, I’m going in partners with somebody who can keep the horse tuned up, so that when I want to come in and play cowboy, I can. But honestly, I haven’t had any time in the last six to eight months to do any kind of riding. I miss it, but this is just what I gotta focus on right now so I can get to play later.”

Given that the “this” Willmon speaks of is a burgeoning country music career that has already taken him from the dancehalls of Texas to the hallowed Opry stage and countless other venues across the country… including the National Finals Rodeo… chances are he is not doing too much crying in his beers these days. Deep in his heart he still dreams of the day when he can buy a good piece of the beautiful Texas hill country and ride till the proverbial (or rather, literal) cows come home, but he is having too much fun chasing his other dream in the here and now to waste time with regrets.

It's hard to believe it's been 13 years since Carter released her last album ("Little Acts of Treason"), and over 25 since she burst forward with 1980's Nick Lowe-produced "Musical Shape." But eight years after her last album, Carter was knocked flat by a year that could drain anyone's artistic batteries: 2003 brought the passing of her partner (Heartbreakers bassist, Howie Epstein), mother (June Carter Cash), step-father (Johnny Cash), and sister (Rosey Carter Adams). Her subsequent slip off the sobriety wagon dug the hole deeper, but also provided a path to recovery, a new marriage and, finally, the focus to turn a decade's worth of life material and personal growth into new songs.

Zane Lewis - Zane Lewis
By: Christie Bohorfoush, Senior Staff Writer

Zane Lewis may have taken the long way around the barn to reach this point in his music career, but one listen to his sophomore release, ZANE LEWIS, leaves no doubt that this boy is exactly where he is meant to be. A sixth-generation Texan, Lewis was born in the West Texas town of Lubbock and raised just north of Austin in the town of Round Rock. From Buddy Holly to Waylon Jennings to Ronnie Dunn, the region has given us some of Texas’ most influential artists. With a pure country voice as big at the Lone Star state and a stage show that gives new meaning to the term, “wild west,” Lewis is already falling naturally into that prestigious country lineage. “When I’m onstage, I’m an in-your-face guy and I’m all about getting the crowd jacked up and enjoying themselves.” Zane says with an easy laugh. “Even my slow songs are like that; they still have power and drive. You work on an album in the studio over the course of several months and then you’re out there playing those songs live. If the audience doesn’t feel the music, you might as well just hang it up.”

Lewis grew up in a home immersed in country music, “Dad had his own western swing band in college, and as a kid, I remember hearing him play ‘Faded Love’ and other Bob Wills’ tunes on his fiddle late into the night. On family vacations, the car was stocked with all the right 8-track tapes and we’d wear out the player listening to Willie, Waylon, and The Eagles.” Like any American kid, Zane also encountered his share of rock ‘n’ roll. Anyone who sees him perform live should know that he counts Van Halen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels, U2, and Elvis among his influences.

A self-professed audiophile, it took Lewis a while to come around to the idea of a musical career. “I didn’t start playing guitar until college,” he admits. “For years I was a closet singer, really a ‘shower’ singer. I had the Strait, Garth, and Haggard sound workin’ those bathroom acoustics. It drove my roommates crazy.” Lewis spent those college years in Lubbock, attending Texas Tech on the “six-year party plan” and living on a steady diet of ‘Texas Spoon Blue Margaritas’ and classic country music.