Hillbilly Music 1920-1950

Country Funk

The Unlikely Rise of Hick-Hop

Country Sounding Songs By Non-Country Acts

[Edited 7/10/14 15:39pm]

Faron Young ~ Unmitigated Gall {1967}

Roy Clark ~ The Tips Of My Fingers {1964}

Pat Boone ~ Texas Woman {1977}

Melodyland/Hitsville

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Melodyland/Hitsville was a short-lived country music label subsidiary of Motown, operating from mid-1974 to mid-1977. Although it started as Melodyland, in mid-1976 the name changed to Hitsville, although the labels and catalog sequence remained the same except for the name change. They began by signing a number of music industry veterans, including Pat Boone, T.G. Sheppard, Jerry Naylor, Ronnie Dove, Terry Stafford, and Dorsey Burnette. The philosophy seemed to be to sign artists who already had some kind of successful track record rather than developing artists from scratch.
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Their first artist was Pat Boone, who had four medium hits on the country charts, although his first single, "Candy Lips"/"Young Girl" [Melodyland 6001, also the first single for the label] failed to chart. The hits started with "Indiana Girl" [Melodyland 6005, 4/75], which reached #72. This was followed by a duet with his wife, Shirley, with "I'd Do It With You" [Melodyland 6018, 9/75, #84]. A followup, "U.F.O."/"Glory Train" [Melodyland 6029] failed, and a scheduled album was shelved. In July, 1976, Pat returned to the charts with "Texas Woman" [Hitsville 6037], his biggest hit for the label, which reached #34, with the followup, "Oklahoma Sunshine" [Hitsville 6042] reaching #86. This merited the release of the album called Texas Woman [Hitsville H6-405S1], although it didn't chart.
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The biggest star for Melodyland/Hitsville turned out to be T.G. Sheppard (nee William Browder), who racked up eight country charters for the label, four of which crossed over to the pop charts, and three albums, all of which charted. He was the prototypical "overnight success" who had actually toiled in the business for over ten years when he had his first hit. But when he started, he hit the ground running. His first two singles, "Devil in the Bottle" [Melodyland 6002, 11/74] and "Trying to Beat the Morning Home" [Melodyland 6006, 4/75] both reached #1 country (#54 and #95 pop, respectively). His third hit, "Another Woman" [Melodyland 6016], reached #14 country in late summer 1975, and he followed that with "Motels and Memories" [Melodyland 6028, 12/75], which reached #7 country and #102 pop. Four more hits for the renamed Hitsville label followed: a remake of Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man" [Hitsville 6032, 5/76, #14 country/#100 pop], "Show Me a Man" [Hitsville 6040, 9/76, #8 country], "May I Spend Every New Years With You" [Hitsville 6048, 12/76, #37 country], and "Lovin' On" [Hitsville 6053, 3/77, #20 country]. At that point, Motown was getting ready to close the label, and Sheppard moved to Warner Bros to continue his career, which accumulated over forty country chart records by 1991.
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Another chart maker for the label was Jerry Naylor, who had been in the post-Buddy Holly Crickets starting in 1961. His first single, "Is This All There Is to a Honky-Tonk?" [Melodyland 6003] reached #27 country in early 1975. Two other singles registered low in the charts in 1976.
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Ronnie Dove had had a long career singing easy listening pop ballads in the 1960s, and had switched to country music in the early 1970s, recording for Decca. His first effort for Melodyland was "Please Come to Nashville" [Melodyland 6004, 4/75], which made #75 on the country charts. His followup, a remake of Bobby Darin's "Things" [Melodyland 6011, 6/75], did considerably better, reaching #25 country.
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Dorsey Burnette, whose career went back to the mid-1950s with his brother Johnny in the Rock'n'Roll Trio, added three more country chart hits. His first was "Molly (I Ain't Gettin' Any Younger)" [Melodyland 6007, 5/75], which made #25. This was followed by two minor hits, "Lyin' In Her Arms Again" [Melodyland 6019, 10/75, #97] and "Ain't No Heartbreak" [Melodyland 6031, 4/76, #74].
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Terry Stafford's lone single for the label, "Darling Think It Over"/"I Can't Find It" [Melodyland 6009] did not chart. Stafford, whose cover of Elvis Presley's "Suspicion" in 1964 [Crusader 101] had reached #3 pop, was fresh from some success on the country charts with Atlantic. He had reached #31 on the country charts in early 1974 with a song he had written called "Amarillo By Morning" [Atlantic 4006], but his biggest success would be when George Strait redid the song in 1983, reaching #4 and associating Terry's name forever on a country classic, one of the best rodeo songs ever written.
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Kenny Serratt also had three country chart hits for the label, but the highest only made #54. They were "If I Could Have It Any Other Way" [Melodyland 6014, 8/75, #88], "I've Been There Too" [Hitsville 6039,8/76, #72] and "Daddy, They're Playing a Song About You" [Hitsville 6049, 2/77, #54].
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Jud Strunk had the highest charting hit on the pop charts with "The Biggest Parakeets in Town" [Melodyland 6015, 8/75], which reached #50 pop and #51 country. Strunk was a veteran of comedic songwriting, having been a regular on Laugh-In in the 1960s, and this novelty was a thinly veiled double entendre about a woman who had "the biggest parakeets in town", or... the biggest pair of something, anyway. His followup, "Pamela Brown" [Melodyland 6027, 2/76] only reached #88 country.

The final hitmaker for the label was Wendell Adkins, who had two minor hits and an album in 1977 during the months Hitsville was winding down. Adkins was a regular at Mickey Gilley's club in Houston.
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Other artists on Memodyland/Hitsville included Karen Kelly, Barbara Wyrick, Sheila Taylor, Darla Foster, Joey Martin, Ernie Payne, Rick Tucker, Marty Mitchell, Lloyd Schoonmaker, and Jerry Foster.

Charley Pride ~ The Snakes Crawl At Night {1966}

The Monkees ~ Some Of Shelly's Blues (recorded 1968, released 1990)

Jerry Reed ~ You Took All The Ramblin' Out Of Me {1972}

Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris ~ Applejack {1976}

"The Bottle Let Me Down" (1966)

Music and lyrics: Merle Haggard


Each night I leave the bar room when it's over
Not feeling any pain at closing time
But tonight your memory found me much too sober
Couldn't drink enough to keep you off my mind

Tonight the bottle let me down
And let your memory come around
The one true friend I thought I'd found
Tonight the bottle let me down

I've always had a bottle I could turn to
And lately I've been turnin' every day
But the wine don't take effect the way it used to
And I'm hurtin' in an old familiar way

Tonight the bottle let me down
and let your memory come around


youtu.be/E4ujMvABhkE

Hee Haw

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Created by Frank Peppiatt and John Ayleswoth, the first HEE HAW show aired on the CBS Television Network on June 15, 1969, as a summer replacement series for the SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR. HEE HAW was such a resounding success CBS slated the series for mid-season debut and as they say, the rest is history. From December 17, 1969 through December 27, 1997, HEE HAW shows were a weekly event in American households. A total of 585 one-hour shows were taped in Nashville, Tennessee, initially in 1969 at the CBS affiliate WLAC-TV (now WTVF-TV) and then moving to the Opryland Complex -Studio A in 1980.

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HEE HAW is only one of a handful of television programs that have had a profound and lasting influence on American culture. Skits such as “The Cornfield,” “Pickin’ and Grinnin’,” “Pfft You Was Gone,” and “Gloom, Despair and Agony On Me” have become known universally and are woven into the American comedic fabric. Today HEE HAW is referenced in David Letterman’s “Top 10″ and Jay Leno’s opening monologue. HEE HAW has been recognized by the Country Music Hall of Fame – Nashville, The Museum of Broadcast Communications – Chicago and The Museum of Television and Radio – Los Angeles and New York.

Album: We Must Believe in Magic







"Don't it Make My Brown Eyes Blue"
Released: 1977
Composer: R. Leigh



I don't know when I've been so blue
Don't know what's come over you
You've found someone new
And don't it make my brown eyes blue

I'll be fine when you're gone
I'll just cry all night long
Say it isn't true
And don't it make my brown eyes blue

Tell me no secrets, tell me some lies
Give me no reasons, give me alibis
Tell me you love me and don't let me cry
Say anything but don't say goodbye

I didn't mean to treat you bad
Didn't know just what I had
But honey now I do
And don't it make my brown eyes
Don't it make my brown eyes
Don't it make my brown eyes blue

David Allan Coe ~ Penitentiary Blues {1969}

0:00 - Penitentiary Blues
3:11 - Cell #33
5:24 - Monkey David Wine
8:24 - Walkin' Bum
12:01 - One Way Ticket to Nowhere
14:48 - Funeral Parlor Blues
18:01 - Death Row
20:45 - Oh Warden
23:31 - Age 21
25:37 - Little David
27:50 - Conjer Mana

"Seven Year Ache" (1987)

Music and lyrics by Rosanne Cash

You act like you were just born tonight
Face down in a memory but feeling all right
So who does your past belong to today?
Baby, you don't say nothing when you're feeling this way

The girls in the bars thinking, "who is this guy?"
But they don't think nothing when they're telling you lies
You look so careless when they're shooting that bull
Don't you know heartaches are heroes when their pockets are full

Tell me you're trying to cure a seven-year ache
See what else your old heart can take
The boys say, "when is he gonna give us some room"
The girls say, "god I hope he comes back soon"

Everybody's talking but you don't hear a thing
You're still uptown on your downhill swing
Boulevard's empty, why don't you come around?
Baby, what is so great about sleeping downtown?

Splitting your dice to be someone you're not
You say you're looking for something you might've forgot
Don't bother calling to say you're leaving alone
'Cause there's a fool on every corner when you're trying to get home

Just tell 'em you're trying to cure a seven-year ache
See what else your old heart can take
The boys say, "when is he gonna give us some room"
The girls say, "god I hope he comes back soon"

Tell me you're trying to cure a seven-year ache
See what else your old heart can take
The boys say, "when is he gonna give us some room"
The girls say, "god I hope he comes back soon"

Ringo Starr & Buck Owens ~ Act Naturally {1989}

Album: This Time (1993)



" Ain't That Lonely Yet"

[Edited 7/4/14 23:14pm]

Margaret Whiting & Jimmy Wakely ~ Slipping Around {1949}

If your gonna put in Dwight then you need some Lyle Lovett and early kd. lang.

Toby Keith - ''Who's Your Daddy?'' (2002)
Songwriter: Toby Keith
Album: Unleashed

Charlie Rich - "Behind Closed Doors" (1973)
Songwriter: K. O'Dell

My baby makes me proud
Lord, don't she make me proud
She never makes a scene
By hanging all over me in a crowd

'Cause people like to talk
Lord, don't they love to talk
But when they turn out the lights
I know she'll be leaving with me

And when we get behind closed doors
Then she lets her hair hang down
And she makes me glad that I'm a man
Oh, no-one knows what goes on behind closed doors

My baby makes me smile
Lord, don't she make me smile
She's never far away
Or too tired to say: "I want you"

She's always a lady, just like a lady should be
But when they turn out the lights
She's still a baby to me

'Cause when we get behind closed doors
Then she lets her hair hang down
And she makes me glad that I'm a man
Oh, no-one knows what goes on behind closed doors

Molly Bee ~ She Kept On Talkin' {1974}

Carolina Chocolate Drops ~ Leaving Eden {2013}

Tish Hinojosa ~ I'm Not Through Loving You Yet {1994}

Mary Chapin Carpenter ~ Right Now {1990}

Glen Campbell & Jerry Reed ~ Southern Nights {1977}

Alabama ~ Mountain Music {1981}

Eddie Rabbit - "Suspicions"
Released May 1979

From the album, Loveline


I'm so glad that I met you, baby
And I'm so proud when we walk down the street
And I know it's crazy to worry like I do
But I get this feeling that I'm losing you

Chorus

I get these suspicions
Even though I know that you love me, baby
And I really shouldn't feel this way

Suspicions
I can't help it you're just so good looking
I'm afraid somebody's gonna steal you away from me

When I go out to a party with you
You always turn every head in the room
And I just know what's on every man's mind
I try to fight it, but it gets me sometimes

Chorus

When I'm with you, I feel so satisfied
The way you touch me when you lay by my side
And that look you get in your eyes when we love
Makes me hate myself for what I'm thinkin' of

ooh, suspicions

Chorus

artist76 said:

What about Garth Brooks? Wouldn't he be the last country artist to bring glory (i.e., mainstream success) to the genre? I really liked his songs, his voice.

Shania Twain was popular around the same time Garth was, but she seemed more pop to me. How many other country singers had cornrows? Aren't current acts like Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood, & Miranda Lambert mainstream? I don't think Taylor Swift is really country, but she's pretty mainstream too.

Album: Aces (1991)



She'll take the painting in the hallway
The one she did in jr. high
And that old lamp up in the attic,
She'll need some light to study by

She's had 18 years to get ready for this day
She should be past the tears, she cries some anyway

Chorus:

Oh oh letting go
There's nothing in the way now
Oh letting go, there's room enough to fly
And even though, she's spent her whole life waiting
It's never easy letting go

Mother sits down at the table
So many things she'd like to do
Spend more time out in the garden
Now she can get those books read too

She's had 18 years to get ready for this day
She should be past the tears, she cries some anyway

Chorus