Country & Western Appreciation

[seismic-2]

Pioneers of country music by Robert Crumb

We already had a Jimmie Rodgers song way back at #15, but let's have another one now. Here's "In the Jailhouse Now", from 1928:

[seismic-2]

Here's some fine Western Swing music: Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys performing "Ida Red" in 1951.

[seismic-2]

And some more Western Swing, from 1960: Hank Thompson sings "A Six Pack to Go"

[seismic-2]

Continuing with the Texas honky-tonk hard drinking theme, here's one of the all-time classics in the genre: "Drivin' Nails in My Coffin" by Ernest Tubb, from 1946.

[seismic-2]

And Hank Thompson again, with "Through the Bottom of the Glass"

[ed2962]

I just want to say thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to this thread, especially seismic 2 and few others. Like I said at the start, I know a little about country music but not a lot. Many of the vids posted have been really educational for me and I imagine for others.

[ed2962]

When I was a kid my mom dragged me along to see the movie The Electric Cowboy featuring a version this song



my bio dad took me to see exploitation films...

[seismic-2]

Thanks, ed2962, it's nice to see that you're enjoying the tunes. While we're posting drinking songs, here's one from Webb Pierce that was #1 on the Country charts for 12 weeks in 1953: "There Stands the Glass". Webb Pierce had more #1 Country hits during the 1950s than any other artist, and he came to personify the popular image of Country music on account of his elaborate costumes tailored by Nudie of Hollywood and his excessive lifestyle, with rhinestone-studded convertibles and a mansion with a guitar-shaped swimming pool.

[seismic-2]

Webb Pierce's biggest hit of all was a cover of the same song we had up on #91, Jimmie Rodgers' "In the Jailhouse Now". Pierce's version was on the Country charts for a full 37 weeks in 1955, and it was #1 for 21 of them! It is interesting to compare Pierce's version with Rodger's original from 1928, in that Rodgers accompanied himself on acoustic guitar (supplemented vocally through his yodeling), but by 1955 Country music often relied heavily on the pedal steel guitar for accompaniment and an electric hollow-body guitar to thump out a boogie-woogie bass beat. In this particular performance, Pierce is joined in harmonies by Red Sovine (famous for songs about truck driving) and either Teddy Wilburn or Doyle Wilburn - this video is too fuzzy to let you distinguish clearly between the look-alike brothers!

[seismic-2]

The 1950s are sometime called the decade of the "three Hanks" in Country Music - Williams, Snow, and Thompson. We've had selections from 2 of those gents, so it's time for a couple of songs from the third. It's hard to know where even to start with songs by Hank Snow - he recorded more than 140 albums in his career that lasted for over 50 years - so let's just go with this one, "A Fool such as I".

[seismic-2]

...and then follow that ballad with a tune that's a bit more up-tempo.

[ed2962]

...and then follow that ballad with a tune that's a bit more up-tempo.

ha ha...I don't know where I know this song from but I totally heard it when I was a kid

[ed2962]

Marty Stuart and the Staple singers doing the Band's The Weight

[The Darknight Detective]

ha ha...I don't know where I know this song from but I totally heard it when I was a kid

I have tried doing that song at karaoke a few times. Man, you need to suck up breath at every turn!

[The Darknight Detective]

Here's the first song I ever heard the Singing Ranger perform back in '74:



It was his last #1, BTW. As always, some nice flat picking from one of the bests.