What can we say about Elvis Prestley that hasn’t been already said? This rare version of “She thinks I still care”, a classic by George Jones performed here by mister Elvis Prestley was included in the album Way Down in the Jungle Room, a compilation released on August 5, 2016 by RCA Records and Legacy Recordings which features master recordings and outtakes from two recording sessions on February and October 1976 in the Jungle Room, a recording studio set up by Elvis in the den of Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, He would be interred in Graceland some months later. This albums was released just a week before the 39th anniversary of his death on August 5th 1977. This version is the side-B of his last #1 song, “Moody Blue”, that would reach that position in February 1977. Elvis Prestley and George Jones, got to meet each other in 1955 while touring as a cast member of the Louisiana Hayride, even though Elvis would pretty much stay with his friends around him in his dressing room.
With Presley's explosion in popularity in 1956, pressure was put on Jones to cut a few rockabilly sides and he reluctantly agreed. His heart was never in it, however, and he quickly regretted the decision; in his autobiography he joked that During the years, when he had encountered those records, he used them for Frisbees." He explained to Billboard in 2006 that he was desperate. When one is hungry, a poor man with a house full of kids, one has to do some things one ordinarily wouldn't do. He was so determined to make a name in country music that he didn't want his name on the rock and roll thing, so he told them to create an alias, a nickname for those records, and he named himself Thumper Jones or Hank Smith on it and if it did something, good, if it didn't, hell, because he didn't want to be shamed with it." Jones went on to say he unsuccessfully attempted to buy all the masters to keep the cuts from surfacing later, which they did.
Here’s a cut from George Jones under the nickname Hank Smith, singing “Heartbreak Hotel”, a classic by Elvis Prestley.
We’ve listened to Georgette Jones, the daughter of George Jones, singing a classic by her mother, the also popular singer Tammy Wynette, named “D I V O R C E”.
Originally recorded in 1968, "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" is a woman's perspective on the impending collapse of her marriage. The lyrics begin with an old parenting trick of spelling out words mothers and fathers hope their young children will not understand, as they are not yet able to spell or comprehend the word's meaning. In this case, the soon-to-be-divorcee spells out words such as "divorce", "Joe" (the name of the woman's four-year-old son), "hell", and "custody" to protect the boy from the cruel, harsh realities of the world and the ultimate breakup of his mother and father.
George Jones received two nicknames he could never live down, “No Show Jones” and “The Possum”. 'No Show Jones' was a nickname that stuck with George for many years, due to his failure to show up to many of his concerts because of his abuse on alcohol and drugs. The country icon admitted that drugs became a bad habit that he let overshadow his career.
The second nickname, “The Possum”, is a small marsupial found in Australia and New Zealand that lives in trees and has thick fur and a long nose and tail. As George’s nose looked turned up, and had little beady eyes he guessed he did look like a possum! So some singers at the beginning of his career laid into him and called him 'Possum,' and it got everywhere. There was no way he could stop that, so he just had to learn to live with that!". As a curiosity, the possum defends himself from attacks by acting as if it was dead.
“Just Playin’ Possum”, by Alan Jackson, song from Alan Jackson from his sophomore album “Don’t Rock The Jukebox” from 1991, much in line with what we were commenting about George Jones not wanting to play rock and roll. The song is a play on words impossible to understand in any other language that’s not English. Playing possum means “playing music from George Jones” because Alan has been dumped by his female partner and wants to hear to some sad country music in his stereo, and at the same time is the behavior of the marsupial animal acting as if it was dead, because Alan says to everybody he was leaving town so as not to be disturbed. Excellent song co-written by Alan Jackson, Jim McBride and Gary Overton. The fantastic ending by George Jones is the perfect goodbye to this section of the podcast.
Proof of Alan’s talent as a songwriter is his recent induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame this last summer of 2018, next to Bill Anderson and Steve Dorff, joining the ranks of more than 400 tunesmiths. Established in 1969, the Hall of Fame throws an official induction ceremony every year, recognizing writers from all genres. The ceremony had a special guest appearance by Loretta Lynn, who some months before had suffered a stroke and stepped on the stage holding the arm of George Strait to say some words about Alan.
“My truck’s bigger than your truck”, the newest recording released by Gary Bennett, the famous former co-lead singer of BR549, who had not recorded a song since 2010, when he published his album “Human Condition”.
A true country song anthem, definitely.
The lead guitarists/vocalists Gary Bennett and Chuck Mead, founders of Br549, met in early 1993, not long after they'd moved to Nashville from the Pacific Northwest and Kansas, respectively. Bennett led an informal band at Robert's Western Wear, a combination bar and clothing store on Lower Broadway in Nashville's old district, and Mead worked at a nearby bar before joining up. Together they published several albums with Arista Records. To say goodbye to Gary Bennett, we’ll listen to BR549 with their classic “Cherokee Boogie”, from their debut album from 1996.
2016 saw the rise of a new singer, genuine in his music being Nashville mainstream. This song “When it rains it pours” is included in his second album “This one’s for you too”, released in July 2018. Luke Combs, from North Carolina, took joy in singing from a young age. During his high school years, Combs split his time between football and singing in local vocal groups, eventually picking up the guitar while attending college
This One’s For You, originally released June 2, 2017, spent a collective 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. Combs added five tracks to the deluxe edition, This One’s For You Too, which dropped earlier this year as I said before.
To finish today’s show, we will have two more songs from Luke Combs from this his second album, proving to be an excellent country singer. The last two songs of the show today are Beer Can, and Honky Tonk Highway, fantastic style keeping it real country music.
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