Today’s jukebox classic was written by “The Fastest Guitar in the Country,” Jimmy Bryant, who was a well-known session guitarist. (He also played the fiddle on The Monkees’ “Sweet Young Thing” from their debut album.) “Only Daddy” was released as a single in 1968 from Jennings’ Only The Greatest album which also included his #5 hit “Walk On Out Of My Mind” and Jennings’ cover of Neil Diamond’s “Kentucky Woman.” During the recording of the album, Jennings was at odds with producer Chet Atkins and the brass at RCA Victor Records over their penchant of using studio musicians instead of his touring band.
The flip of the single, “Right Before My Eyes” was written by Don Bowman and Jackson King and was featured on Jennings’ previous album from 1968 called Hangin’ On. Bowman is also known as the recording artist who brought the song “Chit Atkins, Make Me A Star” to the country charts in 1964. In 2001, Jennings was inducted into The Country Music Hall Of Fame. He died from complications of diabetes in February of 2002.
There was an interesting time during the late 1950s where straight Country and Western music melded with then-burgeoning Rock ‘n’ Roll and Rhythm ‘n’ Blues, giving birth to a new form of music called Rockabilly. Capitol records was a hotbed for Rockabilly recording crossover artists like Ferlin Husky, Faron Young, Wanda Jackson, Hank Thompson, Jerry Reed, Gene Vincent and Skeets McDonald.
Jean Shepard was a member of The Grand Ole Opry who scored her first #1 hit back in 1953 as a duet with Ferlin Husky called “A Dear John Letter” and followed it with the top 10 hit “A Satisfied Mind” a few years later. She went on to become a star of recorded music and TV variety shows during the 1950s and recorded this early Rockabilly gem in 1958.
She married Hawkshaw Hawkins in 1960 who would perish in the same plane crash that took Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas and went on to have country chart hits throughout the 1960s and 1970s. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame in 2011.
Talk about your double entendre record…well, I’ve never! This rude but somewhat right Rockabilly stomper by Cliffie Stone would never get passed the censors of today. Perhaps they didn’t know any better back in the late 1950s… Country musician, Stone was one of the first A&R guys at Capitol Records back in the late 1940s discovering Tennessee Ernie Ford and Hank Thompson. His TV show, “Hometown Jamboree,” became a launching pad for Eddy Arnold, Johnny Cash, Lefty Frizzell, Johnny Horton, Ferlin Husky, Jim Reeves, Merle Travis, Tex Ritter and dozens of other artist who gained notoriety by appearing. He was also a pioneer of Rockabilly music recording numerous sides for Capitol that bridged the gap between country and rhythm ‘n’ blues.
This Grammy-winning ditty written by Tom T. Hall topped the Country and Pop charts in 1968, a feat that would not be repeated by a song until Dolly Parton did the trick with “9 To 5″ in 1981. The song catapulted Riley to instant fame resulting in her own variety show on TV. It also spurred a 1978 movie and a 1981 TV series starring Barbara Eden. The song was given to Skeeter Davis first who declined to record it.
Right from the outset everything was in place…timbre of voice…unique phrasing…clever lyrics…it was all there back in 1965…everything perhaps, except his beard was fully formed. The arrangement was standard for Nashville at the time with heaping helpings of strings and anonymous female background vocals. It still works for me.
Along with Hank Williams, he was the epitome of Honky Tonk music in the 1950s. With his Nudie suits, garish guitars and guitar-shaped swimming pools, he provided a window into the high life of a Country star of his day. In the early ’50s he formed a band with then-unknown Floyd Cramer on piano and Faron Young on guitar…now that’s something!
One of the greatest songs about being jilted by one of the biggest recording artists of the 1950s! Clara Ann Fowler’s professional career began on a radio show sponsored by Page Milk…hence the stage name Patti Page. She recorded Redd Stewart and Pee Wee King’s song in 1950 after it was already recorded by King himself and Cowboy Copas. Her version topped the country and pop charts where it stayed for 9 weeks; it remained on the charts for 30 weeks.