Posted by Pete Smith on June 29, 2009, 12:34 am
86.149.22.99
“The Advertiser” (UK) 19 June 2009
Ninety-five years ago today (19 June) Lester Flatt was born in Overton County, Tennessee. The Flatts were a musical family with both mother and father playing banjo so it is not surprising the young Flatt adopted that same instrument, though later he would switch to guitar. During the depression years of the 1930s Lester worked in a textile mill then, when the economy picked up, joined the Happy Go Lucky Boys. In 1943 Flatt and his wife Gladys joined Charlie Monroe's Kentucky Pardners but less than a year later they quit, Lester joining Charlie's brother Bill Monroe as guitarist and lead singer, and so becoming a Blue Grass Boy. In 1945 banjo picking Earl Scruggs joined the Blue Grass Boys and little did Lester know then that this was the birth of one of the most famous and successful duos in country music. In 1948 both Flatt and Scruggs left the Blue Grass Boys, not initially to team up, but within a month had formed the Foggy Mountain Boys with other former Blue Grass Boys and later by future bluegrass legend Mac Wiseman. Together Lester and Earl achieved unprecedented success touring the world, recording top selling albums and singles, appearing on all major television and radio shows and even playing prestigious folk festivals such as Newport. It was unheard of for bluegrass acts to record chart singles but Flatt and Scruggs did just that with “The Ballad Of Jed Clampett”, theme to the television show “The Beverley Hillbillies”, hitting the number one spot, and “Foggy Mountain Breakdown”, originally recorded in 1948 and re-recorded for the 1968 movie “Bonnie And Clyde”, and even making top forty in the UK!. Unfortunately musical differences crept in. Scruggs, probably influenced by his sons, wanting to follow the country rock path whilst Flatt remained ever the traditionalist. It was a bitter parting and for several years the former friends did not speak to each other. Lester formed the Nashville Grass band featuring former Foggy Mountain Boys and was successful throughout the seventies with recordings on RCA and later Rounder, Flying Fish and CHM. Lester Flatt died on 11 May 1979 and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985 along with his former partner Earl Scruggs. Lester and Earl did make up their differences and were even discussing a reunion album but Lester's untimely death made that impossible.
Happy birthday tomorrow (20 June) to million selling Canadian recording artist Anne Murray. Anne, who hit the UK charts five times with “Snowbird” (1970), “Destiny” (1972), “You Needed Me” (1978), “I Just Fall In Love Again” (1979) and “Daydream Believer” (1980), will be sixty-three years young.
Remember there are stars in the southern sky.
“The Advertiser” (UK) 26 June 2009
Tuesday (30 June) marks the eighty-seventh anniversary of the very first country music recording session. The studio was the Talking Victor Company in New York City and the artists were Eck Robertson and Henry Gilliland. Legend has it that the duo marched into the Victor office dressed in full Confederate uniforms and demanded to make a record. The twosome recorded six tracks two of which , “Turkey In The Straw” and “Arkansas Traveller”, were released as a single. Contrary to legend the single was not successful but did well enough to encourage other record companies to record early country musicians such as Vernon Dalhart and Fiddlin' John Carson who soon became best sellers and established country music as big business. Eck Robertson was born in Arkansas on 20 November 1886 and raised in Amarillo Texas where he became a professional musician by 1910. An expert fiddler he entered and won fiddling contests throughout the south. By the beginning of the twenties Eck was already a well established showman throughout the south. He was outgoing and a real show off tossing his fiddle up in the air and catching it without missing a beat, playing behind his back, doing somersaults while playing and telling jokes as well as making his fiddle "talk". He died at the age of 88 in 1975.
Henry Gilliland, of Irish/English descent, was born in Jasper County, Missouri, on March 11,1845. In 1853 the family left Missouri for Texas, eventually settling in Parker County. In 1863 Gilliland joined the Confederate Army, the Second Texas Cavalry and while in the military, he learned to play his brother's fiddle and during the 1880s he began entering, and winning, fiddle contests in Texas and Oklahoma. In those days fiddlers played solo, without accompaniment and so his wry humour helped build his show. One of his last public appearances was Governor John Walton's 1923 inaugural party. Henry Gilliland died on 21 April, 1924.
Thirty-two years ago today Elvis Presley performed his last concert. The venue was the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
Birthdays this week include Paul Kennerley (27 June), the British composer who stormed America and beyond with his “White Mansions”. Nathan Abshire, the legendary Cajun accordion player, was born on 27 June 1913. He died in 1981. On 28 June 1925 George Morgan was born. His long career ran from the 1940s through the 1970s during which he enjoyed many hits but none bigger than his first, “Candy Kisses”. George, the father of country superstar Lorrie Morgan, died 7 July 1975.
Remember there are stars in the southern sky.
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