Michael 'Ohlly' Ohlhoff
Country Music legend George Jones dead at 81
Nashville, Tenn. (April 26, 2013) – Country Music Hall of Famer, Grand Ole Opry member, and Kennedy Center Honoree George Glenn Jones died Friday, April 26, 2013 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. He was hospitalized April 18 with fever and irregular blood pressure.
Born September 12, 1931, Jones is regarded among the most important and influential singers in American popular music history. He was the singer of enduring country music hits including “She Thinks I Still Care,” “The Grand Tour,” “Walk Through This World With Me,” “Tender Years” and “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” the latter of which is often at the top of industry lists of the greatest country music singles of all time.
“A singer who can soar from a deep growl to dizzying heights, he is the undisputed successor of earlier natural geniuses such as Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell,” wrote Bob Allen in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s “Encyclopedia of Country Music.”
Jones was born in Saratoga, Texas, and he played on the streets of Beaumont for tips as a teenager. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps before returning to Texas and recording for the Starday label in Houston, Texas. In 1955, “Why Baby Why” became his first Top 10 country single, peaking at number four and beginning a remarkable commercial string: Jones would ultimately record more than 160 charting singles, more than any other artist in any format in the history of popular music. Continue reading
Honoring A Legend—A Tribute To Cowboy Jack Clement by Colin Escott
Give Me Flowers While I’m Living, an ancient pop song adapted by country singers from the Carter Family to Flatt & Scruggs, might have been the keynote for Honoring a Legend—A Tribute to Cowboy Jack Clement. Held at one of the Grand Ole Opry’s early homes, Nashville’s War Memorial auditorium, on January 30, it was a tribute so fulsome you’d believe you were at a memorial service. Instead, the Cowboy made his entrance ahead of a polka band, and sat in an armchair as a dizzying array of artists, friends, and dignitaries sung his songs and his praises. The audience included Sam Phillips’ longtime companion, Sally Wilbourn, and his son, Jerry, who were seated with Scotty Moore and his wife. Managers, label guys, songwriters, musicians, and journalists turned out in profusion. All proceeds went to Clement’s favorite charity, one that provides healthcare for musicians who have fallen upon hard times.
The Bristol Sessions
I didn’t watch the 54th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday (Feb. 12th), nor did I know who or what was up for an Award. Coincidentally, I was listening to Bear Family Records’The Bristol Sessions, 1927-1928: The Big Bang of Country Music that same evening, unaware it was up for the Best Historical Album of 2011. (I hadn’t read the page I just linked to until now!)
Jean Shepard – another Bear Family Artist proudly wearing the Custom BF button….
This photo I took last night Sept 29, in Edmonton , Alberta, Canada of this awesome lady Jean Shepard.
She told me while we were talking that she is also going to mention Bear Family Records and their great contribution in keeping the very precious music for all the world to be able to hear, in the upcoming new Country Family Reunion , which she will be part of the filming Oct 11!!! AND I couldn’t agree with her more!!! So glad she is planning to do so!!!
My Bear Family Collection would already be huge if I had my way and abilities to do so…..I am so very thankful for what is being done to keep all this very precious history captured by Bear Family!!!
Thank you for the fun privilege to share these special photos with you , and I will be sending you some more!!!
Getting the word and the awareness of Bear Family Records out there in places that may not already know!!
Have a really great day!!!
Sincerely
Denise Pederson
In Memoriam – Jimmie Rodgers was born September 8, 1897
Jimmie Rodgers, also known as ‘The Father of Country Music’, was born September 8, 1897, either in Meridian, Mississippi, or Geiger, Alabama.
Jimmie Rodgers was also known as ‘The Singing Brakeman’, or ‘The Blue Yodeler’. Rodgers developed an interest in music and entertaining at an early age. Originally, he intended to make a living from playing and singing music while in his early teens. But his father got him a job working on the railroad. In 1924 he was diagnosed with TB which eventually ended his railroad career.
In 1927 Ralph Peer was holding an audition for local musicians in Bristol, Tennessee. Peer recorded Rodgers, and the session yielded two songs, ‘The Soldier’s Sweetheart’, and ‘Sleep, Baby, Sleep’. Peer recorded him again in November 1927. This session produced four songs including ‘Blue Yodel’, also known as ‘T For Texas’, a record that would sell a million copies in the next two years.
After years of fighting TB, Rodgers made his last recording session in New York in May 1933. He died two days later on May 26, 1933. He was only 35 years old. Jimmie Rodgers will be remembered as the founder of modern country music, along with the Carter Family. The Country Music Hall of Fame was established in 1961. Jimmie Rodgers was one of the first three inductees.
Richard Weize recieves the Award for Distinguished Service to Historical Recordings
The Award for Distinguished Service to Historic Recordings is presented annually to an individual who has made contributions of outstanding significance to the field of historic recordings in forms other than published works or discographic research. The 2012 ARSC Distinguished Service Award was presented to Richard Weize. founder and CEO of Bear Family Records, probably the most important reissue label in the world for roots- oriented music. Richard began collecting records in 1956, with the purchase of Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock.” In the fifties he was fascinated by rock ‘n’ roll, but from 1960 on his interest shifted to country music. In the early 1970s, he started the Folk Variety label and started booking folk acts into German clubs.
Open House 2012 / Tag der offen Tür 2012
Here are the first impressions…
Carl Mann will celebrate his 70th birthday!
American rockabilly singer and piano player Carl Mann was born August 22, 1942 in Huntingdon, Tennessee. Sixteen-year-old Mann’s first hit record was a rockabilly cover version of Nat King Cole’s ‘Mona Lisa’ in 1959, recorded for Sam Phillip’s Sun Records company in Memphis, Tennessee.
Bear Family Records is sending its best wishes!
Carl Mann who was raised in rural Tennessee began his singing career in churches and played guitar and piano on country songs for local talent shows. In 1957 Jaxon Records released his first 45. Later, he signed a three-year-contract with Sun Records. ‘Mona Lisa’, his best-selling record, peaked at no. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100.