As I am listening to Jimmy Dickens on the Friday Night Opry, with 12 artists scheduled, I thought again of days gone by and I have an Opry line-up from June 22, 1957, 55 years ago tonight. Again, I thought it would be nice to look back.
7:30: Nabisco
Roy Acuff: New River Train
Cowboy Copas: Gone And Left Me Blues
Brother Oswald: Nobody's Business
Roy Acuff: Precious Memories
Howdy Forrester: Cumberland Gap
Ralph Sloan Square Dancers
7:45: American Ace
Jordanaires: Theme
Faron Young: I'm Gonna Live Some
Justin Tubb: The Party Is Over
Jordanaires: Sugaree
Faron Young: Chrine of St. Cecilia
Fiddle Tune: Soldier's Joy
8:00: Martha White
Flatt & Scruggs: Head Over Heals In Love
Marty Robbins: Knee Deep In The Blues
Wilma Lee & Stoney: Loving You
Del Wood: Pony Boy
Flatt & Scruggs: Is There Room For Me
Marty Robbins: White Sport Coat
Ladell Sisters: Butterfly
Possom Hunters: Fire In The Mountain
Wilma Lee & Stoney: Rocky Road Blues
Flatt & Scruggs: Shucking The Corn
Ralph Sloan Square Dancers
8:30: Prince Albert
Ferlin Husky: Prized Possession
Rod Brasfield: Comedy
Carlisles: I'm Rough Stuff Stuff
Ralph Sloan Square Dancers
Ferlin Husky: Sa/ith The Lord
Chet Atkins: Triger Rag
Minnie Pearl: Comedy
Carlisles: Wouldn't You Like To
Stringbean: Going Down The Country
Ferlin Husky: Fallen Star
Fiddle Tune: Leather Britches
9:00: Jefferson Island
Jordanaires: Theme
Ernest Tubb: Two Glasses Joe
Wilburn Brothers: I'm Setting You Free
Jimmy Newman: Can't Go On This Way
June Carter: Comedy
Ernest Tubb: Don't Forbide Me
George Jones: You Gotta Be My Baby
Jordanaires: Walk Away
Fruit Jar Drinkers: Grey Eagle
Wilburn Brothers: I'm So In Love With You
Ernest Tubb: Will You Be Satisfied That Way
9:30: Stephens
Lonzo & Oscar: Theme
Hank Snow: Caribbean
Porter Wagoner: Good Morning Neighbor
T. Texas Tyler: Bumming Around
Lonzo & Oscar: Fallen Star
Hank Snow: A Fool Such As I
Maybelle Carter: I Never Will Marry
Stonewall Jackson: Don't Be Angry
Crook Brothers: Mississippi Sawyer
Porter Wagoner: Who Will It Be
Hank Snow: Golden Rocket
10:00: Wall-Rite
Roy Acuff: It's Hard To Love
Justin Tubb: Bachelor Man
Stringbean: Going Down The Country
Howdy Forrester: Money Musk
Ralph Sloan Square Dancers
10:15: Delited
Carlisles: Theme
Marty Robbins: A White Sport Coat
Del Wood: Are You From Dixie
Carlisles: Tain't Nice
Marty Robbins: Same Two Lips
Fiddle Tune: Billy In The Low Ground
10:30: Hester Battery
Ernest Tubb: Mississippi Gal
Maybelle Carter: I Never Love But One
Flatt & Scruggs: Joy Bells
Ernest Tubb: Treat Her Right
Fiddle Tune: Bully Of The Town
10:45: De Con
Faron Young: I Miss You Already
Ladell Sisters: Ninety Nine Ways
Crook Brothers: Old Joe Clark
Faron Young: I'll Be Satisfied That Way
11:00: Coca Cola
Jordanaires: Theme
Hank Snow: I'm Moving On
Ferlin Husky: Gone
Chet Atkins: Alabama Jubilee
Jimmy Newman: Fallen Star
June Carter: Comedy
Lonzo & Oscar: Gone No. 2
Hank Snow: Stolen Moments
Wilburn Brothers: Go Away With Me
Gully Jumpers: Up Jumped Trouble
Ferlin Husky: Prized Possession
Hank Snow: Music Makin Mama
Ralph Sloan Square Dancers
11:30: Jamison
Jordanaires: Theme
Cowboy Copas: Filipino Baby
George Jones: Too Much Water
T. Texas Tyler: Remember Me
Cowboy Copas: The Man Upstairs
Fiddle Tune: Wake Up Susan
11:45: Sustaining
Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper: Cheated
Sam & Kirk: Roll On Buddy Roll On
Porter Wagoner: Uncle Pen
Fruit Jar Drinkers: Cotton Eyed Joe
Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper: He Set Me Free
Ralph Sloan Square Dancers
A couple of observations:
>Ralph Sloan and the square dancers got in a lot of dancing that night.
>Even though he was an Opry member for a fairly short amoung of time compared to others on that night, Hank Snow had already settled into the early slot for Stephens and the late slot for Coke.
>Sam & Kirk McGee were in the late segment, of which they would remain for the remainder of their Opry careers.
>Roy Acuff was featured in just 2, 15 minute segments, including opening the show, which he did not like doing.
>Interesting to see George Jones on the Opry this night, along with Porter Wagoner.
Finally, the quality of the line-up was very good on this night.
What a lineup! Thanks! I'll toss in some things and you call can correct me:
ReplyDelete--Roy Acuff often seems to have hosted the first show in those days. I confess I'm not sure why.
--Mr. Acuff, Ernest Tubb, and Cowboy Copas were the only artists senior to Hank Snow on the show (except for the "old-timers" and the comedians, and I think the Jordanaires) who usually hosted, and it occurs to me that of the group, Mr. Snow was probably the biggest of them at the time. By contrast, years later on the Opry, Mr. Acuff asked Jimmy C. Newman what his big song was in the late 1950s and he replied, "A Fallen Star." Mr. Acuff said, "That's what I was doing at that time."
--Interestingly, Marty Robbins didn't do the final segment, meaning he hadn't established himself there yet.
Fred in Bismarck here:
ReplyDeleteThank you, Byron. This lineup is especially interesting to me as coming from the fatal spring-summer months when country turned the corner, more or less for keeps, into pop.
Altho people always talk of Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley, it was really Ken Nelson, at Capitol, who got the ball rolling the winter before with "Gone" and "Young Love." (Capitol actually started even earlier, with Tennessee Ernie's "16 Tons," but that was produced, I believe, by Jack Fascinato.)
Spring brot "Four Walls," "White Sport Coat" and all the others -- including such grotesques (for a country artist) as "Shrine of St. Cecelia," sung by Faron on this night.
("I'm all through singing through my nose," I heard Faron tell Cleveland pop jock Bill Randle that spring. Not true -- to the good fortune of us country fans.)
The new sound is much in evidence on this bill. Both Jimmy C & Ferlin sing their current hit, "Fallen Star," etc., etc. Ernest Tubb & Hank Snow keep it country, altho Hank's latest release was an attempt at pop, "My Arms Are a House" b/w the eventual hit, "Tangled Mind." Ernest does sing his Pat Boone cover, "Don't Forbid Me," but his version was all country (and pretty good).
Anyone who lived through those days will remember what a breath of fresh air the young George Jones was. He shows us why tonight with his only two numbers, on two segments, "You Gotta Be My Baby" and "Too Much Water."
I was intrigued by the listing of "Rocky Road Blues" -- which I assume is the Bill Monroe song -- by the Coopers. Usually they stuck pretty much to their own extensive catalog, and they never recorded "Rocky," to the best of my knowledge -- certainly not by 1957.
Memories! Please keep these old lineups coming, Byron!
Great lineup as always, Byron. Wasn't this around the time Ralph Sloan and the Tennessee Travelers joined the Opry?
ReplyDeleteRobert, Byron may correct this, but I believe that Ralph Sloan came to the Opry in 1952 and Ben Smathers and the Stoney Mountain Cloggers came aboard in 1957.
ReplyDeleteNo, I think you are correct. I had 1957 in my head on account of the Stoney Mountain Cloggers, I believe. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteRalph Sloan and his dancers came to the Opry in 1952, while Ben Smathers and the Stoney Mountain Cloggers first came to the Opry in 1958.
ReplyDeleteRalph Sloan's group was also referred to as The Tennessee Travelers.
What would a program from this show be worth?
ReplyDelete