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Blame It On Mexico
''Strait Country'' is the debut studio album by American country music artist George Strait, released on September 4, 1981, by MCA Records. The album's traditional country music approach—a mix of Texas honky tonk and the Bakersfield sound—presented a sharp contrast to the dominating trends within country music at that time. The album includes the singles "Unwound", "Down and Out", and "If You're Thinking You Want a Stranger (There's One Coming Home)". The album peaked at number 26 on the US ''Billboard'' Top Country Albums chart. ''Strait Country'' has been certified platinum by the RIAA. The album was one of the first to be recorded and mixed digitally. Recording In January 1981, MCA Records offered Strait a single deal, agreeing to release one song as a single and provide the necessary promotion. If the single was successful in sales and radio play, then an album deal would be offered.Bego, pp. 37–38. On February 2, 1981, Groundhog Day, Strait entered The Waxworks recordi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Strait
George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait has sold over 120 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He holds the RIAA record for most certified albums by any artist, with 33 different albums that are certified platinum or gold. Considering singles and albums, he has a total of 20 multi-platinum, 33 platinum and 24 gold certification. According to the RIAA, Strait is the 12th best-selling album recording artist in the United States overall selling over 70 million records across the United States. He is credited for pioneering the neotraditional country style in the 1980s, famed for his authentic cowboy image and roots-oriented sound at a time when the Nashville music industry was dominated by country pop crossover acts. Given his influence on the genre, Strait has been nicknamed the " King of Country Music" by writers and music critics. He curr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ace In The Hole Band
Ace in the Hole Band is the backup band for American country music performer George Strait, who was the band's lead singer before beginning his solo career in the early 1980s. The band formed at San Marcos, Texas in the 1970s, and recorded several singles for "D Records" including the Strait-penned "I Just Can't Go on Dying Like This" and "I Don't Want to Talk It Over Anymore". After Strait attained status as the " King of Country", the group released an album of its own in 1995 featuring vocals from Darrell McCall and Mel Tillis. The band, originally known as "Stoney Ridge", performs such styles of traditional country music as honky-tonk and Western swing and were influenced by such performers as Bob Wills, Johnny Bush, and The Strangers. Contemporaries of the band include Asleep at the Wheel and Jerry Jeff Walker. Background Origins The Ace in the Hole Band derived from the band "Stoney Ridge," which was composed of Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State) studen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1981 Debut Albums
Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, Karl Doenitz following his death on December 24. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán Department, Morazán and Chalatenango Department, Chalatenango departments. * January 15 – Pope John Paul II receives a delegation led by Polish Solidarity (Polish trade union), Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa at the Vatican City, Vatican. * January 20 – Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, minutes after Ronald Reagan is First inauguration of Ronald Reagan, sworn in as the 40th President of the United States, ending the Iran hostage crisis. * January 21 – The first DMC DeLorean, DeLorean automobile, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Jordanaires
The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vocalion Records, Stop Records, and many other smaller independent labels. In the mid-1950s, with a lineup of Gordon Stoker (first tenor), Neal Matthews (second tenor and lead vocals), Hoyt Hawkins (baritone and lead vocals), and Hugh Jarrett (bass vocals), they also began lending their vocal talents to other artists as background singers in recording sessions. They are widely known for having provided background vocals for Elvis Presley in live appearances, recordings, and feature films from 1956 to 1970. Jarrett was replaced by then-teacher Ray Walker in 1958. The group worked in the recording studio, on stage, and on television with many country, gospel, and rock and roll artists. They also provided background vocals using the names th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddy Spicher
Buddy Spicher (born Norman Keith Spicher; July 28, 1938 in DuBois, Pennsylvania; pronounced “Spiker”) is an American country music fiddle player. He is a member of The Nashville A-Team of session musicians, and is Grammy-nominated. He was nominated as Instrumentalist of the Year by CMA in 1983 and 1985. He was the first fiddler in the "Nashville Cats" series of the Country Music Hall of Fame (August, 2008). He recorded with virtually every major country star of the sixties, seventies, and early eighties, including Faron Young, Johnny Paycheck Little Jimmy Dickens, Reba McEntire, George Jones, Don Williams, Dolly Parton, Crystal Gayle, Loretta Lynn, Bob Wills, Asleep at the Wheel, Don Francisco (song "He's Alive"), Ray Price, Willie Nelson, George Strait ("Amarillo by Morning"), Bill Monroe, David Allan Coe, and Emmylou Harris. Versatile, he recorded with Elvis Presley, Gary Burton, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, The Monkees, Linda Ronstadt (" Long, Long Time"), Ray Charles, Henr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiddle
A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the style of the music played may determine specific construction differences between fiddles and classical violins. For example, fiddles may optionally be set up with a Violin construction and mechanics#Bridge, bridge with a flatter arch to reduce the range of bow-arm motion needed for techniques such as the double shuffle, a form of bariolage involving rapid alternation between pairs of adjacent strings. To produce a Timbre#Brightness, ''brighter'' tone than the deep tones of gut or synthetic core strings, fiddlers often use steel strings. The fiddle is part of many traditional (Folk music, folk) styles, which are typically Music#Oral and aural tradition, aural traditions— ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steel Guitar
A steel guitar () is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar in that it is played without using frets; conceptually, it is somewhat akin to playing a guitar with one finger (the bar). Known for its portamento capabilities, gliding smoothly over every pitch between notes, the instrument can produce a sinuous crying sound and deep vibrato emulating the human singing voice. Typically, the strings are plucked (not strummed) by the fingers of the dominant hand, while the steel tone bar is pressed lightly against the strings and moved by the opposite hand. The idea of creating music with a slide of some type has been traced back to early African instruments, but the modern steel guitar was conceived and popularized in the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiians began playing a conventional guitar in a horizontal p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobby Thompson (musician)
Bobby Thompson (born Robert Clark Thompson; July 5, 1937 – May 18, 2005) was an American banjoist and guitarist. He worked as a session musician from the 1960s through 1980s. He recorded with Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Neil Young, Perry Como, among others. Thompson was born in Converse, South Carolina. In the late 1960s, he joined his fellow session musicians, Weldon Myrick, Charlie McCoy to form Area Code 615. He died in 2005 at the age of 67. Selected discography With The Monkees * '' The Monkees Present'' (1969) * '' Missing Links Volume Two'' (1990) With Charley Pride * '' Christmas in My Home Town'' (1970) * '' Charley'' (1975) * '' The Happiness of Having You'' (1975) With Dottie West * '' Country and West'' (1970) * '' Forever Yours'' (1970) * '' If It's All Right With You/Just What I've Been Looking For'' (1972) * '' Country Sunshine'' (1973) * '' Carolina Cousins'' (1975) With Willie Nelson * '' Yesterday's Wine'' (1971) With The Everly Brothers * '' Pass the Chi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Shapiro
Tom Curtis Shapiro (born in Kansas City, Missouri) is an American songwriter and occasional record producer, known primarily for his work in country music. To date, he holds four Country Songwriter of the Year awards from Broadcast Music Incorporated, as well as the Songwriter of the Decade award from the Nashville Songwriters Association International. He has also written more than fifty Top Ten hits, including twenty-six Number Ones. Musical career Since the 1970s, Shapiro has been a prominent songwriter, doing most of his work in country music. His first big hit was the international smash " Never Give Up on a Good Thing" by George Benson, released as a single in December 1981, which was a top-five record in 13 countries. Shapiro signed to a publishing contract with Tree International in the 1980s, with Eddy Raven, Crystal Gayle, Marie Osmond and Lee Greenwood being among the first country acts to cut his material. In 1978, The Shadows released their cover of Shapiro's song "L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Wills (singer)
David Wills (born October 23, 1951, in Pulaski, Tennessee) is an American country music singer-songwriter. Wills released three studio albums and charted more than twenty singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles chart between 1975 and 1988. Two of his songs, "There's a Song on the Jukebox" and "From Barrooms to Bedrooms," reached the Top 10 in 1975. Wills was a BMI songwriter for Pride Music Group, along with Blake Mevis and Bob Moulds. David was married to Deborah Ann Smith (from Dallas, TX) who owned Alcorn Music, Inc. publishing company. After releasing a gospel-themed album in 1996, titled ''Line On Love'', Wills retired from the music industry. However, in 2021, Wills was contacted by a group of filmmakers from northeast Georgia who were working on a documentary about a local musician named Doug Moss. Moss had been a staple of the house band at a country music club in Athens, Georgia called the J&J Center, owned by entrepreneur Jerry Farmer. Wills performed there for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dallas Frazier
Dallas Frazier (October 27, 1939 – January 14, 2022) was an American country musician and songwriter who had success in the 1950s and 1960s. Life and career Frazier was born in Spiro, Oklahoma, on October 27, 1939, but was raised in Bakersfield, California. As a teenager, he played with Ferlin Husky and on the program '' Hometown Jamboree''; and released his first single, "Space Command", at age 14 in 1954. As he told writer Edd Hurt in a 2008 profile for the music website Perfect Sound Forever, "We were part of ''The Grapes of Wrath''. We were the Okies who went out to California with mattresses tied on the tops of their Model A Fords. My folks were poor. At twelve I moved away from home, with my folks' permission. Ferlin uskyoffered me a job, and I started working with him when I was twelve. Then I recorded a side for Capitol Records when I was fourteen, and I did some country. I cut in the big circular building that's still out there on Hollywood and Vine." Frazier's 195 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alabama (band)
Alabama is an American country music band formed in Fort Payne, Alabama, in 1969. The band was founded by Randy Owen (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and his cousin Teddy Gentry (Bass guitar, bass, Backing vocalist, backing vocals). They were soon joined by another cousin, Jeff Cook (lead guitar, fiddle, and Keyboard instrument, keyboards). First operating under the name Young Country and later Wildcountry, the group toured the Southeast United States, Southeast bar circuit in the early 1970s, and began writing original songs. They changed their name to Alabama in 1977 and following the chart success of two singles, were approached by RCA Records for a recording deal. Alabama's biggest success came in the 1980s, when the band had 27 country No. 1 hits, seven multi-platinum albums, and received numerous major awards. Alabama's first single on RCA Records, "Tennessee River (song), Tennessee River", began a streak of 21 country No. 1 singles, including "Love in the First Degree (Alabama ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
