BITS & PIECES ***COUNTRY MUSIC SUFFERS ANOTHER LOSS * LEGENDARY HALL OF FAME STEEL GUITARIST RALPH MOONEY PASSES AT 82Born 16 September 1928, Duncan, Oklahoma, USA. Mooney became of of country music´s finest steel guitar players and during his career he played in the bands of many stars. He also ensured that his name would be remembered as co-author with Chuck Seals of the country standard "CRAZY ARMS".
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Texas Country Music/Western Swing entertainer Joe Paul Nichols passed away on July 27th Wednesday morning at his home near Jacksboro, Texas. He was 69. Nichols had battling Lou Gerhig´s disease for four years. Visit Western Swing Discussion Forum July 30, where Bill Byrd has an informative article on Joe Paul Nichols Funeral Services.
Texas Country Music
Entertainer and Louisiana Hayride Star Tony Douglas passed away on Tuesday,
January 22, in Athens, Texas.
"Tony was suffering from lymphoma and had been hospitalized for nearly two weeks," family spokesman Tracy Pitcox said. "He passed away peacefully just before midnight. He had been constantly surrounded by his family and friends."
Douglas was born near Athens, Texas, on April 12, 1929, in Martins Mill, Texas. He began performing as a weekly guest on Forth Worth’s Cowtown Hoedown in 1956. He made his first record “Ole Blue Monday” that same year. While performing on the show, Johnny Horton’s manager Tillman Franks asked Douglas to be a guest on the popular Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport.
Douglas then signed a three-year contract to become a Hayride regular.
In 1958, the manager of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville caught Douglas performing and offered him a contract. Douglas was ready to sign when he realized that signing with the Opry meant an automatic move from Texas to Tennessee. He gave up the invitation to join the prestigious show and remain in Texas.
"Tony was suffering from lymphoma and had been hospitalized for nearly two weeks," family spokesman Tracy Pitcox said. "He passed away peacefully just before midnight. He had been constantly surrounded by his family and friends."
Douglas was born near Athens, Texas, on April 12, 1929, in Martins Mill, Texas. He began performing as a weekly guest on Forth Worth’s Cowtown Hoedown in 1956. He made his first record “Ole Blue Monday” that same year. While performing on the show, Johnny Horton’s manager Tillman Franks asked Douglas to be a guest on the popular Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport.
Douglas then signed a three-year contract to become a Hayride regular.
In 1958, the manager of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville caught Douglas performing and offered him a contract. Douglas was ready to sign when he realized that signing with the Opry meant an automatic move from Texas to Tennessee. He gave up the invitation to join the prestigious show and remain in Texas.
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Texas Country Music/Western Swing entertainer Joe Paul Nichols passed away on July 27th Wednesday morning at his home near Jacksboro, Texas. He was 69. Nichols had battling Lou Gerhig´s disease for four years. Visit Western Swing Discussion Forum July 30, where Bill Byrd has an informative article on Joe Paul Nichols Funeral Services.
Country Music loses another great artist - Jack Barlow. During the mid 1960´s, Jack started working as a singer/songwriter and recording artist and released his first song, "I Love Country Music" which topped the charts at number one. Jack Barlow - age 87 departed this life July 29, 2011.
The long awaited, highly anticipated box set release of Bob Dunn - Master Of The Electric Steel Guitar is finally out. If you love Western Swing, (and you do) you need to get this.
Master of the Electric Steel Guitar. One of the most important figures in Western Swing history, Bob Dunn was the first country musician to use an amplified instrument on a phonograph record.. He performed with Milton Brown´s Musical Brownies from 1934 until 1936 but then left to begin a nomadic career with a variety of Southwest string bands. This 2-CD set contains 53 rare recordings featuring Dunn and also includes, for the first time, dozens of unpublished family photographs.
Features recordings by Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies, Roy Newman & His Boys, Cliff Bruner´s Texas Wanderers, Buddy Jones, Leon Selph & His Blue Ridge Playboys, The Shelton Bros., Bob Dunn´s Vagabonds, Floyd Tillman, Bill Boyd & His Cowboy Ramblers, Bill Mounce & His Sons Of The South, The Sons Of Dixie, Modern Mountaineers, Tommy Dover & His Texas Rhythm Boys, Harry Choates & His Fiddle
http://www.originjazz.com/
COUNTRY MUSIC LOSES ANOTHER ICON
FERLIN HUSKY PASSES AT 85 YEARS OLD (March 17)
JOHNNY PRESTON COURVILLE, born in Port Arthur, Texas, August 16, 1939 died at Baptist Beaumont Hospital Friday morning March 4, 2011. Johnny Preston sang with Bob Wills on a Nashville session, April 16, 1968, J.P."Big Bopper" Richardsons "Running Bear" and Harlan Howard´s "If I Just Had a Home to Come Home To", and Tommy Duncan´s "Time Changes Everything" on Kapp and MCA - on steel was Pete Drake.
Had a note from Billy Byrd to tell me that Bob Wills´ sister Lorene Wills, had died of a massive heart attack. She was in a nursing home in Tulsa; she´d had dementia for years. She was the last of the Wills brothers and sisters.
GERALD D "BUSTER" MAGNESS - steel guitar player for Johnnie Lee Wills & All The Boys and Merl Lindsay and the Oklahoma Night Riders, died Tuesday February 22nd at 87 years old. Years ago Magness performed with Garth Brooks´ mother, country singer Colleen Carroll.
Elmer Lee "BUDDY" CHARLTON, the musician and teacher whose pedal steel guitar work was an integral element in Country Music Hall of Famer Ernest Tubb´s famed Texas Troubadours band, died Tuesday night, 25th January 2011, at his home in Locust Grove, VA. He was 72 and was fighting lung cancer.
RALPH MOONEY , a steel player that lives in Mansfield, Texas, has been referred to Hospice for treatment. Ralph has numerous credits and I can´t list them all but he was a permanent member of the Merle Haggard´s band for 21 years, recorded on most of Buck Owens´ recordings, recorded on hundreds of other recordings, wrote the song, Crazy Arms, was winner of steel guitar awards in Dallas and has numerous other accomplishments.
CLYDE BREWER, Jr, legendary Texas Western Swing music pioneer and the leader of Houston´s renowned Western Swing band, The River Road Boys, was born on January 19, 1930 to Velma and Clyde Brewer in the central Texas oil town of Luling. He passed away on January 8, 2011.
