Merle Kilgore not only wrote “Ring of Fire” with Anita Carter but was also a good friend of Johnny Cash. Merle Kilgore penned a fair number of memorable tunes, some of which he recorded himself, such as “Baby Rocked Her Dolly,” “Go On Bruce,” “The Bell Witch” – and “42 in Chicago” which enjoyed release as a single in Australia in 1962:
“Merle Kilgore, currently doing very well in many parts of the country with his Mercury waxing of ’42 in Chicago,'” reported Cash Box from Canada in its May 12, 1962 issue. Cash Box would select “42 in Chicago” as a Newcomer Pick of the Week in its February 3, 1962 edition and trumpet the song’s charms:
Country hit songster Kilgore can take a giant stride into the pop field with his newest Mercury stand. It’s a cha cha beat opus, tabbed “42 in Chicago,” in which the clever lyrics compare the artist’s love problems with the weather. Inviting, deep-voiced choral assist.
Merle Kilgore was one of the songwriters profiled in Billboard‘s ‘Songwriter Series‘ from October 29, 1966’s “World of Country” special edition —
Merle Kilgore is a talented young student of the “title” school of writing. “I listen to conversations, read books, and listen to music in order to come up with a working title,” said the Nashville-based composer. After he has a title in mind, he thinks through the story-line and then writes the lyrics.
This formula has been very successful for the composer-performer whose list of hits include “Wolverton Mountain,” “The Folk Singer,” “Ring of Fire” and “Tiger Woman.” Under contract to Al Gallico Music Corporation for the past six years, Kilgore writes his songs in collaboration with such notable artists as Claude King, Faron Young and Margie Singleton.
As a youngster, Kilgore spent his summers visiting his uncle Clifton Clowers in the latter’s Arkansas mountain home. Clowers, a colorful character and gifted amateur mandolin player, kindled Merle’s interest in country music, teaching him to play the guitar and mandolin. As Kilgore recalls, “uncle has a reputation as being handy with a knife and gun, a warning that was passed on to the local lads who wanted to court Clowers’ beautiful daughters.” Naturally, when Merle began to write songs, Clowers became the subject of one of his most successful tunes, “Wolverton Mountain,” which Claude King recorded and helped write and which was No. 1 on the country charts.
Merle’s personal selection as his favorite composition is “The Folk Singer,” a tune written about Johnny Cash. “When Johnny was appearing at Carnegie Hall in 1962,” Merle relates, “his voice was so hoarse it was barely above a whisper.” Although it was painful for him to sing, he went on anyway. Cash’s performance under the handicap so impressed Kilgore, a long-standing Cash fan, that he used the story as the lyric for the tune which quickly became a No. 1 disk in England.
(1962)
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