Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic
Judy Lynn – “America’s Western Sweetheart” – would get her one and only 45 picture sleeve, tragically enough, for this cheerful-sounding honky tonk tale in which the singer informs us she has only seconds to live before the “kindly” stranger who offered a ride at the train station prepares to
As George Lipsitz points out in the introduction to Johnny Otis‘s memoir Upside Your Head! Rhythm and Blues on Central Avenue, Otis was a central organizing figure in the Los Angeles rhythm & blues scene of the late 1940s and early 1950s — thus, a shrewd move on Syd Nathan’s
The full-page ad placed in Billboard‘s August 17, 1968 issue promised controversy: Bill Gavin, publisher of the influential Gavin Report is on record as saying “Mom (Can I Talk To You?)” by Jan Rhodes should be given airplay. If Gavin were still with us, I would very much like to
Is it really true, as Country Music Archive asserts, that Ann Jones And Her Western Sweethearts “was probably the first all-girl band in C & W music”? Bill Sachs, in his “Folk Talent and Tunes” column for Billboard, reported in the November 13, 1960 edition — Ann Jones, King recording
Thanks to William Vernola for recommending the 1991 PBS documentary “mini” series, Making Sense of the Sixties. At one point in the accompanying soundtrack — during the examination of women’s rights, undoubtedly — I was hooked by the catchy chorus to a song called “Drop the Mop“: [Pssst: Click the
When you think of truck-driving country classics, the names of four artists should come readily to mind: Dave Dudley, Red Sovine, Red Simpson … and The Willis Brothers! Brotherly harmonies + offbeat humor + trucker tales = a winning sound and track record. “Give Me Forty Acres (To Turn This
Trailblazing, by definition, can be a lonely enterprise — but someone has to move civilization forward. Therefore, hats off to Jamaica’s first woman music producer, Sonia Pottinger, who managed to navigate a path through a field that is still overwhelmingly dominated by men and left future generations a legacy of
Recognition due to Lester Bangs for pointing me to one of the more unusual storylines in pop music – B.J. Thomas‘ 1966 single, “Plain Jane“: A dramatic narrative about a serious issue, “Plain Jane” might strike today’s ears as being a bit hokey or kitschy, even though this sort of
I am very appreciative that Scholastic Video, in partnership with Weston Woods, has done such a consistently great job adapting children’s literature for the small screen and in a way that appeals to people of all ages. One such adaptation is the story of a fish named Swimmy, who shows
Teresa Brewer — whose duet with Mickey Mantle, “I Love Mickey,” reached #87 in 1956 — would later record ever so briefly for Shelby Singleton. June 1968’s “A Woman’s World” was the first of but two singles Brewer recorded for SSS International: “A Woman’s World” Teresa Brewer (1968) The song initially
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