Date News Posted: January 23, 2008

Lefty Frizzell was born March the 31^st. 1928 and left us July the 19^th. 1975.
 

No one ever stretched out the word late (or any other word)as far as Ole Lefty did in his big hit of”Allllways Laaaayeatettt” with your kisses. Lefty Frizzell was something else. When asked by some country reporter years ago why he sang that way he said it was because he couldn’t hit the high notes, well, what ever the reason there was only one Lefty but there has been many since that sure hit many of those drawn out Lefty notes starting with Merle Haggard who make no bones about it that Lefty was his hero.

At the end of 1950 and the beginning of 1951 Lefty Frizzell had 4 number one songs with a 4 and a 7 in between, the charts looked like this, October 1950>If You’ve Got The Money**November 1950>I Love You A Thousand Ways**March the 3^rd 1951>Look What Thoughts Will Do (hit number 4)**March  the 10^th. Shine Shave And Shower hit number 7. Why they would release 2 in the same month I don’t know unless they were both on an album and the jocks split um>>>Anyway a month later in April of 1951, I Want To Be With You Always hit the number 1 spot again and then a short 4 months later>>Always Late With Your Kisses hit the number one spot one more time for Lefty Frizzell.

Other than a few dead spaces in between ole Lefty keep going with chart songs, and a whole lot of airplay right up to November of 1974 which was about  8 or 9 months before he died in Nashville from a stroke.

During the 50’s years there was Cash Box Magazine, Record World Magazine and Billboard Magazine, all claimed to keep the best records on where songs were charting at radio stations across the country.  Record World always seem to have some good country writers and so did the other two, so when I was working for the agency tracking artist records we would buy all three and use the one that had us the highest on the charts to make up our own charts.  All magazines did not chart all artist in the same position as some of the other magazines did and we never worried about that anyway because most every hot country station in the 50’s and 60’s had us on their mail list for their weekly charts and those were the ones that counted, that was what each station was actually playing.

We still have a few hundred of those old charts sent by stations all over the U.S. but you know postage in the beginning was two cents then it went to three and I doubt if there is any station anywhere that is going to send out several hundred charts each week when postage is now forty one cents, maybe that’s what happened in part to “Country Music”  “That personal touch”.

We are pretty sure that someone some where that is reading this sat some where in a Honky Tonk  and probably danced to Lefty’s music, or maybe stood in front of a furniture store someplace where Lefty and maybe Freddie Hart were opening a new store or maybe even one of the great park shows that were put on all around southern California, or maybe even bought an issue of one of the great song/story books “Country Song Roundup” that always featured stories on Lefty and just about every other great country artist of the day.

So now, why did we pick Lefty this month to write about? Because we are working with a Screen writer and a Producer to do a movie about the life and music of Mr. Lefty Frizzell and want to know if you have any stories good, bad, funny, or otherwise that you care to pass on to us, also any old pictures, records or personal stories, what ever you’ve got we would sure like to have and or know about.

Now it’s not my money putting this movie together so I can’t promise anything but I see no reason on the end credits if you send us a story or anything else to use that they couldn’t thank you personally in those credits, I would sure hope so and I will do my best to make that come true.

Before I get to the end of this months news and forget, I want to give you an address right now. You can address anything you send to. The Lefty Frizzell Movie % Don Bradley Box 1515 Simi Valley, California 93062.  And please don’t think any story is to small or unimportant because they all mean something and we thank you for any mail we get from you.

There is a heap more to tell and much to talk about where Lefty is concerned, we will let you know each month what is happening, we will acknowledge any thing you send us, in writing, to you, if you include your mailing address.

I think it would be nice if you would send any stories that we could also re-print in our Country News and let us know if it is OK to use your name, of course we won’t use your address.  This goes for not only Lefty but any other “Classic Country Artist”.

Starting this month we will have a great story page called “Playing Lookback” from our good friend Walkin’ Talkin’ Charley Aldridge.  We are going to put in parenthesis what Walkin’ Charley don’t know about great old “Western Music” and the great old “Cowboys” so here goes (               )  he has thousands of books, he has enough records that his house leans, he has enough recorded tape that if they caught fire it would sit up a smoke screen to China, he has owned and run western movie ranches of his own including the world famous “Corriganville Movie Ranch” located in the Santa Susana Pass in California, which by the way, in it’s day was one of the top ten entertainment draws in the U.S. he has been personal friends with more of yesterdays greats then I can remember names to write about but they will all show up one by one in my up-coming stories to you from him (Walkin’ Charley).

Charley has written several books, some large some small, he has written many songs that have been recorded over the years.

There are many more things that I could tell you about Charley but I am just going to let him do that as time goes along and if there are any questions you would like to ask Charley or tell him some stories of your own, just go back up to the address we gave you on Lefty and change the heading to read, (Walkin Charley, Playing Lookback.)  All else is the same and we can tell you for sure that Charley will love to hear from you.

Oh by the way, hundreds of these great stories will soon be in book form and some of them even on CDs with music behind them so after you have read a few and would like to have the whole book just let him know.

I have got to throw in this little joke a friend sent me this week;

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He said, “I was depressed the other night so I called “Lifeline”

I didn’t know it but their call center is in Pakistan.  I told them I was depressed and was suicidal.”

They really got excited and in a loud broken voice said

“CAN YOU DRIVE A TRUCK!!!!!??”

Of course you remember “B.J. The DJ” written and also recorded by good friend Hugh X Lewis and went on to become a giant hit by the great Stonewall Jackson.  Hugh X wrote many more great songs and recorded for some great labels over the years but here’s one like we never heard him do before, first time outa’ the box we played it five times.  It’s Bluegrass and will kick your socks off, it’s called “The Bluegrass Fan”.  The song is less than two minutes long and we are 99% sure you are gonna’ like it, Hugh’s pickers are just outstanding.  If you like Bluegrass your going to love this one.
        

It bothers me to say the words “To Country” but that’s what his critics told him, not me but who ever thinks they know what we ought'a be listening to said that he was/is.

Bart Connell sings the best country song of any new guy that I have heard come down the pike in a long, long time. For the most part, all of the songs on this album are good with a plus sign after it and Bart has got the feeling to sing the song the way it should be.

The album is well produced and the music behind him is A-plus but still he’s too country, so he has gone back into the studio and removed some of the songs and added others not quite so country. To those that really know what we should be listening to,  am I ever glad they are there, I’d be dead by mornin’ listin’n to somthin’ that was too country.

 Lookin’ back over the years thanks to these folks that know it all, it must have been my love for Hank Snow music that kept me sick all the time, but anyway I’m just gonna take two aspirin and “Keep Movin’ On”

By the way, if you should happen to buy a copy of the Bart Connell CD before they change it, listen to this one a few times it’s called “The Grass Ain’t All That’s Blue”(In Kentucky) just a great song and well sung.

We think you are really going to enjoy some of “Walkin’ Charley’s” other stories once we get them on CD but meanwhile we will add a “Playin’ Lookback”  each month with our country music news. And don’t forget to write.

We wanted to have the list of all of the artists that Ken Nelson had produced over the years to run this week but we couldn’t find the list he gave us and we didn’t want to bother his daughter while she is taking care of Ken’s remains which by the way will be cremated and spread over the blue Pacific as he had wanted.

We never were on the other side of the glass with him at Capital while he was producing a session but Freddie was and had nothing but good things to say about the man.

The day we (Freddie and I) spent at his house in Somis, Ca. he wanted to show us everything under the sun he had done and just about did, he was a collector of a lot of things and those that knew and loved him are going to miss him.

Ken’s book can be bought and or ordered from just about any book dealer and I think he told me he sold most of them through Amazon.

And that’s going to do it for this time , we’ll see ye later but just in case we don’t, take care of yourself.

Don Bradley