Were these singers country or rock?

Jim Landers · Post by **Jim Landers** » 24 Feb 2000 9:29 pm

Geo.D.S., when you say the first full time country music station started in 1953, do you mean just in Texas or the whole US?

I grew up in Portland, Oregon and if I remember right( and at my age I may not ) there was a full time country station out of Vancouver, Wash. around 1948. I believe the call letters were KVAN and it was on the air for quite a few years as a country station.

The way I remember it, it was full time country but I could be wrong about that. Maybe it was just full time country during the hours I listened to it.

Ray Montee, who is also on the Forum with us, is also from Portland and has been playing steel around there when they were broadcasting on crystal sets.

(just kidding) Ray, if your listening in, help me out on this. Do I have my story straight, or am I off base here?

One way or the other though George, your right about country music being hard to find on the radio in those days, but then IMHO opinion it still is.

Jim

Tim Harr · Post by **Tim Harr** » 25 Feb 2000 7:01 pm

Gregg you mentioned WIBC radio. Did you grow up in Indianapolis??

You are a fine player...I really get into your playing. Nice chord work on the swing stuff with E.

Tim

George Duncan Sypert · Post by **George Duncan Sypert** » 26 Feb 2000 10:04 am

Hi Jim L. The information I gave about the first all time, full time country music station was USA. I talked to Mr Pinkston that night and he said that he started his station in Lubbock, Tex on Sept 19, 1953. He also told me that in the 2001 that they are opening a new exhibit in Nashville and that there will be a display of that first station KDAV. He next put on a station in Amarillo and then San Angelo and then Colo Spgs, Co. He said that by that time there was a full time station in Denver which he said was KLAK. I worked for Mr Pinkston from 1972 until 1975 as an advertising rep and at that time he or others on his behalf were making a great effort to get into the Country Music Hall of Fame for having the first All Country, full time Station. He was there of course during the Buddy Holly era and knew him well according to stories he used to tell around the station. Waylon Jennings, Leroy VanDyke and other Country music stars stopped by the station to see him when there were in the area. He was a promoter of country music and COUNTRY to the bone. He said he booked Elvis very cheap in the beginning. He was a major factor in the Country Music scene for a lot of years. Mr Pinkston is now 86 years old and in good health.

Having known the man I would say that this info is dead on.

As you say it is still hard to find what most of us consider Country on the air. In MHO most of that could be corrected if producers and artist would use the support band, good, bad or whatever, that the artist uses in his live performance. That is the primary reason I like the 50's to mid 60's country music. I love Ray Price and such but wish they had never struck up the string section.

Move the drums and bass back to a reasonable level and let the guitar, steel, fiddle and singer perform.

Too long winded but hope you find some of this interesting.

George

Jim Landers · Post by **Jim Landers** » 26 Feb 2000 12:00 pm

George, I don't doubt that your right about the radio stations. Like I said, we had a lot of country music being played around Portland in those years, but the station I mentioned may very well have played other stuff too, when I was'nt listening.

During the late 40s and through the 50s the Portland area really had more than it's fair share of country music. There were 4 or 5 huge dance halls in the area that were stictly country music, and they were packed full every Friday and Saturday night. Besides having their own house bands, they would bring in all the big names. In those days it did'nt seem like anything special, we were used to seeing them all the time. Now I realize how lucky we really were.

Ray Price was always one of my favorites too, and I agree with you that he should'nt of tried to crossover to the pop market. Eddy Arnold and some of the others tried the same thing, but I think they should've kept dancin' with the ones that brung 'em. Just my opinion, and you know what that's worth. Ha!....Anyway, thanks for the interesting post.....Jim

Joe Miraglia · Post by **Joe Miraglia** » 27 Feb 2000 6:13 am

Billy--You stated "never known myself to be wrong yet". These fine people on this forum don't know you like I do

!
Tom--Good point about pop music with a country accent, but on the other side if we had a traditional country song with steel guitar and fiddle, would we consider it country music if it were sung be someone with a Brooklyn accent? Joe

Boomer · Post by **Boomer** » 27 Feb 2000 8:14 am

Actually if you had somebody singing country music with a Brooklyn accent (Kinky Friedman & the Texas Jewboys) it would probably be considered college alternative, they would be the opening act for Eric Clapton, be on the front of Time and Newsweek magazines, and give country music a financial shot in the arm. But to get back to Gregg's original question "Were these singers country or rock", I believe these artists made the kind of music they liked and radio would pidgeonhole them into the various gendres we now call country, rock, pop, and country rock. The label's marketing department had something to do with it in that if the record was shipped via the Nashville offices it was considered country. If it was shipped through LA, it was considered pop. If both marketing and promotion decided both markets should be addressed, then you had potential for a cross-over hit. In the early days, however, much of this was left up to radio (before the record business was considered a real business. Best, Boomer

Jerry Wright · Post by **Jerry Wright** » 28 Feb 2000 1:05 pm

Lets admitt it! A lot of our Country Stars today would have been R&R Stars in the 50 & 60's.My teen-age years was in that era.1963
Jonny Cash"Ring of Fire"was played right along with The Temptations"and other R&R.We that play PSG today and some of the things we play with our effects units back then might be looked at differently.
Time Changes
Music Changes
WE CHANGE RIGHT ALONG WITH IT.
I love the old but I have a desire to strap on something new and give it a spin.If it's
to wild,well I just kick it aside and go to something else.

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Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 1 Mar 2000 8:22 pm

Go Jerry!

George Rozak · Post by **George Rozak** » 1 Mar 2000 9:50 pm

Nobody mentioned Little Jimmy Dickens yet. "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose" was a big crossover song for him in the Chicago area.

George

Ric Nelson · Post by **Ric Nelson** » 2 Mar 2000 7:49 am

Before Patsy Cline moved to Nashville, I can remember her returning home (she and Charlie lived in Winchester, Va) totally upset about sessions with Owen Bradley. Pats always said that all she wanted was just to be a girl country singer and didn't know what to make of Bradley's "Nashville Sound" with no steel guitar. Her first sessions with Owen were pure country, with Don Helms on the steel. She was very proud of them but later, when she had to re-make "Walking After Midnight" with no steel etc. and as she said "A bunch of ******* singers in the background", she had reservations. She said that she felt she was getting pushed into the crossover mess and didn't like it. When she moved away to Nashville in 1959 or so, we too wondered and feared to where she was headed. But I guess by then she realized that Owen Bradley knew more about the biz, so she went along with it.

One thing about the shy side of Pats most people didn't see is when she felt it was "bigger than both of us". she gave in.

I guess Elvis was also caught in it. Many people don't realize that he first appeared on country package shows and the Louisiana Hayride.