RIP Mac Davis

You misspelled Bobby Goldsboro.

 

Maybe it's just me, but in a lot of celebrity deaths these days - I suddenly realize that a lot of the "square" celebrities I assumed were a bit older than the "cool" ones of the era were about the same age.

 

I lost track of how many time Eddie Rabbitt was supposed to play the Houston Rodeo and cancelled. Three different years, I think. One of those shows he was replaced by a rising young country singer named George Strait, who put in a legendary show that broke him big there. "Fool Hearted Memory" had just hit the charts, and he really owned the place that night. He's played it many times since then. Early 80's, 1982 I think.

 

Country in the '80s was kind of weird. You had a lot of artists "crossover" Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Crystal Gayle, and others, maybe they were "pushed" by the neo-traditionalist bent of people like Strait and Randy Travis - 90s came around and you saw people like Vince Gill, Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks take over. I'm guessing part of it is the business model. Very difficult getting a third or fourth record deal out of the same company when they can make more hiring someone younger. So I get the need of established country artists to constantly searching for new fans.
It kind of makes Darius Rucker's entrance into country music more amazing. Not so much that he's black, but that he was over 40.

 

That happens with music in general
You’re a lot more creative when you are struggling and striving than when you’re established and comfortable

 

Here's the scene, the King in a killer blazer and turtleneck:

 

The dude in the orange shirt and brown vest looked like he'd'a'been an elite limbo player.

 

And LOL to Aretha for turning down that song.

Would make a good thread ... great songs that got turned down before someone else made them famous.

 

And then, could you imagine the person/band who/that turned down the song actually singing it originally?

 

The Mac Davis recording of A Little Less Conversation (posted earlier in this thread) is much more in the Aretha kind of groove. Listen to that and you can definitely get a sense of what it would have sounded like.

And it just struck me: The Queen turned it down, so he gave it to the The King.

 

Bobby Bare and Johnny Cash both recorded The Gambler before Kenny, and it got no traction whatsoever. That must be equally frustrating.

 

I love the backing instrumental tracks, I tell my kids music was richer and more varied before.

Sometimes I wish I was an adult in late 60’s/early 70’s, that was fun times.