Today in Music (1965): Roger Miller “King of the Road” hit #1 on the country chart

King of the Road Roger Miller

Writer(s): Roger Miller (see lyrics here) Released: January 1965 First Charted: January 29, 1965 Peak: 4 BB, 3 CB, 2 GR, 4 HR, 110 AC, 15 CW, 11 UK, 3 CN, 7 AU, 3 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.2 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 3.0 radio, 24.7 video, 84.05 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Roger Miller was born in Texas in 1936. He left school after eighth grade to become a ranch hand. When he joined the Army in 1956, he became friends with Bill Anderson, a future country songwriter. In 1958, Miller launched his singing career with “City Lights,” a song written by Anderson. In 1960, Miller landed his first top-10 country hit with “When Two Worlds Collide,” which he co-wrote with Anderson. SS By 1964, Miller had moved to California where he made multiple appearances on television to showcase “his light, amiable style.” SS After switching to Smash Records, he “began a string of hits with the clever, goofy ‘Dang Me.’ The high point of his hot streak was ‘King of the Road.’” SS Glenda West, a family friend of Miller’s, said he wrote the song on the back of a credit card application. She said he got stuck after writing one verse but finished the song after seeing a picture of a hobo at an airport. TC It is “country music storytelling at its most brilliantly incisive, sketching character, situation and narrative in the minimum number of words with maximum effect.” SS Merle Travis, himself a country songwriting legend, said, “I’d have to rate him higher than Hank Williams.” SS Author Toby Creswell called the song “the layabouts’ national anthem” TC that is “a good-natured update of Huckleberry Finn.” TC “King of the Road” drew strongly from Miller’s life experiences about growing up in poverty and leading a gypsy lifestyle after his discharge from the Army. It dpecited his “hard-scrabble lifestyle with warmth and humor, its flavorful narrative matched by an engaging melodyand lazy finger-snapping rhythm.” SS Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Roger Miller TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 584. SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 316-7. First posted 1/31/2024.

 

50 years ago: Elvis Presley recorded “Blue Moon of Kentucky”

Blue Moon of Kentucky Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys

Writer(s): Bill Monroe (see lyrics here) Recorded: September 16, 1946 Released: September 22, 1947 First Charted: -- Peak: -- (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 5.2 video, 6.47 streaming

Blue Moon of Kentucky Elvis Presley

Recorded: July 7, 1954 Released: July 19, 1954 First Charted: -- Peak: 5 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 0.5 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1.17 video, -- streaming

Awards (Monroe): Click on award for more details.

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Awards (Presley): Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Country singer William Smith Monroe was born on 9/13/1911 in Rosine, KY. He grew up playing mandoline and in 1938 at age 27 formed the Blue Grass Boys. They integrated gospel, country, and string band music in a faster style which came to be known as bluegrass – named after the band. TC It has also been described as “a form of country music which combines harmony singing with the banjo and the fiddle.” LW In 1946, they recorded “Blue Grass of Kentucky,” which music historian Steve Sullivan called “the beloved theme song of the Father of Bluegrass.” SS As Monroe said, “it seems every trip we made was from Kentucky to Florida driving back and forth…I always thought about Kentucky and wanted to write a song about the moon we could always see over it. The best way to do this was to bring a girl into the song….I wrote it in the car on the way home from one of those Florida trips.” TC The song was composed in waltz time with the barn dances in mind which Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys often played. LW The recording featured the famed duo of guitarist Lester Flatt and banjoist Earl Scruggs. SS It not only became the state song of Kentucky, but the B-side of Elvis Presley’s first single, “That’s All Right,” recorded at Sun Records. He sped the song up to become “a giddy rockabilly raveup” SS and “one of the first rock & roll songs.” TC Music critic Dave Marsh called it “high lonesome with ants in its pants.” DM He also said that Elvis’ covers of “country standards like this was as audacious as his blues reworkings.” DM He “radically recasts one of the most sacrosanct number in all bluegrass.” DM The song features “gutbucket bass and rocketing guitar solos and that relentless rattling – probably Elvis baning on the body of his guitar ‘like it was the lid of a garbage can,’ as he once described it.” DM Sun Records’ founder Sam Phillips thought if he could market Presley to a country audience, he could make some money. LW However, the country market suffered more than R&B did from the arrival of rock ‘n’ roll. “To admit Elvis to the C&W charts was an acknowledgment that there was an essential vitality missing.” DM Monroe himself liked Elvis’ version enough that he re-recorded it more in the King’s style. SS Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Bill Monroe DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Elvis Presley TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Pages 530-1. LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 90. DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Pages 397-8. SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Page 606. Related Links: First posted 8/22/2023.

 

Alabama “Mountain Music” hit #1 on country chart

Mountain Music Alabama

Writer(s): Randy Owen (see lyrics here) Released: January 22, 1982 First Charted: March 6, 1982 Peak: 11 CW, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 12.4 video, 62.0 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The country group Alabama dates back to 1969 when Randy Owen formed the band originally known as Wild Country with his cousins Teddy Gentry and Jeff Cook in Fort Payne, Alabama. They changed their name to Alabama in 1977 and signed an album deal with RCA Nashville after the success of two chart singles. The group would go on to land 41 number one songs on the country charts and, at their peak in the early half of the 1980s, took home the CMA Enterainer of the Year award three years in a row. Their most successful studio album came in 1982 with Mountain Music. The five-million seller produced three chart-topping country singles with “Take Me Down,” “Close Enough to Perfect,” and the title cut. That title cut is “a modern country classic.” TR The song’s origins date back to 1979 when Owen crafted the first verse and chorus. He completed it in April 1980. The song paid homage to characters like Tom Sawyer and Rip Van Winkle while also referencing some of Owen’s childhood memories such as playing baseball with chert rocks. The song was originally recorded for the 1981 Feels So Right album but held back because it didn’t feel right. TR The arrangement combined Southern-rock and bluegrass. The band were concerned it sounded too much like their own “Tennessee River” song, but decided it worked and kept it. They recorded it mostly live in the studio. TR The song is unusual in that it features prominent lead vocals from Owen, Gentry, and Cook. WK Most of Alabama’s songs just relied on lead vocalist Randy Owen. Resources: TR Tom Roland (1991). The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 319. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 10/26/2022; last updated 12/23/2022.