Robert Joseph (Bobby) Bare (born April 7, 1935, Ironton, OH) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is the father of Bobby Bare, Jr., also a musician. This track got to #10 in 1963.

Although Elvis the pelvis also released this song, I really didn’t consider Elvis as country. When I think back on this song I always associate it with Bobby Bare, and turned the old AM radio up when the song came on.

Getting back to my holiday vacation, I’ve been on the road since just before Thanksgiving, so it’s probably time to leave North West Missouri for warmer weather down in Alabama, but it will be another 12 hours and 650 more miles before it get there. Hope you enjoy this song as I enjoy the memories today.

“The Race Is On” is a song co-written by George, and I always loved to hear it on the old radio. The song was often featured after we heard the DJ’s voice, like after the weather or a commercial. DJ’s liked to cue up the song and you could hear the beginning, and knew what was coming up.

Here is George Jones in a Youtube video singing “The Race Is On”. Some people say he looked like Jim Carrey

Webb Pierce was one of the most popular American honky tonk vocalists of the 1950s, charting more number one hits than any other country artist during the decade.

As for “Sweet Lips”, the song has been covered by many traditional country music artists. A version by Mona McCall made me remember Webb’s version. Many people Google the song with “Your Sweet Sweet Lips”, so I am adding that phrase too, but “Sweet Lips” is the title.

His biggest hit was “In The Jailhouse Now,” which charted for 37 weeks in 1955, 21 of them at number one. Pierce also charted number one for several weeks’ each with his recordings of “Slowly” (1954), “Love, Love, Love” (1955), “I Don’t Care” (1955), “There Stands The Glass” (1953), “More And More” (1954), “I Ain’t Never” (1959), and his first number one “Wondering,” which stayed at the top spot for 4 of its 27 weeks’ charting in 1952.

Webb Pierce was a one-time member of the Grand Ole Opry and was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, a fact that amazes me, and makes me wonder what political opinions where behind that decision. Webb should have been in the hall of fame long before he passed away in February of 1991. Yes, that’s right – 1991

He adds, “That’s what I struggle with the most. Whatever anyone creates, its value is 99 cents. That’s what a record cost in 1960. You don’t have to look too hard to see that in the last four years, the industry is less than half what it used to be. I don’t know why that is, but if you have the opportunity to give somebody something that will last them a lifetime — and you think it’s worth 99 cents, that’s criminal to me.”

(read more about Vince Gill here)

Since 1981, the 72-year-old Texas native has dedicated his time and talents to hosting the golf tournament’s annual celebrity concert, while helping recruit prominent musicians to participate in the fundraiser.

“It’s been a marvelous experience, it really has,” Steagall said. “The best part about the tournament every year is seeing old friends and making new ones.”

Money raised benefit the Bluebonnet Youth Ranch in Yoakum, a nonprofit residence for neglected and abused children.

Steagall’s involvement in the tournament, Sunday and Monday at the Victoria Country Club, is now in its 30th year. Since Steagall’s hostship began, the Bluebonnet Ranch has raised more than $4 million, or about $100,000 to $250,000 annually for the ranch, helping offset operational costs.

And even though Steagall said he’s enjoyed his time as concert host, two years ago, he decided 2011 would be his last year hosting the event.

Read more, and see who is taking Red’s place, in this article by Jennifer Preyss

Johnnie Wright, who died at the age of 97 in his Tennessee home, managed one of the great careers in country music history.

It just wasn’t his own.

It was the career of his wife, Kitty Wells, to whom he had been married 74 years. She was the first major solo female star in country music and still its most influential.

Wright, who died Tuesday, did have a healthy career of his own as well, scoring dozens of country hits in the 1950s and 1960s.

His career started in the 1930s when he sang backup for Wells on the radio, where she had a live daily gospel show.

By the 1940s he had formed the bluegrass-style duo Johnnie and Jack with his brother-in-law Jack Anglin. Their backup band at one time included a young fiddle player named Chet Atkins.

They had their first hit with 1951′s “Poison Love,” which was one of the first country records to incorporate a Latin beat.

They later recorded hit country versions of several popular R&B songs, including “Oh Baby Mine” and “Goodnight Sweetheart.”

But in 1952, Wells broke through with “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels,” and Johnnie and Jack eventually became part of the touring Kitty Wells Family Show. Anglin died in a car crash in 1963, but the show continued into the 21st century.

Wright is survived by Wells, who at the age of 92 still occasionally performs. He is also survived by a son, a daughter, eight grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and three great-great -grandchildren.

dhinckley@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2011/09/30/2011-09-30_johnnie_wright_country_star_and_kitty_wells_husband_and_manager_dead_at_97.html#ixzz1ZQklaEVz

With her late husband, Stoney, Wilma Lee created some wonderful music including classics like “Big Midnight Special” “Legend of The Dogwood Tree” “There’s A Big Wheel” “Sunny Side of The Mountain” and “Walking My Lord Up Calvary’s Hill.” Wilma Lee had been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1957.

Her music has been preserved in the Smithsonian Institution.

After her stroke in 2001, Justin Trevino and I visited the wheel chair bound legend. I will never forget her talking about her career and beloved Grand Ole Opry. I believe that she realized that her performing ability would never be at the level that it once had, but she still had the desire and deep appreciation for the music that she helped to create. When she finished talking, all three of us had tears in our eyes.

We have lost another legend. There are truly not many left.

Our sincere condolences to her beautiful daughter Carol Lee.

Wade Jackson has been given credit as the songwriter, while others say Stonewall wrote the song long before we heard it on the radio. Wade is Stonewall’s brother, and I’m sure they both had a hand in creating “Don’t Be Angry”.

Here are the lyrics to Stonewall Jackson’s “Don’t Be Angry”

Don’t be angry with me darling if I fail to understand
All your little whims and wishes all the time
Just remember that I’m dumb I guess like any foolish man
And my head stays sorta foggy cause you’re mine

Well I recall the first time that I flirted with you dear
When I jokingly said come and be my bride
Now that time has turned the pages it’s the sweetest joke on earth
That I have you here, forever by my side

Maybe someday you’re gonna hurt me I’ve been hurt in love before
Only God can know and time alone will tell
But in the mean time I’ll keep loving you with all my heart and soul
And pray God to let it last if it’s his will

So don’t be angry with me darling if I fail to understand
All your little whims and wishes all the time
Just remember that I’m dumb I guess like any foolish man
And my head stays sorta foggy cause you’re mine

In answering the question Del Reeves said he certainly hoped so, but was inclined to agree with George Jones and the fact that many of us wonder if those days are gone.

As for the song itself, many of us know what it means. If you’ve ever found a soulmate, or a true friend that just wasn’t ready to fall in love, you know how it feels to love someone you just cannot forget. The song is written by Del and Ellen Reeves, and was also released by Carl Smith.

Like most true country music, this song touches the heart and tells a true story. The words of a country songwriter, with music by a composer, touch the heart and can make a man or a woman cry. How many times did one person say “I love you”, never to hear it in return? It’s an age-old story that may have touched every man and woman some time in their life.

Here is Del Reeves and “The Only Girl I Can’t Forget”:

Del Reeves made his last Grand Ole Opry appearance in August 2002. He died at his home in Centerville Tennessee at the age of 73, on January 1, 2007.

Here are the lyrics to the Del Reeves song “The Only Girl I Can’t Forget”:

Oh I saw her yesterday just for a little while
And it nearly broke my heart to see her smile
But I acted as though we had just met
But she’s still the only girl I can’t forget
She’s just another girl that’s all she’ll ever be
I’ve convinced almost everyone but me
I’ve mastered my emotions now and yet
She’s still the only girl I can’t forget

Though she doesn’t mean a thing to me
She’s just part of the best part of me
She belongs to someone now and yet
She’s still the only girl I can’t forget
She’s just another girl…

Wayne died Monday at his home surrounded by his family, according to his obituary in The Tennessean.

“Country Bumpkin,” recorded by Cal Smith in 1974, was voted single of the year by the Country Music Association. “Saginaw, Michigan” was a No. 1 hit in 1964 for Lefty Frizzell.

Wayne also wrote songs recorded by Bill Anderson, Eddy Arnold, Ernest Tubb, Jean Shepard and others.

Wayne, whose real name was Donald William Choate, was a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Survivors include his wife and two sons. Services will be Thursday in Nashville.