Front Porch Ramblings
Stan’s Special Moments of Music:
by Stan Hitchcock
I have stood in the wings of great theaters and auditoriums
waiting to sing my songs and shared special moments of music from heroes of
mine. I heard Slim Whitman sing “Indian
Love Call”, in his pure tenor, in an auditorium in Michigan. Bobby Helms “Fraulien” in Atlanta. How about Hank Locklin’s “Please Help Me I’m Falling” with the Floyd
Robertson piano intro and turn around that started a trend in piano runs that
Floyd Cramer built into a signature sound on his Nashville sessions. I worked the Opry with Hank, many times, and
he always amazed me. Ray Price’s early
sessions where he was building his great career sound, or Faron Young’s “Hello
Walls” and Sonny James “Young Love” were great moments in Country Music and
times I stood there and just drank in the sound.
Marty Robbins was an early influence on me and Marty gave me
goose bumps on “I Couldn’t Keep From Crying” which was one of his very first
records and gave him the moniker of “the man with a tear in his voice”. It was always so special to be at the edge
of the stage and watch him. Little Jimmy
Dickens actually discovered Marty at a radio station in Phoenix, Arizona while
he was on tour and introduced him to Art Satherly at Columbia Records. Jimmy is known for his novelty songs, but
anyone who has heard him sing, “Another Bridge To Burn” knows how he hooks a
ballad and just wrings it plumb out. If
there is anyone who has given more to our music and helped more people than
Jimmy I don’t know who it would be.
Two times in my
singing career I had to follow acts that were so dang good that it made you
freeze up and not want to go out on stage.
Both times it was on the Opry, in
the early 60’s, when it was still at the Ryman.
I was standing in the wings, waiting to go on, when Roger Miller debuted
his number one song, “Dang Me” and the audience just exploded when he got
through and kept demanding encores.
Another time, a couple of years earlier and again at the Ryman, Don
Gibson went out and sang “I Can’t Stop Loving You” while I was waiting to
follow him and I was clapping so hard myself that I almost forgot to go out on
stage. What moments in our music by
genius performers.
In 1966 I was asked to appear at the Smithsonian in
Washington DC and be on a program for the members of Congress and their wives
for a Congressional Club event. On the
program with me was Jimmy Driftwood, the great Arkansas folk singer. I stood on the edge of the stage and watched
him perform his song, “The Battle Of New Orleans”, which he had written in
1936. He performed the song with an
instrument he had crafted himself and it was just awesome to watch this
masterful performer.
Some times the special moments were back stage in the
dressing rooms, on buses and Hotel rooms.
Sitting backstage at a show and visiting with Mickey Newbury and having
him sing, “San Francisco’s Mable Joy”, there is no way to describe the
feeling. Lefty Frizzell, in my Hotel
Room in Atlanta in the late 1960’s picking up my guitar
and singing, “I Never Go Around Mirrors” which he had just
written with Whitey Shaffer still stands out as my favorite musical
moment.
In 1961, when I was visiting Nashville to record my Epic
Records debut we stayed at the Anchor Motel on West End close to downtown. It was the custom, in those early years, for
the songwriters to come to the Anchor Motel (which was a favorite staying place
for out of town artists in town to record) in person, either with a guitar or
little Wallensak tape recorder, and “pitch” their songs to the artist
directly. On that trip I sit in my room
with the door wide open and enjoyed a long procession of
singer/songwriters as they came with
their songs. Bill Anderson, Sonny James,
Roger Miller, Red Lane, Harlan Howard, Hank Cochran, Marijon Wilkin and a slew
of other great writers came and it was only in later years that I fully
appreciated the fact that these legends were coming to perform little private
concerts for me, a green kid from the Ozarks, who didn’t even have my first
record released. But, you know, in the
early years these genius writers were still hungry and busting their tails to
make it. Turned out my first record
release were two songs, one written by Sonny James and the other by my old
Ozark friend and former classmate at Pleasant Hope High School, Jimmy
Gateley. Of course, over the years the
whole process changed with professional song pluggers doing the pitching to the
record producers who finally choose the songs they want to take to the
artists. I still like the old direct
approach of songwriter to artist and yes, they were special moments.
One of the early “special moments” for me was in 1953 at the
Shrine Mosque in my hometown of Springfield, Missouri. Carl Smith was on stage and he was so cool in
his white sport coat, black pants, colorful shirt and white bucks. He sang,
‘Hey Joe”, “Let Ol’ Mother Nature Have Her Way” and “When You Feel Like
You’re In Love, Don’t Just Stand There.”
Well, on that night, at 17 years of age, I decided I wanted to be just
like Carl Smith. Reckon I never did
quite make it, but I tried.
On my television show, “Heart to Heart”, I have had many
“special moments” just sitting with my friends and heroes across a couple of
flat top guitars as they sing their songs.
Sitting with Sammi Smith, with just my old J45 Gibson backing her up, as
she sang “Help Me Make It Through The Night” and “Sand Covered Angels” still
brings a lump in my throat as I remember.
Sitting under the trees at Wynnewood as Skip Ewing sang “The Door” and I
was just spellbound listening as the cameras captured the moment. Sitting in front of the old porch at the log
cabin as Dan Seals sang “All That Glitters Is Not Gold” as he played his old
Martin and I picked a little single string lead on my J45 was special. Sitting in the music room of Jerry Jeff
Walker’s house in Austin while he told the story of writing “Mr. Bojangles” and
then proceeded to pick and sing it for “Heart to Heart” is a memory maker. Having Buck Owens on my show and listening to
this hero tell his stories and then turn and present me with one of his Buck
Owens guitars that he had inscribed “To my friend Stan, friends since
1959……” The guitar today still stands
proud in our old farm home in Sumner County, Tennessee.
Yes, special memories of music that fill my life spent in
the pursuit of just such moments. But,
the most precious memory would still have to be standing on stage at the
Michigan State Fair, in 1959, as part of the Red Foley Show, and experiencing
Red singing “Peace In The Valley” to a hushed and loving audience. He was simply the best that ever was. Tormented by loss and alcohol, beset by
marital problems and wore out from a grueling schedule of tv, personal
appearances and Income Tax
auditors that were hounding him constantly, but, when he
sang, “Lord, I’m tired and so weary, but I must go along……” the words took on a
special significance that went to the heart of every one that heard them. Yes, special moments that will never fade.
God Bless you all.
Stan Hitchcock