Jay Thomas

Craig Donaldson

Colorado-based singer/songwriter Craig Donaldson has just released his new country album Say It Out Loud.

Q: What was your introduction to music? How old were you, and how did it affect you?

A: My older sister started giving me piano lessons when I was five-years-old. I quickly realized that I could play “by ear” as well as reading notes on a page. I’d hear songs on the radio, record player, or people singing Christmas carols, etc., and I could quickly figure out how to play them on the piano.  Once in a while, my mom would sing around the house or in the car, and I’d sing harmony.  The parts were just right there in my head.  I thought nothing of it, but those around me were impressed.  My mom encouraged me musically, signing me up for band in the fourth grade, and she got me my first instrument, a clarinet.  Like most 10-year-old boys, I wanted to play drums or trumpet.  All my music teachers recognized what I could do and also encouraged me which, coupled with talent, made it natural and easy to be involved in music throughout school.  In high school, I was selected to the all-state choir, and Colorado State University awarded me a Creative and Performing Arts scholarship.  I later graduated from the University of Colorado with a B.A. in music with honors, and all of these events made for a good launching pad to become a professional musician.

Q: Did you grow up in a musical environment?

A: Yes.  My mom played piano and could read music. My sister was a very talented, classically-trained pianist.  My brother and dad were music lovers and discerning listeners (and they bought lots of records). As I mentioned above, school was a good environment, too.

Q: What styles of music had the greatest impact on you creatively?

A: There are a few, but what has mostly influenced my writing and producing (where most of my creativity emerges) has been leading-edge country music, i.e., country that crosses over to pop and often sets trends for what’s to come in the genre. The Eagles and Glen Campbell are good examples of how that happens. More recent examples are Phil Vassar and Sara Evans. You can certainly find all of their influences in my writing and production.

Q: How did you learn how to sing and write tunes?

A: My singing ability has come naturally since my first memories.  I sang in the high school choir, madrigal singers and musicals, and later I was trained classically in college as part of my scholarship, taking voice lessons, singing in the concert choir and the men’s chorus, and performing in the annual spring opera.  I started singing professionally when I was about 22 and have had plenty of opportunities to grow and improve since then.

It’s difficult to pin down when or how I learned how to write music, but a few experiences come to mind:  the first time I ever tried to write a song was in college.  Some evenings, I would sit at the piano in the lounge of my dorm and tinker around with chord progressions and melody.  After working on that song for a while, I noticed that a handful of students would gather to listen.  Nevertheless, the attention was somewhat encouraging, so I kept trying to write songs.  There is one other experience in my life that clearly stands out as the most significant factor in advancing my writing:  when I was about 23, I got a job as a staff writer/producer at Great American Music Machine (GrAMM) – a national commercial production company that was headquartered in Denver.

Q: What was that experience like?

A: GrAMM was the first real studio I worked at, and after leaving there, I worked at dozens of studios and production houses, mostly as a first-call studio vocalist, in Denver, Nashville, and L.A.  I enjoyed that very much. Most of the work was at GrAMM.  At its peak, on average, our staff there was writing and producing one original and 75 syndicated pieces of music per week.  That’s too many to count over the many years I worked there.  (This doesn’t count the others that I created when working at other studios.)  Candidly, GrAMM was a bit of a factory, a very successful one, and while a staff job there sounds like a creatively stifling place to work, it exposed me to a wide array of players, singers, engineers, and producers that some never get to experience. I also learned how to engineer there, and it was a wonderful laboratory to fine-tune one’s musical skills (including singing, producing and playing) as well as learn how to meet commercial expectations. I haven’t written or produced a radio or TV commercial in years, but I do still occasionally get hired to sing them.

Q: What is the most personal track on the LP and why?

A: Wow, hard to say, but if I had to pick one, it would be “The Horse You Rode In On.”  My wife is a horse owner/fanatic, and the song is a tribute to her, her lifestyle and her beloved animals.  The song is a boy-meets-girl story.  The “smoky buckskin mare” is my wife’s horse.  The girl is a barrel racer.  My wife isn’t a barrel racer, but creativity needs a place to go, right?

Q: How have you evolved creatively?

A: Recording and producing music is integral to my participation in music, and it’s an inextricable part of writing for me.  It might seem strange, but at least when creating the music, I can only envision it as a finished, recorded work. When first starting out, I wrote and sang what came into my heart – the essence of creativity, right?  Then as a staff writer/producer, your priority changes because your creativity is directed, at least in some respect, by the one paying you.  To some degree, I guess that’s also true when you’re trying to sell your “non-commercial” music.  What may not be apparent to you:  my music career was interrupted by a 30-year law career.  I’ve semi-retired from practicing law and have returned to music, and I have no expectations about pleasing anyone or selling anything.  I do this now because I’m back to just loving what I do and creating what comes into my heart.

Website: http://craigdonaldson.homestead.com

Gunner Thompson

Tex Williams

Sollie Paul "Tex" Williams (August 23, 1917 – October 11, 1985) was an American Western swing musician. He is best known for his talking blues style; his biggest hit was the novelty song, "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)", which held the number one position on the Billboard chart for sixteen weeks in 1947. "Smoke" was the No. 5 song on Billboard's Top 100 list for 1947, and was No. 1 on the country chart that year. It can be heard during the opening credits of the 2006 movie, Thank You for Smoking.

He was born in Ramsey, Illinois, United States. Williams started out in the early 1940s as vocalist for the band of Western swing king Spade Cooley, based in Venice, California.

Williams' backing band, The Western Caravan, numbered about a dozen members. They originally played polkas for Capitol Records, and later saw success with "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke" written in large part by Merle Travis.

In April 1956, Williams appeared on the Chrysler-sponsored CBS TV broadcast, Shower of Stars.

Williams died of pancreatic cancer on October 11, 1985.

Jimmy Wakely

Jimmy Wakely (February 16, 1914 – September 23, 1982) was an American actor, songwriter, country music vocalist, and one of the last singing cowboys. During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, he released records, appeared in several B-Western movies with most of the major studios, appeared on radio and television and even had his own series of comic books. His duet singles with Margaret Whiting from 1949 until 1951, produced a string of top seven hits, including 1949's number one hit on the US country chart and pop music chart, "Slippin' Around". Wakely owned two music publishing companies in later years, and performed at the Grand Ole Opry until shortly before his death.

James Clarence Wakeley was born in Howard County, Arkansas, United States, but his family moved to Rosedale, Oklahoma by 1920. As a teenager, he changed his surname to Wakely, dropping the second "e".

In 1937 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, he formed The Bell Boys, a country Western singing group, named after their Bell Clothing sponsor. The group performed locally, made some recordings, and did frequent radio broadcasts over Oklahoma City's WKY. Johnny Bond, Dick Reinhart, Scotty Harrell and Jack Cheney were members of the Bell Boys and later groups.

During a tour through Oklahoma, the musician and movie star Gene Autry invited Wakely to come to California. Autry felt the group might be a good addition to his new Melody Ranch radio show, which debuted on CBS in January 1940. The Wakely Trio joined the show in mid-1940. He stayed for a couple of years, then left because of movie commitments and a recording contract with Decca Records that ran from 1941–1942 through 1947. Johnny Bond stayed with the show for most of its run (the show left the air in 1956).

Wakely married Dora Inez Miser on December 13, 1935. They had four children: Deanna, Carol, Linda and son Johnny. Their marriage lasted until his death in 1982.

Rusty Draper

Farrell Haliday "Rusty" Draper (January 25, 1923 – March 28, 2003) was an American country and pop singer-songwriter and radio and TV host who achieved his greatest success in the 1950s.

Born in Kirksville, Missouri, United States, and nicknamed "Rusty" for his red hair, he began performing on his uncle's radio show in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the mid-1930s. Draper moved on to work at radio stations in Des Moines, Iowa—sometimes filling in for sports announcer Ronald Reagan—and in Illinois before settling in California. There, he began to sing in local clubs, becoming resident singer at the Rumpus Room in San Francisco. By the early 1950s, he had begun appearing on national TV shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show (CBS) and Ozark Jubilee (ABC).

In 1952, Draper signed to Mercury Records and issued his debut single, "How Could You (Blue Eyes)". The following year, after a national club tour, his cover version of Jim Lowe's "Gambler's Guitar" made number six on both the country and pop charts, and sold a million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. After a series of less successful follow-ups, he made the national charts again in 1955 with "Seventeen" (number 18), "The Shifting, Whispering Sands" (number three, another million-seller), and "Are You Satisfied?" (number 11), becoming one of the biggest pop and country crossover stars of the period.

In 1956, he returned to the top 20 with "In The Middle Of the House" (number 20), followed up by his version of Chas McDevitt’s UK skiffle hit, "Freight Train" (number six). Draper also reached the UK Singles Chart with a rendition of "Mule Skinner Blues".

In 1962, he left Mercury to sign with Monument Records, with diminishing chart success as his style became more old-fashioned, but he continued to have minor hits in the country chart through the 1960s. He remained a steady concert draw in years to follow, and also appeared in stage musicals and on television, including his duties as one of the hosts of NBC's short-lived 1966 daytime TV series Swingin' Country.

Draper died of pneumonia in Bellevue, Washington, at the age of 80.

Red Simpson

Joe Cecil Simpson was born in 1934 in Higley, Arizona, and was raised in Bakersfield, California, the youngest of 12 children. At age 14, he wrote his first song. However, his father helped him listen to Ludwig van Beethoven.

Simpson was working at the Wagon Wheel in Lamont when Fuzzy Owen saw him and arranged for Simpson to work at his Clover Club as a piano player. He then got a job replacing Buck Owens at the Blackboard Club on weekends. Simpson was influenced by Owens, Merle Haggard and Bill Woods, who asked Red if he would write a song about driving trucks. (By the time Simpson handed him four truck songs, however, Woods had stopped recording.) Simpson began writing songs with Owens in 1962, including the Top Ten hit "Gonna Have Love."

In 1965, Capitol Records producer Ken Nelson was looking for someone to record some songs about trucking. His first choice was Haggard, who wasn't interested, but Simpson readily agreed. His first, Tommy Collins' "Roll, Truck, Roll," became a Top 40 country hit and Simpson recorded an album of the same name. That year he offered up two more trucking songs, both of which made it to the Top 50 or beyond. As a songwriter, he scored his first number one hit with "Sam's Place," recorded by Buck Owens. After that, Simpson decided to become a full-time writer. He returned to performing in 1971 with his Top Five hit "I'm a Truck," which had been written by postman Bob Staunton.

In 1972, he debuted on the Grand Ole Opry and had two more "truck" hits for Capitol. In 1976, Simpson signed to Warner Brothers and released "Truck Driver's Heaven." The following year, he teamed up with Lorraine Walden for a series of duets that included "Truck Driver Man and Wife." In 1979, Simpson appeared for the last time on the charts with "The Flying Saucer Man and the Truck Driver." Haggard recorded his song "Lucky Old Colorado" in 1988. Later that year Simpson was diagnosed with skin cancer and underwent surgery. He fully recovered and continued his writing and performing career.

In the 1995, Red re-entered the studio to record a pair of duets with Junior Brown — "Semi Crazy" and "Nitro Express".

Simpson performed frequently in the Bakersfield area, including a regular Monday night gig at Trout's in Oildale. Simpson's most recent release is "Hey, Bin Laden". He was also working on a project with Windsor Music tentatively entitled The Bard of Bakersfield.

Simpson also appeared alongside Bakersfield business owner Gene Thome on his ode to Simpson, Haggard, and Owens "It's a Bakersfield Thing" released in early 2015.

Red Simpson died on January 8, 2016, at a hospital in Bakersfield, after suffering complications from a heart attack. He was 81.

Simpson was posthumously honored at the 2016 Ameripolitan awards. His son David Simpson accepted the "Founder of the Sound" award on his behalf.

Simpson completed his most recent album in December 2015 entitled Soda Pops and Saturdays with Mario Carboni. The album was recorded in Portland, Oregon, and featured 12 tracks. Simpson plays guitar and sings lead and backup vocals on this album. Carboni plays piano, strings, and backup vocals. The album was scheduled to be released on February 4, 2016; instead, it was released on January 9, 2016, after his death.

Eddy Dean

Eddie Dean (born Edgar Dean Glosup; July 9, 1907 – March 4, 1999) was an American Western singer and actor whom Roy Rogers and Gene Autry termed the best cowboy singer of all time. Dean was best known for "I Dreamed of a Hill-Billy Heaven" (1955), which became an even greater hit for Tex Ritter in 1961. Dean charted twice on the US Country charts; "One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)" peaked at number 11 in 1948 and "I Dreamed of a Hill-Billy Heaven" peaked at number 10 in 1955. Dean co-wrote both songs. Dean charted again with the song "Way Out Yonder" in 1955.

Ralph Harrison

Red Sovine

Woodrow Wilson "Red" Sovine (July 7, 1917 – April 4, 1980) was an American country music singer and songwriter associated with truck driving songs, particularly those recited as narratives but set to music. His most noted examples are "Giddyup Go" (1965) and "Teddy Bear" (1976), both of which topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

Sovine was born in 1917 in Charleston, West Virginia, earning the nickname "Red" because of his reddish-brown hair. He had two brothers and two sisters. Sovine was taught to play guitar by his mother. His first venture into music was with his childhood friend Johnnie Bailes, with whom he performed as "Smiley and Red, the Singing Sailors" in the country music revue Jim Pike's Carolina Tar Heels on WWVA-AM in Wheeling, West Virginia. Faced with limited success, Bailes left to perform as part of The Bailes Brothers. Sovine got married, and continued to sing on Charleston radio, while holding down a job as a supervisor of a hosiery factory. With the encouragement of Bailes, Sovine formed The Echo Valley Boys.

After a year of performing in West Virginia, Sovine moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, where the Bailes Brothers were performing on KWKH-AM. Sovine's own early morning show was not popular, but he gained greater exposure performing on the famed KWKH radio program, Louisiana Hayride. One of his co-stars was Hank Williams, who steered Sovine toward a better time slot at WSFA in Montgomery, Alabama, and toward a contract with MGM Records in 1949. That same year, Sovine replaced Williams on Louisiana Hayride when Williams jumped to the Grand Ole Opry.

Another Louisiana Hayride co-star who helped Sovine was country music legend Webb Pierce, who convinced Sovine to lead his Wondering Boys band and helped him toward a contract with Decca in 1954. The following year Sovine cut a duet with Goldie Hill, "Are You Mine?" which peaked in the Top 15, and in 1956 he had his first number one hit when he duetted with Pierce on a cover of George Jones' "Why Baby Why". Sovine had two other Top Five singles that year and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. After recording close to 50 sides with Decca by 1959, Sovine signed to Starday Records and began touring the club circuit as a solo act. That same year, Sovine was seriously injured in a car accident that claimed the life of two of his band members, Douglas Nicks and Johnny Morris.

In 1961, a song copyrighted in 1955 by Sovine and co-writer Dale Noe became a sizeable hit on the pop chart. The tune was the ballad "Missing You", arranged in Countrypolitan style and was recorded by Ray Peterson for his own Dunes label. "Missing You" became a No. 29 Billboard "Top 100" hit. In the fall, it peaked at No. 7 on Billboard's "Adult Contemporary" chart. In 1963, Sovine passed on the helping hand given him by older performers when he heard the singing of minor league baseball player Charley Pride and suggested that he move to Nashville, Tennessee. Sovine opened doors for Pride at Pierce's Cedarwood Publishing, but his own career had stalled: "Dream House For Sale", which reached number 22 in 1964, came nearly eight years after his last hit.

In 1965, Sovine found his niche when he recorded "Giddyup Go", which, like most of his other trucker hits, he co-wrote with Tommy Hill. It is spoken, rather than sung, as the words of an older long-distance truck driver who rediscovers his long-lost son driving another truck on the same highway. Minnie Pearl released an answer song titled "Giddy-Up Go Answer". Sovine's version of the song spent six weeks atop the country charts. Other truck-driving country hits followed, including;

"Phantom 309", a tale of a hitchhiker who hops a ride from a trucker who turns out to be the ghost of a man who died years ago giving his life to save a school bus full of children from a horrible collision with his rig. This story was later adapted by singer-songwriter Tom Waits, who performed "Big Joe And Phantom 309" during his Nighthawks At The Diner recordings. Waits' version of this song was covered by Archers of Loaf on the 1995 tribute album, Step Right Up: The Songs of Tom Waits. Musician Steve Flett named a recording project after the song. The song was originally written and recorded by Tommy Faile.

"Teddy Bear", the tale of a disabled boy who lost his truck driver father in a highway accident and keeps his CB radio base as his only companion.

"Little Joe", a tale of a trucker and his devoted canine friend which became his last hit. This last story features the Teddy Bear character, who can now walk.

Sovine was married to Norma Searls, who died on June 4, 1976, at the age of 57.

On April 4, 1980, Sovine suffered a heart attack while driving in southern Nashville, causing him to run a red light and strike an oncoming vehicle. He and the other driver, 25-year-old Edgar Primm, were transported to St. Thomas Hospital. While Primm was treated and released for minor facial injuries, Sovine died shortly after arrival. According to a preliminary autopsy, Sovine sustained massive abdominal bleeding caused by a lacerated spleen and liver, and fractured ribs and sternum.