In 1948, Horace "Hoss" Logan, a young radio producer in Shreveport, Louisiana, started booking talent for a new weekly music show called the Louisiana Hayride. Performed for a live audience and broadcast nationally over the CBS Radio network, the show became known as the "Cradle of the Stars." In this affectionate memoir, Hoss Logan recalls the Hayride's heyday with behind-the-scenes anecdotes about the dozens of musicians he knew and nurtured, including Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley, Jim Reeves, Kitty Wells, Slim Whitman, Hank Williams, Faron Young, and many more. As producer, emcee, and friend to the Hayride performers, Logan gives us a personal look into musical history - from Hank Williams's ups and downs to the teenage Elvis's first performance on national radio to the ways the Hayride's many emerging stars expanded our idea about what country music could be.
The characters in Competing for Elvis have something unique that draws them to competitions. This story has nothing at all to do with their beloved Elvis but rather with their mission to resurrect his life. Jeremy Shrinks, Bobby Shrimp, Terance Best, and Henry (Hank) Hunk meet secretly in Las Vegas to compete in the Elvis competition. Jeremy is a convenience store clerk living in a trailer park in Yukon, Oklahoma; Bobby owns an auto body shop in Lynn, Massachusetts; Terance is a multimillionaire developer residing in Coral Gables, Florida; and Hank is an unemployed architect living with his mother and father in Los Angeles. Jeremy, who looks nothing like Elvis, has the perfect Elvis voice. Bobby looks and sounds somewhat like Elvis; however, its his body language that sets him apart from the others. Terance lacks Elviss looks and voice; however, his presence portrays Elviss charisma and persona pervasively. Hanks good fortune is he looks exactly like Elvis. Ironically, for Jeremy, Bobby, Terance, and Hank, winning is not why they continuously compete, but rather its an ends to a means to find Elvis, and their persistence finally pays. This trip to Las Vegas brings about miraculous changes for them. Their relentless vigil to find Elvis bonds them together and allows them to achieve their ultimate mission while competing for Elvis.
A vibrant, sympathetic portrait of the once and future king of rock 'n' roll by the award-winning author of Shiloh and In Country To this clear-eyed portrait of the first rock 'n' roll superstar, Bobbie Ann Mason brings a novelist's insight and the empathy of a fellow Southerner who, from the first time she heard his voice on the family radio, knew that Elvis was "one of us." Elvis Presley deftly braids the mythic and human aspects of his story, capturing both the charismatic, boundary-breaking singer who reveled in his celebrity and the soft-spoken, working-class Southern boy who was fatally unprepared for his success. The result is a riveting, tragic book that goes to the heart of the American dream.
Who was the man behind Elvis? He claimed to be a West Virginia native called Colonel Tom Parker, who in fact was an illegal immigrant from Holland. Here is the shocking, true story of the man who created, exploited, and some say, destroyed Elvis Presley. 16 pages of photos, many never before published.
As one of the best-known honky tonkers to appear in the wake of Hank Williams’s death, Faron Young was a popular presence on Nashville’s music scene for more than four decades. The Singing Sheriff produced a string of Top Ten hits, placed over eighty songs on the country music charts, and founded the long-running country music periodical Music City News in 1963. Flamboyant, impulsive, and generous, he helped and encouraged a new generation of talented songwriter-performers that included Willie Nelson and Bill Anderson. In 2000, four years after his untimely death, Faron was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Presenting the first detailed portrayal of this lively and unpredictable country music star, Diane Diekman masterfully draws on extensive interviews with Young’s family, band members, and colleagues. Impeccably researched, Diekman’s narrative also weaves anecdotes from Louisiana Hayride and other old radio shows with ones from Young’s business associates, including Ralph Emery. Her unique insider’s look into Young’s career adds to an understanding of the burgeoning country music entertainment industry during the key years from 1950 to 1980, when the music expanded beyond its original rural roots and blossomed into a national (ultimately, international) enterprise. Echoing Young’s characteristic ability to entertain and surprise fans, Diekman combines an account of his public career with a revealing, intimate portrait of his personal life.
The International Conference on Elvis Presley, convened at the University of Mississippi in August, transformed a rock and roll icon into a scholarly phenomenon. Educators, artists, and Elvis aficionados from across the worldplus over one hundred internationally based reporterscollected on Oxford, Mississippi, soil to analyze and celebrate Elvis impact on the world stage.From this conference, which became front page New York Times Magazine news, springs this book, the best and brightest essays and artwork swirling around the cultural, social, political, and iconographic figure of Elvis Presley. Discussed within are such topics as Elvis as Southerner, Elvis as sign system, Elvis multicultural audiences, Elvis and rockabilly, Elvis as redneck, the Elvis oeuvre, and Elvis religious roots. Taken together, In Search of Elvis represents a daring and groundbreaking academic analysis. Richly illustrated with original Elvis-inspired artwork, this book captures the subterranean essence of one of the most phenomenal artists to have ever lived. }The International Conference on Elvis Presley, convened at the University of Mississippi in August, transformed a rock and roll icon into a scholarly phenomenon. Educators, artists, and Elvis aficionados from across the worldplus over one hundred internationally based reporterscollected on Oxford, Mississippi, soil to analyze and celebrate Elvis impact on the world stage.From this conference, which became front page New York Times Magazine news, springs this book, the best and brightest essays and artwork swirling around the cultural, social, political, and iconographic figure of Elvis Presley. Discussed within are such topics as Elvis as Southerner, Elvis as sign system, Elvis multicultural audiences, Elvis and rockabilly, Elvis as redneck, the Elvis oeuvre, and Elvis religious roots. Taken together, In Search of Elvis represents a daring and groundbreaking academic analysis. Richly illustrated with original Elvis-inspired artwork, this book captures the subterranean essence of one of the most phenomenal artists to have ever lived.
From his first performance in the late 1940s until his early death in 1982, Marty Robbins established himself as one of the most popular and successful singer/songwriters in the latter half of the 20th century. On the country charts, he racked up 15 #1 hits, including the crossover smashes El Paso and A White Sport Coat (and a Pink Carnation). A beloved entertainer, Robbins received honors from every major music association. El Paso became the first Grammy ever awarded to a Country song, while My Woman My Woman My Wife received the 1970 Grammy for Best Country Song. In 1969 Robbins was named artist of the decade by the Academy of Country Music. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1975 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982. In addition to his success as a singer/songwriter, Robbins loved car racing. In the early 1970s he joined the NASCAR circuit and raced the rest of his life. In Marty Robbins: Fast Cars and Country Music, author Barbara J. Pruett provides an exhaustive overview of Robbins' life and career. Nearly half of the book is a chronological listing (starting in 1948) of more than 2,000 magazine and newspaper articles and other sources of information about Robbins. Another section provides a basic discography of his hundreds of recordings, including both albums and singles released in his lifetime and after. The book also features a list of all of the songs he copyrighted, stories about his stock car racing activities, several previously unpublished photographs, and interviews with those who knew and worked with him—and even an extensive interview with Robbins himself. As a tribute to a great entertainer, this volume will be of interest not only to entertainment writers and researchers, but also to Marty Robbins fans worldwide.
