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It's the real stories, not the publicists' confections, that concern Colin Escott. We hear Perry Como's story in his own words: it wasn't all smooth. We learn about the astonishing twists and turns in Roy Orbison's life, and the stories behind the songs we know so well. And we go down with Vernon Oxford, the last great honky tonk singer, who came to Nashville just a little too late. These are stories for anyone who loves what Escott calls "little songs from great sorrows." They will fascinate even the most casual fan of popular music, and they're told here in sympathetic, engaging, and illuminating prose.
List of contents
Introduction Part One: The Smoother Side of Town 1. Roy Orbison: Starlight lit my Lonesomeness 2. Perry Como: R.I.P. 3. Patty Page: Oklahoma Blues Part Two: Labor 4. Jim Reeves: Say Yes to Rugs 5. Mitch Torok: When Mexican Joe Gave Up the Rumba 6. Ned Miller: From a Jack to a King Part Three: Town Hall Party 7. Skeets McDonald: You Oughta See Grandma Rock 8. Wynn Stewart: Not Such a Pretty World 9. Wanda Jackson: Did She or Didn't She 10. The Collins Kids: Brokenhearted Ricky Part Four: Memphis, Sun Records, June 1957 11. Sonny Burgess: The Wild Man at 70 12. Ed Bruce: Mammas Don't let your Rock Boppin' Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys 13. Onie Wheeler: Onie's Unlikely Bop Postscript 14. Vernon Oxford: Too Country for Country Index
About the author
Colin Escott lives outside of Nashville, TN. He is the author of Tattooed on Their Tongues: Journeys through theBackrooms of American Music and Hank Williams: TheBiography, and coauthor of Hank Williams: Snapshots fromthe Lost Highway, and Good Rockin' Tonight: The SunRecords Story. He has annotated over 500 recordings, and has won numerous awards for his writing, including a Grammy for historic documentation and an Lifetime Achievement Award from the ARSC (Association for Recorded Sound Collections), a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving the history of recorded sound.
Summary
This title presents an array of talents, from the famous Roy Orbison and Perry Como, to the more obscure Sonny Burgess and the Collins Kids. Escott shows how these individual stories illuminate an entire era of music history.
