Gene Watson News Archive: May 2008
Read Archive News with regard to Gene Watson, his music &
his career from May 2008...
May 2008
Saturday 31
Tonight, Gene Watson graced
the hallowed stage of the Grand Ole Opry in
Nashville - Gene was
backed by the Opry Band; the performance times
were 8.30pm & 11.00pm.
Gene Watson was also scheduled
to grace the hallowed stage of the Grand
Ole Opry in Nashville on Saturday 21 June 2008.
Gene Watson fans could use coupon code WEBFAN or
print an online coupon to present to any Grand Ole
Opry box office to receive $3.00 off their ticket purchase.
Source
Sarah Brosmer, Lytle Management,
Nashville
May 2008
Friday 30
Tonight, Gene Watson graced
the hallowed stage of the Grand Ole Opry in
Nashville at 9.30pm - Gene
was backed by the Opry Band.
Gene Watson was also scheduled to grace the hallowed stage of
the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on Saturday 31 May 2008
at 11.00pm.
Gene Watson was also scheduled
to grace the hallowed stage of
the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on Saturday 21
June 2008.
Gene Watson fans could use coupon code WEBFAN or
print an online coupon to present to any Grand Ole
Opry box office to receive $3.00 off their ticket purchase.
Source
Sarah Brosmer, Lytle Management,
Nashville
May 2008
Wednesday 28
Gene Watson was scheduled to grace the hallowed stage of
the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville
on Friday & Saturday (30 & 31 May 2008) - Gene
would be backed on both
nights by the Opry Band. The performance times were
scheduled to be 9.30pm (Friday 30 May
2008) and 8.30pm & 11.00pm (Saturday 31 May 2008).
Gene Watson was also scheduled
to grace the hallowed stage of the Grand Ole Opry
in Nashville on Saturday 21 June 2008.
Gene Watson fans could use coupon code WEBFAN or print
an online coupon
to present to any Grand Ole Opry box office to receive $3.00 off their
ticket purchase.
Source
Sarah Brosmer, Lytle Management, Nashville
May 2008
Tuesday 27
Gene Watson was scheduled to grace the hallowed stage of
the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville
on Friday & Saturday (30 & 31 May 2008) - Gene
would be backed on both
nights by the Opry Band. The performance times were
scheduled to be 9.30pm (Friday 30 May
2008) and 8.30pm & 11.00pm (Saturday 31 May 2008).
Gene Watson would also grace the hallowed stage of
the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on Saturday 21
June 2008.
Gene Watson fans could use coupon code WEBFAN or print
an online coupon
to present to any Grand Ole Opry box office to receive $3.00 off their
ticket purchase.
Source
Sarah Brosmer, Lytle Management, Nashville
May 2008
Friday 23
Gene Watson was scheduled to grace the hallowed stage of
the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville
on Friday 30 May 2008 & Saturday 31 May 2008
- Gene would be backed by the Opry Band on both
nights.
Gene Watson would also grace the hallowed stage of
the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on Saturday 21
June 2008.
Gene Watson fans could use coupon code WEBFAN or print
an online coupon
to present to any Grand Ole Opry box office to receive $3.00 off their
ticket purchase.
Source
Sarah Brosmer, Lytle Management, Nashville
May 2008
Tuesday 20
Today, Gene Watson participated in a recorded interview with 'Big' Jon Talbott of (radio station) WAKG in Danville, Virginia.
The interview was scheduled to be broadcast at a
later date.
Source
Sarah Brosmer, Lytle Management, Nashville
May 2008
Friday 09
Today was the 19th anniversary of the passing of the
great Keith Whitley.
A native of Sandy Hook, Kentucky where he was born on 1 July 1955, Keith
Whitley learned to play guitar by the time he was 6 years old & appeared on
Buddy Starcher's regional television show at the age of 8.
When they were 15, Keith & his friend Ricky Skaggs were asked to play a
local show when Ralph Stanley's band were running late. Upon hearing them
sing, Ralph recruited both of them for his band. Ricky & Keith stayed with
Ralph Stanley for two years until Keith went to work for Carl Jackson in
1972.
By 1974, Keith was back with Ralph Stanley. In 1978, Keith joined JD Crowe &
the New South but his heart was closer to traditional country music than
bluegrass. RCA Records issued a single, 'Turn me to love', in 1984 with
Patty Loveless singing harmony. It was at this time that Keith's excessive
drinking was making him unreliable, but it did give him a hardened,
honky-tonk voice; all he needed was the right song.
In 1986, Keith married Lorrie Morgan & cracked the Top 20 with the single
'Miami, my Amy'. Three Top 10 singles then followed, namely 'Ten feet away',
'Homecoming '63' & 'Hard living'.
Gene Watson recorded 'I want my rib back' (written by Keith Whitley
& Fred Koller) & included the track on 'Memories to Burn'
(Epic Records, 1985).
When contacted by Sean Brady at the
Gene Watson Fan Site for inclusion in the 'Peers' section of the site,
Fred Koller graciously submitted a quote about
Gene Watson on Tuesday 31 December 2007 & you can read
Fred's words about Gene
Watson here.
Keith Whitley finally reached No.1 in 1988 with tracks from his acclaimed
'Don't Close Your Eyes' album on RCA Records; 'Don't close your eyes' (No.1
for 1 week in August 1988), 'When you say nothing at all' (No.1 for 2 weeks
in December 1988/January 1989) & Sonny Curtis' 'I'm no stranger to the rain'
(No.1 for 2 weeks in April 1989).
The 'Don't Close Your Eyes' album also included Keith's heartfelt rendition
of the Lefty Frizzell/Whitey Shafer classic 'I never go around mirrors';
Gene Watson also recorded 'I never go around mirrors' & included the track
on 'From the Heart'
(RMG Records, 2001).
However, in the midst of all this success, Keith Whitley's excessive
drinking finally caught up with him. At 12.30pm on the afternoon of 9 May
1989, his brother-in-law found Keith's lifeless body.
At the time of his death, Keith Whitley had been working on a new album
project with producer Garth Fundis. The subsequent album, 'I Wonder do you
think of me', was released posthumously & the title track spent 1 week at
No.1 in September 1989.
The 'Ernest Tubb Collection' album was originally released on First
Generation Records in 1979 under the title of 'The Legend & the Legacy'. The
record label & this Ernest Tubb tribute album was the brainchild of famed
session steel guitar player Pete Drake (8 October 1932 - 29 July 1988).
Gene Watson contributed guest vocals to Willie Nelson's composition 'Sad
songs & waltzes'; this track did not see the light of day until Laserlight
Records released their version of this Ernest Tubb set in 1992 ('The
Legendary Ernest Tubb & Friends'. The track was also included on 'Ernest
Tubb & Friends' on Prism Leisure Records in 2004.
When Keith Whitley was a member of JD Crowe & the New South in the early
1980s, the hardcore, traditional country album 'Somewhere Between' was
released in 1981.
In 2000, Rounder Records re-released the album as 'Sad Songs & Waltzes'; the
set included five previously unreleased tracks including Willie Nelson's
title track, along with 'Honk Tonk Crazy'. This latter track was recorded by
Gene Watson & was included as the title track of 'Honk Tonk Crazy'
(Epic Records, 1987).
Keith Whitley (1 July 1955 - 9 May 1989)
RIP
Source
Sean Brady, Gene Watson Fan Site
May 2008
Thursday 08
Today, it was with great sadness that
the Gene Watson Fan Site
reported the passing
of country music legend Eddy Arnold
(at 4.40am) in the early hours of Thursday 8 May 2008, some seven days short of his 90th birthday.
A native of Henderson, Tennessee where he was born on 15 May 1918, Eddy was
known affectionately as 'The Tennessee Plowboy' & was country music's
all-time most successful artist.
On the singles longevity charts, he placed four of his 1940s hits: 'Bouquet
of roses' (54 weeks), 'I'll hold you in my heart' (46 weeks), 'Anytime' (39
weeks) & 'It's a sin' (38 weeks). During the 1940s, Eddy records were also
achieving Top 20 positions on the pop charts. Eddy's highest pop listing,
'Make the world go away' in 1966, reached No.6 & also achieved a No.1 place
on the country charts. It was also in 1966 that Eddy Arnold was inducted
into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Thanks to his hit duet, 'Cattle call', with LeAnn Rimes, which charted in
the first week of 2000, Eddy Arnold can rightly claim that his records have
charted in seven decades.
Sadly, Eddy's lifetime partner & wife Sally passed away on Tuesday 11 March
2008 (Eddy & Sally had been married for more than sixty-six years).
Eddy Arnold's final album was 'After All These Years'
(RCA
Records, 2005) & was produced by 'Cowboy' Jack Clement & Jim Malloy. The
album includes 'Old porch swing' which was written by Joe Allen & Charlie
Williams (RIP).
The track 'Old porch swing' was originally included on Gene Watson's 'In
Other Words' (Broadland Records/Mercury Canada, 1993).
Source
Sean Brady, Gene Watson Fan Site
Country Music People, London, England
May 2008
Monday 05
On Saturday 5 May 2007, the new design layout of the Gene Watson Fan Site
made its debut, thanks to a web template purchased from
Karey Cummins at Round The Bend
Wizards in Katy, Texas.
Sean Brady expressed a heartfelt 'thank you' to Carrie Moore-Reed at
Third
Coast Talent in Nashville (Gene Watson's Booking Representatives) who added
a dedicated link to the Gene Watson
Fan Site within theirs in January 2006.
Sean Brady also expressed a sincere 'thank you'
to Sarah Brosmer (Gene Watson's Day-to-Day Manager) at
Lytle Management in Nashville.
Sean received his first in a long list of emails
from Sarah on Wednesday 9 August 2006 & since then
they came to a mutual
agreement whereby they would share information about, and promote the country
music career of, Gene Watson.
Without Sarah Brosmer's
gracious support, kindness & hard work on behalf of Gene Watson, the
Gene Watson Fan Site would not be as comprehensive
or as detailed as it is.
And, last but by no means least, Sean Brady expressed a
heartfelt 'thank you' to Gene Watson.
If it wasn't for Gene Watson, there would be no reason to have a
Gene Watson Fan Site.
Here's to many more years of Gene Watson news & new
music!
Source
Sean Brady, Gene Watson Fan Site
May 2008
Friday 02
On Tuesday 25 March 2008, Gene Watson participated in the taping of the
television show 'Inside Music Row'; this show was aired
over the weekend of Friday 25 - Sunday 27
April 2008 on the AMG-TV network & reached a
potential audience of 20 million).
In 'Inside Music Row', the show went 'inside the
song' with Gene Watson, as he talked about his
signature song 'Farewell party' & how he cut it in only one take.
'Inside Music Row' was broadcast on a number of
syndicated television stations including Nashville's WNAB which
aired 'Inside Music Row' on Sunday evenings at
10.30pm (CST) / 11.30pm (EST).
Source
Sean Brady, Gene Watson Fan Site