Archive for July, 2008

Faron Young and Marty Robbins newsletter — 23 July 2008

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

This is a periodic newsletter on Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story, published last year by the University of Illinois Press, as well as progress on writing Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins.

INTERVIEWS
Thanks to Jody Nix for putting me in touch with Johnny Bush and to Tom Lipscombe for connecting me with Chuck Morgan. Johnny Bush considers himself “at the top of the list” of Marty Robbins fans. Johnny says, “He was the greatest entertainer that I ever witnessed.” Chuck Morgan accepted his Texas Rangers job offer in 1983 because he had reached the pinnacle of his Nashville career (1982 CMA Major Market Disc Jockey of the Year) and because Nashville was just not the same without Marty Robbins.
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Faron Young and Marty Robbins newsletter — 9 July 2008

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

Marty Robbins didn’t like being called “Mr. Teardrop.” He told an interviewer in 1982, “It always embarrassed me when somebody’d say Mr. Teardrop. Ah, shoo, man, I wanted to fall down and cry, y’know. Because I didn’t like it. Because it embarrassed me. . . . I never had a name for my band. They used to call the band Marty Robbins and the Tear Drops. And it would embarrass me so much. I’d come into a little town and see the window placards that said, ‘Coming here October the 16th, Marty Robbins and the Tear Drops.’ And I’d say oh, my God, take that out of there. I’m sure glad they finally got away from that.” (more…)

Faron Young and Marty Robbins newsletter — 2 July 2008

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

Here’s a quote from a European interview Marty Robbins did in October 1982, shortly after his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame:

“I don’t believe that I deserve it yet, because there’s three other people I think who deserve it before I get it. One is Little Jimmy Dickens. The other is Webb Piece, and one is Carl Smith. . . . In fact, I was a little embarrassed and ashamed to take it the other night. (more…)