27 September 2006
My working title for the Marty Robbins biography is Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins. If he were still alive, Marty would have celebrated his 81st birthday yesterday.
FARON YOUNG, FORTY-FOUR YEARS AGO: Faron recorded his last Capitol session on September 27, 1962. His three singles from his three 1962 recording sessions reached the top ten, but stopped short of number one. “Three Days” made it to # 7 on Billboard, “The Comeback” to # 4, and “Down By the River” to # 9. Faron thought Capitol didn’t promote him enough, and he felt he was getting stale on that label. He hoped for a change in fortune when he signed with Mercury Records in December 1962, after ending his 11-year relationship with Capitol Records and Ken Nelson.
LETTERS:
Duane Carlton Lewis says, “Very excited to hear you are researching the life of Marty Robbins—-first, Faron and now Marty—my two favorite country singers! You have great taste—and I look forward to both books!”
Berna Woodard writes, “Please add me to the mailing list for the Newsletter on Faron Young. I was a big fan of his! I always wanted to meet him and finally got my wish when he came to Fort Collins, Colorado, a couple of years before he quite touring.”
Jay Tuttle sends this note from Oklahoma City: “I’ve been meaning to write this for some time now, but something else always needs doing before I can do it. I wrote you a long time ago regarding a Faron memory, he is my absolute favorite, I have all his albums, cd’s, etc., have been to many of his shows here in Okla. City, (which I remember you were here for some time) and is mainly the reason for this email. I really hope when the book comes out that you’re planning a book signing here. I can’t wait for next summer, and want to be first in line to purchase, but in turn would love to meet you too. Also, are you going to do a newsletter on Marty Robbins like you did on Faron? Sure hope so. He’s also one of my favorites. Along with some others. . . . Please consider the book signing, and thanks for the memories. Good job!!! Well done!! Hope the book makes the best-seller list!”
Response: Thanks for the kind words, Jay, and I’d love to do a book event in OKC, which is one of my favorite places to have lived. I always enjoy getting back there again. My publisher has put it on the list of possibilities, at least to get the book into bookstores, and maybe a visit for me. I’ll keep doing Faron’s newsletter until the book is published, and by then I’ll have enough info to start one on Marty Robbins. In the meantime, I guess I can at least post the letters I receive about Marty.
Everett Corbin writes, “I am thrilled that you might write an upcoming book on Marty Robbins. He is my wife’s favorite singer. My cousin and I visited the Grand Ole Opry early on (I’ll have to research the date), met him and others there, and actually shook his hand. At that time, it seemed that the singers/artists truly welcomed meeting the fans and went out of their way to please them. Then, too, later, I would listen to the Opry until midnight, and often Marty would appropriate the initial part of the Ernest Tubb Record Shop program, with Ernest’s voice actually being heard over the airways, saying, ‘Marty…come on, let us on. The boys are tired and we want to do our show so we can go home…'”