Happy New Year!! This periodic newsletter commemorates the lives of Faron Young and Marty Robbins. Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story was published in 2007 by the University of Illinois Press, and I’m currently writing Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins for publication in 2012. FARON AND MARTY SIGN RECORDING CONTRACTS […]
MARTY ROBBINS IN HIS DRINKING DAYS Those who knew the teetotaler Marty Robbins might be surprised to hear this story. It comes from a transcript of a 1981 interview, and the incident probably happened in 1949 or 1950. “I’ve drunk as many as 24 bottles of beer between nine and one at night,” Marty told […]
This periodic newsletter commemorates the lives of Faron Young and Marty Robbins. Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story was published last year by the University of Illinois Press, and I’m currently writing Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins. This week marks the anniversary of the deaths of these great entertainers–Marty 26 […]
MARTY ROBBINS BEFORE AND AFTER THE NAVY Here’s a paragraph in my biography draft that I originally placed in the section on Martin as a teenager before he enlisted in the Navy: ***He and his half dozen friends “were trying to have fun,” he said. “We’d choose up sides and have fights with the oranges. […]
MARTY ROBBINS, THE NAME Marty once told Ralph Emery he got the name Marty Robbins from “a Russian kid by the name of Harry Tomichov” [phonetic spelling]. He wanted to change his name “because I didn’t want anybody to know it was me playing. Because I was ashamed. So Harry says why don’t you just […]
RESEARCHING MARTY ROBBINS IN GLENDALE, ARIZONA My sister and I just returned from a great research trip. Kayo and I met people who knew Marty and people who keep his memory alive through the “Friends of Marty Robbins” organization. Thanks to Jo Wenger for arranging a meeting at the Shot of Java coffee shop. She […]
SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAYS On 17 September we remembered the 29 short years of Hank Williams, who was born 85 years ago. On 18 September I celebrated another great year. This Friday, 26 September, we’ll remember Marty Robbins, born in the Arizona desert 83 years ago. Marty’s fans in his hometown of Glendale AZ are having a […]
RAY PRICE AND MEL TILLIS Last week I heard on XM-13 radio that Mel Tillis and Ray Price would be at a fair in Frederick, Maryland, on Sunday. So I emailed Ernie Reed to ask if he would be there with the Statesiders. I met him backstage after their soundcheck and he introduced me to […]
INTERVIEWS In the past two weeks I’ve found four more Marty Robbins band members. All were with the band when Marty died. Larry Hunt, bass player, had a stroke a year ago. I interviewed pianist Jim Hannaford of Nashville and the rhythm-guitar-playing-harmony-singing pair of friends from Ohio, Gary Adams and Mike Cutright. Thanks to Lynn […]
By Jeffrey Buckner Ford River of No Return: Tennessee Ernie Ford and the Woman He Loved is the story of a husband and wife who loved each other deeply, whose alcohol addictions swept them helplessly down a river, and whose emotional instabilities made it a river of no return. The cover photo beautifully illustrates this […]