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> Back 1960-1969 Sun Schedule <
- Don't Say Tomorrow -
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Sun recordings can be heard on the playlists from 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <
JULY 1961
The singles, PI 3569 ''If I Could Change You'' b/w ''I Ain't Got No Home'' by Carl Mann and PI 3570 ''My Greatest Hurt'' b/w ''Nothing Down (99 Years To Pay)'' by Jean Dee issued.
Jerry Lee Lewis plays in Florida and Tennessee.
JULY 1, 1961 SATURDAY
''Buffalo Gun'' debuts in movie theaters. The picture stars Marty Robbins, Webb Pierce and Carl Smith.
Michelle Wright is born in Chatham, Ontario. She nets a Top 10 single in 1992 with ''Take It Like A Man''.
Elvis Presley's friend Red West marries Pat Boyd in Memphis, Tennessee. Presley is to late to the wedding, and Joe Esposito has to fill in as best man.
JULY 2, 1961 SUNDAY
Ernest Hemingway commits suicide.
Acclaimed author Ernest Hemingway dies of a self-inflicted gun shot at his home in Ketchum, Idaho. He's namechecked 44 years later in the Brad Paisley hit ''Alcohol'' and again in Keith Urban's 2015 single, ''John Gougar, John Deere, John 3:16''.
JULY 4, 1961 TUESDAY
''Don't Fence Me In'' songwriter Cole Porter ends an eight-month stay at New York's Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.
A semi-private feud becomes public when Carter Stanley tells a crowd in Luray, Virginia, that Flatt and Scruggs refused to play the All Day Bluegrass Festival because The Stanley Brothers and Bill Monroe were there.
Seven-year-old Larry Franklin plays his first fiddle concert. He goes on to become a Nashville studio musician appearing on hits by Shania Twain, Deana Carter, Lady Antebellum, Martina McBride and Gretchen Wilson, among others.
JULY 7, 1961 FRIDAY
Kitty Wells recorded ''Day Into Night'' and ''Unloved Unwanted''.
JULY 8, 1961 SATURDAY
Toby Keith is born in Clinton, Oklahoma. The former semi=pro football player emerges in 1993 with ''Should've Been A Cowboy'', becoming a brash hitmaker, label owner and entrepreneur. He also joins the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015.
Ray Charles is arrested in Chicago during a heroin bust. The following year, he connects country and rhythm and blues through the landmark album ''Modern Sounds In Country And Western''.
JULY 9, 1961 SUNDAY
Bluegrass vocalist and bass player Ronnie Bowman is born in North Carolina. After a stint in The Lonesome River Band, he co-writes Brooks and Dunn's country hit ''It's Getting Better All The Time'' and Kenny Chesney's ''Never Wanted Nothing More''.
JULY 10, 1961 MONDAY
Spade Cooley's murder trial, in which he's accused of killing his wife, begins in Kern County, California. He's sentenced to prison the following month.
JULY 11, 1961 TUESDAY
While watching baseball's annual All-Star Game on television, Bill Anderson gets a phone call asking him to join the Grand Ole Opry. Anderson, of course, whispers yes. The National League, meanwhile, beats the American League, 5-4.
Elvis Presley begins filming ''Follow That Dream'' in Crystal River, Florida. During the next month of shooting, he meets an 11-year-old named Tom Petty.
Chet Atkins plays a concert in the rain in Nashville's Centennial Park without telling the audience of 10,000 that very time he touches the guitar, he gets shocked. The closest he comes to letting on is telling the audience ''I'm real brave tonight''.
JULY 12, 1961 WEDNESDAY
Ferlin Husky recorded pop star Wayne King's ''The Waltz You Saved For Me''.
JULY 13, 1961 THURSDAY
Ray Price recorded ''Soft Rain''.
JULY 15, 1961 SATURDAY
Bill Anderson joins the Grand Ole Opry at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.
JULY 17, 1961 MONDAY
More than a month after she was injured in a car accident, Patsy Cline is released from the hospital.
Capitol released Buck Owens' ''Under The Influence Of Love''.
JULY 18, 1961 TUESDAY
Bill Anderson recorded the Fred Rose song ''Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain'' some 14 years before Willie Nelson turns it into a hit.
JULY 19, 1961 WEDNESDAY
Johnny Cash recorded ''Tennessee Flat-Top Box'' in Hollywood at the Columbia Studios.
Faron Young recorded ''Backtrack'' at the Bradley Film and Recording Studio in Nashville, Tennessee.
JULY 22, 1961 SATURDAY
Patsy Cline comes on stage at the Grand Ole Opry in a wheelchair to assure fans she'll return to performing soon, following her June car accident.
Webb Pierce recorded ''How Do You Talk To A Baby'' and ''Walking The Streets''.
JULY 24, 1961 MONDAY
Capitol released Rose Maddox' ''Conscience, I'm Guilty''.
JULY 27, 1961 THURSDAY
Spade Cooley suffers a heart attack in his holding cell at the Kern County Jail in Bakersfield, California, after his 14-year-old daughter, Melody, testified against him in a trial for the murder of his wife. He is transferred to Kern County General.
JULY 28, 1961 FRIDAY
Columbia released Marty Robbins' ''It's Your World''.
Patsy Cline returns to the concert trail at the Cimarron Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma, six weeks after a serious car accident. Cline uses crutches to make it on stage and sits on a stool for the entire show.
JULY 30, 1961 SUNDAY
Brenda Lee sings the national anthem at the opening of the Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. Jack Smith wins the Volunteer 500.
JULY 31, 1961 MONDAY
Capitol released Hank Thompson's ''Hangover Tavern''.
AUGUST 3, 1961 THURSDAY
Mary Carlisle, the mother of Bill and Cliff Carlisle, dies.
AUGUST 4, 1961 FRIDAY
Merle Travis gives away the bride as his daughter, Pat Travis, marries Gene Eatherly.
Spade Cooley, who has already suffered two heart attacks since April, is taken to Bakersfield's Kern County General Hospital, suffering from chest pains. It causes a delay in his trial for the murder of Wife Ella Mae Cooley.
Barack Obama is born in Honolulu, Hawaii. During his presidency, he gets White House visits from Clarley Pride, Dierks Bently and Brad Paisley, whose ''Welcome To The Future'' is inspired by Obama's election.
AUGUST 5, 1961 SATURDAY
Fiddler Mark O'Connor is born in Seattle, Washington. He wins the Country Music Association's Musician of the Year award six times, appearing on more than 450 country recordings, and wins a Grammy for ''Restless''.
Jackie Phelps debuts as a guitarist with Roy Acuff's Smokey Mountain Boys during a show in Altamont, Illinois, remaining with the band for nine years.
Comedian Tim Wilson is born in Columbus, Georgia. In addition to doing stand-up, he co-writes Toby Keith's 2007 hit ''High Maintenance Woman''.
Brad Suggs' Sun/PI recordings can be heard on his playlists from 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <
Tony Rossini's Sun recordings can be heard on his playlists from 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <
Memphis Willie B. Bluesville recordings can be heard on his playlists from 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <
Memphis Willie B. Bluesville recordings can be heard on his playlists from 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <
Composer: - Don George-Duke Ellington
Publisher: - Warner Chappell Music-Spirit Music Group
Matrix number: - None - Demo - Not Originally Issued
Recorded: - Probably August 8-10, 1961
Released: - August 2002
First appearance: - Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 16609-5-2 mono
MEMPHIS BELLES - THE WOMEN OF SUN RECORDS
03 - "ALL RIGHT, OKAY YOU WIN'' - B.M.I. - 2:42
Composer: - Sid Wyche-Mayme Watts
Publisher: - Peer Music Publishing
Matrix number: - None - Demo - Not Originally Issued
Recorded:
- Probably August 8-10, 1961
Released: - August 2002
First appearance: - Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 16609-5-16 mono
MEMPHIS BELLES - THE WOMEN OF SUN RECORDS
04 - ''DON'T WORRY 'BOUT ME''
Composer: - Unknown
Publisher: - Copyright Control
Matrix number: - None - Dome - Sun Unissued
Recorded: - Probably August
8-10, 1961
05 - ''HE WAS GOOD TO ME''
Composer: - Unknown
Publisher: - Copyright
Control
Matrix number: - None - Demo - Sun Unissued
Recorded: - Probably August 8-10, 1961
06
- ''I CAN'T GIVE YOU ANYTHING BUT LOVE''
Composer: - Unknown
Publisher: - Copyright Control
Matrix
number: - None - Demo - Sun Unissued
Recorded: - Probably August 8-10, 1961
07 - ''IT MEANS SO LITTLE TO YOU''
Composer: - Unknown
Publisher: - Copyright Control
Matrix number: - None - Demo - Sun Unissued
Recorded: - Probably August 8-10, 1961
08 - ''IT'S A SIN TO TELL A LIE'' - B.M.I. - 1:55
Composer:
-Billy Mayhew
Publisher: - Warner Chappell Music
Matrix number: - None - Demo - Not Originally Issued
Recorded: - Probably August 8-10, 1961
Released: - August 2002
First appearance: - Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD
16609-5-12 mono
MEMPHIS BELLES - THE WOMEN OF SUN RECORDS
09 - ''MY BLUE HEAVEN'' - B.M.I. - 2:16
Composer: - George Whiting; Walter Donaldson
Publisher: - Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Matrix number: - None - Demo - Sun
Unissued
Recorded: - Probably August 8-10, 1961
Released: - August 2002
First appearance:
- Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 16609-5-5 mono
MEMPHIS BELLES - THE WOMEN OF SUN RECORDS
10 - ''SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY'' - B.M.I.
- 2:16
Composer: - Bud Green-Benjamin Homer-Les Brown
Publisher: -Warner Chappell Music
Matrix
number: - None - Demo - Sun Unissued
Recorded: - Probably August 8-10, 1961
Released: - August 2002
First appearance: - Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 16609-5-9 mono
MEMPHIS BELLES - THE WOMEN OF SUN RECORDS
11
- ''SO MANY BEAUTIFUL MEN'' - B.M.I. - 2:36
Composer: - E.G. White-Kitty White
Publisher: - Cherio Music
Matrix number: - None - Demo - Not Originally Issued
Recorded: - Probably August 8-10, 1961
Released: - August 2002
First appearance: - Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 16609-5-18 mono
MEMPHIS BELLES - THE WOMEN OF SUN RECORDS
12 - "THIS LOVE OF MINE"
Composer: -Unknown
Publisher: - Copyright Control
Matrix
number: - None - Demo - Sun Unissued
Recorded: - Probably August 8-10, 1961
13 - "WHERE ARE YOU" - 2:34
Composer: - Harold Adamson-Jimmy McHugh
Publisher: - Clear Box Advange
Matrix number: - None - Demo - Not Originally Issued
Recorded: - Probably August 8-10, 1961
Released: - August 2002
First appearance: - Bear Family Records
(CD) 500/200rpm BCD 16609-5-22 mono
MEMPHIS BELLES - THE WOMEN OF SUN RECORDS
Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Mikki Wilcox - Vocal and Guitar
Mikki Wilcox's Sun/PI recordings can be heard on her playlistsfrom 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <
Don Hosea's Sun recordings can be heard on his playlistsfrom 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <
639 MADISON AVENUE, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
SUN SESSION: UNKNOWN DATE / PROBABLY AUGUST 1961
SESSION HOURS: UNKNOWN
PRODUCER AND RECORDING ENGINEER – UNKNOWN
Freddie North's Sun/PI recordings can be heard on his playlists from 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <
Bobby Wood's Sun recordings can be heard on his playlists from 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <
Harold Dorman's Sun recordings can be heard on his playlists from 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <
"Money (That's What I Want)" is a song written by Tamla founder Berry Gordy Jr. and Janie Bradford that became the first hit record for Gordy's Motown enterprise. The song was recorded in 1959 by Barrett Strong for the Tamla label, distributed nationally on Anna Records. It went on to be covered by many artists, including the Beatles in 1963 and the Flying Lizards in 1979.
The song was originally recorded by Barrett Strong and released on Tamla in August 1959. Anna Records was operated by Gwen Gordy, Anna Gordy and Roquel "Billy" Davis. Gwen and Anna's brother Berry Gordy had just established his Tamla label (soon Motown would follow) and licensed the song to the Anna label in 1960, which was distributed nationwide by Chicago-based Chess Records in order to meet demand; the Tamla record was a resounding success in the Midwest. The song has Strong curtly insisting that money is what he needs, more than anything else.
In the US, the single became Motown's first hit in June 1960, making it to number 2 on the Hot Rhythm and Blues Sides chart and number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was listed as number 288 on Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time''. Greil Marcus has pointed out that "Money" was the only song that brought Strong's name near the top of the national music charts, "but that one time has kept him on the radio all his life''. Piano and lead vocals were supplied by Barrett. Guitar on the track was played by Eugene Grew. Virtually all of the records issued were 45's, the 10" 78 format, issued by Anna, is described as "extremely rare''.
Singer Barrett Strong claims that he co-wrote the song with Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford. His name was removed from the copyright registration three years after the song was written, restored in 1987 when the copyright was renewed, and then excised again the following year. Gordy has stated that Strong's name was only included because of a clerical error.
Jerry Lee Lewis recorded in September 1961 ''Money'' for his Sun single (Sun 371), backed with ''Bonnie B'' and released on November 21, 1961, but didn't the charts. Even the Beatles recorded "Money" in seven takes on July 18, 1963, with their usual lineup. A series of piano overdubs was later added by producer George Martin. The song was released in November 1963 as the final track on their second UK album, ''With The Beatles''. According to George Harrison, the group discovered Strong's version in Brian Epstein's NEMS record store (though not a hit in the UK, it had been issued on London Records in 1960). They had previously performed it during their audition at Decca Records on January 1, 1962, with Pete Best still on drums at the time. They also recorded it six times for BBC radio. A live version, taped at a concert date in Stockholm, Sweden in October 1963, was included on ''Anthology 1''.
In July 1979 British band the Flying Lizards released a new wave version of the song. An unexpected hit, this version peaked at number 5 in the UK chart and at number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also peaked at number 22 on the US dance charts.
The song has been covered by many artists, with several of the versions appearing in a variety of charts. For example, the Kingsmen reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 6 in the US Rhythm and Blues charts in 1964. Jennell Hawkins hit number 17 in the Rhythm and Blues charts with her recording in 1962. Junior Walker and The All Stars reached number 52 on the Hot 100 and number 35 on the Rhythm and Blues charts in 1966 and Bern Elliott and the Fenmen reached number 14 on the UK Singles Chart in November 1963.
The song was a staple for British beat bands, including the Searchers, the Undertakers, Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes and the Rolling Stones. It was also covered by Freddie and the Dreamers and John Lee Hooker. The song was covered during live performances by the Doors and appears twice on their 2009 released album ''Live In New York'', which covers four sets from January 1970. It also appears on their live album Live in Vancouver 1970 and the bootleg album ''Boot Yer Butt: The Doors Bootlegs''.
Jerry Lee Lewis' Sun recordings can be heard on his playlists from 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <
Ray Smith's Sun recordings can be heard on his playlists from 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <
During Presley's late 1960s and 1970s live performances, the song was performed as the show's finale. Most notably, it was also sung in the live segment of his 1968 NBC television special, and as the closer for his 1973 Global telecast, Aloha From Hawaii. A version with a faster arrangement was used as the closing for Presley's final TV special, ''Elvis In Concert''.
NOVEMBER 22, 1961 WEDNESDAY
Paramount released Elvis Presley's movie ''Blue Hawaii''.
With 250,000 people watching from the sidewalk, Gene Autry serves as grand marshall of the Santa Claus Lane parade in Hollywood. Others taking part include Shelley Fabares, Robert Stack and Kris Kringle.
NOVEMBER 24, 1961 FRIDAY
The Everly Brothers are officially enlisted in the military for six months. They report to Camp Pendleton, California.
Columbia released Marty Robbins '''Sometimes I'm Tempted''.
Gene Autry pleads guilty in Los Angeles to driving drunk, receiving a 30-day suspended sentence, a $500 fine and three years probation.
NOVEMBER 25, 1961 SATURDAY
Disc jockey Eddie Stubbs is born in Bethesda, Maryland. A musician with the bluegrass group The Johnson Mountain Boys, he works with Nashville's WSM Radio, where he announces the Grand Ole Opry and becomes a voice for the genre's heritage artists.
After The New York Journal American's Dorothy Kilgallen referred to a Carnegie Hall lineup of country stars as ''Carnegie Hillbillies'', Patsy Cline shoots back on a stage in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, referring to her as ''the wicked witch of the east''.
NOVEMBER 28, 1961 TUESDAY
Jimmie Rodgers' widow, Carrie, dies of cancer in San Antonio, Texas, 25 days after his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame''.
NOVEMBER 29, 1961 WEDNESDAY
The Grand Ole Opry comes to Carnegie Hall, with Patsy Cline, Grandpa Jones, Bill Monroe, Minnie Pearl, Marty Robbins, Jim Reeves, Faron Young and The Jordanaires. The performance benefits the Musicians' Aid Society. In the crowd, Jimmy Dean and comic Jack Benny.
Guitarist Duke Levine is born in Worcester, Massachusetts. He works with Mary Chapin Carpenter, backing her on ''Somewhere Down Below The Mason Dixon Line'', her contribution to the 1997 album ''The Songs Of Jimmie Rodgers - A Tribute''.
Jeb Stuart's Sun/PI recordings can be heard on his playlists from 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <
Rayburn Anthny's Sun recordings can be heard on his playlists from 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <
Tony Austin's Sun recordings can be heard on his playlists from 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <
Tony Edwin Austin was born in Jackson, Tennessee on October 29, 1938, the son of Elmer Austin and Ruby Gunter Austin. He was the cousin of Carl Perkins and played drums for the tours. Tony spent his entire life as a musician, singer and songwriter. Working on Jackson's 1950's musical legacy, Tony was well know worldwide for his work with Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee ''Smoochy'' Smith, Rex Hale, The Burnette Brothers, and recorded with the Carl Mann band in a surprising white-soul style.
Austin did sessions on Sun Records and toured again with Carl Perkins in the 1960s, as well as with many stars of the Grand Ole Opry. Over the years he has been a nightclub owner and has had success as a songwriter. Tony Edwin Austin died on Saturday, November 8, 2014, at Jackson Madison County General Hospital at the age of 76.
The Prisonaires' Sun recordings can be heard on their playlist from 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <
Sun recordings can be heard on the playlists from 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <