Early Willy Nelson
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Artist:
My name is Benzart,
When I was a kid of 16, young years old I was singing in Montgomery Alabama , at "Anna's Beer abd Wine Joint" The place was as seedy as it sounded but the band loved me and on the monthly visits fro the ABC guys they made sure I was well hidden. I did not drink so had no issue there.
Well as I said, the band and Others liked me and they liked a willie neslon song I was singing at the time: Hello Walls. Now even though it was a Faron young song we all knew it was really Willie Nelson and that Willie had let Faron do it only after hours of practice getting it right finally to Willies liking.
These friends decided to visit the Nashville DJ Convention in where else but Nashville Tenneessee and to introduce me to Willie Nelson IF we could find him. while there the local stations were playing many Nelson songs, his popularity raging with Crazy and Hello Walls high on the charts. Sees though that the Only stuff he could get recorded were his demo songs of which he had quite a few. Just Willie, his guitar and a studio musician or 3 and it seeed the local DJ's who loved him gave him great fan fare and buildups. One song which was hot then was "You Took My Worry Away", not one of his best But MY Favorite of the time.
Wwell I Just found this recording and am the happiest guy anywhere and it brought back Floods of memories some of which were kindled here tonight while looking for info on one of my Favorite of all time songs, Nelson's "The Last Letter". This song has Haunted me for so Long It'll probably played at my last gathering.
My time spent singing Willllie's songs were always special to me though not so much to the bartenders as they sold less beer during crying songs and I usually made lots of people cry. They'd always holler "Pick up the Tempo, Ben Dammit! "Ben Dammit Jamin was their nicknamme for my full name Benjammin
The Post here by Spike Really Moved me and I Loved what he said and especially about the history of the song which I was Unaware I would eventually get the coveres by ALL the artists who have covered this song. I Know a few and have them but not many. George ones, Waylon Jennings, Ray Price are a few though Willy has Always been at the to-p as far asleaving you the saddest of all. G Jones would Not sing the last verse for soe fearful reason and it totally ruined the song.
Well for my first night here i hope I have not bored anyone to death. I will be posting more about Willie and others in the future,,, Stay tuned
Locating MOG account...
Comments (13)
You're off to a good start, Benzart! "You Took My Happy Away" sounds great. Listening to Willie Nelson songs (as I do) is fine in its way, but actually singing them from the stage in various bars or clubs (as you do) is a whole other level. It's always a thrill to find out that a recording on a "post":http://mog.com/Spike/blog_post/198888 of mine had haunted a fellow Mogger.
">post<":http://mog.com/Spike/blog_post/198888
Thanks Spike, It isn't very easy for me to get into sites like this but the gooogle search for Willies Last Letter brought me to you and I could not resist.
Willie is one of Many artists I get crazy over and hopefully I'll be adding more about soe of the later. The Stage singing was in my early years,, Gone but never forgotten and singing willies stuff was so intense as you could really see the people get iinto it.
Thanks a Bunch,
Benzart
If you go to the top right of any MOG page to where it says "Find your favorite music," and type in some artist you like, it will take you to whatever MOG posts are devoted to that artist.
Ah yes I SEE, Very nice yhlittle gadget. This MOG is getting better all the time. Thanks AGAIN Even.
You're literally welcome. I look forward to blogging C&W with you. I just noticed you have an amazing George Jones collection. I once saw on the wall of a used record store an old Mercury LP of his, Country Church Time from 1959. Last time I checked, it was impossible to find, even a reissue, unless one looked for it 24/7. Do you have any of those songs on it?
well you aren't joking there about a few J G Albums. I just went through them all and found all but the last song on the list, "My Soul's Been Satisfied". When I figure out how to upload them I'll get them for you. Meantime I found it on auction at 'Your key Collectables" with a by now price of $100 and this one seems current and up to current date with ending date of 12-21 but NO Year so it could be years old I guess? Item # 1229909845, but it comes up fro the hoe page and a search?
http://yktc.us/cgi-bin/auction/auction.pl?category=records1&item=1229909845
I'll post these 11 songs soon I hope.
Cheers
Nothing like a Wille song.My favorite is Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain.Love it.Enjoyed.Your Mog Bro.~ (;Yrral Mallik;)
Thanks Yrral, appreciate that. I have Many favorite singers but Willie is my Top of the list guy and has had my ear for about almost 50 years. Yoi can hear him sing the same song every couple years and see how his style has changed in small ways. some not for the better like the way he Hurrys some songs any more. Putting That aside, his influence on my music and life really, has beenSweet! I'm sure you will hear more about Willie from me in the future.
HappyHappy
Hey Benzart, welcome to MOG. Great start, and to be honest, a welcome addition to have another someone pushing the country genre. I was brought up in a farming town where country was the only music we could listen to, so even though my music taste has drifted from country over the years, I still like it.
You should post some of your own stuff sometime. Would love to hear it.
Dont' be a stranger.
Thanks Capndad, I Really appreciate the warm welcome I'm getting here from Everyone including you, Thanks. I used to sing in Honky-tonk bars and such and never did any recording so nothing of mine available. I do have a few albums I'd love to share though when I figure it all out.
I Love Country but I Also love most any other type music, Some of Everything but Not a Lot of Anything. I used to Never listen to stuff thet Everybody just HAD to Have and had to push on everryone else. I realize I missed a lot of good tunes that way but that's just my Anti-social kind of nature. I've Mellowed in my old age though and think you'll be seeing more of me around here as time permits.
Thanks.
Not anti social, discerning tastes. I'm with you on that.
Thanks Again :)