|
Down In The Boondocks (song)
"Down in the Boondocks" is a song written by Joe South, and first recorded by American artist Billy Joe Royal as his debut single. It was a hit in 1965, reaching No. 9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. In the UK, it hit No. 38 on the ''Record Retailer'' chart. In Canada, it reached No. 1 on the ''RPM'' chart, on August 9, 1965. The song is the title track of Royal's second album, '' Down in the Boondocks''. Content The song is sung from the perspective of a self-proclaimed "boy from down in the boondocks." He sings of a girl who lives nearby, for whom he feels love and steals away with occasionally. The people who live or are born in the boondocks are suggested to be a lower class than those in the city. The girl's father is the singer's boss, which, along with the social division, prevents him from proclaiming his love and connecting with her, despite their shared feelings (which is the basis for the line "but I don't dare knock on her door/for her daddy is my boss man"). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Joe Royal
Billy Joe Royal (April 3, 1942 – October 6, 2015) was an American country soul singer. His most successful record was " Down in the Boondocks" in 1965. Life and career Born in Valdosta, Georgia, to Clarence and Mary Sue Smith Royal, and raised in Marietta, Georgia, Royal performed at the Georgia Jubilee in Atlanta during his teens. He formed his own rock and roll band, and became a local star at the Bamboo Ranch in Savannah in the late 1950s and early 1960s, where his singing style was influenced by African-American performers, including Sam Cooke. Royal was a friend of performer and songwriter Joe South, and recorded what was intended as a demo of South's song " Down in the Boondocks". The recording was heard at Columbia Records, who offered Royal a singing contract in 1965 and released his version of the song, produced by South. "Down in the Boondocks" remained his best-known song, reaching number 9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and number 38 in the UK. He followed up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Lowery (record Producer)
Bill Lowery (October 21, 1924 – June 8, 2004) was an American music entrepreneur. Early successes Lowery was born in Leesville, Louisiana. He studied radio dramatics at Taft Junior College and went on to a number of radio-announcing jobs. At age 21 he was hired to direct the construction and programming of WBEJ, a radio station in Elizabethton, Tennessee. In the early 1950s, Lowery was the top country music disc jockey in America and also was a pioneer TV host on Atlanta television. A 1951 diagnosis of cancer (which he ultimately survived) left Lowery wondering how to provide for his family, and he decided to go into the music publishing business. Although the music industry told Lowery that no music company could be based anywhere but New York, Chicago, Nashville, or Los Angeles, he believed that Atlanta could be a true music city. Together with an associate, Dennis "Boots" Woodall, Lowery formed Lowery Music Company and was involved in independent record production and prom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world's most populous megacities. Los Angeles is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With a population of roughly 3.9 million residents within the city limits , Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic and cultural diversity, being the home of the Hollywood film industry, and its sprawling metropolitan area. The city of Los Angeles lies in a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the west and extending through the Santa Monica Mountains and north into the San Fernando Valley, with the city bordering the San Gabriel Valley to it's east. It covers about , and is the county seat of Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the United States with an estim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wade Flemons
Wade Herbert Flemons (September 25, 1940 – October 13, 1993) was an American soul singer. He was born in Coffeyville, Kansas to Samuel and Kathyrine Flemons. His father was a minister, who introduced him to gospel music. After his parents' marriage ended in divorce, Wade moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, where his mother was living, in 1955. A graduate of Battle Creek Central High School, Flemons began recording solo work in 1958. He was only 17 when he had his first charting pop song, "Here I Stand," which he wrote and recorded with his band, the New Comers. He was signed to Chicago-based Vee-Jay Records; "Here I Stand" was a regional hit, and peaked at #80 on the Hot 100. It earned him an appearance on American Bandstand in 1958, as well as an appearance on the Alan Freed Show. Subsequent releases did not become hits, however, and Flemons began doing session work at Chicago recording studios, and also writing commercial jingles; one of his writing partners was Maurice White, l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vee Jay Records
Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in Chicago and specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. The label was founded in Gary, Indiana in 1953 by Vivian Carter and James C. Bracken, a husband-and-wife team who used their initials for the label's name.Thompson, Dave (2002). ''A Music Lover's Guide to Record Collecting'', pp. 286-89. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. . Vivian's brother, Calvin Carter, was the label's A&R man. Ewart Abner, formerly of Chance Records, joined the label in 1955, first as manager, then as vice president, and ultimately as president. One of the earliest African American-owned record companies, Vee-Jay quickly became a major R&B label, with the first song recorded, the Spaniels' "Baby It's You," making it to the top ten on the national R&B charts. Notable artists Major acts on the label in the 1950s included blues singers Jimmy Reed, Memphis Slim, and John Lee Hooker, and rhythm and blues vocal gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Los Angeles area as part of a five-member group called the Paramours, and adopted the name The Righteous Brothers when they became a duo. Their most active recording period was in the 1960s and '70s, and, after several years inactive as a duo, Hatfield and Medley reunited in 1981 and continued to perform until Hatfield's death in 2003. The music they performed is sometimes dubbed " blue-eyed soul". Hatfield and Medley had contrasting vocal ranges, which helped them create a distinctive sound as a duet, also both had a strong vocal talent individually that allowed them to perform as soloists. Medley sang the low parts with his bass-baritone voice, with Hatfield taking the higher-register vocals with his tenor. His voice reached the register of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Hughes (singer)
Jimmy J. Hughes (born February 3, 1938) Other sources give an apparently incorrect birth year of 1935, and Allmusic states incorrectly that he died in 1997. is an American former rhythm and blues singer, whose biggest successes in the mid-1960s, notably his hit "Steal Away", were important in the early development of the Muscle Shoals music industry. Life and career Hughes, a cousin of Percy Sledge, was born and raised in Leighton, Alabama, close to Muscle Shoals. He began singing in a gospel quartet, The Singing Clouds, while at high school. In 1962, he auditioned for record producer Rick Hall at his FAME Studios. Hall was impressed, and recorded Hughes on a song, "I'm Qualified", that Hall had co-written with Quin Ivy. The record was leased to the Guyden label in Philadelphia, but was not a hit. Hughes returned to his day job at a rubber factory, and began singing secular R&B songs in local clubs. Early in 1964, he returned to Hall with a powerful ballad he had written ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steal Away (Jimmy Hughes Song)
"Steal Away" is a 1964 R&B hit and Top 40 crossover song written and recorded by Jimmy Hughes. It was the first single recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Original version Jimmy Hughes of Leighton, Alabama had since the age of eight been a church chorister: by 1962, when the twenty-four year old Hughes was working at the rubber plant in Muscle Shoals, he was regularly performing with a gospel group at Colbert County venues and also on Tuscumbia radio station WZZA. The success of local singer Arthur Alexander, whose single " You Better Move On" was a Top 30 hit in the spring of 1962, encouraged Hughes to audition for Alexander's producer Rick Hall at the latter's fledgling Wilson Dam Highway recording studio. After Hall had Hughes record two singles which failed to pass the threshold of local success, he suggested that the singer himself write a song Hall might produce for him: Hughes resultantly reworked the hymn "Steal Away" into a secular cheating song, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dells
The Dells were an American R&B vocal group. Formed in high school in 1953 by founding members Marvin Junior, Verne Allison, Johnny Funches, Chuck Barksdale, and Michael and Lucius McGill, under the name the El-Rays. They released their first recording in 1954 and two years later had their first R&B hit with " Oh What a Night". After disbanding due to a near-fatal car crash in 1958, the band reformed in 1960 with Funches being replaced by Johnny Carter. This lineup remained together until Carter's death in 2009. In 2004, The Dells were inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. The group performed until illness forced longtime lead singer Marvin Junior and bass vocalist Chuck Barksdale into retirement, ending the group's 60-year run. History Early career The Dells grew up in Harvey, Illinois, and began singing together while attending Thornton Township High School. Forming in 1952 under the name the El-Rays, the group initially consisted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A-side And B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company intends to be the initial focus of promotional efforts and radio airplay and hopefully become a hit record. The B-side (or "flip-side") is a secondary recording that typically receives less attention, although some B-sides have been as successful as, or more so than, their A-sides. Use of this language has largely declined in the 21st century as the music industry has transitioned away from analog recordings towards digital formats without physical sides, such as CDs, downloads and streaming. Nevertheless, some artists and labels continue to employ the terms ''A-side'' and ''B-side'' metaphorically to describe the type of content a particular release features, with ''B-side'' sometimes representing a "bonus" track or other material. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torch Song
A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affected the relationship.Allan Forte, M. R.: ''Listening to Classic American Popular Songs,'' p. 203. Yale University Press, 2001. The term comes from the saying, "Torch#Love, to carry a torch for someone", or to keep aflame the light of an unrequited love. It was first used by the cabaret singer Tommy Lyman in his praise of "My Melancholy Baby". The term is also explicitly cited in the song "Jim (song), Jim", popularized by versions by Dinah Shore, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald: Torch-singing is more of a niche than a genre and can stray from the traditional jazz-influenced style of singing; the American tradition of the torch song typically relies upon the melodic structure of the blues. An example of a collection is B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freddy Weller
Wilton Frederick "Freddy" Weller (born September 9, 1947) is an American country music artist. He recorded for Columbia Records between 1969 and 1980. He had his highest charted single in 1969 with his debut release, "Games People Play". Musical career He was born in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Weller played in a high school group, The Believers, which also contained Joe South. One of his first recording sessions was playing guitar on Billy Joe Royal's 1965 track, " Down in the Boondocks", which was written by South. His recording career continued in 1967, as lead guitarist in the band Paul Revere & The Raiders. He penned their 1969 hit "We Gotta All Get Together". Weller recorded on many rock and roll and country songs, such as Joe South's " 'Games People Play", Chuck Berry's " The Promised Land" and "Too Much Monkey Business", "She Loves Me Right Out Of My Mind", " Indian Lake", and many others. Weller also played guitar backing for both South and Royal. Weller's big ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
