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Posted by Larry Jordan
on January 27, 2008, 12:52 am, in reply to "Slim Whitman is ALIVE and Well"
69.66.111.56
Julie, I think your setting the record straight about the fact that Slim Whitman did NOT die, contrary to what Arie den Dulk first reported, has been so embarrassing to Arie that he now has posted a comment allegedly written by Leo Jackson trying to make me look like I'm wrong about something. You know, tit for tat.
Leo now says he made a "snap judgment" in telling me it was Jackie Moffett who played the drums on "Shepherd of Love," the title track of the new Jim Reeves CD.
Jackie Moffett was a drummer in the Wagonmasters (which preceded the Blue Boys). But Leo now claims that Moffett only played with Reeves until Jim went on what Leo describes as a "USO tour" in 1957. (Actually, this is an error too. The European tour in '57 was arranged jointly by RCA’s Steve Sholes and Reeves manager Herb Shucher. It was designed to coincide with RCA’s new “One World For Hits” campaign, which called for the simultaneous release of selected records in more than 20 foreign countries. It was not sponsored by the USO).
Joyce Jackson remembers that Jackie was gone when she went to work for Jim in January 1958. However, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the demo in question was recorded before Moffett left, because the song was written by Nellie Smith and Leona Butram, and their friendship with Reeves developed during this period. It is also true that demos were not necessarily copyrighted right after they were recorded, especially if a tape was merely intended for inner office use and not planned for pressing onto an acetate and distribution through one of Jim's publishing companies.
Leo now says he thinks the drummer on that track was Mel Rogers and that the piano player "could be" Dean Manuel. But the demo that VoiceMasters overdubbed was definitely recorded in the 1950s, which was BEFORE Mel or Dean joined Jim's band.
Furthermore, a professional drummer who worked on the VoiceMasters overdubs, and is very familiar with Jim's demos, says the drummer on "Shepherd of Love" was much more aggressive than Mel's style of playing.
A final note on Leo's post: he comments that if Mary were alive, she'd endorse Arie's site as the one to "unselfishly promote Jim Reeves." Of course Leo is entitled to his opinion on this matter. But I would remind him that Mary steadfastly refused to authorize Arie's fan club efforts, unlike David Bussey, whom she personally liked and whose fan work she enthusiastically endorsed.
Arie even wrote a nasty letter to the editor of a country music magazine, holding Mary up to public ridicule and complaining she was not doing right by the fans or cooperating with him! He then bragged he didn't need her anyway. Under the circumstances, it's hard to believe Mary would endorse Arie now. Especially in light of all the negativity and divisiveness he has promoted on the Reeves fan scene for years. (It became a lot harder for Den Dulk to persist in this once his friend Leo got online and could see all this for himself).
Those closest to Mary say that the best way to get her blood pressure up was to mention Arie's name.
Leo Jackson knows this, but perhaps he has conveniently forgotten. He is a very kind man, who is fiercely loyal to his friends, even when they don't deserve it.
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