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Posted by Larry Jordan Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN2AD7fn7BM
on July 14, 2009, 3:06 am
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I'm a big fan of Jean Shepard and if any of you have heard her lately on the "Grand Ole Opry," you know she is still an excellent singer, who sounds every bit as good live (and in some cases better) than she has on record.
Jim Reeves liked her because, he said, she always sang on key.
Over the course of doing interviews for my new book on Jim, I have had several people tell me of hearing songs that Reeves sang at dances that he never got around to recording. In fact, unlike shows where Jim shared the stage with other Grand Ole Opry acts, and maybe only did 20 minutes or a half hour, when he was booked to do dances he would take requests from the audience. That's because some of those dances lasted four or five hours and, even though he and the band would take breaks, he still had a lot of time to fill. So he'd do numbers made famous by other artists. Can you imagine how thrilling this would have been to hear?
As the Blue Boys attested, even if he didn't know all the lyrics he would at least try to sing a part of the song, and maybe make up some words to go with the melody.
Several times people have told me of hearing Jim sing a song with which he is not normally associated -- a hit for Jean Shepard called "Two Little Boys." Tonight, for the first time, I found an old video clip of Jean singing this and wanted to bring it to the attention of Jim's fans around the world.
Imagine Jim Reeves singing this with his smooth, rich baritone and hitting those low notes. I'm told when he'd do it, there wouldn't be a dry eye left in the house. Click the link below to see and hear Jean's version....
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