His recent posting of a 1977 full page article which appeared in the "Country Music Round Up" newspaper, in which he droned on and on about the demise of his fan club, was a true embarrassment. In it, he claimed that "since my announcement regarding the closure of the club, I have had SEVERAL HUNDRED letters from members BEGGING ME TO CHANGE MY MIND" (emphasis mine).
Then Mr. Bussey, in his article, went on to take a series of cheap shots at Mary Reeves, saying her policy of overdubbing Jim's old tracks (which, incidentally, helped Reeves get airplay and perpetuated his legacy with 34 charted hits after his death, the only artist in the history of recorded music to achieve this), "is frowned upon by most of the older fans who feel they are being taken for a ride." Bussey disparaged Mary for "appealing to a new generation of Reeves fans." He further claimed that "Many fans feel that by pursuing this present policy, Mary is turning her back on them... Mary owes a lot to the loyalty of the fans."
Gee, is it any wonder it took Mary TWO AND A HALF YEARS to finally write Mr. Bussey -- and even then she never acknowledged the demise of Mr. Bussey's fan club? He proudly posted a brief, pro forma letter from her, but it's obvious what she really thought of him and his club.
And as I've said before, the full story behind this has not been publicly told.
A similarly absurd post by Mr. Bussey was a letter from a friend of his, John Merritt of Sunbury Music, who commiserated with him about the closure of the Bussey-run Reeves fan club. Mr. Merritt wrote "I am sure that it has left you very disappointed that Mary saw fit not to write to you after all the work you did for the Fan Club but as you well know she is not the sort of person who is given to writing letters." Say WHAT?
Tell that to the women who worked as Mary's secretaries, who literally typed THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of letters to fans. Mary was a lugubrious correspondent and followed Jim's philosophy that everyone who wrote her deserved a reply. The first letter I ever got from her -- which ran a full page from top to bottom and even went off into the margins -- she typed herself. (I received it back on Sept. 12, 1966 and it was the start of our 33 year friendship. I was at that time only 13).
Incidentally, Mary was also known to send scores of fans handwritten letters and she did this right up to the end.
This same Mr. Merritt also advised Bussey in 1977 that "there is absolutely no unreleased product and the future Reeves material will only be the old recordings with newly added arrangements."
I think over the past 11 years, VoiceMasters and I have rather convincingly proven the fallacy of THAT statement.
So be assured Martin, I do not impute such craziness to all of your fellow Brits, but there's another looney or two running around in Europe who behaves with a similar self-absorption and never does anything constructive to perpetuate Jim Reeves' legacy. They just attack those of us who DO...
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