I saw a youtube video posted of June Carter (in rememberance of her passing 11 years ago) She's singing "Raining This Morning" using Jim's band and near the end of the clip at about 3:36 Jim comes in view on the right side of the screen and he's looking around, up in the air, then it appears he lets out a sigh while watching June, he looks bored or perhaphs not impressed with her performance.
Posted by Larry Jordan on May 15, 2014, 11:27 pm, in reply to "June Carter clip "
That's Jim's band, the Wagonmasters, accompanying June: Kenny Hill on upright bass, Jimmy Day on steel, Tommy Hill playing electric guitar and "Big Red" Hayes on fiddle. Jim probably didn't realize he was on camera and was taking a deep breath in preparation for performing next. Notice he did clap enthusiastically for June though.
It's really quite amazing they were able to film those shows in Owen Bradley's Quonset Hut because it is NOT a very big room. Now that Mike Curb owns it (along with the Newberry Reeves collection, which he has sat on and not shared with the fans), he has gutted the Quonset Hut, not preserved it. At least RCA Studio B (which he also owns), looks relatively like what it did in Jim's day, though some of the equipment is missing. Why Curb transformed the Quonset Hut into merely another Nashville studio is beyond comprehension. If he had restored it to the way it looked in the days when Patsy Cline, Jim and others were recording there (Reeves did a lot of military transcription shows besides these color films there), that would be different.
Re: June Carter clip
Posted by Gary Bryson on May 16, 2014, 10:03 am, in reply to "Re: June Carter clip "
I wish that the people who really care about preserving history were the ones who could own the things that are historical. If that were the case, the Quonset Hut, and the Jim Reeves items would be handled differently than what is happening now. Sadly, it often happens that the people who get to own or control historical items, including estates, are more interested in how those things can benefit them than they are in preserving history.
Re: June Carter clip
Posted by Larry Jordan on May 16, 2014, 1:05 pm, in reply to "Re: June Carter clip "
I couldn't agree with you more. It is all about ego and bragging rights.
Also, I have always been puzzled by the fact that people who are so eager to seek out recorded material on an artist then proceed to mishandled it so badly, such as old transcription disks that are played to the point of ruination. Many of Jim's best performances are unsalvageable due to the damage they have sustained by idiots who have mishandled the disks and/or made bad dubs using inferior equipment such as tape machines that were not running at the correct speed, etc.
I recall reading in one of Bill Anderson's books a story about a package tour that Jim was on and all the artist thought they were going to get to use Jim's band and Jim said "No, they are my band and I pay them and they are only backing me" and people got upset with Jim. This story was also told on "The Jim Reeves Story" cassette series I bought at the Jim Reeves Museum back in the early 90's. Anyway, this clip shows that Jim did allow other artist to use his band on occasions and I have seen a Pet Milk Grand Ole Opry clip from the 60's where the Blue Boys are backing up Billy Grammer on "Gotta Travel On", and the Norway show where they backed Chet Atkins, Bobby Bare and the Anita Kerr singers.
Re: June Carter clip
Posted by Larry Jordan on May 16, 2014, 4:36 pm, in reply to "Re: June Carter clip "
Jim even had it in his contract at times that he would not permit his band to back other artists. But he helped out Patsy Cline any number of times, and LeRoy Van Dyke (who never made it into my book but is one of the nicest guys in country music), told me how Reeves did the same for him.
Jim was usually the headliner, so would close a package show. He didn't want his musicians worn out backing other acts ahead of him. He wanted the band to be fresh so they could be at their best when they accompanied him. It only makes sense.
BTW, Jim's band was one of the only -- if not THE only -- band in Nashville who was kept on salary. Other musicians were paid by artists on a per-show basis. This was both good and bad from their standpoint. Reeves also felt that since he was paying them even when they were not on the road, they should be available to rehearse with him, etc. whenever he chose. This played havoc with their private social lives, as Leo Jackson observed. Jim was a stern taskmaster when it came to his music, but on the other hand when you listen to his live shows, they DID have a lot of fun too. He did not permit his boys to smoke on stage (something other bands WERE allowed to do), and he always outfitted them in very nice attire that complemented whatever he was wearing. He would take them shopping at Nashville clothiers after hours (as I recount in my book, "Jim Reeves: His Untold Story") and they'd pick out outfits. Some he had custom-made.
Jim thought a lot of his band members and they of him. Even James Kirkland, who had some conflicts with Jim, and quit the band, is quoted in my book telling Reeves the last time he saw him that Jim was the sorriest s.o.b. he'd ever worked for, but as Jim's face turned red in anger, Kirkland added, "but you're also the best singer that ever walked out on anybody's stage." Whereupon Jim broke into a broad grin and laughed, "Coming from you Fargo (James' nickname as one of the Lump Lump Boys), that's a compliment..."