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Wildwood Flower

Posted by Doris Gath <iframe src='https://members3.boardhost.com/jimreeves/info/user=Doris+Gath' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 3, 2015, 9:13 am

The first time we saw Jim play Wildwood Flower onstage, I could not believe it. After the show I confronted Jim that I didn't know he could play guitar like that and he said "I wanted to surprise you"! He said he had practiced and practiced until he was good enough to do it on stage. It was awesome.
Always for Jim, Doris

Re: Wildwood Flower

Posted by Manendra Pedris <iframe src='https://members3.boardhost.com/jimreeves/info/user=Manendra+Pedris' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 3, 2015, 9:48 am, in reply to "Wildwood Flower"

Doris,
Thanks for sharing that experience. Must have been awesome.

Do you happen to know or remember the type of guitar Jim played Wildwood Flower on?

I never tire of watching Mother Maybelle playing Wildwood Flower. How amazing it must have been to watch Jim do the same.

Re: Wildwood Flower

Posted by Larry Jordan <iframe src='https://members3.boardhost.com/jimreeves/info/user=Larry+Jordan' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 3, 2015, 12:26 pm, in reply to "Re: Wildwood Flower"

Jim's favorite guitar (that he acquired in early 1964, after sending Leo Jackson to a New York City guitar store to pick one out for him, while they were in town to do the Jimmy Dean network TV show), was a Martin D-28. He also carried a "baby Martin" on the bus with him so he could rehearse with that.

When Jim did the Mountainside Park concert (and also Nashville Symphony that I released), he was using his Rickenbacker. As I tell in my book, that company had approached him and offered to make guitars for his band members for free as a promotional gesture. Jim took them up on their offer.

Leo, the lead guitarist, got a blue 360F, bass player James Kirkland was given a blue 4000 bass, and Jim got the acoustic, which was listed in the factory archives as a "Blue Boy Martin"! All the guitars initially had gold-backed Lucite pickguards.

When Jim made the movie "Kimberley Jim" in 1963, the color of the pickguard on his guitar was changed to blue, and his blue initials "JR" were removed from it.

About Mother Maybelle

Notice Mother Maybelle is using a capo -- something Jim Reeves never did.

I wonder if he ever SANG that song while he was playing it? I would guess not.

The Carter family admired Jim as he did them. Anita Carter sang duets with Reeves on the Grand Ole Opry (there is a photo in my book), and of course I released Jim and June doing a duet (the first commercial release) on the new CD "JIM REEVES & FRIENDS LIVE FROM NASHVILLE" (see link below).

Mother Maybelle was so distraught over Jim's untimely passing that she fainted at his funeral in Nashville.

Link: NEW JIM NASHVILLE CD

Re: About Mother Maybelle

Larry,

I never knew Mother Maybelle was so close to Jim. That's good to know. Thanks for the insight.

As for the capo, I'm guessing that Mother Maybelle may have found the open C-major key to be too high for her. Hence her use of the capo to change key to F-sharp-major.

Jim and Anita Carter duets

Posted by Larry Jordan on February 3, 2015, 1:16 pm, in reply to "Re: About Mother Maybelle"

I wanted to also say a word about Anita Carter, who had one of the best voices in country music. She and Jim did duets on the Opry, as I mentioned, and one of them was "When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again."

Maybe someday a recording of them singing this on the Opry will turn up, but in the meantime you can hear Hank Snow sing it with her, on a recording that was made in 1962. Hank does a pretty good job of it himself, and you know it was Jim's Hollywood publicist/ladyfriend Bea Terry, who helped Snow and his family re-locate to the U.S. from Canada. Bea even boarded his horse for awhile.

It's unfortunate that Jim never recorded this song with Anita. Can you imagine Jim's beautiful, smooth baritone substituted for Hank Snow's, and how that would have sounded with Anita? Incredible is the word that comes to mind.

Link: Anita Carter singing with Hank Snow

Re: Jim and Anita Carter duets

You're absolutely right, Larry. Jim and Anita should definitely have recorded this duet. Incredible would indeed be the word to describe such a recording. It's such a pity he never did. I, too, sincerely hope their Opry performance turns up for us to hear and enjoy.

In addition to Anita having "one of the best voices in country music," she was one of the prettiest ladies in country music, if not THE prettiest.

Thanks for sharing the Hank/Anita clip.

Re: Wildwood Flower

Posted by Doris Gath <iframe src='https://members3.boardhost.com/jimreeves/info/user=Doris+Gath' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 3, 2015, 2:41 pm, in reply to "Re: Wildwood Flower"

I am sure Jim played Wildwood Flower on his Martin. I don't ever remember seeing him use anything but it. It was amazing how quick he could clip and unclip his guitar from that "strap" and put the end of it in his pocket. It was almost unnoticeable. Elmer had to tell me to look for it before it saw it. Guess I was too mesmerized by Jim's face I didn't pay attention to his guitar!!
Always for Jim, Doris

Re: Wildwood Flower

Thanks, Doris!

It's perfectly understandable that the last thing you'd notice in the presence of such greatness is a guitar! :-)

Re: Jim and Anita Carter duets

Posted by Gary Bryson <iframe src='https://members3.boardhost.com/jimreeves/info/user=Gary+Bryson' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 4, 2015, 8:12 am, in reply to "Re: Jim and Anita Carter duets"

Thanks Larry for putting that up. I enjoyed it. By the way, I have long admired Hank Snow's guitar playing. He was pretty good. I have a CD of him playing guitar, and one he did with Willie Nelson on which both of them are playing their guitars and singing. I like to hear and see Willie play guitar too.

Re: Jim and Anita Carter duets

Gary,

I think Willie's guitar playing is phenomenal, even at 80+ years of age! :-)

Re: Jim and Anita Carter duets

Posted by Gary Bryson <iframe src='https://members3.boardhost.com/jimreeves/info/user=Gary+Bryson' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 4, 2015, 8:27 am, in reply to "Re: Jim and Anita Carter duets"

I agree. Interesting story about how he acquired "Trigger", his guitar too. Have you ever read about it?

Re: Jim and Anita Carter duets

No, Gary, I have not. Might you have a link where I could go to read this story?

Re: Jim and Anita Carter duets

Posted by Gary Bryson <iframe src='https://members3.boardhost.com/jimreeves/info/user=Gary+Bryson' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 5, 2015, 6:54 am, in reply to "Re: Jim and Anita Carter duets"

I don't. I don't recall where I read about it. You might try to find it on the internet.

As I recall, Willie's guitar got damaged somehow and he sent it to a repairman in Nashville. I think it was a steel-stringed guitar. The man called Willie and told him he did not think he could repair the guitar and Willie asked if he had any guitars he might sell. He said he had a classical Martin that he could sell so they made a deal. The repairman took the pick-up out of Willie's damaged guitar and put it in the Martin and sent it to Willie. So Willie bought it without seeing it or playing it. Another interesting item is that Willie uses a pick which you are not supposed to do with nylon strings. The guitar has no pick guard, and over time, Willie wore the hole in the top. I thought the story was interesting, but everyone might not. I probably got something wrong, so if you are interested, you might want to Google it and read it yourself.

Re: Jim and Anita Carter duets

That's an interesting story, alright. I will certainly look it up.

Willie must have trusted the luthier's judgement to buy a guitar without seeing or hearing it, let alone without playing it!

Thanks for sharing, Gary.

Re: Jim and Anita Carter duets

Posted by Dermot Devitt <iframe src='https://members3.boardhost.com/jimreeves/info/user=Dermot+Devitt' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 13, 2015, 12:44 pm, in reply to "Jim and Anita Carter duets"

Mention of the celestial-voiced Anita Carter reminds me of the time I had the pleasure of hearing her sing with Johnny Cash in the National Concert Hall in Dublin, sometime in the late 80s, if memory is not pulling a fast one.

One of the backing singers that night she did get to sing a solo or two. That was the night a simple truth really hit home: to be a lead singer in latter times you can get away with a passable voice as long as you look great.

But, to get to be a backing singer, you must be a truly good singer.

As it happened Anita Carter both looked and sounded beautiful.

Like you, Larry, I wouldn't be without hope of a duet featuring her and Jim R turning up yet. I heard as recently as today (from a big Buddy Holly head, after I told him about your BH piece) that a hitherto forgotten radio interview between Buddy and a plummy-voiced BBC broadcaster was recently discovered.

57 years after it had been recorded in '57.

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