I just wanted to mention a TV program I saw a few weeks ago. It was a Daniel O'Donnell concert out of Derry, Ireland. Broadcast date was Oct.23, 2023, so very recent.
Third song in, Danial mentioned the tribute album he did on Jim Reeves. Said how proud and honored he was to produce this tribute to someone so deserving.
This was an introduction for one of Jim's songs and stated this song was his (Daniel's) favorite one of all. "I Missed Me" a song written by Bill Anderson. Very well done I must say, and so much appreciated.
Really nice to see there are still performers out there, in this modern age, that know what real music was like so many years ago. Well done Daniel ... Thank You !!
Re: Acknowledgement
Posted by Mike Slater on November 10, 2023, 1:59 am, in reply to "Acknowledgement"
I also viewed the Daniel O'Donnell concert on PBS and it was very good. A loving tribute to Jim for sure. Yes, Daniel also did a tribute album dedicated to Jim as well. I recently searched to see how many tribute albums to Jim I could find, and I found several. There are albums by Faron Young, Kitty Wells, Anita Kerr, Ronnie Milsap, Charley Pride and Jim's Blue Boys, There ate also many by artists I'm not familiar with. It's clear to see that Jim was certainly recognized by his peers. The list of tribute albums on Jim is quite long. It still amazes me that Jim is overlooked in so many other ways, the latest being Ken Burns country music documentary...
Re: Acknowledgement
Posted by Martin Rolls on November 10, 2023, 5:30 am, in reply to "Re: Acknowledgement"
I agree Mike, Jim was the greatest balladeer of them all yet today he seems to get little credit for his wonderful contribution to popular music.
Talking of tribute albums, here in the UK our own Yorkshire singer Paul Wheater brought out a tribute album some years ago (still available on the internet) called 'To My Loved Ones'. Intriguingly it features songs Jim didn't record in the studio, but might have done if he had lived.
Contributing composers include Cindy Walker with the lovely 'You don't Know Me', and Winkler/Hathcock's 'Somebody Mentioned Your Name' - I can only imagine the hit Jim would have got with this great song!
Leon Payne and Alex Zenitis compositions are also included to good effect.
Paul Wheater has an excellent deep smooth crooning voice to do them credit. Check it out.
Martin Rolls
Re: Acknowledgement
Posted by Mike Slater on November 10, 2023, 2:07 pm, in reply to "Re: Acknowledgement"
Martin, thanks for the info. There are so many tribute albums on Jim. Some of the artists I'm not familiar with are Bill Quinn, Wayne Busbice, Big Burly,Tom McClure, Burt Weedon, Freddie Casby and a gospel group called NuCreation. Does anyone know anything about any of these artists?...
Re: Acknowledgement
Posted by Roy Zinck on November 12, 2023, 7:20 pm, in reply to "Re: Acknowledgement"
Mike...I don't recognize any of the names you found on your last post. But a good find and at the same time surprised there are actually so many that recorded Tribute albums in Jim's memory. I do seem to recognize the Tim McClure name and I think he is from the U.K. Maybe Martin could fill in some blanks for us.
The only other artist I would like to recognize is Arne Benoni from Norway. He recorded an album "My Tribute To Jim Reeves" in 1988 with 10 songs. Readers will no doubt recognize his name from the contributions he made in the many VoiceMaster releases he was involved with for many of Jim's songs. Not only vocal but instrumental as well I believe.
Re: Acknowledgement
Posted by Martin Rolls on November 21, 2023, 6:20 am, in reply to "Re: Acknowledgement"
In reply to Mike and Roy’s posts several of the names are not familiar to me, but of the rest I can say a little about four as I have their records as curiosities in my collection. In the 60’s and 70’s in England (and I dare say elsewhere) Jim’s name alone sold records –lots of them! And many wanted a piece of the action.
The budget labels weren’t to be outdone, and the Stereo Gold Award label brought out an LP of Jim’s big hits sung by ‘Big Burley’. The cover says nothing about him personally, and I can’t trace him elsewhere so I suspect this was just a name given to a session singer. Interestingly two of the songs weren’t recorded by Jim – ‘Best Friend A Bar Ever Had’ and ‘Greeting Cards’. They aren’t bad either. Big Burley could carry a tune and his voice is pleasant enough though nothing like Jim (who could be?). There is just a hint of an American accent, but is it authentic? The LP was made in England but the cover states it’s ‘A Damil USA Production’.
Bill Quinn brought out two tribute albums, both on the Hallmark label. The sleeve notes state that he is an Irishman, guitarist and accordionist, who started performing at the age of 12. His voice, though not deep, is soft and pleasant.
Tom McClure brought out a record on the Music For Pleasure label and the sleeve says nothing about him personally and I can find nothing. The record itself was manufactured in the USA and is entirely unremarkable. Interestingly one of the tracks, ‘Make The World Go Away’ is shown to be sung by Ray Merrell. Again nothing is said of him.
‘Bert Weedon Remembers Jim Reeves’ is completely different as it is purely instrumental; manufactured in England and on the Contour’ label. Herbert Maurice William Weedon was classically trained and the first British Artist to have a hit single in the UK charts. He was a very pleasant man and his unique (for the time) style influenced many top artists. He also played session guitar for many big bands. He was noted for writing an electric guitar tutorial that was devoured by many worldwide artists, helping them on their way to success.
The most unusual tribute album in my collection is ‘Jim Reeves, We Thank Thee’ performed by the Rhos Male Voice Choir. It is a very famous choir that was first formed as long ago as 1891 near Wrexham in Wales. The sleeve contains liner notes attributed to Mary Reeves, with a photo of her. She refers to the Welsh Male Voice Choir as ‘a tradition and a way of life, as Country Music is in the USA’. The secretary of the choir, in 2022, kindly told me that a man who was just starting a record label had arranged 12 of Jim’s biggest hits and asked them to learn them and record. The choir received permission from Mary to use the songs, and recording was made in a local school hall. The recording was then sent to London where more instruments were added. Released in 1978 on the Decca label it was a commercial success, and they were asked to make a follow-up, but the conductor at the time wanted to do other things.
The recording they produced is utterly charming in its own way, and is as different from Jim’s own style as it could possibly be.
I hope this helps.
Martin.
Re: Acknowledgement
Posted by Mike Slater on November 21, 2023, 12:21 pm, in reply to "Re: Acknowledgement"
Martin, thank you so much for the detailed info on some of these artists, plus the info on the tribute album from that Welsh male choir. Very interesting! There are probably many more tribute albums recorded by artists we may not be familiar with. It really is surrising that Jim never became immediately recognizable like for example Johnny Cash or Patsy Cline. Jim's true recognition for what he has accomplished as a recording artist is long, long overdue...
Re: Acknowledgement
Posted by Larry Jordan on December 28, 2023, 12:53 pm, in reply to "Acknowledgement"
Daniel O'Donnell does a fine job covering Jim's music and he has an excellent tribute CD. I visited Daniel and here's a pic of the two of us. He was familiar with my overdub projects on Jim and volunteered to do a video promo (with Mary Duff) for the 8 CD set I produced on Jim several years ago. This was taped backstage at a live televised show in Ireland. Daniel is just a really nice, sincere person and a genuine Jim Reeves fan. He also is a good showman. I think highly of him.
on November 9, 2023, 5:33 pm