I found a song on YouTube that I'd like to share with y'all. It's from an albun by Brook Benton, who I like very much. An album of country tunes. One of which was the old Ferlin Huskey tune "Gone". I suggest you give that a listen as well as any of the other tunes you can find from that album. The album is entitled "My Country".

Anita was the arranger on that album. And she and her singers sang backup. I was very impressed. But then Anita always did impress me.

After listening to Brook's version of "Gone" I wish Jim had recorded it too. Love Brook's version.

Really nice song Gary!

I can just imagine what Jim would have made of it with his impeccable phrasing and diction.


Martin

Yes Martin. If Jim had a similar arrangement it would have been a great song for him. I don't know if he ever consdered it. I do really like the way Brook did it. Nice arrangement by Anita.

The Anita Kerr Singers had an amazing recording career themselves. They made about 44 albums that range from songs by Burt Bachrach, the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel and show tunes. I have a CD of the album pictured here that's a great selection of Nasville hits, including songs that they did on the spring, 1964 tour and even Jim's "Four Walls". A great CD that is still available on ebay. I recommend it highly!...

And she also did a complete album of Jim's Jim's songs...

I would like to mention a book that came out in 2020, about Anita's career. Title of the book was "ANITA KERR America's First Lady of Music". Well written in my opinion by a British author Barry Pugh, with Forward by Bert Bacharach.

I must qualify one point that I found. Only the first half of the book covered Anita's career while in Nashville. For me that was the most interesting part including the many pictures offered thru these years. When she made the move to Los Angeles in August 1965, her career turned more to baroque and band arrangements. Still a good read for some and maybe most, but just was not my cup of tea.

I will say for the price (I believe $34.00 Can.} the book was worth every penny. Her recollection of working with Jim Reeves in studio B was revealing, sincere and most heart felt...

Thanks for this Mike. Another one to add to my collection!

It's a lovely tribute done in a very refreshing way, and the song Anita wrote, 'I Remember Jim', is very pleasant indeed. She set just the right tone with it. Not overstated and very thoughtful.

I see she was using new singers to accompany her by 1968. They're very good indeed, but I wonder what happened to Dottie, Gil and Louis when she left Tennessee?

Thank you, Martin. Very nice of you to say.I always wondered about the newer members of the quartet myself. Don't know anything about them. I always thought the backing vocals to a song was a really major contribution. They are some of my favorite parts to some songs. The Anita Kerrs always lent a beautiful flavor to Jim's recordings, as well as any other records they were on. The same could be said about the Jordanires who backed Elvis, and even Jim on some recordings. As for Anita, she lived her later years in Switzerland, and I believe that's where she passed away...

I would like to help with the question Martin posed as to what happened to the original back up group after Anita exited Nashville in 1965.

According to the book I have, written by Barry Pugh, they were asked to stay with Anita Kerr for the move, but they all (Dottie, Gil, Louis) declined. Worthy to note, they added Priscilla Hubbard as their fourth member and singing lead. ... who by the way went on to marry Jerry Reed. But that's another story. They all felt that Too much time and connection to Nashville was invested to ever leave. I would have to agree!!

Fortunately in ensuing years the group did very well by staying behind. They continued to be in demand for their lush harmonies, appearing on many popular recordings (too many to mention) including directors for the first season of The Smothers Brothers TV show. They added support vocals to Chet Atkins "Hometown Guitar album". For how many years they stayed active was not mentioned.

There was a write up of Anita's obituary in the book and I must say I was totally disappointed but not surprised. Jim Reeves routinely never gets mentioned in publications and this one was no exception. The write up gave the years (1927-2022) Anita's name then saying she and her group backed up for Patsy Cline and Roy Orbison. Really!! Part way thru, the list was enlarged to including ... Her lending her talent to Hank Snow, Perry Como, Pat Boone, Rosemary Clooney, Bobby Vinton, Willie Nelson, Floyd Cramer and Ann Margaret. That was it. Again disbelief but never surprised. Other than this unforgivable slight, the info and pictures of Anita's seventeen years in Nashville seemed accurate and informative.

You are correct Mike, Anita died in Geneva. According to the book, Anita's career spanned 17 years in Nashville as mentioned, 5 years in Los Angeles, then the final move to Geneva, Switzerland.

I love the Anita Kerr Singers that recorded with Jim. They had a wonderful sound and were the perfect backup group for Jim, and for anyone else.

Love this album. My favorite tune on it is "I Remember Jim".

As a result of this post I researched Brook Benton's "My country" CD on YouTube and ITunes. I agree that the songs are very melodic, relaxing, and performed quite nicely. I was tempted to purchase it especially when "He'll Have to Go" was in the inventory. However even though I like the CD some of the vocalizations remind me of a Frank Sinatra type styling, which I don't like. Good, but not quite good enough.