AN EXCELLENT COPY OF THIS GREAT COUNTRY ROCKER FROM "TENNESSEE" ERNIE FORD ON A UK CAPITOL 78

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL  b/w  PHILADELPHIA LAWYER

Ernest Jennings Ford (February 13, 1919 – October 17, 1991), better known as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the Country and Western, pop, and gospel music genres. Ernie Ford's early successes as a radio personality led to his signing with Capitol Records in 1949.

The booming baritone voice of Tennessee Ernie Ford was best known for his 1955 cover of Merle Travis' grim coal-mining song "Sixteen Tons," watered down by the dulcet strains of a Hollywood studio orchestra but retaining its innate seriousness thanks to the sheer power of Ford's singing. But there was more to Tennessee Ernie Ford than that. Over his long career, Ford sang everything from proto-rock & roll to gospel, recorded over 100 albums, and earned numerous honors and awards, including the Medal of Freedom. A native of Bristol, TN, he began his career a DJ on local radio station WOAI. He sang in high-school choirs, and in the late '30s he left to study voice at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. He held radio jobs in Atlanta and Knoxville between 1939 and 1941 and then joined the U.S. Air Force during World War II. After the war, Ford moved his family to San Bernardino, CA, and took a DJ job on a local radio station. It was there that he first took on the name "Tennessee Ernie."

Ford later moved to Pasadena's KXLA, where Los Angeles producer and media host Cliffie Stone heard his jocular "bless your little pea-pickin' hearts" routine and was impressed by his voice. Stone paved the way increasingly frequent appearances by Ford on Los Angeles radio and television. He was signed to Capitol Records in 1948. Five singles had been released by late 1949, including "Tennessee Border" and "Smokey Mountain Boogie" (both Top Ten) and his first number one single, "Mule Train." On both Western songs and boogie-flavored numbers that in their energy and sexual suggestiveness were really rock & roll in all but name, Ford's recordings featured the fabulous instrumental talents of Travis on guitar and Speedy West on pedal steel. Early in 1951, "Shotgun Boogie" became his second number one, spending 14 weeks at the top of the country charts. By the beginning of 1953, although Ford wasn't having as many hits, he remained popular in America and also in England. He became a television quizmaster in 1954, hosting NBC's Kollege of Musical Knowledge. He also had his own daily show and continued recording.

Ford had two Top Ten country hits in 1955 with "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" and his biggest success, "Sixteen Tons," which spent ten weeks at number one on the country charts and eight weeks at number one on the pop charts.

US Singles

Year

Single

Chart Positions

 

US Country

US

1949

"Tennessee Border"

8

 

 

"Country Junction"

14

 

"Smokey Mountain Boogie"

8

 

"Blues Stay Away from Me" (w/ Merle Travis)

 

 

"Mule Train"

1

9

1950

"The Cry of the Wild Goose"

2

15

"Feed'em in the Morning"

 

 

"Ain't Nobody's Business But My Own" (w/ Kay Starr)

5

22

"I'll Never Be Free" (w/ Kay Starr)

2

3

"What This Country Needs"

 

 

"Cincinnati Dancing Pig" (w/ The Starlighters)

 

 

"Little Juan Pedro"

 

 

1951

"The Shotgun Boogie"

1

14

"Tailor Made Woman" (w/ Joe "Fingers" Carr)

8

 

"Ocean of Tears" (w/ Kay Starr)

 

 

"Mr. and Mississippi"

2

18

"The Strange Little Girl"

9

 

"Kissin' Bug Boogie"

 

 

"Hey Good Lookin'" (w/ Helen O'Connell)

 

 

"Rock City Boogie" (w/ The Dinning Sisters)

 

 

1952

"Hambone"

 

 

"Everybody's Got A Girl But Me"

 

 

"Snowshoe Thompson"

 

 

"Blackberry Boogie"

6

 

"False Hearted Girl" (w/ Ella Mae Morse)

 

 

1953

"I Don't Know"

 

 

"Hey, Mr. Cotton Picker"

8

 

"Don't Start Courtin' in a Hot Rod Ford" (w/ Molly Bee)

 

 

"Kiss Me Big"

 

 

1954

"Honeymoon's Over" (w/ Betty Hutton)

 

 

"River of No Return"

9

 

"Ein Zwei Drei"

 

 

"Somebody Bigger Than You or I"

 

 

1955

"The Ballad of Davy Crockett"

4

5

"His Hands"

13

 

 

"Sixteen Tons"

1

1

 

1956

"You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry"

 

78

"That's All"

12

17

"John Henry"

 

 

 

"Rock and Roll Boogie"

 

 

 

"First Born"

 

46

 

1957

"Watermelon Song"

 

 

"False Hearted Girl"

 

 

 

"In the Middle of an Island"

 

23

 

"Ivy League"

 

23

1958

"Bless Your Pea Pickin' Heart"

 

 

 

"Love Makes the World Go Round"

 

 

"Glad Rags"

 

 

 

 

Disc Details

UK CAPITOL CL 13653 (1952) 10" 78rpm SHELLAC

The Strange Little Girl // 2:59 // Master# 7308 // US  Cap.# 1470 //  Recorded 1951  REACHED No 9 in the US Country charts

Philadelphia Lawyer 2:21 // Master# 3982 //US Cap.# 15430 // Recorded January 21, 1949 !

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