Dim Lights, Thick Smoke and Hillbilly Music: 1968

by N/A

Overview

What happened in country music in 1968 was this: it got harder and leaner in some places and much softer in others, a schism Bear Family's wonderful 1968 volume in their ongoing Dim Lights, Thick Smoke & Hillbilly Music: Country & Western Music Hit Parade quite ably illustrate. It's not so easy to say that the West Coast preferred lean, electrified twang while Music City liked things a little more polished. The opening Waylon Jennings hit "Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line" -- nicely bookended on this 31-track collection by Jim Alley's barely known version -- shows how the Nashville crew were happy to deliver tough hard rockers, while the California contingent were eager to overload their arrangements with strings, echoed guitars, and effects, all showcased on the brilliant, near-psychedelic "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell. These two singles were perhaps the strongest evidence of how all the rules were changing -- and that includes the incongruous inclusions from two Gram Parsons projects, the International Submarine Band and the Byrds, neither of which came close to the charts and neither of which fit in with the rest of the material here even if they did suggest where country music would eventually go -- but apart from the strangely defiant George Jones, who feels utterly divorced from the zeitgeist, there isn't a song here that doesn't reflect the shifting sensibilities of the '60s in some fashion. Traditionalists like Charlie Louvin and the Osborne Brothers open up their sound to accommodate the changing times; Johnny Cash's spiritual hoe-down "Daddy Sang Bass" carries an electric charge; Loretta Lynn and Jeannie C. Reilly tackle feminism with "Fist City" and "Harper Valley PTA," but so does Tammy Wynette, whose "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" captures the pain of a splintering marriage, while "Stand by Your Man" illustrates its flipside. But the songs that still sound vital belong to Merle Haggard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Tom T. Hall, acts that bridge classic traditions -- whether it's honky tonk music or folk songs -- with a modern sensibility, and "Mama Tried," "Another Place, Another Time," and "Ballad of Forty Dollars" all feel rich, fully realized, and alive, songs that still speak to modern sensibilities decades after their initial release. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	09/24/2013
Label:	Bear Family Records
UPC:	5397102172632
Rank:	110398

Tracks

1. Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line
2. D-I-V-O-R-C-E
3. Folsom Prison Blues
4. Luxury Liner
5. Skip a Rope
6. Mama Tried
7. Beneath Still Waters
8. I Wanna Live
9. Harper Valley P.T.A.
10. Train Leaves Here This Morning
11. The Carroll County Accident
12. Another Place Another Time
13. I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am
14. Fist City
15. Will You Visit Me on Sundays?
16. The Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp
17. Little Green Apples
18. Ballad of Forty Dollars
19. Hickory Wind
20. Rocky Top
21. What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)
22. Wichita Lineman
23. Holding on to Nothin'
24. Daddy Sang Bass
25. I Started Loving You Again
26. How Long Will My Baby Be Gone?
27. When the Grass Grows Over Me
28. I Walk Alone
29. Next in Line
30. Stand by Your Man
31. Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Henson Cargill   Primary Artist,Vocals
Charlie Louvin   Primary Artist,Vocals
Osborne Brothers   Primary Artist
Tom T. Hall   Primary Artist,Vocals
The Byrds   Primary Artist
Glen Campbell   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Conway Twitty   Primary Artist,Vocals
Buck Owens   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
George Jones   Primary Artist,Vocals
Johnny Cash   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Marty Robbins   Primary Artist,Vocals
Tammy Wynette   Primary Artist,Vocals
Roger Miller   Primary Artist,Vocals
Dolly Parton   Primary Artist,Vocals
Gene Clark   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Waylon Jennings   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Johnny Darrell   Primary Artist,Vocals
Jeannie C. Riley   Primary Artist,Vocals
Loretta Lynn   Primary Artist,Vocals
The International Submarine Band   Primary Artist
Jerry Lee Lewis   Primary Artist,Piano,Vocals
Porter Wagoner   Primary Artist,Vocals
Merle Haggard   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Doug Dillard   Primary Artist,Banjo,Fiddle,Guitar,Vocals
Jim Alley   Primary Artist,Vocals
Gram Parsons   Guitar,Vocals,Guitar (Rhythm)
Lewis Augustus Talley   Guitar
Joe E. Lewis   Choir/Chorus
Hugh Gordon Stoker   Choir/Chorus
Harold Morrison   Banjo
Tommy Markham   Drums,Percussion
Joseph T. Babcock   Choir/Chorus
David Briggs   Piano
Bob Moore   Bass
Kenneth Lovelace   Fiddle
Neal Matthews, Jr.   Choir/Chorus
Jerry Ward   Bass
Dale Sledd   Guitar,Vocals
Charles R. "Charlie" McCoy   Harmonica
Harold Ray Bradley   Guitar
Herman Bland "Pete" Wade   Guitar,Guitar (Electric)
Bob Osborne   Vocals,Mandolin
Murrey M. "Buddy" Harman Jr.   Drums
Hurshel Wayne Wiginton   Choir/Chorus
Raymond C. Walker   Choir/Chorus
Larry Estes   Drums
Thomas Rexton Brumley   Guitar (Steel)
Robert D. "Bob" Morris   Bass
Dorothy S. DeLeonibus   Choir/Chorus
Donald C. Warden   Guitar (Steel)
David Jackson   Bass
Jerry "Chip Young" Stembridge   Guitar,Guitar (Rhythm)
June Evelyn Page   Choir/Chorus
Kevin Kelley   Drums
Thomas Grady Martin   Guitar,Guitar (Electric)
Ray Edenton   Guitar (Rhythm),Guitar
Red Simpson   Guitar
Harald Rugg   Guitar (Steel)
Dolores Edgin   Choir/Chorus
Hoyt Hawkins   Choir/Chorus
Harold Bradley   Bass (Electric)
The Statler Brothers   Choir/Chorus
Al DeLory   Conductor
Buck Trent   Electric Banjo
John Nuese   Guitar
Willie Cantu   Drums,Tambourine
Bobby Dyson   Bass (Electric)
Marshall Grant   Bass
Larry Butler   Piano
Jerry Carrigan   Drums
Carl Perkins   Guitar (Electric)
Floyd Cramer   Piano
W.S. Holland   Drums
Anita Carter   Choir/Chorus
George W. McCormick   Guitar
Roger McGuinn   Guitar,Vocal Harmony
Roy Edward Burris   Drums
Don Beck   Mandolin
June Page   Choir/Chorus
J.D. Maness   Guitar (Steel)
Fred Carter, Jr.   Guitar (Electric)
Don Rich   Gut String Guitar
Weldon Myrick   Guitar (Steel)
Wayne Moss   Guitar (Electric)
Jan Howard   Vocals
John Hartford   Fiddle
Mack Magaha   Fiddle
Joe Zinkan   Bass
Leon Chase Copeland   Bass
Jon Corneal   Drums,Vocal Harmony
Lloyd Green   Guitar (Steel)
George French, Jr.   Piano
Ronnie Blackwell   Bass (Electric)
Harold R. "Ray Stevens" Ragsdale   Organ
J.R. Jelly Sanders   Guitar
Doyle Floyd Hendricks   Bass
Norman D. Hamlett   Guitar (Steel)
Jerry Glenn Kennedy   Dobro,Guitar
Bob Buchanan   Guitar (Rhythm),Vocal Harmony
Luther Perkins   Guitar (Electric)
Jerry Shook   Guitar
Kenny Buttrey   Drums
Bonnie Owens   Vocal Harmony
The Jordanaires   Choir/Chorus
Billy Mize   Vocal Harmony
John Hughey   Guitar (Steel)
Chris Hillman   Bass,Vocal Harmony
Ivy J. "Jimmy" Bryant   Guitar
James Burton   Guitar (Electric)
Jimmy Bryant   Guitar
Pete Drake   Guitar (Steel)
Jerry Kennedy   Guitar
Roy Huskey Jr.   Bass
Roy Nichols   Guitar (Electric)
Norbert Putnam   Bass
The Anita Kerr Singers   Choir/Chorus
Sonny Osborne   Banjo,Vocals
Bernie Leadon   Guitar,Vocals
The Carter Family   Choir/Chorus
Grady Martin   Dobro
Hargus "Pig" Robbins   Piano

Technical Credits

Gram Parsons   Composer
Bobby Braddock   Composer
Juergen Crasser   Mastering
Chester B. Atkins   Producer
Otto Kitsinger   Discography
Russ Wapensky   Discography
Andreas Merck   Photo Scanning
R.A. Andreas   Photography,Illustrations
Les Leverett   Photography,Illustrations
Harry Silverstein   A&R
Jerry Chestnut   Composer
Donald C. Warden   Leader
Brenda Collins   Photography,Illustrations
Jerry Glenn Kennedy   Leader
Jack Moran   Composer
Thomas Grady Martin   Leader
Ray Edenton   Leader
Owen Bradley   Producer
Tom T. Hall   Composer
Charles "Fuzzy" Owen   Producer
George Richey   Producer
Al DeLory   Orchestration
Glenn Sutton   Composer
Bob Ferguson   Composer,Producer
Colin Escott   Liner Notes,Photography,Illustrations,Reissue Producer
Curly Putman   Composer
Carl Perkins   Composer
Felice Bryant   Composer
Buck Owens   Leader,Composer
Dallas Frazier   Composer
Richard Weize   Discography
Tammy Wynette   Composer
Eddie Kilroy   Producer
Curtis Wayne   Composer
Don Chapel   Composer
Cliffie Stone   Producer
Don Law   Producer
Gary Usher   Producer
Gene Clark   Composer
Waylon Jennings   Leader
Wayne Kemp   Composer
Wayne Moss   Leader
John D. Loudermilk   Composer
Loretta Lynn   Composer
Christian Zwarg   Transfers
Harold W. "Pappy" Daily   Producer
Glenn Tubb   Composer
Ken Nelson   Producer
Bobby Russell   Composer
Billy Sherrill   Composer,Producer
Bonnie Owens   Composer
Boudleaux Bryant   Composer
Jimmy Webb   Composer
Jimmy Bryant   Composer
Jerry Chesnut   Composer
Jerry Lee Lewis   Leader
Jerry Kennedy   Producer
Merle Haggard   Leader,Composer
Shelby Singleton   Contractor
Bernie Leadon   Composer
Bob Johnston   Producer
Johnny Cash   Composer