Tender Years Hilltop Records JS-6026

Bobby Bare is a young man from Ohio who has played a major role in the continuing evolution of country music as a dominant force in American pop music. He is also one of these fellows who've done much to spread the gospel of the country art throughout the world. In the true nomadic image of the country troubadour, he spends more than two-thirds of every year touring across the far reaches of America, and has in the past two years, carried his poignant country singing style to Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Scandinavia and Germany.   He is a true good-will ambassador who loves entertaining his fans whether> he's overseas, in America or in a recording studio. With recordings, he recently explained, "I don't go out of my way to get a country-pop sound, it just often seems to come out that way. I try to keep from being too hard hillbilly, by keeping the records clean. I try hard to pronounce all the words clearly."   Like many of his country contemporaries, Bobby has also tried his hand at songwriting and with some considerable success. "I write a good many songs myself but I don't limit myself to my own tunes when I'm recording. You can pass up too many hits that way. Nobody can hit every time out. And besides, if I can't do my own tune, maybe somebody else will. I've had hits of my songs by Gary Buck, Jan Howard and Wanda Jackson."   Bobby has continually grown in stature. He's a lot more, for instance, than just a recording artist who goes out on the one-nighter trail. He is a solid showman, who has found his way into the Las Vegas night club circuit, motion pictures and he has recently even become a linguist, by recording his hits in both German and Japanese.   "I thought it was important, since fans in those countries have been so interested in my music, to do albums in their own language, which I did with phonetics I learned from a German teacher and some Japanese recordings. But when I'm appearing in person in those countries I have to do most of it in English and they seem to understand the music and the lyrics anyway. And it's happened just that way in a lot of other countries we've visited."   Bobby works with his band and a girl singer in most of his concert appearances but when it comes to Las Vegas he gets an even stronger identification with the pop feeling, by adding horns, which, he says, "are good for a night club because they're loud and make good endings."   If a country singer gets tired of his endless road trips, there's at least one answer to the problem. He can make a movie. "I was in a picture called 'The Distant Trumpet' with Troy Donahue and Susan Pleshette. I didn't sing; just kind of acted in character. But what I liked best was that I got a great rest. Six whole weeks in one place in Arizona; the longest time I've been in one place since I got going in this business."   When that long a rest will come along again is problematical. Bobby, now at the peak of his career, is in demand everywhere and with the sound of sweet success ringing in his ears, he feels a great drive to continue going out to play for his fans wherever they are. Fortunately, Bobby takes enough time off, now and then, to keep the recording pipeline full. Here's a generous sampling of Bobby Bare at his best. You're going to want to sit in on this concert again and again! by Ren Grevatt, 1956