AMERICAN TREASURES
HANK COCHRAN is a living legend - an American treasure. COCHRAN's hit list includes I
Fall to Pieces, which was a #1 victory for PATSY CLINE, which HANK co-wrote with HARLAND HOWARD, who's another song writing
master. There was EDDY ARNOLD's #1 hit, Make The World Go Away. COCHRAN revealed, The words were weighing
heavily on my mind. HANK grabbed a pen. In only fifteen minutes, wrote the tune which brought EDDY ARNOLD to
the pinnacle of his career. Make The World Go Away has been recorded by 16 other artists, including ELVIS PRESLEY
and LOU RAWLS.
How can we ever forget the tune, The Chair? This melody went straight to #1
for GEORGE STRAIT. Don't You Ever Get Tired (of Hurting Me), became another #1 record for RONNIE MILSAP. BURL IVES
had great success with a pair of COCHRAN classics: Little Bitty Tear and Funny Way Of Laughing.
HANK has had his lyrics put to disk by GEORGE JONES, LINDA RONSTADT, BING CROSBY, LORETTA
LYNN, ELVIS COSTELLO, DEAN MARTIN, REBA MCENTIRE, EMMYLOU HARRIS, NANCY SINATRA and many others. COCHRAN gave away his secret...that's
the way most of the really good ones come to me - zap! I tell people all the time, I don't write songs. God writes 'em, and
I just hold the pen. They think I'm kidding, but it's true.
Another one of HANK COCHRAN's famous tunes is now included in BOB DYLAN's concert appearances.
A-11 features the DYLAN touch. Can anyone imagine BOB DYLAN dancing a fast two-step? A-11 was a big hit
in the mid-sixties for BUCK OWENS on Capitol and JOHNNY PAYCHECK on Little Darlin'. In 1969, JOHNNY CASH brought DYLAN into
his Nashville studio to lay down tracks for the smash Nashville Skyline album. That's when HANK and BOB DYLAN first met. When
made aware of BOB's addition of A-11 into his concert package, COCHRAN commented, I met him many years ago with
Johnny Cash. When I get to feelin' a little more like myself, I may just give him a call and tell him thanks.
For many years, nearly everyone wanted to go into the recording studio and put COCHRAN's
tunes on tape. CMT ranked the Top 100 songs of all time in country music history, three of them were HANK COCHRAN tunes. At
one time, HANK had five of the Top 10 country hits on the charts at the same time.
In a way, COCHRAN has presented to us much more than just his own songs, he gave us WILLIE
NELSON. HANK talked Pamper Music executives, a publishing company where he was a songwriter, to take a chance on NELSON. As
HANK tells the story, One night a bunch of us were in the back of Tootsie's, and we were taking turns playing songs. Every
time it came around to Willie, I'd just sit there and listen to him, totally amazed. I finally said, 'Excuse me, but who wrote
those songs?' WILLIE said, 'I did.' I wanted to know what publishing company he was with, and NELSON. said that nobody would
sign him. I told him to be at Pamper the next day. WILLIE showed up in an old green Buick.
At the time, COCHRAN was pulling in $50 a week and was up for a $50 increase. When HANK
urged his bosses at Pamper Music to sign WILLIE, they told him they couldn't afford it. COCHRAN agreed to give up his raise
so Pamper could stretch those dollars in order to sign NELSON. HANK declares, Willie has thanked me a million times since
then.
Back in 1972, TOM T. HALL told me that his songs come from personal experiences. Like
many successful songwriters, HANK's life has given him plenty of song material. Four divorces came and went before finding
Suzi, his wife of the past 21 years. COCHRAN's parents divorced when he was only a child of 9. HANK moved to Memphis to live
with his father and eventually wound up in an orphanage. COCHRAN ran away a couple of times, and finally was sent to live
with his grandparents in Waynesboro.
At age 12, HANK and his uncle OTIS COCHRAN hitchhiked from Mississippi to New Mexico
where they got jobs in the oil fields. His uncle taught him how to play guitar. HANK returned to Mississippi for a while as
a teen, then moved to California and got a job picking olives. He also formed a duo with a chap named EDDIE. HANK and
EDDIE came to be known as The COCHRAN BROTHERS, but they were not related. When he was 24, COCHRAN moved to Nashville in the
pursuit of becoming a songwriter. The dream panned out just like he had pictured it in his mind. I knew I was left here
for something.
The tiny Delta town of Isola, Mississippi was where COCHRAN was born. HANK was inducted
into the Mississippi Music Hall of Fame at the Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson, Mississippi on August 9, 2003, at the age of 68.
HANK already is a member of the Nashville Songwriters International Hall of Fame and the Country Music Walk of Fame. COCHRAN
maintains his residence in the Volunteer State just about 20 miles northeast of Nashville in Hendersonville. HANK is recovering
from recent triple-bypass surgery.
Quizzed JEANNIE SEELY about her ties with HANK COCHRAN, plus a little background
on her fabulous recording career.
JEANNIE SEELY (Tennessee) jeannie@jeannieseely.com You asked too many questions for me to answer on the computer!!! Send me a phone number and I will call you
or you can call me....please keep number confidential. THanks....and thanks for your interest!
JEANNIE's home town folk in Townsville Pennsylvania couldn't quite put all of SEELY's
pieces together. JEANNIE warbled like a songbird but most felt that a person couldn't make ends meet by pickin' and singin'
and writin' songs. MS SEELY had a mind of her own. She just couldn't comprehend being like the other girls in Townsville.
Most got married after high school graduation, settled down and remained home as a housekeeper, so to speak. So. when JEANNIE
made the magic 21 marker, she stuffed her MG full and headed west to stardom in LA-LA Land - Los Angeles. SEELY accepted a secretarial position at Liberty and Imperial Records in Hollywood. Later, JEANNIE took the first
step at songwriting for Four Star Music.
SEELY began to perform regularly on TV's Hollywood Jamboree along with a then unknown
GLEN CAMPBELL. IRMA THOMAS put to wax a tune penned by JEANNIE, Anyone Who Knows What Love Is, which became a Rhythm
and blues hit and crossed over to Pop radio. The tune peaked at #52 on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1964.
JEANNIE's songwriting led to her own recording contract on Challenge Records. A pair
of local hits pulled SEELY into a tour of the West Coast. HANK COCHRAN, who was a young song writer, too, was visiting California.
HANK was impressed with JEANNIE's talent and suggested she move to Nashville. SEELY didn't think she was not quite yet ready.
DOTTIE WEST, who recorded one of JEANNIE's songs, gave a boost of encouragement to SEELY.
In the fall of 1965, JEANNIE took COCHRAN's advice and motored to Nashville. When
I arrived in town, I only had $50 and a Ford Falcon to my name. Within a month though, Porter Wagoner hired me to replace
Norma Jean as the female singer for his road show and syndicated television series. For awhile,
JEANNIE was married to HANK COCHRAN. This was the first and only marriage for SEELY but the fourth for HANK which finally
culminated in a divorce.
SEELY was turned down by every record label in Nashville. JEANNIE finally got the big
break she needed when Monument Records stepped forward and offered a recording contract. March 12, 1966, SEELY put to studio
tape the now infamous HANK COCHRAN ballad, Don't Touch Me. The sensuous tune. Don't Touch Me peaked at #2
for three weeks on Billboard's Country chart and remained for over five months. But, it stormed to the #1 position on both
Cashbox and Record World's Country charts. Don't Touch Me also did what ever artist desires. It crossed over to Billboard's
Hot 100. Today, that soulful ballad is considered a standard in country music.
Don't Touch Me was the shining star in JEANNIE's initial Monument records LP release
in 1966, The Seely Style (MLP 8057/SLP 18057). Celebrated Nashville producer, FRED FOSTER helped carve that
classic. Then, in 1967, SEELY's second Monument LP, JEANNIE paid tribute to HANK COCHRAN with all of the tunes composed by
COCHRAN in Thanks, Hank! (MLP 8073/SLP 18073). The legenday FRED ROSE produced it. Many more albums followed on labels
such as Decca, MCA and Columbia.
JEANNIE’s recording of Don't Touch Me is ranked at #97 in the 2003 book,
Heartaches By the Number: Country Music's 500 Greatest Singles, which is written by DAVID CANTWELL and BILL FRISKIC-WARREN.
Don’t Touch Me is also included in The Stories Behind Country Music’s All-Time Greatest 100 Songs written
by ACE COLLINS. In COLLINS' words, Cochran’s Don’t Touch Me has stood the test of time like few other
works. Hauntingly beautiful, poetry set to meter, this composition merits particular praise for the exquisite manner in which
it relates its story of love, doubt, and commitment. The book describes how BUCK OWENS was frantic about the song.
SEELY is the lucky one who recorded Don’t Touch Me and had a smash hit
on her hands. Country versions have been recorded by DON GIBSON, TAMMY WYNETTE, GEORGE JONES, LORRIE MORGAN, RAY PRICE,
LYNN ANDERSON, EDDY ARNOLD, BARBARA MANDRELL, ROY CLARK, JACK GREENE, DOTTIE WEST, and many others, but none made it to Billboard.
Don’t Touch Me crossed all musical styles. ETTA JAMES recorded a rhythm and blues version, CAROLYN HESTER -
folk, BETTYE SWANN - soul, ELENI MANDELL - pop, and even in reggae form by NICKY THOMAS.
Don’t Touch Me was such a successful breakthrough hit, JEANNIE found herself
traveling from coast to coast for concert appearances. This forced JEANNIE to leave Porter Wagoner's show. Today SEELY
jokes that she was replaced by Dolly Parton because Dolly’s 'hits' were bigger.
On November 15, 2003, OMS Records held a CD Release Party for JEANNIE's Life’s
Highway in conjunction with the weekly broadcast of the world-famous Midnite Jamboree on WSM. SEELY said this bluegrass
and acoustic project has been on her to do list for the past several years. I’m so happy that I was asked
to make this CD. It was a lot of fun to put it together and work with such talented people.
Life’s Highway was released on OMS Records ( www.OMSRecords.com ), which is an independent label that features bluegrass and classic country music. For details on any of JEANNIE’s
upcoming shows, zip out a message to Info@JeannieSeely.com .When not performing out of town, SEELY appears regularly on the Grand Ole Opry.
JEANNIE has been an Opry member since September 16, 1967.
GENTLEMAN JIM CARTER (San Antonio, TX) JCarter536@aol.com passed along very sad news from San Francisco's All News KCBS-740. Legendary Bay Area radio DJ DR. DON ROSE has died.
ROSE made a name for himself in the early 1970s while hosting AM Drive on KFRC. DON passed away in his sleep Tuesday night
(March 29th) at his home in the East Bay.
BEN FONG TORRES ( Rolling Stone contributor and music critic ) Remembers DR.
DON ROSE, I think he was one of the sweetest guys who came onto the radio. He was a nice guy, and that was really a strange
thing to have on morning radio back in the 60s and 70s in San Francisco." DR. DON found a way to make his style work. He was
a corny guy and a mainstream guy. He knew that, and he had made it work in other cities, like Atlanta and Philadelphia. He
came to San Francisco with the attitude that 'I know San Francisco is cosmopolitan, sophisticated, liberal and in a way kooky,
but there is more to the Bay Area than San Francisco, and I'm going to go after all the listeners,' and he did. He got a lot
of them. Rose was so dedicated to his job and his listeners, that illness did
not keep him off the air. There was one time when he had an ailment, and he chose to stay on the air. He was such
a big force in radio that the station accommodated him and set up broadcast equipment in his hospital, right by his bedside,
and he went on there.
DR. DON ROSE broadcast on Bay Area radio from 1973 to 1989 on KFRC, KKIS and KIOI.
ROSE retired because of health problems, but remained in the Bay Area with his family. DR. DON is survived by his wife of
40 years.
BOB HAMILTON sysop@newradiostar.com Remembers DR. DON ROSE. God...I had many conversations with Dr. Don...and like Ben says, he was one of the sweetest
guys this business has ever known...If anyone has anything to say about Dr. Don who was a friend of his, I would like to add
it to our story on New Radio Star....Don was a pioneer in morning radio...and probably very few of today's morning artists
know that he blazed trails for them...thanks Bob Hamilton New Radio Star
The passing of the great DR. DON ROSE has all of us totally in shock. So many of our
radio compadres have departed this life. Just cannot believe that through all the head-on car crashes, rear-end smashers,
side mashers, motorcycle flip-flops and side-slides, horse tosses, baseball and football injuries and unbalanced ladyloves
that I'm still alive and kicking at 61.
Asked CARTER if he attended the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in San Antonio last October
and is he going to make it to the next one in Big D. If so, hollar out my name so we can gab about our almost working together
at so many radio stations all over the great state of Texas. For decades, thought I was the most underpaid deejay in Texas,
but, judging from what I've been hearing lately, might've been at least near the middle in bucks. Wondered if JIM was still
in San Antonio.
JIM CARTER (San Antonio, TX) JCarter536@aol.com Hi Jim: No, I didn't make it last year to the Texas Hall induction ceremony. Actually I have never made it to one
yet. Might try this year as Jimmy Rabbitt said he was going to nominate me. So I suppose it would be prudent to attend
if by some remote possibility I was selected. LOL.
Yessir, I am still in S.A. and have been since '79. Moved here to do radio and got
stuck here. Speaking of being on the low end of the pay scale, I always thought I was most underpaid jock! Last gig in
'83 at KLLS here in SA, my PD was Bruce Buchanan. Bill Gardner did mornings and Brian Pierce did afternoons and I did 7-midnite.
It was a KVIL clone. A white collar radio station in a blue collar town. It didn't last very long needless to say. I was there
for a calendar year and then finally became a victim of radio burnout and got out of the business.
Say, did you ever see the Bob Hamilton Radio Report? If so, perhaps you may have
some old issues lying around. I'm looking for an article that Bob did on me when I was in New York in early '73. I can't seem
to locate my only copy.
I'm 58 and have escaped many of the same things that you mentioned. More car wrecks
than I care to remember, I was in my car when a tornado crashed into me in Wichita Falls in '79, I nearly drowned twice, survived
numerous girlfriends, survived 14 months in Vietnam as a U.S. Marine '66-'67 and a stress test conducted by the VA last fall
revealed that I had a silent heart attack some time in my past. I guess God is not quite through with us just yet. LOL. Catch
ya later...Jim
Speaking of the BOB HAMILTON Radio Report, I do have sitting right here in front of me a
copy of HAMILTON's Radio Quarterly Report '77, plus a copy of BUZZ BENNETT's and C.C. COURTNEY's Fred Directory of Radio (1980).
These gems are still holding together pretty well.
There have been many radio station formats over the years with gimmicks which drew listeners
like flies and others which didn't. Have heard of All ELVIS and All BEATLES radio, but now there's an All TOBY KEITH FM station
in the Black Hills. KZZI FM KZ Country in Spearfish, South Dakota, which flows into Rapid City, has been airing liners that
proclaim Toh-be...or not Toh-be...that's the question. TOBY 95.9...96.3 has begun programming nothing but TOBY KEITH
tunes 24 hours a day. The Program Director who came up with this ballistic is PAUL JAMES. PAUL had his engineers install a
translator at 96.3 to blanket Rapid City, South Dakota.
JIM L. MYER (Des Moines, IO) JLMeyer@dmgov.org Hiya Jim, Hope you had a "Happy Easter" this year and that the Lord blessed you and yours...-Jim
Meyer Des Moines, Ia. Ps...I did obtain some useful information on the Big Bopper from the Tyrrell Historical Library in Beaumont,
Texas. Thanks again for your help and I'll be sure to forward anything that may come as a result of the write up in your column....Jim
M.
There's a mighty good web site ( www.knus99.com ) which was conceived and is developed by MIKE SHANNON that includes many of us who were on the
air in Dallas-Ft. Worth over the years. Seems like MIKE maybe could use some robots to help insert deejay data.
MIKE SHANNON (Dallas, TX) mike@knus99.com Hello, I've gotten about 300 emails over the past several months with info, additions and corrections
for the DFW Radio/TV History website, and just have not had time to personally answer everyone. Just wanted each of you to
know that I have received your information and will get it added or corrected on the site on the next update, which should
be in the next few weeks. I will also try to do better in answering your emails from here on out! Thanks for your patience,
and for your support of the site. I DO appreciate everyone's effort in making the site as complete and correct as possible!
Best regards, Mike Shannon
ED GUERRO (San Antonio, TX) edward-guerrero@sbcglobal.net Jim, Read Your March 28th page postings. Enjoyed all of the stories you shared with your readers. Surprised to see excerpts
of my recent msg to you. Thanks for Your acceptance of my past experiences. I'm making it a project to stimulate my rusty
old brain (defrag- Ha!) to see if i can come up with something of interest. Regards, Ed
ED informs us of yet another Texas radio legend who recently has
passed away.
MONA L. PARKER, co-founder of radio station KBOP and Pleasanton's Longhorn Museum,
died Wednesday (March 16th) at 93, in the South Texas Regional Medical Center, Jourdanton from pneumonia. PARKER was
a native of Lawton, Oklahoma, received her license as a first-class radio operator in 1935 and worked at a number of radio
stations in Texas, including San Antonio's WOAI.
She and her husband, DR. BEN L. PARKER, started KBOP in 1950. They also owned radio
stations in Falfurrias and Carrizo Springs. BEN was dean of a chiropractic college in San Antonio, as well as pastor of Harriman
Place Christian Church, also in the Alamo City. Daughter MARY POOL of Escondido,
California, said her mother handled several jobs for the station, from chief engineer to bookkeeper to dealing with the Federal
Communications Commission.
WILLIE NELSON, who was hired by BEN PARKER as a deejay at KBOP when he was a teenager,
performed at a benefit to raise funds for a new museum building. POOL said "Willie took no money for himself, nor did the
band, and the benefit netted the first real funding to purchase the land and build the building." In 1982, the PARKERS
donated the museum to the city of Pleasanton, which owns and operates it on Texas 97. BEN
PARKER died in 1989.
Jim Rose
