A country way of life, Episode 22 (Curley Putman, JR Robinson, Ben Peters)
Author: Jonny Brick.
Player: JR Robinson
It’s time for another drummer whose work is better known than his face. Born in Iowa, JR Robinson has had an eclectic career playing on hundreds of hits: that’s him on Higher Love by Steve Winwood, I Wonder Why by Curtis Stigers, Hold On by Wilson Phillips, Ain’t Nobody by Rufus & Chaka Khan and the USA for Africa charity song We Are the World. See, you’ve definitely heard the work of JR Robinson.
His shuffle kept time on Michael Jackson’s albums Off The Wall and Bad, as well as a pair of smashes by The Pointer Sisters: Slow Hand and I’m So Excited. He was also enlisted for several film soundtracks including The Bodyguard and Independence Day.
Educated at Berklee School of Music, which he left midway through the course, JR eventually backed country stars including Clint Black and Toby Keith, adding his punch to the former’s When I Said I Do and the latter’s I Wanna Talk About Me and My List. All three songs crossed over to the Hot 100, where JR’s drumming was naturally heard, at the turn of the century.
Nashville has always been unafraid to call on virtuosi from outside Music City. No matter your background, if you are reliable enough you too can contribute to country music copyrights.
Songwriter: Ben Peters
Ben Peters’ daughter Angela provided the inspiration for Kiss An Angel Good Mornin’, which Charley Pride said he could not wait to cut in 1971. As well as topping the country charts for five weeks, it crossed over to hit number 21 on the Hot 100; kissing people good morning is, after all, a universal sentiment.
Peters was born in Mississippi and headed to the backroom after a brief attempt to be a solo star. He was to Charley Pride what Dean Dillon was to George Strait, providing him with on-brand songs like Burger and Fries, It’s Gonna Take a Little Bit Longer and You’re So Good When You’re Bad.
His other copyrights include: Turn the World Around, a hit for Eddy Arnold; Daytime Friends (‘and nighttime lovers’), which Elvis planned to cut but which became Kenny Rogers’ second country chart-topper; Before the Next Teardrop Falls, a number one Hot 100 smash for Freddy Fender; and, fascinatingly, I Want to Wake Up With You, a Mac Davis cut which Boris Gardiner took to the top of the UK charts when he converted it into a reggae song.
Songwriter: Curly Putman
In their obituary of the man born Claude Putman Jr in Alabama, the New York Times called him ‘a song doctor who could transform a promising tune into a sure thing’. The first paragraph of the piece named three of them: The Green Green Grass of Home, D-I-V-O-R-C-E and He Stopped Loving Her Today, which are all still heard today decades after they became hits of their respective moments.
Indeed, Putman thought that the Tammy Wynette standard was originally ‘too happy for a sad song’ and, incredibly generously, he did not initially want to take any of the copyright away from Bobby Braddock, the man who wrote the original lyric.
Putman summed up his art as expressing ‘found and lost love’, although he was also responsible for Dolly Parton’s anthem Dumb Blonde. My Elusive Dreams, meanwhile, was a hit for Charlie Rich in 1975 eight years after first Putman himself and then David Houston & Tammy Wynette had taken it into the country charts.
All Episodes can be found here
For more country music evangelism, go to countrywol.com where you can read Monday essays, Friday reviews and Sunday Hymn Sheets. Follow Jonny’s Country Music Calendar at the Country Way of Life Facebook page (facebook.com/acountrywayoflife).