A country way of life, Episode 2 (Ken Nelson, Pig Robbins, Mac Davis)
Author: Jonny Brick.
Producer: Buddy Cannon
Willie Nelson is now in his tenth(!) decade and shows absolutely no signs of stopping. His main collaborator is Buddy Cannon, who produces his albums and is a sort of musical director. The pair send each other song ideas remotely, then Buddy works on the backing track and Willie settles on the melody when he gets into the recording booth. If only writing music were that simple all the time.
Cannon, a sprightly 76, is a utility man who has been a backing vocalist, songwriter, publisher and A&R executive. He was a sideman of Mel Tillis, who took the Cannon copyright I Believe In You to number one, while George Strait cut his jaunty I’ve Come To Expect It From You and the Cannon co-write Give It Away. Cannon was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2021.
While at Mercury Records, he signed Sammy Kershaw and produced several of his hits. We can also thank Cannon for the careers of Shania Twain and Billy Ray Cyrus, while Kenny Chesney developed his neo-Jimmy Buffett sound with Cannon in the producer’s chair. All of this for a guy who just wanted to be in a band and who started writing songs to cope with the boredom of travelling between venues.
Player: Hal Blaine
The opening pattern on Be My Baby by The Ronettes, the steady 4/4 pattern on Mr Tambourine Man by The Byrds, the swinging beat on The Happening by The Supremes and the backbeat on Thank God I’m a Country Boy by John Denver were all played by the prolific, reliable session drummer Hal Blaine.
Born in Massachusetts, the studio cat is most famous for being part of the Wrecking Crew, the LA equivalent of the Nashville A Team, who actually played the music that ended up on the seminal Beach Boys album Pet Sounds. The guitarist of that LA mob was Glen Campbell, who recruited Blaine to play drums on By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Galveston and his swansong I’m Not Gonna Miss You. He was also behind the kit for Elvis’ show in 1968 that became known as the Comeback Special.
In total, Blaine played drums on 10 of the Hot 100 number one songs in 1965 and 1966. His work can also be heard on songs by Roy Orbison (It’s Over), Tanya Tucker (Lizzie and the Rainman, which was written by Kenny O’Dell) and the duet between David Frizzell and Shelly West, You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma.
Songwriter: Jon Randall
In November 2023, Big Loud Records announced a Texas imprint. It was the latest offering from the famous label which has earned millions from Florida Georgia Line, Morgan Wallen and Hardy. The two co-runners of Big Loud Texas are Miranda Lambert and the man who co-wrote her songs Tequila Does and Tin Man, Jon Randall.
Randall will forever be known for writing Whiskey Lullaby, a modern standard that was recorded by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss; both characters die during the song. He has also produced projects by Chase Bryant (Upbringing), Parker McCollum (Hollywood Gold) and Dierks Bentley’s rootsier albums The Mountain and Up on the Ridge.
Randall has been an unsung hero of country music for three decades, starting out in Emmylou Harris’s band and recording his own albums in the 1990s. He was briefly the partner of Lorrie Morgan and the pair took the song By My Side into the charts in 1996. After working on a record for his second wife Jessi Alexander, Randall released a self-titled album in 2021 a few months after a selection of demos came out under the name The Marfa Tapes. Randall, Lambert and Jack Ingram would go to the small town of Marfa, Texas to find the right environment in which to write songs. It is hoped that their writing days aren’t done just yet as they focus on polishing the rough diamonds of Texas’s fertile music scene.
All Episodes can be found here
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