Reconsider Me

Chapter 6

The Country Connection

Headphones on, Joe Tex listens in a Nashville studio with producer and song publisher Buddy Killen, mid-1960s.

Beginning in the 1920s, many record companies divided their blues and country recordings into separate “race” and “hillbilly” series. In reality these musical styles shared many themes and instruments, and blues and country musicians historically learned much from one another’s styles and songs. Such musical exchange between Black and white artists carried through to the stages and studios of postwar Nashville. As put by Nashville native Bobby Hebb, who graced the stages of both the Bijou Theater and the Grand Ole Opry, “It was very important that one understood more than one culture of music.”

RACE AND HILLBILLY

This Decca Race Records catalog (below) dates from 1938, and its Hill Billy counterpart (left) is from 1940. Well into the 1950s, the term “race music” was routinely used as an industry catchall for recordings by Black artists.

“GREATEST RACE STAR”

In 1946, Cecil Gant recorded “Nashville Jumps” (right) for the city’s Bullet Records. His success earned him the cover feature in this 1947 Bullet newsletter (below), which also detailed the company’s country and pop triumphs.

Cecil Gant, at piano, recording with a crew of Nashville musicians in the WSM studio. From left: Charley Grant, Farris Coursey, Jack Charamella, Ted Swinney, and Gant, c. late 1940s.

Jimmy Sweeney stands center among several of Music City's recording session elite: (from left) guitarist Hank Garland, bassist Floyd "Lightnin'" Chance, songwriter Boudleaux Bryant, and pianist Floyd Cramer, c. 1958. *Photograph by Elmer Williams.*

SONGWRITER SWEENEY

A former member of the WLAC radio act the Five Bars, singer-songwriter Jimmy Sweeney later signed with Nashville’s powerhouse song firm Acuff-Rose Publications, and would go on to write songs for Marty Robbins’s publishing company.

HEBB’S KITCHEN CABINET ORCHESTRA

Seen in this 1942 photo, Hebb’s Kitchen Cabinet Orchestra, as the Hebb family called themselves, included (from left) Ednaearle, Helen, William Melvoid, Ovalla (holding Shirley Ann), William Marion, Harold, and (in front) Bobby Hebb. Bobby joined Roy Acuff’s Grand Ole Opry troupe at age twelve, and later wrote and recorded the million-seller “Sunny” (right), which earned him a spot on the Beatles’ 1966 tour. Courtesy of Helen Hebb.

Bobby Hebb at the Opry

A Grand Ole Opry radio engineer kneels to capture the sound of young Bobby Hebb tap-dancing with the Smoky Mountain Boys (from left: Robert Lunn, Jimmie Riddle, Howdy Forrester, probably Jess Easterday, Lonnie Wilson) and Roy Acuff, leaning in from the right, early 1950s. Photo by Gordon Gillingham. Courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry Archives.

“LET’S TRADE A LITTLE”

In 1954, high school student Audrey Bryant made Nashville TV history when she joined the cast of an otherwise all-white, teen music program hosted by local disc jockey Noel Ball. Five years later, Bryant recorded “Let’s Trade a Little” with renowned session pianist Hargus “Pig” Robbins (with her in the above photo) and other Music City veterans. Courtesy of Audrey Bryant Watkins.

SOUL COUNTRY

In the 1960s, country producer Shelby Singleton brought R&B stars Clyde McPhatter and Ruth Brown to Nashville to record on Music Row, while Nashville publisher Buddy Killen signed Joe Tex to songwriting and record deals. “The feel in the studio was, in Nashville, really, really warm,” recalled Brown.