In October 1992, the quiet town of Gravel Switch, Kentucky, welcomed two legendsârenowned record producer and guitarist Chet Atkins and celebrated songwriter Billy Edd Wheeler. Their reason for visiting? The grand unveiling of an outhouse at Pennâs Store.
Claiming the title of Americaâs oldest country store, Pennâs has been serving customers since 1850 (the location itself has been a store site since at least 1845)âthough for much of the storeâs history, restroom accommodations meant finding the nearest tree or bush. That changed on Oct. 17, 1992, when the store unveiled its first official outhouse during a lively event dubbed âThe Great Outhouse Blowout.â Before the celebration, a radio contest was held to determine who would have the honor of christening the newly installed privy.
Great Outhouse Blowout programs, T-shirts, caps, and $1 rolls of Outhouse Blowout Tissue wrapped in newspaper were available for sale.
âI didnât really want to go to the dedication of an outhouse,â the Associated Press reported Nadene Wilson as saying. It seems Wilson had traveled about 80 miles at the insistence of her husband, a Gravel Switch native, for the dedication. âIt wasnât my idea of a good time, but the entertainment was good.â
Details are scarce on what compelled Chet Atkins to participate in the festivities, but there was no mystery behind Billy Edd Wheelerâs appearance. As the man behind the classic âOde to the Little Brown Shack Out Back,â Wheeler was undoubtedly the perfect guest to help dedicate Pennâs long-overdue addition.
Described by critics as âa poet attuned to the universal themes evoked by nature,â Wheelerâs upbringing in the now-extinct Highcoal community of Boone County, West Virginia, shaped his artistic voice across various mediums. That connection to his roots was evident in âOde to the Little Brown Shack Out Back.â
First recorded live in August 1964 at the Mountain State Art & Craft Fair in Ripley, Virginia, âOdeâ paints a picture of the family outhouseâits quirks, its comforts and its place in daily lifeâall told against the backdrop of a newly enacted town ordinance that threatens to render it a thing of the past.
They passed an ordinance in the town
They said weâd have to tear it down
That little old shack out back
So dear to me
Though the health department said
Itâs day was over and dead
It will stand forever in my memory
Though Wheelerâs personal experiences undoubtedly influenced his writing, the direct inspiration for the song may have come from elsewhere. As the story goes, he stumbled across a newspaper article about a similar situation in Kentucky, sparking the idea for the song.
Although Wheeler had recorded a handful of albums in the early 1960s, it wasnât until he signed with Kapp Records in 1964 that one of his songs was chosen for release as a single. âOde to the Little Brown Shack Out Backâ likely got the nod for its appeal as a novelty tune, tailor-made for a rural audience. Whatever the reasoning, the song connected with listeners, steadily climbing Billboardâs Hot Country Singles chart before stalling at No. 3âheld back from the top spot by Sonny James and Buck Owens.
Wheeler continued to release albums on the Kapp label for the remainder of the â60s but would never again reach the Top 10. Today, Wheeler is probably best remembered as a songwriter, having written âJackson,â made famous by Johnny and June Carter Cash, âThe Reverend Mr. Black,â recorded by The Kingston Trio, and âCoward of the County,â a 1979 crossover hit for Kenny Rogers. Wheeler died on Sept. 16, 2024, at the age of 91.
Though it may have started as a novelty song, âOde to the Little Brown Shack Out Backâ no doubt struck a sentimental chord with those who grew up in a rural setting. It wasnât just about an outhouseâit was about a way of life slowly fading. In that sense, the celebration at Pennâs Store wasnât just about dedicating a restroom. It was about honoring a way of life that had endured, much like the store itself. â M.H.
âFrom the early â60s through to 1974, Barbara Brown, along with her sisters, recorded a series of sessions in Memphis. Although they appeared as infrequent singles, taken as a body of work they represent music as good as any ever recorded in that great city of soul.âÂ
Saturday Night Soul
"Things Have Gone to Pieces" // Barbara & the Browns
Nestled within the rich tapestry of Memphis' musical heritage is the enigmatic figure of Barbara Brown, a vocalist whose powerful voice remains a hidden gem in the annals of southern soul history.
Alongside her sisters Roberta, Betty, and Maurice, she formed a gospel quartet known collectively as "Barbara & the Browns." The familial ensemble would venture from the confines of sacred song to secular music in 1964 after legendary producer Chips Moman persuaded the group to record "Big Party" for the one-off Wil-Mo label. Leased to Stax later that year, the effort gained enough regional popularity to crack the Top 100 R&B Charts.
Two more Stax singles would follow before the group signed to the fledgling XL label, recording a series of sides released on labels such as Cadet, Tower, Atco, and on XL itself. By 1974, Barbara and her sisters seemingly deserted any dreams of stardom, and many of their recordings remained in the can until 2007 when Kent Soul released "Can't Find Happiness: The Sounds of Memphis Recordings." Several of the 20 tracks released in the late aughts were previously unissued, including a demo of the Leon Payne penned "Things Have Gone to Pieces."
A top-10 hit for George Jones in 1965, the ballad masterfully captures the essence of heartbreak and the tumultuous aftermath of a lost love.
The faucet started dripping in the kitchen
And last night your picture fell down from the wall
Today, the boss said, sorry, I can't use you anymore
And tonight, the light bulb went out in the hall
Things have gone to pieces since you left me
Nothing turns out half-right now it seems
There ainât nothing in my pocket
But three nickels and a dime
But Iâm holding to the pieces of my dream
While Jones's song delivery, imbued with his signature emotional depth and twang, brings an authentic sense of longing and despair, Barbara Brown's powerhouse vocal adds a layer of soulful resonance to the narrative of grief and hopelessness initially laid out by the Possum.
Barbara Brown died in Detroit, Michigan, on Feb. 3, 2010. Half a century after their debut in the music world, she and her sisters remain largely unknown. Yet, Barbara's interpretation of "Things Have Gone to Pieces" shines brightly as a quintessential piece of southern soul music, a performance so compelling it's easy to imagine George Jones himself would have admired it. â M.H.
The September issue of Honky Tonk Times is available now at thehonkytonktimes.com. This month I interviewed Mario Carboni and Norm Hamlet, who served as Merle Haggard's bandleader and steel guitar player for over 49 years. These interviews are a dream come true!
Carboni, Hamlet carry on Bakersfield tradition of music and kindness
Mario Carboni might be the nicest guy youâve never met. From the start of our half-hour-long interview, Carboni exhibits the personality traits not of a traveling musician but of a man who genuinely concerns himself with the happiness of those around him.
The 35-year-old piano and trumpet player extraordinaire is driving across Alaska in a van purchased specifically for runs in The Last Frontier. A mix-up has caused him and his lone bandmate to miss their hour-long set at the stateâs largest festival.
Instead of dogging the head of the event, Carboni simply says: âTheyâre busy. They have so many acts in there itâs understandable.â
Itâs not the reaction I expected, but as our conversation continues, it becomes clear that perhaps his heroes have not only influenced his music but his attitude toward life as well.
A native of Oregon, Carboniâs lifelong affair with music began at 9 months old when he started playing the piano (yes, you read that correctly). By the age of 10, he added the trumpet to his repertoire.
âI started out playing ragtime and improvising,â he says. âI ended up playing the trumpet in various school bands, then figured out how to play the two of them together when I was about 20. I ended up going from there, starting to play shows â I did a year of college, and it was not at all what I wanted to do â so I went over to Bakersfield and started meeting folks I considered to be my heroes and met Red Simpson in 2015.â
One of the originators of âtruck driving country,â Simpson rose to popularity as both a recording artist and songwriter in the mid-1960s, scoring hits such as âRoll, Truck, Rollâ and âHello, Iâm A Truck.â The Bakersfield native remained a permanent fixture in the area's music scene, coming to the aid of many aspiring musicians until his death in January 2016.
âRed was always helping younger folks and kids,â Carboni says. âHeâd record a record with somebody in their little home studio, mention them in a radio interview or tour with them. He toured with me; he didnât have to do that. The two of us recorded two records together; they were the last two records he ever recorded.â
Following Simpsonâs death, Carboni received an invitation to play at Buck Owensâ Crystal Palace, where a chance meeting with Norm Hamlet would change the trajectory of his career, forming an unlikely duo billed as âThe Rebel and The Stranger.â
As a member of Merle Haggardâs Strangers, Hamlet served as bandleader and steel guitar player for nearly 50 years, playing on more than 30 No. 1 hits and performing in some of the most recognizable concert venues in the U.S.
Upon Haggardâs death in April 2016 and despite his age at the time, Hamlet too found himself wondering what would come next.
âWe were both hired to play in a band at Buck Owensâ Crystal Palace, and we started talking that night,â Carboni recalls. âI asked him if I could have his number and eventually called him up and told him Iâd like to shoot a video of the two of us playing three songs; Iâd pick my three favorite songs that heâd recorded on. We filmed this series of videos and put them out. I think there was one of âNo Reason To Quit,â another of âThe Roots of My Raising,â and it was really special to me because heâd played on the original hit with Merle in the â70s. I told him I could never afford to pay him what it was worth, and he was very nice to do that for me.
âWe put them out on social media and turned around a week later, and theyâd hit 600,000 views each or something like that. I called him up and said, âHey, this is significant. We should start a project.â We started talking a little more about it, touring a little bit more and more dates started coming our way. It seems like the more stuff that we do, the more stuff people want to hire us for, and it just snowballed from there to the point where weâre touring the country.â
For 86-year-old Hamlet, whose career began nearly seven decades ago and whose resume also includes working with Rose Maddox, The Farmer Boys, and once as part of a band opening for Hank Williams, the decision to return to the road
seemed like the natural course.
âMario had such a charisma about him,â Hamlet said. âWhen he played music, everybody loved his singing and playing, and I thought the same thing. It had been a long time since Iâd seen a piano player that plays as good as he does, so I thought, âWell, I might still try to go out there and play a few things.â This turned into a good job. At my age, I didnât know how long Iâd be able to go out and do it. As long as I can do it health-wise, weâll keep going out there.â
In addition to their busy tour schedule, the two recently completed their debut album, "Hello Heartache," a collection of 10 songs recorded aboard Carboni's tour bus, affectionately dubbed "Ol' Red," on the streets of Bakersfield.
Of the 10 songs, eight were written by Carboni and Hamlet.
âMost of the songs are upbeat in the Bakersfield sound, traditional style, with a slight twist of the piano being the rhythm and bass instrument instead of a traditional instrumentation,â Carboni explains. â. . . The album also features dobro played by Norm on one track called âMiss the Mississippi and You.â We brought the instrument out of the museum in Nashville to record the album. The last time it was on a recording session was in 1969 on Merle Haggardâs âSame Train Different Timeâ album.â
For now, the album is only available at the pair's live performances, which Carboni says features a mix of songs made famous by some of Bakersfield's heavy hitters, including Haggard, Buck Owens, and Simpson.
"They call it a second career when somebody does what Norm's doing, I guess," Carboni says. "He helps me out by playing with me; we help each other out. I get to be his rhythm section, and he lends his incredible reputation to what we're doing, and that's a really special thing, that's important."
The pair has several dates scheduled for September. To view their complete schedule, visit www.honkytonkrebel.com.
As for the aforementioned festival performance, Carboni and Hamlet were given a time slot for the following day, proving once and for all that nice guys don't always finish last. At least not the ones from Bakersfield.
The songs that Ike Everly taught to his sons, Phil and Don, were the same songs my Mama taught me, but I'd never heard them sang so beautifully till I stumbled across this album all those years ago. I can remember listening to the Everly Brothers with Mama; she'd say, "they're from Muhlenberg County, you know," but it was the way she said it that always struck me. It was as if what she really meant was, "they're home folk, so you know they're the best." Home folk, for sure.
Godspeed, Don Everly: 1937-2021 â€ïž
âAfter I drank a little, I went over to the jukebox and put some money in to help pass the time and help take my mind off thoughts of Mildred. They had fourteen Tom T. Hall songs, and I played every one of them. It seemed to put everybody in a good mood. I noticed several people looking at me kindly, as if to say thanks for playing all that Tom T.â Larry Brown, Big Bad Love, p 53.
Before Kerouac, I only knew Tom T. Hall. Those records were everything to me and what originally inspired me to want to write. If a kid from Olive Hill, Ky. could make it, I thought, surely one from Swallowfield, Ky. could too. Godspeed to the greatest of them all.
My third installment in the Honky Tonk Times "Living Legends" series features Ray Benson of Asleep At The Wheel. In 2020, the group planned to record an album celebrating its 50th anniversary, bringing in former members from across the decades. While the pandemic delayed and changed the logistics of the recordings, the project's release date is set for October. Benson also touches on his time during quarantine, songwriting, and more. Read all about it in the August edition of the Honky Tonk Times, available at www.thehonkytonktimes.com!
San Antonian Sam Kindrick founded Action Magazine in 1975 at the height of the "outlaw country" movement. According to Kindrick, the once-monthly publication was never intended to be a music magazine but instead "covered the outsized personalities" all around him.
The inaugural edition's cover carried the headline, âRedneck Rock Hits San Antonio" above a three-column photo of one Willie Hugh Nelson.
In describing the so-called redneck rockers, the magazine had this to say: âThey have one common characteristic: in some aspects, theyâre all rebels. Nice rebels. Friendly cats in cowboy hats, willing to share their last swallow of beer with a âcross-countryâ brother.â
Other articles from that issue include a full-page spread on the San Antonio Pod of the Chili Appreciation Society International, a short piece on Ron Rose (writer of âThe Ballad of the La Grange Chicken Ranch,â later recorded at the legendary Armadillo World Headquarters with his band Man Mountain and the Green Slime Boys), and a profile on Carol Connors, operator of the Foxy Lady Saloon.
Now 86 years old, Kindrick is still going strong (despite multiple illnesses that would've rendered lesser men dead years ago), and Action Magazine has been digitally archived by the good people of Texas State University, much to the delight of journalists and researchers everywhere.
Have y'all subscribed to the Honky Tonk Times yet? Yours truly serves as the Living Legends correspondent, and so far, I've interviewed David Frizzell (May) and Leroy Van Dyke (July). The August issue features my interview with Asleep At The Wheel frontman Ray Benson. If you've enjoyed this blog over the years, I know you'll appreciate this old-school-print-only magazine. It publishes monthly, and a year's subscription is now available at www.thehonkytonktimes.com.
Country music legend Kris Kristofferson quietly retired last year, according to a new press release from his longtime PR director.
âThe iconic singer-songwriter's 55-year career included writing and recording âMe and Bobby McGeeâ and âSunday Mornin' Comin' Down,â as well as film roles in âPat Garrett and Billy the Kidâ and 1976's âA Star Is Born.ââ
Nope, nothing. If youâre a fan of Mike and the Moonpies, you might wanna check this out:Â https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/mike-and-the-moonpies-gary-stewart-album-1005204/
Remembering Mac Davis: Jan. 21, 1942 - Sept. 29, 2020
Mac Davis, the country singer-songwriter responsible for writing one of Elvis' biggest hits, "In the Ghetto," has died at 78. Following his success as a songwriter, Davis scored hits of his own during the 1970s, including "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me," "One Hell of a Woman," and "Stop and Smell the Roses."
âPretty Loretta Lynn with her soft Kentucky accent is tops in her field. Trade magazines, radio polls and money-making records all name her number one female country-western singer in America today.â â Detroit Free Press, Nov. 3, 1968
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