"Catfish John" | ||||
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Single by Johnny Russell | ||||
from the album Catfish John / Chained | ||||
B-side | "Promises of Your Love" | |||
Released | November 6, 1972 | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 2:48 | |||
Label | RCA | |||
Songwriter(s) | Allen Reynolds Bob McDill | |||
Producer(s) | Jerry Bradley | |||
Johnny Russell singles chronology | ||||
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"Catfish John" is a song written by Bob McDill and Allen Reynolds first released on McDill's album Short Stories, [1] and subsequently recorded and released by American country music artist Johnny Russell. [2] It was released in November 1972 as the fourth single from the album, "Catfish John"/"Chained". [3] The song is credited with propelling Bob McDill into the front ranks of country songwriters. [3]
The song has also been performed by Jerry Garcia (Jerry Garcia Band, Old & In the Way), as well as other musicians. [4] Toots Hibbert recorded the song on Fire on the Mountain: Reggae Celebrates the Grateful Dead (Pow Wow), a Grateful Dead tribute album. [5] [6] It has also been performed and recorded by Alison Krauss and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Australian country music band The Hawking Brothers released their version in 1973 reaching 32 on the charts. [7]
The song is a story about a former slave, which emphasizes difficulties of the everyday life for Black people at the time, and about the singer who, in boyhood, found him an inspiration and source of Delta culture. [8]
Chart (1972–73) | Peak position |
---|---|
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles [9] | 12 |
Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 3 |
American Beauty is the fifth studio album by rock band the Grateful Dead. Released in November 1970, by Warner Bros. Records, the album continued the folk rock and country music style of their previous album Workingman's Dead, issued earlier in the year.
Robert C. Christie Hunter was an American lyricist, singer-songwriter, translator and poet, best known for his work with the Grateful Dead. Born near San Luis Obispo, California, Hunter spent some time during his childhood in foster homes as a result of his father abandoning his family, and took refuge in reading and writing. He attended the University of Connecticut for a year before returning to Palo Alto, where he became friends with musician Jerry Garcia. Hunter and Garcia began a collaboration that lasted through the remainder of Garcia's life.
Robert Hall Weir is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the group disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead, together with other former members of the Grateful Dead. Weir also founded and played in several other bands during and after his career with the Grateful Dead, including Kingfish, the Bob Weir Band, Bobby and the Midnites, Scaring the Children, RatDog, and Furthur, which he co-led with former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh. In 2015, Weir, along with former Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, joined with Grammy-winning singer/guitarist John Mayer, bassist Oteil Burbridge, and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti to form the band Dead & Company.
"Long Black Veil" is a 1959 country ballad, written by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin and originally recorded by Lefty Frizzell.
Maria Muldaur is an American folk and blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s. She recorded the 1973 hit song "Midnight at the Oasis" and has recorded albums in the folk, blues, early jazz, gospel, country, and R&B traditions.
Blues for Allah is the eighth studio album by the Grateful Dead. It was released on September 1, 1975, and was the band's third album released through their own Grateful Dead Records label. The album was recorded between February and May of 1975 during an extended hiatus from touring. Recorded at rhythm guitarist and vocalist Bob Weir's home studio, the music on Blues for Allah further showcases the jazz fusion influence shown on the band's previous two records while also having a more experimental sound influenced by Middle Eastern scales and musical styles, which is also reflected in the album's lyrical content.
The Jerry Garcia Band was a San Francisco Bay Area rock band led by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Garcia founded the band in 1975; it remained the most important of his various side projects until his death in 1995. The band regularly toured and recorded sporadically throughout its twenty-year existence, generally, but not always, during breaks in the Grateful Dead's schedule.
"Truckin'" is a song by the Grateful Dead, which first appeared on their 1970 album American Beauty. It was recognized by the United States Library of Congress in 1997 as a national treasure.
"Uncle John's Band" is a song by the Grateful Dead that first appeared in their concert setlists in late 1969. The band recorded it for their 1970 album Workingman's Dead. Written by guitarist Jerry Garcia and lyricist Robert Hunter, "Uncle John's Band" presents the Dead in an acoustic and musically concise mode, with close harmony singing.
The Very Best of Jerry Garcia is a two-CD compilation album. It contains songs, mostly previously released, by Jerry Garcia, the Jerry Garcia Band, the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band, Old & In the Way, and Reconstruction. It is meant to showcase Garcia's work outside the Grateful Dead. The first disc contains studio recordings and the second disc contains live recordings. It was released on September 26, 2006.
Three from the Vault is a live album by the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete show recorded on February 19, 1971 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. It was released on June 26, 2007.
Robert Lee McDill is a retired American songwriter, active from the 1960s until 2000. During his career he wrote or co-wrote 31 number one country hits. His songs were also recorded by popular artists of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, including The Grateful Dead, Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Anne Murray, and B. J. Thomas. His music credits in film include Primary Colors, The Thing Called Love, Texasville, and the documentary Grizzly Man. In addition to four Grammy nominations McDill received Songwriter of the Year awards from Broadcast Music Incorporated, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and the Nashville Songwriters Association International. In October 2012, McDill was awarded ASCAP's Golden Note Award in recognition of his "extraordinary place in American popular music." In September 2015 he received the Academy of Country Music's Poet's Award for lifetime achievement. In April 2023 he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He is the author of two books: Tales of the Old River Rod and Gun, Bloody Mary Society andGentleman's Club and The Ancestors and Descendants of Robert Nathanial McDill.
Garcia Live Volume One is an album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It contains the complete early show and late show performed on March 1, 1980, at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey. It was released on February 19, 2013, by ATO Records, in two formats – as a three-disc CD, and as a digital download. The album is the first of a series of archival concert releases called Garcia Live.
Pure Jerry: Bay Area 1978 is a two-CD live album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It contains selections from four concerts performed in the San Francisco Bay Area in February and June 1978. The ninth and last entry in the Pure Jerry series of archival concert albums, it was released on August 31, 2009.
Garcia Live Volume Four is a two-CD live album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It contains the complete concert recorded at Veteran's Hall in Sebastopol, California on March 22, 1978. It was released by ATO Records on July 8, 2014.
Dave's Picks Volume 16 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded on March 28, 1973 at the Springfield Civic Center in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was produced as a limited edition of 16,500 numbered copies, and was released on November 1, 2015.
Dave's Picks Volume 32 is a 3-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded at the Spectrum in Philadelphia on March 24, 1973. It was released on November 1, 2019 in a limited edition of 20,000 copies.
Short Stories is the first LP album by the award-winning American songwriter Bob McDill, released in 1972 by J-M-I Records. It is notable for being the only known album recorded by the successful country music writer. It is also notable as being the first full-length album released on the short lived J-M-I Records label. Several of the songs from the album, including "Catfish John" and "Come Early Morning" would go on to have chart success covered by other artists, including Don Williams and Johnny Russell.
Dave's Picks Volume 34 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded on June 23, 1974, at the Jai-Alai Fronton in Miami, Florida. It also includes a fourth, bonus disc recorded at the same venue the previous night. It was released on May 1, 2020, in a limited edition of 22,000 copies.
Dave's Picks Volume 42 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded on February 23, 1974 at the Winterland Arena in San Francisco. It was released on April 29, 2022, in a limited edition of 25,000 copies.