In 1944, Billboard magazine published its first chart ranking the top-performing country music songs in the United States, under the title Most Played Juke Box Folk Records. The term "country music" would not come into standard usage until the late 1940s and "folk music" was one of a number of terms used for the genre in earlier years; [1] the subtitle on the first chart indicated that it covered "Hillbillies, Spirituals, Cowboy Songs, etc". [2] The Juke Box Folk listing was compiled based on reports from "Billboard representatives" detailing the most-played songs of the genre in jukeboxes from "all the country's leading operating centers", which were averaged to give an overall chart. [2] [3] The first chart listed six songs, but the number of entries was not consistent from week to week. The juke box chart was published under a number of different titles until 1957 and is considered part of the lineage of the current Hot Country Songs chart, which was first published in 1958. [4]
The first number-one song listed was "Pistol Packin' Mama", which remained in the top spot for the first seven weeks. The song, originally recorded by Al Dexter in 1942, had remained hugely popular ever since, and been recorded by many different singers. [5] Up to four different versions of "Pistol Packin' Mama" were bracketed together as a single entry in the number one position during the seven-week run, although noted chart historian Joel Whitburn regarded only the first-named artist each week as having achieved the number one hit, and did not record some of the credited artists as having charted at all. [6] Subsequently, different recordings of a song were not bracketed together in this way: in issues of Billboard published later in the year, different versions of "Pistol Packin' Mama" appeared listed separately. [7] [8] The chart methodology also allowed for the possibility of records tying for a position, and on several occasions during 1944 two or more different songs tied for the number-one spot.
Counting all seven weeks in which his version of "Pistol Packin' Mama" was bracketed with other artists' recordings of the same song and counting each of his two songs which tied for the top spot in the issue of Billboard dated April 15 as having one week at number one, Al Dexter spent the highest number of weeks at the top of the chart in 1944, with 24. If the first five weeks of the chart, for which Whitburn did not give Dexter credit as having achieved a number one, are discounted, he nonetheless still had the most weeks in the top spot. Dexter was also the artist with the most different songs at number one in 1944, topping the chart with "Pistol Packin' Mama", "Rosalita", "Too Late to Worry" and "So Long Pal". [9] [10] Louis Jordan was the only other artist to top the chart with more than one song during the year. Red Foley had the longest unbroken run at number one, spending thirteen consecutive weeks in the top spot in the fall with the patriotic wartime song "Smoke on the Water". Al Dexter's "So Long Pal" spent the same number of weeks at number one, but split across seven different spells at the top. The final number one of the year was "I'm Wastin' My Tears on You" by Tex Ritter, who is one of three acts to top the chart in 1944 who are members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, [11] the others being Ernest Tubb [11] and Red Foley. [12]
a. ^ Multiple recordings of the same song were listed together. Joel Whitburn regarded only the first act listed as having been number one in the week in question, and his reference works do not list Baxter, Peltyn and Fisher's versions as having charted at all.
b. ^ Multiple songs tied for the number one position.
Clarence Albert Poindexter, known best as Al Dexter, was an American country musician and songwriter.
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1944.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1943.
"Pistol Packin' Mama" was a "Hillbilly"-Honky Tonk record released at the height of World War II that became a nationwide sensation, and the first "Country" song to top the Billboard popular music chart. It was written by Al Dexter of Troup, Texas, who recorded it in Los Angeles, California on March 20, 1942, with top session musicians Dick Roberts, Johnny Bond and Dick Reinhart, who all normally worked for Gene Autry). It was used in the 1943 film Pistol Packin' Mama, starring Ruth Terry and Robert Livingston.
"Rosalita" is a 1942 song performed by Al Dexter and His Troopers. It was recorded on March 18, 1942 at the CBS Studio at Radio Station KNX, Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, California with session musicians Frank Marvin, Johnny Bond and Dick Reinhart. It was released on Okeh Records #6708 in March 1943, paired with "Pistol Packin' Mama". After the "Most Played Jukebox Folk Records" chart was established on January 8, 1944., it remained for six months, peaking at #1 on March 11, 1944.
"So Long Pal" is a 1944 song by Al Dexter and His Troopers. The song was the follow-up to Al Dexter's two-sided hit, "Pistol Packin' Mama"/"Rosalita". It was recorded on March 18, 1942, along with "Rosalita" and the b-side "Too Late to Worry, Too Blue to Cry". "So Long Pal" stayed at the number one position on the Folk Juke Box chart for thirteen weeks in 1944. The B-side would also hit number one on the same chart.
"Too Late to Worry, Too Blue to Cry" is a 1942 song by Al Dexter. It was recorded on March 18, 1942 at the CBS Studio at Radio Station KNX, Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, California with session musicians Frank Marvin, Johnny Bond and Dick Reinhart. It was released on Okeh records #6718 on February 6, 1944, paired with "So Long Pal". It went to number one on the Folk Juke Box charts for two weeks and stayed on the charts for a total of thirty weeks.
"Wine Women And Song" is a 1940 song written by Al Dexter and Aubrey Gass. It was recorded on April 23, 1940 at Burrus Sawmill Studio, Saginaw, Texas by Al Dexter & His Troopers. It was released June 6, 1940 on Vocalion 05572 with no success. After hits like "Pistol Packin' Mama", Dexter re-recorded it on April 5, 1945 at the CBS Studio at Radio Station KNX, Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, California. It was released on August 15, 1946 on Columbia 37062, backed with "It's Up To You". On September 14, 1946, it reached the no. 1 spot on Billboard's "Most Played Jukebox Folk Records" chart, where it remained for five weeks.
Don't Fence Me In is a compilation album of phonograph records by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters released in 1946 featuring Country and Western songs. This album contained the enormously popular record "Pistol Packin' Mama", which sold over a million copies and became the first number one hit on the then-new Juke Box Folk Song Records Chart that was later renamed the Hot Country Songs Chart.
"Born to Lose" is a song written by Ted Daffan. Recorded by his band Ted Daffan's Texans, with vocal by Leon Seago, on February 20, 1942, it was released as a double A-side single exactly one year later, at the height of the Second World War. This was Daffan's most successful record, as well as the most successful release of "Born to Lose"; it remained on the hillbilly chart for 82 weeks. The song has been covered by many artists, including Johnny Cash. Probably the most famous version is found on Ray Charles's 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. Released as a single, his recording peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100, which earned Charles a platinum disc in 1962. Daffan's version of "Born to Lose" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.