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| Live at Dancetown U.S.A. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Live album by George Jones and the Jones Boys | ||||
| Released | 1987 | |||
| Recorded | June 1965 | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Label | Ace | |||
| George Jones and the Jones Boys chronology | ||||
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Live at Dancetown U.S.A. is a live album by American country music artist George Jones. It was recorded in 1965 but was not released until 1987.
There are few live recordings of George Jones, particularly from his early days, which makes Live at Dancetown U.S.A. an interesting document. Recorded in June 1965 at a hall on Airline Drive in Houston during Jones's heyday in the Texas honky tonks, it shows the country star and his backing band the Jones Boys performing his biggest hits, including "White Lightning" and "She Thinks I Still Care," and offering between-song patter, such as when he tells the audience that he's taking a "liquor mission" halfway through the set. In addition to the Jones cuts, there are several instrumentals and nine songs performed by George's supporting vocalist Don Adams. Perhaps the biggest surprise in the set is the cover of the 1957 rock and roll song "Bony Moronie" by Larry Williams. Jones, who had recorded a handful of rockabilly sides early in his career with Starday, sounds less than enthusiastic as he introduces the number: "We had a request for a fast one. We usually don't do rock and roll numbers. I don't know but a verse of this one but we'll do it. It goes like this."
AllMusic: "Not only is the music superb -- on this date, the Jones Boys featured steel guitarist Buddy Emmons and Cajun fiddler Rufus Thibodeaux - but it illustrates exactly what a honky tonk concert was like in the '60s. For hardcore George Jones fans, it's an essential addition, one that's revelatory and highly entertaining."
A honky-tonk is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano used to play such music. Bars of this kind are common in the South and Southwest United States. Many eminent country music artists, such as Jimmie Rodgers, Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell, Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Johnny Horton, and Merle Haggard to name a few, began their careers as amateur musicians in honky-tonks.
Shadowland is the debut solo album by k.d. lang, released in 1988. The album included her collaboration with Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn and Brenda Lee on "Honky Tonk Angels' Medley" and was produced by Owen Bradley, who produced Patsy Cline's best-known work.
"The Great Speckled Bird" is a hymn from the southern United States whose lyrics were written by the Reverend Guy Smith, and transcribed by singer Charlie Swain. It is an allegory referencing fundamentalist self-perception during the Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy. The song is in the form of AA, with each section being eight bars in a two-beat meter, with these sixteen bars forming the musical background for each verse. It is based on Jeremiah 12:9, "Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour." It was recorded in 1936 by Roy Acuff. It was also later recorded by Johnny Cash and Kitty Wells, Pearly Brown (1961), Hank Locklin (1962), Marty Robbins (1966), Lucinda Williams (1978), Marion Williams, and Jerry Lee Lewis. George Jones & The Smoky Mountain Boys also recorded it in the early 1970s.
One Woman Man is an album by American country music artist George Jones, released on February 28, 1989, on Epic Records.
Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. is the debut studio album by American country music artist Dwight Yoakam. This was Yoakam's first time working with long-time collaborator, record producer-guitarist Pete Anderson. The album became the first of three consecutive albums by Yoakam to reach number one on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
Walls Can Fall is an album by American country music artist George Jones. This album was released in 1992 on the MCA Nashville Records. It peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and number 77 on The Billboard 200 chart. Walls Can Fall went Gold in 1994.
First Time Live is an album by American country music artist George Jones. This album was released on October 13, 1984, on the Epic Records label.
Nashville Rebel is a box set by Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Nashville through Legacy Recordings in 2006. According to Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine, it is "the first comprehensive, multi-label Waylon Jennings retrospective ever assembled," comprising ninety-two songs recorded between 1958 and 1994, with selections from the majority of the singer's recording career. The first track of the box set is the Buddy Holly-produced "Jole Blon," released in 1958, while the last is "I Do Believe," a song produced by Don Was that was included on The Highwaymen's 1995 release, The Road Goes on Forever. The other material on the box set covers Jennings' career chronologically, with songs ranging from his years on RCA's roster to later compositions from his short-lived stay at Epic Records; it ignores, however, the tracks from Jennings albums released on independent labels. The majority of the singer's charting singles are included in the package, as are collaborations such as "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" with Willie Nelson and "Highwayman" with The Highwaymen. A notable addition is the previously unreleased "The Greatest Cowboy of Them All," a 1978 duet with Johnny Cash which was later recorded by Cash alone for A Believer Sings the Truth (1979) and The Mystery of Life (1991); two others, "It's Sure Been Fun" and "People in Dallas Got Hair," had never been released in the United States. Nashville Rebel was released on four CDs, with a 140-page booklet and liner notes by Rich Kienzle and Lenny Kaye.
Country Heart is an album by American country music artist George Jones. It was released in 1966 as a double LP on the Musicor Records label, and was available exclusively through the Columbia Record Club.
Grand Ole Opry's New Star is the debut studio album released by George Jones in November 1956 with Starday Records. Produced by Jones' manager Pappy Daily, the album was recorded during early sessions in 1954, throughout 1955, and other sessions in 1956. It is also the first album to be released on the Starday label, a label only four years old.
Dwight Sings Buck is country music artist Dwight Yoakam's 17th studio album, and a tribute album to Buck Owens. The album was released on October 23, 2007, by New West Records.
Honky Tonk Boots is an album released in 2006 by American country music artist Sammy Kershaw. His only release for the Category 5 Records album, it was also his first studio release since 2003's I Want My Money Back. The album's lead-off single, "Tennessee Girl", peaked at number 43 on the Billboard country charts in 2006. Honky Tonk Boots also reunited him with producers Buddy Cannon and Norro Wilson, who co-produced his first four albums.
"White Lightning" is a song written by the rockabilly artist J. P. Richardson, best known by his stage name, the Big Bopper. The song was recorded by American country music artist George Jones and released as a single in February 1959. On April 13, 1959, Jones' version was the first number-one single of his career. The song has since been covered by numerous artists. Richardson never got to see the success of the record, as he had been killed in an airplane accident 6 days before its release.
Cactus and a Rose is a 1980 honky tonk/Southern rock album by country music singer Gary Stewart. The singer's seventh studio album, it only reached #49 on Billboard's "Country Albums" chart, spawning two low-charting singles: "Cactus and a Rose" (#48) and "Are We Dreamin' the Same Dream" (#66). Produced by Chips Moman, it was a departure from his standard honky-tonk fare, as it features Southern rockers Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Mike Lawler, Bonnie Bramlett, and Randy Scruggs.
Just Good Ol' Boys is the first album by country music duo Moe Bandy and Joe Stampley, released in 1979 on the Columbia label recorded at the CBS Recording Studios, Nashville, Tennessee and Jack Clements Recording Studio, Tennessee.
Devil's Elbow is a 1972 album by Doug Kershaw.
Blue & Lonesome is a compilation album by American country music artist George Jones released in 1964 on the Mercury Records label.
I Get Lonely in a Hurry is an album by George Jones, released on United Artists Records in 1964.
"Ragged But Right" is a traditional American song dating from the early 1900s. It was recorded by George Jones and released in 1956 as "I'm Ragged But I'm Right". The song is considered one of Jones' best early works, and it was included on his debut 1957 album.
Don Adams is an American country music singer, who often supported George Jones such as on Live at Dancetown U.S.A. (1965). He also sang with Johnny Paycheck.