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1983 Black Gold Festival
In
his own quiet way, Bobby Bare has long been regarded as one of country music's
most innovative and talented writer/performers. He was one of the crowd
favorites at the Black Gold Festival. Bare is no stranger to East Kentucky. He
says he once went to school at Blackey in Letcher County. He was born
and raised around Ironton, in rural Lawrence County, Ohio, at the southernmost
tip of the state. He got his start on WKOV radio in Wellston, about 40 miles
north of his hometown, then moved out west to the Los Angeles area at the age of
eighteen. Accepted immediately into the music scene there, Bare soon had his
first hit single with a talking blues type of song called "All American
Boy," on the Fraternity label. He had written and recorded the song only a
couple of days before he was to be drafted into the Army, but had no idea it was
going to be released. It soared to #2 on the pop charts, but at first was
erroneously credited to Bill Parsons, a friend of Bare's with whom he had
recorded the session. During and after his tenure in the Army, Bare continued to
record for Fraternity. His reputation grew with the release of songs such as
"Lorena" and "Book of Love," and during this time he toured
with pop artists such as Roy Orbison, Jay and the Americans, and Bobby Darin,
and made his first appearances on the TV show American Bandstand. It was on the
strength of his Fraternity recordings that Chet Atkins was persuaded to sign him
to RCA. Bare's
first single on RCA, "Shame On Me," was both a pop and a country hit.
A year later he recorded one of his best-known songs, "Detroit City"
(written by Mel Tillis and Danny Dill), and it, too, was a huge country/pop
chart success. He won a Grammy for Best Country Recording with "Detroit
City" and also was nominated over the next several years for Best Country
Single and Best Male Country Vocal Performance. Bobby
Bare, Chet Atkins, Jim Reeves, and the Anita Kerr Singers made the first ever
commercial country music tour of Europe, playing to sold-out crowds at some of
the biggest venues there. Bare returned to Germany the following year for three
months, and has toured overseas almost every year since, establishing himself as
one of Europe's most popular American music artists. Bare married the love of
his life, Jeannie Sterling (a fine singer in her own right), and the two
relocated to Nashville, Tennessee. He had tried his hand at acting in a movie
with Troy Donahue and Suzanne Pleshette titled A Distant Trumpet and also in
some pilots for a TV series called No Time For Sergeants, but decided that what
he really wanted to do was get married, raise some children, and be a country
music singer. And that's exactly what he did. Bare recorded two duet albums with
Skeeter Davis, each of which produced a charted single, and also had a top 5 hit
with Liz Anderson and Norma Jean, "The Game Of Triangles," for which
he was nominated for another Grammy. He recorded an album with Liverpool's
Hillsiders and later recorded songs with Rosanne Cash and Lacy J. Dalton.
His collaborative efforts with poet/author/cartoonist/songwriter Shel
Silverstein have received worldwide critical acclaim for their artistic and
original musical directions. Bare was signed next to the Columbia label, with
whom he recorded a number of albums, including Bare (with guests Willie and
Waylon, Chet Atkins, Shel, and Dr. Hook), and a variety of collaborative
projects with Shel, songwriter Rodney Crowell, and others. Among the first to
recognize the talents (and record the songs) of Harlan Howard, Kris
Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, Tom T. Hall, Billy Joe Shaver, Mickey Newberry,
Bob McDill, and Rodney Crowell, Bobby Bare has long been known as a friend of
the songwriter/artist. When TNN: The Nashville Network debuted in 1983, it was
fitting that one of its first programs was Bobby Bare and Friends, a highly
regarded one-hour weekly show spotlighting the importance of the songwriter.
Reflecting Bare's renowned laid-back personality, the show featured him shooting
the breeze with his writer friends, followed by a little informal pickin' and
singin'. Over the years, Bare has built up a huge core of loyal fans in the U.S.
and abroad who turn out for his every appearance, creating a party atmosphere by
shouting out their requests and singing and clapping along with every song. He
continues to write and record, as well. A lifelong fisherman, he and Jeannie
live on the shores of Old Hickory Lake just outside of Nashville. And today,
just like in the past, if Bare's little traveling bag is sitting on the dining
room table, he's home; otherwise, he's out on the road. |
