A Misunderstood Genius-Red Sovine

On April 4th, 1980, the world lost the king of bad breath country, a true musical giant, the missing link between Hank and Elvis...Red Sovine.



Red was born in West Virginia (I found that out on a web page dedicated to famous people who are from West Virginia), a long time ago. Who's Red Sovine you say? Red Sovine is the finest performer of recitations in country music history. Who can forget his number one hits "Teddy Bear," "Phantom 309," and "Colorodo Kool-Aid?" once you hear Red, you can never forget him.



His timeless songs about crippled orphans in wheelchairs (" Teddy Bear," "Little Joe"); Ghostly hitch-hikers ("Phantom 309," "Bringing Mary Home"); truck drivers on amphetimines ("Freightliner Fever"); bar fights ("Colorado Kool Aid"); children dying in Santa's lap, teenagers dying in car wrecks ("I'm Only 17"); spouses dying in car wrecks ("Last Goodbye"), patriotism ("Pledge of Allegiance"); truck driving concerns ("Trucker's Prayer"); changing flat tires on trucks ("The Gear Jammer and the Hobo"); and Elvis' last concert ("The King's Last Concert") have wowed truck driving music fans for decades.



There is hardly any information on this 20th century Mozart (as I like to call him), but what little I do know, I will share with you now.



1. Red performed on KWKH on Louisiana Hayride along with Hank Williams. Hank even gave Red a song to record, ("You're Barking Up The Wrong Tree Now") one which Hank never recorded himself.



2. Red replaced Hank on the Johnny Fair syrup show on KWKH when Hank went to the Grand Ole Opry.



3. Red was still on the Hayride when Hank returned in 1952, after having been fired from the Opry.



4. Red went to the Opry right before Elvis hit the Hayride.



5. Red recorded some recitations with Webb Pierce singing.



6. Red had a hit with a cover of George Jones' "Why Baby Why."



7. Red had his first number one record with " Teddy Bear," in the late seventies, cashing in on the "truck driving/CB radio craze"



8. Red appeared in the movie "Convoy"



9. Roger Sovine, Red's son, is president of BMI Nashville.



10. There is apparently only one known photograph of Red, because it's the only one on any of his CD covers! (It's the one at the top of this page)



11. New Information! Someone who saw this page sent me an article about Red from "Country Song Roundup" from the late forties. Seems that Red was on WWVA, Wheeling, West Virginia, for three years in the early forties. He often performed with the Bailes Brothers.



12. Red retired from radio in the forties and went to work as superintendant of the Gotham Hosiery Company in West Virginia. He worked there for 7 years. They made panty hose. I don't recall any other celebrity having spent 7 years in a panty hose factory.



13. Shortly after he decided to go back into radio, the Bailes Brothers invited him down to Shreveport.



14. Red signed a deal with MGM records (perhaps with the aid of Hank Williams?) and had a few hits, most notably a ditty called "Intoxicated Rat."



Red Sovine's music is not something you will easily forget. Play a Red Sovine CD at a party, or for friends, and watch their reactions.



I first heard Red Sovine while working at a record store back in 1985. One of my managers played me " Teddy Bear " one Saturday night. I could not believe my ears. Another manager at the store told me he had heard a Red Sovine song about Elvis giving his last concert on the back of Red's flatbed truck. He didn't have a copy of the song, but swore up and down such a tune existed. That's all it took for me.



I shortly thereafter went on a trip across the country, and at every truck stop I visited, I bought Red Sovine tapes. I heard more crazy songs from Red Sovine than I thought possible. The most memorable ones involve supernatural occurances. "Bringing Mary Home" is about a guy finding a little girl out on the highway late at night, and giving her a ride back to her house. When he opens the door of his car to let Mary out, she is gone. He knocks on the door to the house, and a woman inside tells him that Mary was her daughter who had been killed in a car wreck on that road where the guy picked her up. Every year on the anniversary of her death, someone knocks on the woman's door with the same story. "Teddy Bear" is about a crippled boy whose late father was a truck driver. The crippled boy ("Teddy Bear"), gets on the CB one day and asks truckers to come drive him around in their trucks, just like his dad used to do. There's a sequel to "Teddy Bear" called "Little Joe" that casually mentions a miracle happened to Teddy Bear allowing him to walk again, and he becomes a truck driver. Strange stuff.



Yet the Elvis song was nowhere to be found. I ordered a few Red Sovine CD's off the tv, still no luck. I have been a fan of Hank Williams Sr. as far back as I can remember, so finding out that Red had a Hank connection through the Louisiana Hayride got me even more interested in Red.



Who was this shadowy figure who knew and hung out with my heroes down on the Hayride? This man that released such bizarre music that people still enjoy today? This man that stood in line between Hank and Elvis, yet didn't get his due until 1976?



There are no books about Red Sovine, and hardly any information on him on the World Wide Web. For the past 12 years I have always checked the Red Sovine section in record stores, and I never could find that elusive Elvis tribute. Sure, I found lots of other gems, like "Tell Maude I Slipped," "Lay Down Sally," (yes, the Eric Clapton song), "I'd Love Making Love to You," "Does Steppin' Out Mean Daddy Took a Walk?, "Camptown Races," "Mr. FCC," "Santa Clause was a Texas Cowboy," and so many others. The Santa song comes from a Red Sovine Christmas album that also includes songs about children dying in Santa's lap, recently divorced alcoholic men spending Christmas Eve getting drunk, blind children asking "Daddy, what does Christmas Look Like?," and on and on... It's not a very happy Christmas album if you ask me!



But the Elvis song was never among the gems on my newly found Red Sovine masterpieces. Until a few months ago. While shopping at a Nashville used record store, I habitually peeped the Red Sovine Section. I saw a CD called Gone But Not Forgotten, and there plain as day was the song title. "The King's Last Concert."



I was so excited when I got home, I looked up my old manager's phone number who had sent me on this quest twelve years ago, and excitedly left him a message on his answering machine. "I finally found the 'King's Last Concert'"!!!!



And what a song it is, too. Here's the plot. Red is driving late one night, when he goes into some sort of weird drug-like trance, and to quote Red, "I couldn't believe it. there was Elvis Presley on the back of my flat bed truck. And he gave a concert like you never saw. He sang every song he'd ever done..." Yes, it sent me into a weird, drug-like trance, too!



Angels come down from the sky and take Elvis back with them to heaven. Red "stumbles around in the dark" until the sun comes up, then hurriedly heads for the nearest truck stop where he'll have "quite a story for them gear-jammers."



At the truck stop, he gives the waitress a dime for the jukebox and tells her to "play somethin' good" Of course it's an Elvis song. Then Red picks up the morning paper, and sees in the headline that Elvis had died the day before. It was only then he realized that he had witnessed "The last concert of the king..." On the back of his flatbed truck, no less!



Of course, mere words cannot describe the beauty, the insanity of the song. Lots of Red's songs are insane, and make absolutely no sense, but this one takes the cake. This one is the grandaddy of them all.



I would point you in the direction of a Red Sovine web page now, but there aren't any! I plan on rectifying that situation soon. Just do yourself a favor, and buy a Red Sovine CD or tape. They usually have good selections at truck stops. Give the waitress a dime, and tell her to play somethin' good! Or tell her Big Joe is settin' you up. She'll understand.



Follow this link if you want to. It's a link to a commercial web site that has Red Sovine CD's and tapes for sale. Everyone needs a little Sovine.

Red Sovine Albums You Can Order



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