Tennessee Ernie Ford
b. Ernest Jennings Ford, 13 February 1919, Bristol, Tennessee, USA, d. 17 October 1991, Reston, Virginia, USA. It is difficult to categorize a performer with so many varied achievements, but Ford can be summarized as a master interpreter of melodic songs and hymns. The fact that he has been able to combine singing with his strong faith gives America's best-loved gospel singer great satisfaction. When only four years old, he was singing The Old Rugged Cross at family gatherings, and from an early age, he wanted to be an entertainer. He pestered the local radio station until they made him a staff announcer in 1937 and he also took singing lessons. He subsequently worked for radio stations, WATL in Atlanta and WROL in Knoxville, where he announced the attack on Pearl Harbor. He joined the US Army Air Corps in 1942 and married a secretary, Betty Heminger, whom he met at the bombardier's school. After the war, they moved to California and he worked as an announcer and a disc jockey of hillbilly music for KXFM in San Bernardino. He rang cowbells and added bass harmonies to the records he was playing and so developed a country yokel character, Tennessee Ernie. He continued with this on KXLA Pasadena and he became a regular on their 'Hometown Jamboree', which was hosted by bandleader Cliffie Stone. He was also known as the Tennessee Pea-Picker using the catchphrase ‘Bless your pea-pickin’ hearts’ and appearing on stage in bib overalls and with a blacked-out tooth. Lee Gillette, an A&R for Capitol Records, heard Ford singing along with a record on air and asked Stone about him. His first record, in 1949, was Milk 'Em In The Morning Blues. Ford began his chart success with Tennessee Border, Country Junction and Smokey Mountain Boogie, a song he wrote with Stone. Mule Train despite opposition from Frankie Laine, Gene Autry and Vaughn Monroe, was a national hit and a US country number 1. An attempt to write with Hank Williamsdid not lead to any completed songs, but Ford wrote Anticipation Blues about his wife's pregnancy and it made the US charts in 1949. Capitol teamed him with many of their female artists including Ella Mae Morse, Molly Bee and the Dinning Sisters, and his most successful duets were Ain't Nobody's Business But My Own and I'll Never Be Free, a double-sided single with Kay Starr. The duet just missed a gold record but he secured one, also in 1950, with his own song, Shotgun Boogie, which capitalized on the boogie craze and can be taken as a forerunner of rock ‘n’ roll. Its UK popularity enabled him to top a variety bill at the London Palladium in 1953. Ford recalls, ‘When somebody told me that Give Me Your Word was number l in your charts, I said, "When did I record that?" because it wasn't big in America and I had forgotten about it!’ Ford also had success with The Cry Of The Wild Goose and the theme for the Marilyn Monroe film, The River Of No Return, while the superb musicians on his records included Joe ‘Fingers’ Carr, who was given equal billing on Tailor Made Woman in 1951, Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant. Ford hosted a USA daytime television show for five days a week and, in 1955, Capitol informed him that he would be in breach of contract if he did not record again soon. He chose a song he had been performing on the show, Merle Travis' Sixteen Tons. Ford says, ‘The producer, Lee Gillette, asked me what tempo I would like it in. I snapped my fingers and he said, ‘Leave that in.’ That snapping on the record is me.’ Sixteen Tons topped both the US and the UK charts, and Ford was also one of many who recorded The Ballad Of Davy Crockett, the theme of a Walt Disney western starring Fess Parker, which made number 3 in the UK. His half-hour US television show, 'The Ford Show' (guess the sponsor) ran from 1956-61. He closed every television show with a hymn, which led to him recording over 400 gospel songs. One album HYMNS, made number 2 in the US album charts and was listed for over five years. He has shared his billing with the Jordanaires on several albums including GREAT GOSPEL SONGS which won a Grammy in 1964. Ford says, ‘Long before I turned pro, it was a part of my life. There are many different types of gospel music, ranging from black music to the plain old Protestant hymns. I've shown that you don't have to sing them with a black robe on.’ Ford had further USA hits with That's All, In The Middle Of An Island and Hicktown but, for many years, he concentrated on gospel. In 1961 he decided to spend more time with his family and moved to a ranch in the hills of San Francisco. He recorded albums of well-known songs, be they pop or country, and he rates COUNTRY HITS—FEELIN' BLUE and ERNIE SINGS & GLEN PICKS, an album which showcases his deep, mellow voice with Glen Campbell's guitar, amongst his best work. Many collectors seek original copies of his albums of Civil War songs. Ford, who was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1990, remarked; ‘People say to me, "Why don't you record another Sixteen Tons" and I say, "There is no other Sixteen Tons".’