Benny Barnes

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Benny Barnes (born January 1, 1936 in Beaumont , Texas , as Benjamin M. Barnes, Jr. , † August 27, 1987 ibid) was an American country musician . Barnes made several hits on the country charts in the late 1950s.

Life

Childhood and youth

Benny Barnes was born in Beaumont, Texas. Information about his date of birth is contradictory; Allmusic gives 1934 as the year of birth, while Hillbilly-Music.com and Terry Gordon name 1936. Barnes attended school in Beaumont and worked like his father and grandfather on the local oil fields from the age of 15. Barnes began to play guitar and was largely influenced by country music.

Beginnings at Starday

Around 1954 Barnes devoted himself more and more to music. At this time he made his first recordings as a guitarist for George Jones . In 1956, after an accident in the oil fields, he devoted himself entirely to music and was signed by Starday to replace Jones, who switched to Mercury Records . Barnes' song Poor Man's Riches , written by JP Richardson , released in September 1956 , was acquired by Mercury in 1957 and became a hit with a number two on the Billboard country chart . The success led to guest appearances in the Grand Ole Opry as well as a permanent engagement with the Louisiana Hayride .

In addition to Sleepy LaBeef , Barnes also worked for Starday in 1956/1957 as a Johnny Cash imitator and covered other current country hits for Starday's "Hillbilly Hit Parade". Notable recordings for this include covers of I Walk the Line , There You Go and Train of Love .

King for a Day , 1957

The success of Poor Man's Riches secured Barnes a contract with Mercury, but a follow-up success did not set in. With the Echoes he tried his hand at rockabilly with Moon Over My Shoulder (Mercury, 1958) and You Gotta Pay (Starday, 1958) , but here too no success could be recorded. With Gold Records in the Snow for D Records 1959, he paid tribute to the rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly , JP Richardson and Ritchie Valens who had died in February 1959 .

Later career

Barnes gave up his professional career in 1960 and moved back to Beaumont, where he opened The Blue Lantern bar . In the next few years he continued to play records and achieved a small hit with Mercury in 1961 with Yearing . Another small success came in 1965 with a remake of the slim dusty hit A Pub with No Beer under the title Bar with No Beer . This was followed by recordings for Hallway, Kapp , Musicor , Mega, Starday and Playboy. His last hit was in 1977 with Barnes I've Got Some Getting Over You to Do .

After a brief stay in California in 1970, Barnes opened the Benny Barnes Melody Ranch in 1971 , where he performed regularly with his band, the Ranch Hands , and remained extremely popular. There is as much conflicting information about Barnes' date of death as there is about his date of birth. Allmusic and Terry Gordon name 1985, Hillbilly-Music.com and the Museum of the Gulf Coast in 1987.

Discography

Singles

year title Label # US Country
1956 No Fault of Mine / Once Again Starday 236
1956 Poor Man's Riches / Those Who Know Starday 262 2 / -
1957 Poor Man's Riches / Those Who Know Mercury 71048x45
1957 Poor Ole Me / Penalty Mercury 71057x45
1957 Nickel's Worth of Dream / Mine All Mine Mercury 71119x45
1957 King for a Day / Your Old Standby Mercury 71188x45
1958 Moon Over My Shoulder / Lonely Street (with the Echoes) Mercury 71284x45
1958 You Gotta Pay / Heads You Win (with the Echoes) Starday 401
1959 Gold Records in the Snow / Happy Little Blue Bird D 1052
1959 Fastest Gun in Town / Beggar to a King Mercury 71552x45
1960 That a Boy Willie / Token of Love Mercury 71600x45
1960 Message in the Wind / Pretty Little Girl Mercury 71637x45
1960 You're Still On My Mind / I'll Think I'll Take a Walk Mercury 71717x45
1961 Yearning / Go On, Go On Mercury 71806x45 22 / -
1961 I Changed My Mind / World's Worst Letter Mercury 71896x45
1962 Gee, I Feel Sorry for Me / How Blue Can You Get Hallway 1909
1965 Let Me Live As Long As I Can / Tea Leaves Don't Lie Musicor 1100
1965 Have We Really Tried / Heartaches Comin ' Musicor 1127
1965 Headed for Heartbreak / A Bar with No Beer Hall-Way 1203
1965 It's Good to Be Home / For a Minute There Hall-Way 1207
1966 Diesel Smoke / That's How I Need You Musicor 1169
1966 Stand By Your Window / You're Not There Musicor 1194
1966 Third Time Down / What's the Matter with Me Musicor 1223
1967 Bar with No Beer / Headed for Heartbreak Kapp 859
1967 I'm Her Lover / Same Old Boat Musicor 1247
1967 Let One Call Do It All / Rosanna Martin Musicor 1277
1968 Sweet Suzannah / It's My Mind That's Broken Kapp 912
1968 Cheating Traces / Mr. & Misses Minus the Kisses Musicor 1290
1968 Destiny's Child / I'd Be Lost Without You Kapp 930
1972 I'm Just Here to Get My Baby Off My Mind / Woman, Leave My Mind Alone Mega 0071
1972 Take Me Back to the Country / I'm So Afraid of Losing You Guyden 6003
1973 Chillie Smith / Poor Man's Riches Starday 978
1976 Can't Keep My Hands Off You / Little Brown Paper Back Blues Playboy 6084
1977 I'll Drink to That / I've Got Some Getting Over You to Do Playboy 5808 - / 94
1982 If You Could See Me Now / I Wanna See a Honky-Tonk Angel Fly KIK 908

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ according to other sources, year of birth 1934
  2. ↑ according to other sources, year of death 1985
  3. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.museumofthegulfcoast.org

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Barnes, Benny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Barnes, Benjamin M. Jr.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American country musician
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Beaumont , Texas
DATE OF DEATH August 27, 1987
Place of death Beaumont , Texas