Delbert Barker
Delbert Barker (born December 3, 1932 in Frenchburg , Kentucky ) is an American country and rockabilly musician. Barker is best known for his countless cover versions on Gateway Records .
Life
Childhood and youth
Delbert Barker was born in Frenchburg, Kentucky, in 1932, but moved with his family to Middletown , Ohio in 1943 . At the age of 14, he entered a talent competition hosted by a local dance school. With the regional win of this competition, Barker received a television show on a local television station.
Gateway careers
In 1951, WCPO-TV accepted the young Barker as a member of its midday barn dance show Mid-Day Merry-Go Round . Record label owner and producer Carl Burckhardt saw Barker at one of these shows and signed him for his Gateway label. With Gateway and his labels like Big 4 Hits , Kentucky Records and others, Burckhardt specialized in bringing out cheaper cover versions of current hits. Over the next five years, Barker recorded countless versions of current country hits. He was considered the "man with the five voices" at Gateway, as he was mainly responsible for the repertoire of Hank Williams , Carl Smith , Hank Thompson , Faron Young and Lefty Frizzell . He also covered hits by Jim Reeves , Tennessee Ernie Ford and Bill Carlisle .
His background band for all Gateway recordings consisted of Barker ( guitar / vocals ), his cousin Ralph Barker (guitar), Bill Thomas ( fiddle ), Bill Apple ( bass ), Bob McCoy ( pedal steel guitar ) and often a drummer and Pianists. In contrast to the good musical quality of the recordings by Barker and his band, the quality of the records left a lot to be desired, as Burckhardt's press shop often used poor material.
Due to Burckhardt's business strategy, however, the focus was always on the respective song and never on the interpreter. The names of the performers were only printed in small letters on the plate label or left out entirely or pseudonyms were used. Even on an LP with 16 Hank Williams tracks recorded by Barker, his name was only small on the back of the album cover. As a result, Barker, like many of his other Gateway colleagues, did not receive the necessary recognition despite the excellent recordings.
In 1954, however, Ben Garnett became aware of Barker and a single was subsequently produced. Billboard gave Barker's record Building Castles / Yearning in My Heart only an average rating: “ Okay warble by Barker on his debut cutting for the new label. "
In 1955 and 1956 Barker increasingly played a rockabilly. After Johnny Cash's hit So Doggone Lonesome , versions of Carl Perkins ' Blue Suede Shoes and Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel followed .
Switch to King
Louis Innis , A&R manager for King Records , was looking for King's answer to Carl Perkins and heard Barker's version of Blue Suede Shoes ; he was so impressed that he offered Barker a contract. Barker accepted and held his first session for King on June 19, 1956. Of the four recorded rockabilly titles, No Good - Robin Hood / That's a Sin were used as a single. Due to the lack of marketing, the record went under without much attention.
Barker's second session in November of the same year resulted in two country singles, which were just as unlikely as Barker's rockabilly from the summer. The bad sales then let King the contract expire and not renew.
Later years
After the failures at King, Barker moved to New Jersey , where he worked for some time as an accompanist (guitar / steel guitar) for country stars such as Justin Tubb , Jimmy Dean , George Morgan , the Warren Brothers and Jimmie Skinner . He had enough work as a touring and studio musician, but the money wasn't enough to support his family.
Barker therefore gave up the music and moved back to Middletown in 1959, where he now worked as a police officer. In 1966 he tried his hand at the music business again - again with King - and recorded the single It Can't Last Long / Color Me Gone , which received little public attention. It wasn't until 1981 that Barker was able to celebrate a great commercial success as a songwriter. Kenny Price had recorded Barker's song You Almost Slipped My Mind back in 1972 , but it wasn't until Charley Pride that the song became a number one hit. Barker also ran a small studio and label (Center Records) in the 1980s that specialized in bluegrass .
Delbert Barker is still active as a musician in and around Cincinnati . He appears as a guitarist and sometimes also as a singer at church festivals and other local events. In his career as a musician he recorded over 100 songs.
Discography
Due to the large number of releases made by Carl Burckhardt's labels, a complete discography is difficult to implement. Barker's Gateway publications can be viewed at Gateway Records / Discography .
| year | title | # | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garnett Records | |||
| 1954 | Building Castles / Yearning In My Heart | 500 | |
| King Records | |||
| 1956 | No Good - Robin Hood / That's a Sin | 4951 | |
| 1957 | Wild Heart / There Must Be a Way | 5008 | |
| 1957 | Amanda / Broken Heart | 5031 | |
| 1966 | It Can't Last Long / Color Me Gone | 6042 | |
| Unpublished titles | |||
| 1956 |
|
King | |
literature
- Sven Bergman: The Delbert Barker Story - King of the Low-Budget Labels . 2002, appeared in Rockin 'Fifties .
swell
- ↑ Billboard Review of March 6, 1954, p. 98 - books.google.de
Web links
- Delbert Barker on Hillbilly-Music.com (English)
- Discography with audio samples (rockabilly)
- List of Barker's Hank Williams covers
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Barker, Delbert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American country and rockabilly musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 3, 1932 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Frenchburg, Kentucky |