Johnny T. Talley
Johnny "T." Talley (born September 12, 1924 in Nashville , Tennessee ; real name John Carroll Talley ) is an American country and rockabilly musician. The "T" in his name stands for his home state of Tennessee.
Life
Childhood and youth
Johnny T. Talley was born in Nashville, where he later spent most of his career. As a teenager he played steel guitar with the Oklahoma Playboys and then spent three years (1942–1945) in the US Army . Country & Western magazines later claimed that Fred Rose introduced Talley to Grady Martin and that Martin taught him to play the guitar . This claim seems rather unlikely, since Grady Martin came to Nashville much later.
Career
After his military service, Talley joined the band Autry Inmans as a guitarist and played with him regularly on the radio station WLAY in Muscle Shoals , Alabama . In 1950 he returned to Nashville, where he worked at WKDA as Disc Jokey and - accompanied by Dick Stratton's band - recorded his first records for the small labels Jamboree Records and Tennessee Records . One of those titles was If You've Got the Money ; Talley's version was previously available in stores as Lefty Frizzell's original single , as Talley had been given a recording before it was released. However, Talley's single was pushed into the background by Frizzell's hit.
Shortly thereafter, Talley became a DJ at WSM and toured with Bradley Kincaid and the duo Jam Up & Honey. For a short time he even played bass in Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys . Talley then focused more on his radio activities and had engagements at WYVE in Wytheville , Virginia , KEYD in Minneapolis , Minnesota , WISK in St. Paul , Minnesota, WENO in Madison , Tennessee, and WHOO in Orlando , Florida .
In 1956, while Talley was working at KEVE in Minneapolis, he held a session for Mercury Records that resulted in the rockabilly tracks I've Changed My Wild Mind and Lonesome Train . During this session he was accompanied by the Tennesseans ; however, it is unclear whether this group was his own band or whether they were studio musicians. Both tracks had a clear Johnny Cash influence in Talley's singing, and the record became a hit in the Midwest; Talley became Mercury's most successful artist in the field that year. However, Talley did not achieve the national breakthrough.
Talley then recorded another single for Ekko Records , but gave up his music career and went into the publishing business instead . First he worked for the Chicago company MM Cole Publishing, but later switched to Johnny Bond's Red River Songs, where he gave the song After Loving You to Eddy Arnold and looked after other stars such as Patsy Cline . Nevertheless, Talley also took care of unknown musicians such as rockabilly musician Bill Watkins from Ohio . Watkins recalled Talley as follows: “ I went to Nashville and met this Johnny T. Talley and he was a fantastic person. He was a real big though as a dee jay. [...] I met him at the radio station and he liked my material so well that he took me home with him. "
In 1959 Talley could be heard regularly on KEYN in Minneapolis.
Discography
| year | title | Label # | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | If You've Got the Money /? | Tennessee | |||
| 1951 | Shine, Shave & Shover / Look What Thoughts Will Do | Tennessee 752 | |||
| 1956 | (I've Changed My) Wild Mind / Lonesome Train | Mercury 70902 × 45 | |||
| Devil's Hot Rod /? | Ekko | ||||
| Unpublished titles | |||||
| 1956 |
|
Mercury Records | |||
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Bill Millar: That'll Flat Git It !, Vol. 11 - Mercury Records , Liner Notes; Bear Family Records
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Talley, Johnny T. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Talley, John Carroll (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American country and rockabilly musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 12, 1924 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nashville , Tennessee |