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The 1964 album "The Judy Collins Concert" at Town Hall in NYC contains the Tom Paxton composition "Bottle of Wine" with so little applause of recognition that it's obviously the first recording. Later the same year Grammy nominee Tom Paxton gives us

Composer/personality/producer Lee Hazlewood gave us "Houston" in his album "Friday's Child". The album was later released as "Houston". Lee had his first hit, "The Fool", with Sanford Clark in 1956. In 1964 Lee Hazlewood produced Sanford's cover of

The Sparks of Rhythm were the first to record the classic "Handy Man" (Merentstein - Jones) in 1959. The lead is bass Andrew Barksdale. Co-composer Jimmy Jones was a member of the group but not when they recorded it. One of rock's early successful

In 1956 The Four Lovers (Four Seasons) were recording "Don't Be Cruel" (Blackwell) when the composer asked to take it back as a potential Elvis hit. RCA executive Steve Sholes played a demo of Otis Blackwell's "Don't Be Cruel" and Elvis decided to

Otis Blackwell composed "Return to Sender" with Winfield Scott for the Elvis movie "Girls, Girls, Girls". In 1962 Elvis Presley peaked at number one on Cash Box. That's Boots Randolph on the sax even though Bobby Keys is said to be doing that job.

Otis Blackwell used the pseudonym Jack Hammer to write "Great Balls of Fire" In 1957 Sun Record's "The Killer" Jerry Lee Lewis and his Pumping Piano issued "Great Balls of Fire". It was featured in the movie "Jamboree" and hit the number two slot on

"Fever" (Eddie Cooley - Otis Blackwell using the pseudonym John Davenport) was recorded by Little Willie John in 1956 and got well into the top thirty earning a gold record. His son Keith was a background singer for Stevie Wonder. Co-composer Atlanta's

This will be the last "Otis post" for awhile but there is more to come. Pianist, composer, singer Otis Blackwell, the one-man composing factory, wrote "Breathless". Sun Records Jerry Lee Lewis recorded "Breathless" and it peaked in the top ten in

In 1952 the star of the legendary Louisiana Hayride was Johnny Horton. That year the Grand Ole Opry banned Hank Williams so he returned to the Hayride where he married Billie Jean Jones. Hank predicted that Bill Jean would one day marry Johnny Horton.

Laverne Baker reached the top sixty in 1960 with her cover of "Bumble Bee" . The Tads actually gave us the original the same year although it wasn't released until the nineties with the exception of the VIV label compilation "Phoenix Panorama".

Spark Record artists Willy (Willie Headen) and Ruth (?) recorded "Love Me" (Leiber - Stoller) in 1954. In his second album, "Elvis", Elvis Presley's cover made it into the top five in 1956. The song came from the EP Elvis Vol1 and was not released as a

British icon Matt Monroe (Terence Parsons), the singing bus driver, was the first to record "Portrait Of My Love" (West - Orandel). Produced in 1960 the recording peaked at number three in the U.K. Steve Lawrence, Mr. Eydie Gorme, hit the top ten in

Bob Gibson was managed by the legendary Albert Grossman and has a history steeped in folk music. According to the label Bob composed "Abilene" with Les Brown (not the music of renown bandleader) and the disputed names of John D. Loudermilk and a

Les Troubadours in 1967 issued "La Chaine" (Hammond - Hazlewood - Dousset). The next year Jackie Lee (Nora Flood) and her British group "Colours of Love" released "I'm a Train". Albert Hammond's single came in 1973 and was on the 1974 self-titled album

Cuban Jose Fernandez (Diaz) composed "Guajira Guantanamera" (Woman from Guantanamo) (Fernandez) around 1929. Cuban poet Jose Marti added verses much later with Peter, Paul and Mary introducing that version to international audiences. In 1966 the

The Stokes "Whipped Cream" (Naomi Neville) was composed by Allen Toussaint using his mother's maiden name while he was in military service in 1963. Allen formed the Stokes at his army base in Texas. Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass recorded the album

Brazilian singer and pianist Dick Farney (Farnesio Dutra e Silva) was the first to record "Tenderly" (Gross - Lawrence) in 1947. Rosemary Clooney (George's aunt) co-starred with Bing Crosby in "White Christmas" and had a house-load of hits. She took

There are stories about Willie Nelson selling his songs for small sums. This one involves $150.00. Paul Buskirk and the Little Men featuring Hugh (Willie) Nelson first recorded "Night Life" (Buskirk - Nelson - Breeland). A legal battle had the song

San Francisco's Vince Guaraldi (Dellaglio) is noteworthy for recording the music used in the Peanuts cartoons and "Cast Your Fate to the Wind". It's from the 1962 album "Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus" which was inspired by the Academy Award winning

With the temperature soaring and global warming still being debated we present the following .... The Trapp Family Singers were the inspiration for the Broadway musical and the movie "The Sound of Music". Composed in 1941 and based on a traditional

Buck Owens wrote and released "Crying Time" as the B side of "I've Got a Tiger By the Tail" in 1964. Ray Charles and the Raelettes had the top ten hit in 1966 and the tune won two Grammys. "Crying Time" was also the title of the album

Just weeks before the Presley issue, David Hill (Hess) was the first to record "All Shook Up" (Blackwell - Presley). The Elvis version stayed at the top of the charts for weeks in 1957. It's rumoured that manager "Colonel" Tom Parker (Andreas van

Brenda Lee turned down "Misty Blue" so it was first recorded by the successor to Patsy Cline, Wilma Burgess, one month prior to the Tennessee Ploughboy. Eddy Arnold recorded "Misty Blue" (Bob Montgomery) in 1966 for the album "The Last Word in

The Happiness Boys (Billy Jones, Ernie Hare) were a popular radio team in the twenties and thirties. They recorded "Does the Spearmint Lose It's Flavour On the Bedpost Overnight" in 1924. The tune was revived by "King of Skiffle", Lonnie (Anthony

French singer/composer Gilbert Becaud (Silly) gave us "The Day the Rains Came", "Love On the Rocks", "What Now My Love", "It Must Be Him" and so many others including, in 1955, "Let It Be Me" (Je t'appartiens). Jill Corey (Norma Speranza) gave up her

Manager, singer, songwriter and member of the Grand Ole Opry, Merle Kilgore's relatives were named Clowers and actually lived on Wolverton Mountain. Merle and June Carter composed "Ring Of Fire. The beautiful June Carter Cash of the Carter Family

Pino Donaggio opened for Paul Anka during the star's 1960 Italian tour and the classically trained artist then started to focus on popular music. Pino recorded "Io Che Non Vivo (senza te)" (Donaggio - Pallavicini - Miller) translated as "I Who Can't

An American bandleader who gained in popularity after moving to the United Kingdom, Roy Fox (vocalist Barry Gray), recorded "Harbor Lights" (Kennedy - Williams) in 1937. The Platters hit the top ten in 1960 with their cover. There were so many groups

The incomparable Barry Mann co-composed "Don't Know Much" with wife Cynthia Weil and Tom Snow. It appears as on his 1980 album "Casablanca". Why didn't he have anything beyond "Who Put the Bomp"? Linda Ronstadt and New Orleans Aaron Neville's number

The Midnight Cowboy, trucker DJ from Dallas/Fort Worth, broadcaster Bill Mack composed "Blue". This won Bill the Grammy Award for Best Country Song of the Year 1997. The tune was recorded in 1956 and released two years later. You can find the single on

Aviator and orchestra leader Roger Wolfe Kahn and his father Otto were the first father and son to appear separately on the cover of Time magazine. Jack Teagarden was once a member of his orchestra as were Joe Venuti, Gene Krupa and Artie Shaw. "Tonight