Uploaded on Oct 30, 2008
Tennessee Ernie Ford - Peace In The ValleyErnest Jennings Ford (February 13, 1919 – October 17, 1991), better known as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the country and Western, pop, and gospel musical genres.
Today, he is best remembered for his hit recording of "Sixteen Tons".
Biography
| Tennessee Ernie Ford | |
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 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ernest Jennings Ford |
| Born | February 13, 1919 Bristol, Tennessee, United States |
| Died | October 17, 1991 (aged 72) Reston, Virginia, United States |
| Genres | Country & Western, Pop, Gospel |
| Occupations | Singer, actor |
| Instruments | Vocals, Guitar, violin |
Early years
Born in Bristol, Tennessee, to Clarence Thomas Ford and Maud Long, Ford began his radio career as an announcer at WOPI-AM in Bristol, Tennessee.In 1939, the young bass-baritone left the station to study classical singing at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in Ohio.
First Lieutenant Ford served in World War II as the bombardier on a B-29 Superfortress flying missions over Japan.
After the war, Ford worked at radio stations in San Bernardino and Pasadena, California. In San Bernardino, Ford was hired as a radio announcer.
He was assigned to host an early morning country music disc jockey program titled Bar Nothin' Ranch Time. To differentiate himself, he created the personality of "Tennessee Ernie," a wild, madcap exaggerated hillbilly.
He became popular in the area and was soon hired away by Pasadena's KXLA radio.
Ford also did musical tours. The Mayfield Brothers of West Texas, including Smokey Mayfield, Thomas Edd Mayfield, and Herbert Mayfield, were among Ford's warmup bands, having played for him in concerts in Amarillo and Lubbock, Texas, during the late 1940s.
At KXLA, Ford continued doing the same show and also joined the cast of Cliffie Stone's popular live KXLA country show Dinner Bell Roundup as a vocalist while still doing the early morning broadcast.
Cliffie Stone, a part-time talent scout for Capitol Records, brought him to the attention of the label. In 1949, while still doing his morning show, he signed a contract with Capitol.
He also became a local TV star as the star of Stone's popular Southern California Hometown Jamboree show.
RadiOzark produced 260 15-minute episodes of The Tennessee Ernie Show on transcription disks for national radio syndication.
He released almost 50 country singles through the early 1950s, several of which made the charts.
Many of his early records, including "The Shotgun Boogie", "Blackberry Boogie," and so on were exciting, driving boogie-woogie records featuring accompaniment by the Hometown Jamboree band which included Jimmy Bryant on lead guitar and pioneer pedal steel guitarist Speedy West.
"I'll Never Be Free," a duet pairing Ford with Capitol Records pop singer Kay Starr, became a huge country and pop crossover hit in 1950.
A duet with Ella Mae Morse, False Hearted Girl was a top seller for the Capitol Country and Hillbilly division,[1] and has been evaluated as an early tune.[2]
Ford eventually ended his KXLA morning show and in the early 1950s, moved on from Hometown Jamboree. He took over from band-leader Kay Kyser as host of the TV version of NBC quiz show Kollege of Musical Knowledge when it returned briefly in 1954 after a four-year hiatus.
He became a household name in the U.S. largely as a result of his hilarious portrayal of the 'country bumpkin,' "Cousin Ernie" on three episodes of I Love Lucy.
In 1955, Ford recorded "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier" (which reached number 4 on the country chart) with "Farewell to the Mountains" on side B.
"Sixteen Tons"
Sixteen Tons album cover
The song's authorship has been claimed by both Travis and George S. Davis. Its fatalistic tone contrasted vividly with the sugary pop ballads and rock & roll just starting to dominate the charts at the time:
- You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
- Another day older and deeper in debt.
- Saint Peter, don't you call me, 'cause I can't go;
- I owe my soul to the company store...
With a unique clarinet-driven pop arrangement by Ford's musical director, Jack Fascinato, "Sixteen Tons" spent ten weeks at number one on the country charts and eight weeks at number one on the pop charts, and made Ford a crossover star.
It became Ford's 'signature song.'
Later years
Ford subsequently helmed his own prime-time variety program, The Ford Show, which ran on NBC television from October 4, 1956, to June 29, 1961. In an ironic play of words, the show was named not after Ernie, but rather, the sponsor—Ford automobiles.Ford Theatre, an anthology series, had run in the same time slot on NBC in the preceding 1955–1956 season. Ford's program was notable for the inclusion of a religious song at the end of every show; Ford insisted on this despite objections from network officials who feared it might provoke controversy.
This became the most popular segment of his show. He earned the nickname "The Ol' Pea-Picker" due to his catch-phrase, "Bless your pea-pickin' heart!"
He began using the term during his disc jockey days on KXLA.
In 1956 he released Hymns, his first gospel music album, which remained on Billboard's Top Album charts for 277 consecutive weeks; his album "Great Gospel Songs" won a Grammy Award in 1964.
After the NBC show ended, Ford moved his family to Portola Valley in Northern California.
He also owned a cabin near Grandjean, Idaho on the upper South Fork of the Payette River where he would regularly retreat.
A photo of Ford with country singer Hank Thompson and Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby appeared in the 1988 book, The Ruby-Oswald Affair, by Alan Adelson.
From 1962-65, Ford hosted a daytime talk/variety show, The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show (later known as Hello, Peapickers) from KGO-TV in San Francisco, broadcast over the ABC television network.
Source: Wikipedia.org
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