SONG OF THE DAY
“Backstreet Affair” by Webb Pierce (Back Street Affair single, 1952).
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
- Webb Pierce was one of the most popular American honky tonk vocalists of the 1950s, charting more #1 hits than any other country artist during the decade.
- For many, Pierce, with his flamboyant Nudie suits and twin silver dollar-lined convertibles, became the most recognizable face of country music of the era and its excesses. His biggest hit, “There Stands The Glass”, is considered an iconic country music song. Pierce was a one-time member of the Grand Ole Opry and was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
- In 1949, California-based 4 Star Records signed the Webbs under separate contracts, with his wife signed for duets with her husband under the name Betty Jane and Her Boyfriends. However, success only came for Pierce, and in the summer of 1950, the couple divorced.
- He moved to KWKH-AM and joined the Louisiana Hayride during its first year, and devised a plan to achieve instant “stardom.” Before the show, he bought tickets for several young girls in line and asked them to sit in the first row, and after each of his songs to scream and beg for more. It worked; their enthusiasm spread throughout the audience.
- In September 1953, the Grand Ole Opry needed to fill the vacancy left by the firing of Hank Williams, and Pierce was invited to join the cast. After Williams’ death, he became the most popular singer in country music; for the next four years, every single he released hit the Top Ten, with ten reaching #1, including “There Stands The Glass” (1953), “Slowly” (1954), “More And More” (1954), and “In The Jailhouse Now” (1955).
- His singles spent 113 weeks at #1 during the 1950s, when he charted 48 singles. Thirty-nine reached the Top Ten, 26 reached the top four and 13 hit #1. Other hits included “Backstreet Affair”, “Why, Baby, Why”, “Oh, So Many Years”, and “Finally”; the latter two being duets with Kitty Wells.
- His 1954 recording of “Slowly” was one of the first country songs to include a pedal steel guitar.
- On February 19, 1957, Pierce resigned from the Opry after he refused to pay commissions on bookings and for associated talent.
- Pierce continued charting until 1982 with a total of 96 hits; and he toured extensively and appeared in the movies Buffalo Guns, Music City USA, Second Fiddle To A Steel Guitar, and Road To Nashville.
- As his music faded from the spotlight, Pierce became known for his excessive lifestyle. He had Hollywood tailor Nudie Cohen, who had made flamboyant suits for Pierce, line two convertibles with silver dollars. He built a $30,000 guitar-shaped swimming pool at his Nashville home which became a popular paid tourist attraction—nearly 3,000 people visited it each week—causing his neighbors, led by Ray Stevens, to file suit and prevail against Pierce to end the tours.
- He remained with Decca and its successor, MCA, well into the 1970s, but by 1977 he was recording for Plantation Records. Even though he had occasional minor hits, charting in a 1982 duet with Willie Nelson, a remake of “In The Jailhouse Now,” he spent his final years tending to his businesses, and his legend became clouded due to his reputation as a hard drinker.
- Pierce waged a long battle with pancreatic cancer, which he lost on February 24, 1991, and was buried in the Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Nashville.
- Pierce has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1600 Vine Street; and in 2001, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2008 he was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
- Caught In The Webb, a tribute album, was released on Audium Records in 2001. Produced by Gail Davies, the album featured Willie Nelson, Crystal Gayle, George Jones, Emmylou Harris, The Del McCoury Band, Charlie Pride, Allison Moorer, Dwight Yoakam, Pam Tillis, The Jordanaires and others. The proceeds were donated to The Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation.