Customer Reviews

Country Comes to Carnegie Hall

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In May 1977 four country legends, Roy Clark, Freddy Fender, Hank Thompson, and Don Williams took the stage at Carnegie Hall to perform (individually) for this once in a lifetime, sold-out event. These four artists have charted more than 200 Country hits combined, including 26 that were number one. Individually they produced some of the most popular country hits of the last three decades.

Country music wasn't unknown to the floorboards of Carnegie Hall - Flatt & Scruggs played there in 1962 at the height of the early '60s folk boom, and Buck Owens recorded his landmark live album there in 1966. Even with Country music's relative scarcity in this iconic hall of sophistication, New Yorkers prove themselves (as they did on Owens' recording) as happy to hoot and holler as their Southern relations might be at an Opry broadcast.

Unlike the solo appearances of Flatt & Scruggs and Buck Owens, this 1977 date was an ABC-Dot package that featured four headliners, representing different eras of country music and stages in their careers. Hank Thompson opens the show, recounting his two biggest hits ("Wild Side of Life" and "A Six Pack to Go"), as well as his Western Swing beginnings ("Oklahoma Hills"). Freddy Fender appears at the peak of his popular fame. Having recovered from career detours in the '60s, Fender hit with a remake of "Before the Next Teardrop Falls," and a remake of his own "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights." In addition to the hits, he dips into the Hank Williams catalog for a Spanish-English take of "Jambalaya."

Third up is multi-instrumentalist Roy Clark. Like Buck Owens, Clark's image was defined in the '70s more by his hosting slot on "Hee Haw" than by his records. Still, he cut an enduring cover of Charles Aznavour's "Yesterday, When I Was Young" (represented here by a 1972 live recording) and continued to dazzle audiences with his instrumental skills. Pickin' highlights include Clark's guitar playing on "Under the Double Eagle" and "Malaguena," and bandleader Buck Trent's banjo on "Banjo Buck." Crooner Don Williams closes the CD, reprising many of his gentle, chart-topping ballads, accompanied by bass and guitar. His singer-songwriter approach sounds the most contemporary in this mid-70s setting, and the audience responds (to both his music and his low-key humor) with sing-along enthusiasm.

Originally released as a double LP on ABC/Dot, this is a nice reminder of a time when performers from different areas and eras of country music could all fit together under the big top.

I bought this when it came out on vinyl, in the late 70's. I'm so happy, to finally get it again on a CD. Since I bought this one, I've ordered 2 more. 1 for my co-worker, and 1 for my mother. It's truly one of the BEST albums made !

I Played fiddle on this album. What a glorious time it was!
A country boy from Douglas, AZ , playing live at Carnegie Hall on a violin given to me by my Grandfather (a frustrated concert violinist) and my Grandmother (a concert pianist), who taught piano locally, into her 95th year. We are (those of whom are living)gathering to celebrate her 100th birthday this Dec. 15th in Tucson!
My mother Phyllis, trained by her mother Roma, was my musical inspirition and instructor.
Curly Lewis was the second fiddle on this landmark album.
Freddy Fender is gone. Our steel guitar player, Gary Hogue is gone. Hank is gone. God bless all who participated in this recording!
I hope you enjoy it as much as we all enjoyed performing it!
Incidentally, the marble stairs to the stage, even then, were worn into a foot path, indented deeply by the artists who had preceeded us.

Four old-timers, each at different phases in their careers, share the stage at New York City's prestigious Carnegie Hall, providing a fascinating glimpse at live country music during the peak of the countrypolitan scene. Honkytonk-swing legend Hank Thompson opens the show, moving through his seasoned stage routine -- boisterous, professional and full of pep, Thompson's star had long since fallen, yet like a true road warrior, he shows no signs of slowing down, and even if he's just going through the motions, he's still better that most. Between songs, he delivers an interesting aside about how his song "Wild Side Of Life" helped spark the career of Kitty Wells and, by extension, the careers of dozens of female country stars to follow. Ironically, he still refers to these woman as "girls," and takes the opportunity to make a crack about how "big" a star Dolly Parton is... Ah, me... how boys will be boys! Then there's Freddy Fender from Texas, whose career had kicked into high gear in '75 after longs years laboring in obscurity, and who was riding high at the top of the charts with hits like "Wasted Days And Wasted Nights" and "I'll Be There Before The Next Teardrop Falls." His career was about to level off soon after this concert, but here he's still at the top of his game, singing the hits as well as unapologetically dipping into his deep reservoir of Spanish-language Tex-Mex tunes. Hee-Haw host Roy Clark comes next, and lets loose with some dazzling, aggressive guitar work before sidling into a few gooey soft-pop countrypolitan vocals, and then wows the rubes with a fast, flurried version of the flamenco chestnut, "Malaguena." The superstar of the evening was crooner Don Williams, who was in the middle of a long, solid string of #1 hits and who gets the crowd singing along to his soulful, sentimental ballads, and laughing at his self-deprecating humor... One gets the sense that ABC Records might have done well to have included his full performance here, but hearing the other artists is nice from an historical perspective, and this is quite a nice album, when all is said and done. Recommended!