In honor of National Battery Day, the Mewsic Moves Me blog hop is challenging us to choose songs using the keywords smoke, alarm, battery, and charge. It was brought to my attention that I didn't dedicate a Valentine post last week to my beloved Conway, so this one is for him!
One of the many, many, many, many, many things I love about Conway is his unbelievable range and versatility. He could sing absolutely anything. This first song was recorded for a radio show in 1972 and went commercially unreleased until just a couple years ago. It's as country as you can get...
By the late 70s he could see that country music was changing and he was either going to need to adjust to those changes or be left by the wayside like so many of his peers. Change he did and while he ruled the airwaves in the late 60s and all through the 70s with a traditional country sound, during the 80s he scored some of the biggest hits of his career with "countrified" covers of pop hits and music that reflected the crossover sounds of the decade. He was still racking up number one records in the early 90s and I have no doubt that would have continued had he not been taken from us.
Smoke from a Distant Fire clearly isn't a country song (it was originally recorded by the Sanford-Townsend Band) and it gave Conway the opportunity to go back to his early rock days. He might surprise you on this one!
Whether it was country, rock, blues, or gospel, people have said Conway could sing the phone book and make it sound good. (One of his nicknames was "the best friend a song ever had," after all.) Loretta Lynn once said he could probably even sing opera for all anyone knew!
Do you have a favorite artist who could seemingly "sing it all"?
17 comments:
That was some terrific tune fun!
I think you’re right, Conway could sing anything.
Great choices.
The sign of a great artist is the ability to change with the times.
Conway seems to have done just that :)
Purrs Georgia,Julie and JJ
By far and away these are going to be the most original songs of the day. It never occurred to me to go country for inspiration, yet country music has a song for every situation. Well done...really well done. Have a blessed week.
Well, you sure could find that music and evidently Conway did sing the phonebook cuz you found those songs we were talking about as quick as lightening! Way ta go girlfriend! Thanks for joining us!
Great songs. Conway was such a great talent. Thanks for sharing them.
You and Conway are on fire, Mudpie! In a good way, of course.
I didn't realize Conway played Rock too. He was very talented.
TW actually LIKED that second song. She says that Crystal Gayle singlehandedly ruined country music and turned it easy listening.
I was indeed surprised by Smoke of a Distant Fire. I'd never heard it before. I've actually not heard an awful lot from Conway, but it has all been definitely been country. Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (and Loud, Loud Music) was also new. But the title sounds like my kind of night - minus the smoke. Smoke and asthma don't get along so well!
Kim
Ooooh, I love your graphic!
Emmylou Harris used to get cross-labelled as country, folk, or pop depending on which record people were listening to.
If she's not my favorite singer, or even favorite female singer from Virginia, that's due to competition...she *has* had an epic musical career.
Conway Twitty doing "Smoke from a Distant Fire" - he did a really nice job on this cover; I might just be preferring it to the original. As far as artists who could sing the phone book in sold-out concerts, I nominate the late Karen Carpenter, a talent taken way too young. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
I never knew about Conway until I read your 4M. I learned a lot!
Excellent song choices! Thanks so much for the dance! :)
It was really insightful.
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Cheers
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