Skaggs, West, and Gimble
for Hall of Fame
Fiddler Gimble, who won accolades with
his Texas Swing Band, most memorably
in Clint Eastwood’s 1983 milestone flick
“Honky Tonk Man,” performing One Fiddle,
Two Fiddle and San Antonio Rose (with Ray
Price). He had a long history of recording
and touring beside legends like Bob Wills &
His Texas Playboys, Marty Robbins, Merle
Haggard, George Strait, Asleep At the
Wheel, and with Chet Atkins’ Superpickers.
JONESIN’ FOR
A LAWSUIT
Noted songwriter Earl (Peanut) Montgomery, 77,
has filed a lawsuit against George Jones’ widow
Nancy Jones, claiming, in cahoots with Cracker
Barrel and Concord Music Group, she released
recordings he and Jones made together, without
permission.
Peanut (above), who penned more than 70
songs for George, specifically cited a collaborative
album done with Roy Acuff’s Smoky Mountain Boys.
According to Montgomery’s suit, Jones intended
that Peanut produce and own it, “as a retirement
package for all his years of service and friendship to
Mr. Jones.” Montgomery retained possession of the
The Country Music Hall of Fame Class of
2018 inductees were announced March 27:
Ricky Skaggs and the late Dottie West
and Johnny Gimble. Of course, each was
selected in one of three categories enacted
by the secretive Fame panel, notably Gimble
voted rightful recipient as a Recording/
Touring Musician; while West fittingly fulfils
the Veteran Era criteria; and Skaggs solidly
represents the Modern Era. Indeed, all are
super-qualified, having contributed much to
country music, and even beyond that genre.
Glamorous Dottie died Sept. 4, 1991,
after a tragic
car crash en
route to play
WSM’s Grand
Ole Opry. The
McMinnville,
Tenn. native
would have
been 59 the
next month.
She attained initial vocal fame with successes
like Here Comes My Baby, which in 1964,
made her the first female to cop a country
Grammy. She then went on to score pop
crossover status on such as 1981’s What Are
We Doin’ In Love, a torrid #1 duet with Kenny
Rogers.
Among his honours are two Grammys, five
Country Music Association statuettes, nine
Academy of Country Music awards, and a
National Heritage Fellowship, bestowed in ’94
by the National Endowment For the Arts in
Washington, D.C. The Texan died at age 88
on May 9, 2015.
Skaggs, 63, gained early notice in the band
of Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Bo ys,
along with fellow hopeful, Keith Whitley. Ricky
then served apprenticeships in the Country
Gentlemen, J. D. Crowe’s New South, and
finally with Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band.
Skaggs emerged a solo country star,
scoring such #1 jukebox favorites as Cryin’
My Heart Out Over You, Highway 40 Blues
and Don’t Cheat In Our Hometown, earning
1985’s CMA Entertainer of the Year. During the
90s he came full circle, returning to bluegrass,
fronting Kentucky Thunder, adding to his
mantle of Grammys, and is already a member
of the Musicians and Gospel Halls of Fame.
Hailing from Cordell, Ky., Ricky’s a skilled
mandolinist, who plays most string instruments,
has his own studio and label, and once
produced Dolly Parton. He and wife Sharon
(White) copped CMA’s 1987 best vocal duo,
thanks to Love Can’t Ever Get Better Than
This. The official induction will occur this fall at
the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum.
original mixed version, but the master tapes were
kept in a vault at Doc’s Place, the studio where they
recorded. In 1983,
George married fourth wife Nancy Sepulvado,
then 36, at his sister’s house in Woodville, Texas,
following divorce from Tammy Wynette. Jones died
at age 81 in 2013, from respiratory failure.
Following his passing, Nancy allegedly entered
into an agreement with Concord selling his assets
and intellectual properties for a reported $30 million.
Thus, in 2017, Concord closed a deal to release
George Jones & The
Smoky Mountain Boys
CD (right) through
Cracker Barrel.
Despite producing the
original, Peanut was
not credited nor paid
for his participation
in the product. His lawsuit contends: “The release
further misrepresents the album as lost recordings
which were discovered, when in fact recordings were
converted by defendant Nancy Jones and ultimately
the Concord defendants, with full knowledge of (true)
ownership.”
A brother to Melba Montgomery, Peanut wrote
such Jones hits as: Four-O-Thirty-Three, What My
Woman Can’t Do and We’re Gonna Hold On. Others
recording Peanut’s tunes include Tanya Tucker, David
Houston and Emmylou Harris.
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