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Country and rockabilly performer Glenn Barber was born in Hollis, OK, on February 2, 1935. From there, he and his family moved to Pasadena, TX, where the young Barber showed an early interest in music. Originally a guitar player, he also took up bass, drums, dobro, and mandolin. He first appeared on wax with the 1952 Stampede single "You Took the Twinkle Out of My Stars"; by 1954, he had a contract with the Starday label. Over the next few years, Barber would release numerous countrified rockabilly singles on the label, the last being issued in 1956, just as rock & roll was sweeping the country. From there, he and manager Pappy Dailey traveled to the D imprint, which issued four Barber singles during the remainder of the 1950s.
As the '60s arrived, Barber became a disc jockey and featured performer on Houston's KIKK. He and his band, the Western Swingmasters, appeared on the station five nights a week until 1968, when he signed with the Nashville outfit Hickory. There he made his full-length debut with 1970's A New Star. While with Hickory, Barber charted four times, taking songs like "Kissed By the Rain, Warmed By the Sun" (1969) and "Unexpected Goodbye" (1972) all the way to the Top 30. Another Hickory single, "She Cheats on Me," would later be recorded by Roy Orbison. Barber jumped to MMI in 1979, and penned the hit "Everyone Wants to Disco." It was his last charting single, and Barber turned to other interests in the 1980s and '90s, including painting and screenwriting.

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I know a little something about this mans ambitions and talent. I did some road work with him in the 70's playing bass and he was / is a real talent. He had enough talent to take him to the top, but got into a bad deal with a publishing company and record label They used him as a writer and let the Artist side of him slide down the tubes.

He also Penned the Hit Single "Yes Mam, I found her in a Honky Tonk" and it was reverse written for Leona Williams to sing and put it in the Charts.

Glenn Was/is a Great Person with a Great Voice and Super Guitar playing Skills, He played A telecaster with Bigsby Palm pedals. His son Glenn Jr, Was/is a super Drummer and Sometimes we worked as just a trio.
His Hank Williams Medley Could raise the hairs on the back of your neck and was carefully researched out and accurate.

People, This is One who should have made it, but he didn't get drunk or do drugs, was married to one woman, had a great family, didn't get into the "Outlaw" Thing and had tons of talent. A fine man who I was proud to call Friend and We share the Same Birthdate.

The reason for the was/is analogy is the fact that I have been out of contact with him and his family since the late 70's. He and his son were great talents and no doubt still are.

This is something I have planned on saying for several years on the music forum and wanted to get it off my chest before one of us dies and it never gets said.

A Victim of the Nashville System!!!

There are others and I'll be mentioning them also.

In the meantime, I'm sure some of you know of others that have had careers destroyed by mis-management or other reasons.

Lets hear them!!

[This message was edited by John Floyd on 10 January 2004 at 02:39 AM.]

Eric is well known and famous..NOW..but there were many many years in the early days right after the TONES album that Eric was not allowed to record because of contractual agreements that were signed that clearly almost cost him a brilliant recording career. He somehow endured..but there are many many many that did not..all for the greed and the ego of those that handed over the pen to the artists..

"sign here..became a star..of course I didn't tell ya that I will be the one who becomes rich..and you may or may not..probably not"...

" What do you mean you don't agree with me ?..you don't need to..you are bound to everything I tell you to do for the next 100 years..see..it says that..right here..right above your signature"...

Probably it has to do with the famous "be at the right place at the right time"! Also, knowing the right people who can make connections are something very important.

This also caused human tragedies in the past, just consider the career of Mel Street who had so much talent and never made it real big, just because his style of pure country/honkytonk didn't really sell when he came up. Mel's tragic suicide in 1978 was also caused by his unsuccessful struggle for the big break in music business.

Regards, Walter
www.austriansteelguitar.at.tf

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Plugging Leona's new album Honorary Texan produced by Justin Trevino.

While on my last NVille visit I met the guy who wrote Private O'Rielly, that song where the deceased soldier comes back to save the person who purchased his 66 Vette in a wreck...

Well this fella was singing in a club on Broadway ( Legends) and I asked him why he didn't cut the song..he told me that know one was interested in him singing, they gave it to someone else that already had a deal going.

It was sad, this guy, forgot his name, was a great singer..young, looked good, excellent stage presence,all that stuff..but no pending record deal..

music business 101...

[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 11 January 2004 at 04:21 AM.]

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It was sad, this guy, forgot his name, was a great singer..young, looked good, excellent stage presence,all that stuff..but no pending record deal..

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Well, he sold the song. (That's what songwriters do!) He didn't have to, he could have kept it for himself. Like they say in them Checkers commercials..."Ya gotta eat."

I think the Nashville "music machine" is more interested in making money than it is in making stars. Thom Shepherd's "Riding With Private Malone" is certainly a catchy song, and I'm sure it's done very well for both Thom and the singer (David Ball). Also (in hindsight), I'll wager that a lot of bigger star's A & R people wish they'd grabbed the song first.

Neither Thom nor David should complain, though. They've both had a big "hit record".

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James R.Hall
MSA S10 & MSA D12

Wasn't Johnny "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" Carver also on Gene Davis' band? I recall seeing him with them.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

Your bringing up Mel Street is very ironic. Myself and some other players here in Nashville who, remember Mel when he was doing auto body repair during the day and working on WHIS t.v. in Bluefield, W.Va. and playing the clubs in W.Va.,S.W. Va., and east Tn. and eastern Ky. were commenting, that it was ALL our opinion that, given the time and what George Jones was doing to himself and career, if Mel hadn't killed himself, he would have taken over the honky-tonk side of country music.
Don't get me wrong, Ole George has straightened out and sings as great as ever and I would never say anything disrespectfull about him or his music, but, during the late '70's was his worst times personally and it carried over into his proffesional life, hince "No Show Jones".
Myself and several others think Mels suicide is one of the greatest tragedies country music has ever suffered and we lost so much when he died.

Mike

[This message was edited by Mike Sweeney on 12 January 2004 at 12:03 PM.]

Dale Bennett....you can't hide anywhere....they tracked you down all the way to Oklahoma City! ...and of course Carl West is still out there!

[i]both are active Forum members currently!

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Livin' in the Past and the Future with a 12 string Mooney Universal tuning.

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Al Bruno recently sold his house in Northridge and moved to Las Vegas to work. Who ever he's working with really has a prize. JH

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You might contact G,D, Walker at this website, There is a possiblility that he know how to contact Al.

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I just quit the band I was working with in Vegas and I need to steal some licks from Mr. Bruno to get my creativity going again.

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Be careful of what you ask...LOL
In 1972 he scared me to death in Nashville and I went to playing bass the very night I went to a jam session where he was playing. Convinced me real quick that I couldn't measure up as a guitar player. What a picker!!! and one hell of a nice guy.

[This message was edited by John Floyd on 13 January 2004 at 04:31 PM.]

Ethan replaced Jay Dee in the Jerry Inman band at the Palomino for a time, just prior to his stint with Glen Campbell.

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Livin' in the Past and the Future with a 12 string Mooney Universal tuning.

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He used to work at the old Miller's Cave club in the LA area and had a pretty good band. I filled in on guitar a couple of nights when someone was sick

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