Keevy Hazleron & other Mayberry music myths
Will Dockery
admit that I'm not the best, but in all modesty I will have to say that
I expect I'm the loudest." -Andy Griffith
I just caught one of the color episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, in which
Aunt Bea becomes a famous songwriter! Googled it and found the details:
----
http://www.answers.com/topic/the-andy-griffith-show-a-singer-in-town
Jess Pearson, who played Conrad Birdie in the 1963 film version of Bye Bye
Birdie, is here cast as celebrated country-western singer Keevy Hazleton.
Aunt Bee and Clara successfully persuade Keevy to record a song they've
written about Mayberry. When the ladies attend the recording session, they
are sorely displeased with Keevy's interpretation of their masterpiece.
Written by Stan Dreben and Howard Merrill, "A Singer in Town" originally
aired April 11, 1966, as the final episode of The Andy Griffith Show's sixth
season.
The Andy Griffith Show: A Singer in Town (episode)
Genre: Comedy
Director: Alan Rafkin
Main Cast: Jesse Pearson, Hope Summers
Howard McNear - Floyd Lawson; Byron Foulger - The Clerk; Tom D'Andrea - Bill
Stone
Alan Rafkin - Director; Stan Dreben - Screenwriter; Howard Merrill -
Screenwriter
Release Year: 1966
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
----
Andy Griffith played guitar (actually the playing was by Brownie
McGhee) and sang on the show sometimes, as did Don Knotts, Jim Nabors,
et cetera. Some of the ficticious musical groups and performers of the
Andy Griffith Show have been covered pretty well, such as:
"The Country Boys (soon to take the name Kentucky Colonels) were very
high profile, although nonspeaking, on one early episode where they
played a group of pickers who gathered regularly at the barber shop and
were discovered by a traveling folk music record producer. They also
turned up, used more like extras, on a couple other episodes. I
believe
this was a couple years before the Dillards' appearances as the Darling
Family began..." -Paul B.
"The band that played the Darlin Family was the Dillards. They have
been recording continuously since the Andy Griffith days, though most
of their releases in the 70's and 80's were closer to the Eagles than
the Darlins. Two of their early recordings which come to mind are "Back
porch bluegrass" and "Alive...almost", both on Vanguard from ~1965 or
so. They just released a compilation CD of early recordings called
"There is a time". Also, just released a CD of new, acoustic material
called "Let it fly", including a song called "the Darlin boys" ("new,
acoustic" as opposed to "new acoustic"). I saw them last year at the
Winterhawk bluegrass festival, and they put on a real good show, even
though many of the jokes were the same as on the mid-60's live album
mentioned above. With the exception of the banjo player (Doug Dillard),
the original group is back together and in fine form, as of summer 1991
anyway. Doug Dillard leads his own band last I heard, called the Doug
Dillard band of all things. I'd have to recommend "There is a time" as
the seminal Dillards primer." -Ed Stokes
"The actor playing Jim Lindsey in Episode 31 "The Guitar Player
Returns" was James Best. Jim, the guitar player came back to
Mayberry..Talking big about his success. He and Andy are jamming on
Midnight Special when the "finance man" comes to take Jim's car..Jim
comes back in the house and Andy says play some more guitar Jim..Jim is
BLUE and has a blue look on his face and proceeds to play his Fender
Jag slow and T-bone/Jazz-ish blues." His "hit" was "Rock and Roll Rosie
from Raleigh.", and Andy locked the up the rock and roll combo Bobby
Fleet and His Band so that they would listen to Lindsey play. It was a
pretty early episode, number three to be exact." -Leonard Watkins
And Barney Fife's favorite, Leonard Blush:
"...Knotts himself said that one of his favorite episodes was "Barney
and the Choir," in which no one can stop him from singing. His hideous
voice gets the broad laugh, but the real humor comes from his comic
vanity. Some sample dialogue, starting at a singing lesson with his
matronly voice teacher, Eleanora Poltice, prepping him for the big
event..." -John Birge
Eleanora: Oh, I can feel it. You're going to be another Leonard Blush.
Barney: Oh no, that's too much to ask.
Eleanora: Why not? He just walked in here off the street one day. Two
years later he sang the Star Spangled Banner at the opening of the
County Insecticide Convention. The rest is history.
Barney: And he still has that radio program, doesn't he?
Eleanora: Third Tuesday every month. Station YLRB, Mt. Pilot.
Barney: Big Time. Does he still wear that black mask when he sings on
the radio?
Eleanora: Oh no, no. He just wore that for a year when he had that skin
condition.
Barney: Probably emotional - he went to the top so fast.
Eleanora: Very meteoric. Very.
Eleanora: Never let it be said that Barnard Fife let down Eleanora
Poltice!
Barney: I'm going on. My music Eleanora.
Barney: My voice was surging out of my body like Niagra Falls coming
over that cliff in Rochester, NY.
Andy: Buffalo.
Barney: Huh?
Andy: Nothing
Barney: "You know Andy, there's no better feeling than knowing you were
perfect."
Andy: The last tenor I can remember around here was Bruce Flowers. He
could only sing high after a fight with his mother.
"...Sweeping up in the courthouse, Barney periodically looks up at the
clock from time to time in eager anticipation of the top of the hour -
as 2 o'clock will signal the beginning of another installment of the
masked singer himself, "The Leonard Blush Show" aired live and in
living mono sound from Mt. Pilot at 96.3 Radio YLRB am on the radio
dial.
At two minutes before the hour, he rushes to put the broom and dust pan
away before honing in on the radio dial with all the fidelity of a
seasoned safe cracker. In order to capture the true essence of the
masked wonder's melodious, albeit slightly nasal sounding voice, he
obsesses between bass and treble - fidgeting with the 'tone' knob. As
the top of the hour finally arrives, Barney can hardly contain his
excitement when the radio announcer introduces Leonard himself - which
happens precisely at the same time Andy enters the courthouse. "Hey
Barn, that street sign over on Elm Street blew down again, so you'd
better..." Barney hushes Andy with a stern "SSSHHHH!!" then turns, and
with undivided attention nearly caresses the radio as Leonard sings the
first few bars of the show's opening number: "JUST BEFORE THE SUNSET
MOTHER, I HEARD THE DISTANT CHURCH BELLS CHIME..." when the program is
suddenly interrupted by loud static interference. Insulted and
assaulted by this unexpected turn of events, Barney suddenly explodes,
"NOW WHAT THE HECKS CAUSING THIS TO HAPPEN FER HEAVEN SAKES!!?"..."
- from http://www.mayberry.com/interactive/story/boys_will_be_boys.html
Anyway, there's more but those are the main ones I can think of right
now... anyone care to add others?
--
"Ozone Stigmata" by Will Dockery
http://www.myspace.com/willdockery
Will Dockery videos:
http://tinyurl.com/yfmzeq
Barbara's Cat wrote:
>
> "stop typing stupid, stupid."
> - Renay's advise
You mean /advice/, right Barbie?
Look it up: http://wsu.edu/~brians/errors/advice.html
Heh... another for the collection.
Guv Bob
non-dee-script day flled with grate big plethoras full of mediocretins!
(And you kin quote me on that.)
Guv Bob
"Will Dockery" <will_d...@knology.net> wrote in message
news:49662$453fe149$18d6517d$23...@KNOLOGY.NET...
Will Dockery
> Will, you are a fine feller! Your posting cheered up an otherwise
> non-dee-script day flled with grate big plethoras full of mediocretins!
> (And you kin quote me on that.)
>
> Guv Bob
Hey Guv, they're showing it again /right now/, so more notes follow:
> "Will Dockery" wrote:
> > "...the blues is about the only kind of song I can sing. And I will
> > admit that I'm not the best, but in all modesty I will have to say that
> > I expect I'm the loudest." -Andy Griffith
> >
> > I just caught one of the color episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, in
> which
> > Aunt Bea becomes a famous songwriter! Googled it and found the details:
> >
> > ----
> > http://www.answers.com/topic/the-andy-griffith-show-a-singer-in-town
> >
> > Jess Pearson, who played Conrad Birdie in the 1963 film version of Bye Bye
> > Birdie, is here cast as celebrated country-western singer Keevy Hazleton.
Seems more like a rocker, or rockabilly type than actual "country &
western"... his big hit before the Bea and Clara composition (sold a
million copies!) was "Texarcanna In The Morning".
Bea's song is "My Hometown":
My hometown
is the greatest place I know.
Where the living is fine...
my hometown...
Mayberry, Mayberry...
> > Aunt Bee and Clara successfully persuade Keevy to record a song they've
> > written about Mayberry. When the ladies attend the recording session, they
> > are sorely displeased with Keevy's interpretation of their masterpiece.
The first hard rocking version's not bad but Bea and Clara will have
none of it, so Keevy does a "Love Me Tender" type rendition, and some
guy's yelling at the end of the episode that
"They switchboard's lighting up like a Christmas tree!"
Keevy Hazleton has another hit song!