SUPERSTARS

We hear the word superstar thrown around so casually today. People that have had one or two major hits, that will not be remembered but until the airplay is gone, or have one big album, and then they are unheard of again, are called superstars.

Forgotten are the people like Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter Family, and the Stonemans who were among the first major recorded artists from the Bristol Sessions.

Forgotten are the country crooners who not only had the monster hits, but could cross over onto the pop charts because of their smoothness. Included in this category would be Eddie Arnold, Jim Reeves, Ray Price and Conway Twitty, and maybe even Marty Robbins. Just five of the great voices of country.

Forgotten are all the Outlaws who lived their lives, and made their music on their terms. Hank Williams, Hank Williams Jr., Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Johnny Paycheck.

Maybe not so forgotten, but under appreciated are those that are definitely stylists who charmed us with their unique deliveries. George Jones, Merle Haggard, Vern Gosdin, Gene Watson, John Anderson, Lefty Frizzell, Carl Smith, Faron Young, Ernest Tubb, Webb Pierce, and Buck Owens all will be remembered as long as there are true traditional and classic country fans alive.

Forgotten are all the pioneers who blazed the way for the undertalented, and overcompensated, stars of today, Kitty Wells, Jean Shepard, Hank Thompson, Redd Stewart, Pee Wee King, and Hank Locklin.

Forgotten are Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Tex Ritter, Rex Allen, and Gene Autry, all those great Western singers.

Forgotten are the songwriters who are the REAL SUPERSTARS. Writers like Harland Howard, Jerry Chesnut, Sanger Shafer, and many others who, though their music is heard, they are relatively unknown.

In music, like everything else in life, if the roots are forgotten, eventually the whole organism dies.

Long live OUR real SUPERSTARS!!!