Post by tcb on Aug 22, 2003 10:50:55 GMT -5
Floyd Tillman R.I.P.
August 22, 2003 - Country Hall Of Fame Member Floyd Tillman
passed away at 4:40 A.M. this morning at his home in Texas. Floyd was 88
years old. He was born Dec 8, 1914 in Ryan, OK.
Floyd Tillman is probably best known for writing "It Makes No
Difference Now," a country classic that he sold to Jimmie Davis for $300
in 1938, only to watch it become a hit for Davis, Cliff Bruner, Bing
Crosby, Gene Autry, and others. That song was one of the first to tap the
bitter acceptance of romantic dissatisfaction that was to set the tone for
so many later country songs. He was a major performer in his own right and
one of the creators of honky tonk country music, repeatedly cited as an
influence by Willie Nelson and other Texas performers. Tillman was born in
Ryan, OK, but raised in Post, TX, in a sharecropper family. He began
playing guitar and mandolin, performing as a backing musician for local
fiddlers while he was still a child. In 1933, at age 19, Tillman joined
Adolph and Emil Hofner's house band at Gus' Palm Garden in San Antonio.
Two years later, he became the leader of the Blue Ridge Playboys, a
Houston band that spawned several of the most innovative country musicians
of the pre-World War II era. In 1936, he began singing and playing
electric guitar, mandolin, and banjo with the Mack Clark Orchestra, a
Houston pop ensemble. Through these varied experiences, Tillman absorbed a
whole range of 1930s music and got a good taste of the rhythmic freedom of
jazz. He also began writing songs and taking lead vocals occasionally; one
of his early compositional efforts, co-written with Blue Ridge Playboy
Leon Selph, was "It Makes No Difference Now." Late in life, he succeeded
in regaining rights to the song.
With jukeboxes spreading across the industrializing Southwest
and the market for recordings rebounding as the Depression waned, Tillman
began a solo recording career of his own on the Decca label in the late
'30s. Joining the Army during World War II, he remained in Texas and
continued to compose and perform. It wasn't long before his trademark
delivery, sometimes described as a cross between Ernest Tubb and Frank
Sinatra, began to emerge; he combined the low-volume vocal inflections of
the crooner with tight country voice production. He had his first number
one hit in 1944 with "They Took the Stars Out of Heaven," and his
songwriting, inspired by wartime themes of separation, continued to
develop along with his vocal style. He notched two Top Five hits, "G.I.
Blues" and "Each Night at Nine," that lamented the soldier's distance from
loved ones even as they began to forge postwar country music's language of
loneliness. Reportedly these songs were often aired by Japanese propaganda
broadcaster Iva Toguri, known as Tokyo Rose, in an attempt to encourage
American soldiers to desert.
Tillman continued to perform around Houston after the war, and
in the late '40s he had two more major hits with songs he himself he had
composed: 1947's "I Love You So Much It Hurts" showcased Tillman's
individualistic country-jazz vocals to the fullest, and 1949's "Slippin'
Around," one of the first country songs to take cheating as its theme, was
covered by Jimmy Wakely and Margaret Whiting and became as well known
among pop fans as in the world of country. Tillman continued to find
inspiration in current events with such songs as the much-covered "This
Cold War With You." He enjoyed solo success as late as 1960 with "It Just
Tears Me Up," and he continued to write songs and to appear around Texas
occasionally. Tillman was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in
1984. -by James Manheim
August 22, 2003 - Country Hall Of Fame Member Floyd Tillman
passed away at 4:40 A.M. this morning at his home in Texas. Floyd was 88
years old. He was born Dec 8, 1914 in Ryan, OK.
Floyd Tillman is probably best known for writing "It Makes No
Difference Now," a country classic that he sold to Jimmie Davis for $300
in 1938, only to watch it become a hit for Davis, Cliff Bruner, Bing
Crosby, Gene Autry, and others. That song was one of the first to tap the
bitter acceptance of romantic dissatisfaction that was to set the tone for
so many later country songs. He was a major performer in his own right and
one of the creators of honky tonk country music, repeatedly cited as an
influence by Willie Nelson and other Texas performers. Tillman was born in
Ryan, OK, but raised in Post, TX, in a sharecropper family. He began
playing guitar and mandolin, performing as a backing musician for local
fiddlers while he was still a child. In 1933, at age 19, Tillman joined
Adolph and Emil Hofner's house band at Gus' Palm Garden in San Antonio.
Two years later, he became the leader of the Blue Ridge Playboys, a
Houston band that spawned several of the most innovative country musicians
of the pre-World War II era. In 1936, he began singing and playing
electric guitar, mandolin, and banjo with the Mack Clark Orchestra, a
Houston pop ensemble. Through these varied experiences, Tillman absorbed a
whole range of 1930s music and got a good taste of the rhythmic freedom of
jazz. He also began writing songs and taking lead vocals occasionally; one
of his early compositional efforts, co-written with Blue Ridge Playboy
Leon Selph, was "It Makes No Difference Now." Late in life, he succeeded
in regaining rights to the song.
With jukeboxes spreading across the industrializing Southwest
and the market for recordings rebounding as the Depression waned, Tillman
began a solo recording career of his own on the Decca label in the late
'30s. Joining the Army during World War II, he remained in Texas and
continued to compose and perform. It wasn't long before his trademark
delivery, sometimes described as a cross between Ernest Tubb and Frank
Sinatra, began to emerge; he combined the low-volume vocal inflections of
the crooner with tight country voice production. He had his first number
one hit in 1944 with "They Took the Stars Out of Heaven," and his
songwriting, inspired by wartime themes of separation, continued to
develop along with his vocal style. He notched two Top Five hits, "G.I.
Blues" and "Each Night at Nine," that lamented the soldier's distance from
loved ones even as they began to forge postwar country music's language of
loneliness. Reportedly these songs were often aired by Japanese propaganda
broadcaster Iva Toguri, known as Tokyo Rose, in an attempt to encourage
American soldiers to desert.
Tillman continued to perform around Houston after the war, and
in the late '40s he had two more major hits with songs he himself he had
composed: 1947's "I Love You So Much It Hurts" showcased Tillman's
individualistic country-jazz vocals to the fullest, and 1949's "Slippin'
Around," one of the first country songs to take cheating as its theme, was
covered by Jimmy Wakely and Margaret Whiting and became as well known
among pop fans as in the world of country. Tillman continued to find
inspiration in current events with such songs as the much-covered "This
Cold War With You." He enjoyed solo success as late as 1960 with "It Just
Tears Me Up," and he continued to write songs and to appear around Texas
occasionally. Tillman was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in
1984. -by James Manheim
Sometimes I wonder if there will ever be another TRULY great country singer. I guess Dale is my favorite of the last 10 years or so, and I've had the pleasure of meeting him and spending some time with him (what a guy!). Anyways, here's to Floyd. I'm drinking my last beer to you tonight!