Must-See TV: Charlie Rich Burns Himself Alive and Laughs while doing it…
Charlie Rich. Sun Records veteran, discovered by the great Sam Phillips.
There a few dozen epic tragedies and comic oprys in the saga that was Charlie Rich. For painful decades his marriage and private life were Shakespearean. Most of the mainstream public only began paying attention after Rich sold his soul and had to give up his magnificent jazz-and-blues-infused piano to finally make it big in the Nashville music bidness, singing slick pop ballads.
Want a taste of the aching and heartfelt blues inside him? Give a listen to his nakedly beautiful demo recording of Feel Like Going Home (NOT the overproduced studio release), with just Charlie and his beloved piano singing his own composition. The man was the real thing.
I was sitting outside Savannah, Georgia, watching the 1975 Country Music Awards broadcast go down that night and have never forgotten this national media moment, soon buried in some vault until now. It was rambling, delicious, and everything I love about watching the structures of the establishment get upended by one countrified incorrigible rebel, locked and loaded on pills and a bottle. Yes, I do love it so. It’s the rockabilly in me. I can’t help myself.
And neither could Charlie Rich.
http://countrymusicnation.com/49003/o...
Randy Thornhorn's Blog
- Randy Thornhorn's profile
- 57 followers
