Biography
Originally an English instructor who pivoted to songcraft, Arlie Duff composed the enduring country standard “Y’all Come” in 1953. Issued as his fourth single on the Beaumont, Texas–based Starday imprint, the track climbed to the seventh position on the country charts and prompted innumerable covers by fellow performers. Country interpreters such as Moe Bandy, Bobby Bare, Glen Campbell, Porter Wagoner, Jim & Jesse, George Jones, and Loretta Lynn all recorded the number, while pop singers Bing Crosby, Gene Pitney, and Bobby Vinton likewise added their versions; Bill Monroe regularly closed his own shows with the piece. Throughout the remainder of the fifties Duff supplied further successes, among them “Another Story” for Ernest Tubb, “It’s the Little Things” for Sonny James, and the modest chart entry “Alligator Came Across,” which he cut himself. In later years he worked chiefly as a broadcaster, first on Colorado stations between 1957 and 1958 before shifting to Texas airwaves.