Joe Stampley

Joe Stampley’s path through music and entertainment crossed numerous stylistic boundaries. Louisiana was his birthplace, and his father’s collection of Hank Williams discs shaped his early listening. Piano studies started before he reached ten, and at fifteen he cut demos alongside local disc jockey Merle Kilgore. Those recordings produced no results, and a 1961 Chess session likewise stalled. Kilgore nevertheless assembled the Uniques and secured a smooth R&B success with their 1966 single “Not Too Long Ago,” a regional southern favorite. Momentum proved fleeting for the group, prompting Stampley to pivot toward the country mainstream. Algee Music in Nashville offered him a publishing deal, after which company president Al Gallico arranged a Paramount recording contract. Mixing country and soul, he scored 1971 hits with “Take Time to Know Her” and “If You Touch Me You’ve Got to Love Me.” Although that polished approach came to typify the mid-’70s countrypolitan sound, Stampley soon shifted again, penning tougher, hard-edged honky-tonk numbers such as “Whiskey Chasin’.” In 1979 he joined Moe Bandy to create a tongue-in-cheek comedy act billed as Moe and Joe. Their singles “Just Good Ole Boys” and the irreverent “Hey Joe (Hey Moe)” enjoyed success before the duo receded from public view.