Biography
Though best known for his heartfelt, often humorous spoken recitations set inside the cab of a long-haul rig, singer, songwriter and guitarist Red Sovine enjoyed an extended and respected career in country music. Born Woodrow Wilson Sovine to a struggling family in Charleston, West Virginia, he drew early inspiration from local WCHS radio artists Buddy Starcher and Frank Welling. With childhood companion Johnnie Bailes he joined Jim Pike’s Carolina Tar Heels, appearing as “Smiley and Red, the Singing Sailors.” The duo made a short visit to the influential WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling before Sovine returned home, married and took factory work, continuing to perform on Charleston stations while Bailes found wider fame as half of the Bailes Brothers.
Bailes nevertheless kept supporting Sovine’s ambitions, and in 1947 the latter organized the Echo Valley Boys. After a year of regional work in West Virginia, Sovine relocated to Shreveport, Louisiana, where the Bailes Brothers were already appearing on KWKH. His own early-morning slot drew little attention, yet sharing the Louisiana Hayride stage with Hank Williams proved pivotal; Williams helped him secure a stronger time slot at WFSA in Montgomery, Alabama, and a 1949 MGM Records contract. Over the next four years Sovine cut twenty-eight singles in the honky-tonk style of Williams, none of which made a major chart impression yet which established him as a reliable performer.
He remained on the Hayride and forged another key friendship with Webb Pierce, then just launching a long run of Top Ten country successes. Pierce brought Sovine into his Wondering Boys band and guided him to a 1954 Decca contract. The following year a duet with Goldie Hill, “Are You Mine?,” reached the Top Fifteen, and in 1956 Sovine scored his first number-one country single by pairing with Pierce on a cover of George Jones’ “Why Baby Why.” Two additional Top Five releases that year earned him a spot on the Grand Ole Opry cast. After nearly fifty Decca sides by 1959, he moved to Starday and began solo club work.
While in Montana in 1963 Sovine returned a favor by encouraging African-American minor-league baseball player Charley Pride to pursue music in Nashville; he also opened doors at Pierce’s Cedarwood publishing firm, though Sovine’s own momentum had stalled. “Dream House for Sale” climbed to number twenty-two in 1964, nearly eight years after his previous hit.
Although truck-driving spoken-word records had existed since the late 1940s and Starday already featured several specialists, Sovine’s emotive baritone was not matched with such material until several albums later. In 1965 he discovered his signature style with “Giddy-Up Go,” co-written with Tommy Hill, which held the country summit for six weeks and crossed over modestly onto the pop chart. Later successes in the same vein included the supernatural tale “Phantom 309” and the sentimental “Teddy Bear,” the story of a disabled child’s CB-radio bond with truckers; the latter spent three weeks at number one on the country chart in 1976 and reached number forty pop. Its follow-up, “Little Joe,” about a blinded driver and his loyal dog, proved Sovine’s final major hit. He suffered a fatal heart attack while driving his van in 1980.
Bailes nevertheless kept supporting Sovine’s ambitions, and in 1947 the latter organized the Echo Valley Boys. After a year of regional work in West Virginia, Sovine relocated to Shreveport, Louisiana, where the Bailes Brothers were already appearing on KWKH. His own early-morning slot drew little attention, yet sharing the Louisiana Hayride stage with Hank Williams proved pivotal; Williams helped him secure a stronger time slot at WFSA in Montgomery, Alabama, and a 1949 MGM Records contract. Over the next four years Sovine cut twenty-eight singles in the honky-tonk style of Williams, none of which made a major chart impression yet which established him as a reliable performer.
He remained on the Hayride and forged another key friendship with Webb Pierce, then just launching a long run of Top Ten country successes. Pierce brought Sovine into his Wondering Boys band and guided him to a 1954 Decca contract. The following year a duet with Goldie Hill, “Are You Mine?,” reached the Top Fifteen, and in 1956 Sovine scored his first number-one country single by pairing with Pierce on a cover of George Jones’ “Why Baby Why.” Two additional Top Five releases that year earned him a spot on the Grand Ole Opry cast. After nearly fifty Decca sides by 1959, he moved to Starday and began solo club work.
While in Montana in 1963 Sovine returned a favor by encouraging African-American minor-league baseball player Charley Pride to pursue music in Nashville; he also opened doors at Pierce’s Cedarwood publishing firm, though Sovine’s own momentum had stalled. “Dream House for Sale” climbed to number twenty-two in 1964, nearly eight years after his previous hit.
Although truck-driving spoken-word records had existed since the late 1940s and Starday already featured several specialists, Sovine’s emotive baritone was not matched with such material until several albums later. In 1965 he discovered his signature style with “Giddy-Up Go,” co-written with Tommy Hill, which held the country summit for six weeks and crossed over modestly onto the pop chart. Later successes in the same vein included the supernatural tale “Phantom 309” and the sentimental “Teddy Bear,” the story of a disabled child’s CB-radio bond with truckers; the latter spent three weeks at number one on the country chart in 1976 and reached number forty pop. Its follow-up, “Little Joe,” about a blinded driver and his loyal dog, proved Sovine’s final major hit. He suffered a fatal heart attack while driving his van in 1980.
Albums
