A few months back a friend drop off a book and suggested I read it. “Buck’em! The Autobiography of Buck Owens” was an interesting read, especially after my time working with Stan Anderson at Trac Records. In conversations with Stan he’d talk about the studio musicians he had lost to Buck over the years, and yup, there was Buck talking about the musicians from Fresno he had in his band over the years. Most he had met while playing the Fresno Barn.
A regret that Stan would repeat many times, was that he had let “Act Naturally” by Johnny Russell get away from him. His story was that Johnny had recorded the demo at Trac Records (true story) and Stan thought it was about the dumbest song he’d heard. Bucks story is that Johnny had been shopping the song around for a couple years and when Buck and Don Rich heard it, they instantly wanted to record it and did within a few days at Capital Records in Los Angles. To Stans last days he would still say; “it’s a dumb song, but people love them dumb songs.”
We’ve all written songs we thought were insightful, heartfelt and well crafted, only to have someone call it something other. Johnny never lost hope for his idea and continued to present it as an opportunity to artist and publishers until he found someone. And just think … that someone recorded it and it went to the top of the country charts in 1963, and then the Beatles recorded and released it in 1965 and it went to the top of the pop charts. That’s a WIN WIN!
As an independent record label and publisher, we are trying to do our part to support independent artist and get their music heard. Like Johnny Russell, we may get a few not so positive comments, but we continue to write, record and promote our music with the faith it will touch someone, someday in a good way. Let us know what you think!
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Thanks,
Dan at DA Newman Music