Classic Country Music Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tom T Hall

Tom T Hall, a son of a preacher, has become one of the most succesful country song writers of all time. His simple ballads reflect life in such a way he has earned the nickname "The Storyteller". Amongst his many hits are " Old Dogs, and Children and Water Melon Wine", "I Love" and, although a lot of people don't know this, "Harper Valley PTA", a tremendous hit for Jeannie C Riley.

Answer: Luckenbach, Texas

Luckenbach, Texas is a rather small town with a population of approximately twenty five people. In 1970 Luckenbach was advertised for sale with a population of three people and was bought for $30,000 by Hondo Crouch.
The town was immortalised by Waylon Jennings' recording of "Luckenbach, Texas, Back to the Basics of Love"

Answer: Tanya Tucker

In 1972 Tanya Tucker recorded "Delta Dawn" and it went into the Country Charts at Number 6. Although later entering the pop charts at Number One, when recorded by Helen Reddy, the original version is still attributed to Tanya.
Tanya Tucker went on to be one of Country's best known female artists.

Answer: Eastbound and Down

"Eastbound and Down, Loaded up and Trucking" was the theme song from the Burt Reynolds film "Smokey and the Bandit". Sung by Jerry Reed it features on several of his albums and has become a firm favourite for people who love "Trucking" songs. In the film Jerry plays Cledus Snow, known as the Snowman.

Answer: Johnny Cash

"To Beat the Devil" was dedicated to Johnny Cash who helped Kris back onto the straight and narrow. The last part of the narrative goes "I would like to dedicate this to John and June, who helped show me how to beat the devil."

Answer: Jesse Colter

Jesse Colter appeared with Waylon, Willie and Tompall on the album "Wanted. The Outlaws", and the group became known as "The Outlaws" and was to become the start of Outlaw Music.

Jesse married Waylon Jennings in 1969 after divorcing Duane Eddy in 1968.

Answer: Stand By Your Man

Tammy Wynette's classic "Stand By Your Man" spent three weeks in the number one spot on the British Charts. Her other major hit in the UK was D-I-V-O-R-C-E.

Answer: Spade Cooley

Although Bob Wills is generally known as "The King of Western Swing" it was Spade Cooley who was originally credited with that title. Western Swing sometimes known as "Texas Swing" can best be described as the "Big Band Sound" of Country Music.

Spade started his band in the early 1940s and became one of the largest swing bands in America.

Answer: George Jones and Tammy Wynette

George Jones and Tammy Wynette had a number one hit in the American Country Chart in 1976 with "Golden Ring" from their album "16 Biggest Hits"

Answer: Distant Drums

Although Jim Reeves was killed in 1964 there was a lot of recorded material that had not been released and over the following years, his wife drip fed this material onto the market and "Distant Drums" immediately went into the number one spot on both sides of the Atlantic. "Distant Drums" was the last Jim Reeves Number One in the UK although "I Wont Come in While He's There" did reach the Number One Spot in the USA in 1967.

Answer: Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stones)

Recorded when she was 15, Dave Allen Coe's "Would you Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone) was instantly branded as a song promoting underage sex. Because of this the song was banned from radio plays and Tanya was not allowed to perform the song at rodeos or county fairs. Eventually the song was accepted and immediately went into the Country Charts.

Answer: Spade Cooley

Spade Cooley, in July 1961, believed that his wife Ella Mae had been having an affair with Roy Rogers, the film star, and savagely beat her to death in front of his fourteen year old daughter. The daughter testified in court and Spade was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.

He was a model prisoner and was hoping for an early parole and in 1969 was allowed a 72 hour pass to play at a sheriffs Benefit Concert. However, when he finished playing in front of an audience of 3,000 he returned to his dressing room only to suffer a massive heart attack from which he never recovered.

Answer: Merle Haggard

Whilst President Reagan was the Governor of California he granted a full pardon to Merle Haggard, who had served time in San Quentin for armed robbery.

Merle is reported to have said "There are few figures in American History that can be public enemy number one and man of the year in the same ten year period".

Answer: Jimmie Rodgers

Jimmie Rodgers spent his early years working as a brakeman on the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad before illness forced him to retire. He took up singing and became known as "The Singing Brakeman". He eventually had a number of big hits including "T for Texas". Continually fighting tubercolsis he worked right up to his death. He was 35 years old when he died.

The "Singing Brakeman" should not be confused with Jimmie Rodgers, the pop singer who amongst many other songs had a hit with "Honeycomb"

Answer: Tear in my Beer

Hank Williams was filmed playing guitar and singing "Tear in My Beer" sometime between 1950 and 1953. In 1989 Hank Williams Junior recorded the same song and with clever dubbing and technical wizardry, appeared performing alongside his father some 37 years after his father's tragic death. In 1989 it was named Country Video of the Year and was nominated Best Video in the 32nd Grammy Awards in 1990.

A player of this quiz has pointed out that the actual lyrics that Hank Senior was singing on the "Tear in my Beer" video were in actual fact the lyrics for "Hey Good Looking".

Editor agony has also done some research and it does seem, on studying the lip movements, that Hank Senior was singing a different song, but the editing is such that it is virtually impossible to determine what exactly Hank was singing.
As there has only been one player that has brought this fact to my attention, I will leave the question as it stands.

My thanks go to the player that brought this to my attention, and did not request a correction.