Joe Rucker
Encyclopedia
Joe Rucker is an American
country music
musician
.
, Florida
.
Since his father played the guitar and wrote songs, Rucker started singing along with the family at an early age playing in churches and get togethers. His father (Jerry Rucker) worked in the Space Shuttle
program and wrote a song called "Blastoff Columbia," which was used to wake up astronauts Robert Crippen
and John Young
from their first night in space during STS-1
.
He made the move to Nashville
, Tennessee
in October 1998. One month later, he was invited by Jack Greene
to appear on Ernest Tubb
's Midnite Jamboree
, which is broadcast from "The Air Castle of the South", WSM
AM Radio 650, and "Home of the Grand Ole Opry
". Since that time, Rucker has made multiple appearances with Bill Anderson, Hank Locklin
, Charlie Louvin
, Jett Williams
, Junior Brown
, and others. The Midnite Jamboree is the second oldest live country music radio show in the world. Over the years, it has featured artists such as its original host, Ernest Tubb, along with other stars such as Stonewall Jackson
, Martha Carson
, Elvis Presley
, George Hamilton IV
, Loretta Lynn
, T. Graham Brown
, Randy Travis
, Marty Stuart
, Patsy Cline
, and Hank Williams.
Rucker released his first album
entitled Nashville Scenes in 2001. He co-produced it with Doyle Grisham. In 2007, his second effort Untangle My Mind was released. This eighteen song project included duets
with Clifford Curry
, Hank Locklin
, and Eddy Raven
.
As a musician, he is credited on Locklin's 2006 gospel album, By The Grace of God: The Gospel Album, which also included the Oak Ridge Boys, the Jordanaires
, and Gold City.
In late 2009, he joined cartoonist / singer / songwriter Guy Gilchrist
as bandleader of his group called The Comics. The group did a series of Christmas shows in December 2009 with guest artists Mandy Barnett
and Tommy Cash
. Rucker left the group in the fall of 2010.
On September 11, 2010, Rucker and his group from Nashville (which included Jennifer Brantley
) made his debut on the legendary Wheeling Jamboree out of Wheeling, WV. The Jamboree was once the longtime rival of legendary country radio shows such as the Grand Ole Opry
and the Louisianna Hayride and at one time had artists such as Grandpa Jones
, Louvin Brothers
, the Osborne Brothers
, Chickie Williams & Doc Williams, and Jimmy Dickens.
Recently, Joe has been in rotation on the Musictogousa.com Songwriter's Network as well as performing on its live radio show hosted by Nashville Songwriter's Hall Of Fame member, Jerry Foster (of the famed writing team Foster and Rice. Other regualars on the network and live shows include legendary writers: Jim McBride
, Jimmy Payne
, and Glenn Douglas Tubb, Jimmy Fortune
. He continues to tour occasionally, recently opening for Doug Stone at the Farmer's Opry Country Music Festival in 2010.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
.
Career
Rucker was the youngest of three children. Shortly after his birth, the family moved back to their previous home in GenevaGeneva, Florida
Geneva is a community, census-designated place, and an unincorporated area in Seminole County, Florida, United States. The population was 2,940 at the 2010 Census...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
.
Since his father played the guitar and wrote songs, Rucker started singing along with the family at an early age playing in churches and get togethers. His father (Jerry Rucker) worked in the Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
program and wrote a song called "Blastoff Columbia," which was used to wake up astronauts Robert Crippen
Robert Crippen
Robert Laurel Crippen is an engineer, retired United States Navy Captain and a former NASA astronaut. He flew on four Space Shuttle missions, including three as commander...
and John Young
John Young
-Sports:* John Young , American baseball first baseman* John Young , English cricketer* John Young , English cricketer* John Young , soccer player...
from their first night in space during STS-1
STS-1
STS-1 was the first orbital flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program. Space Shuttle Columbia launched on 12 April 1981, and returned to Earth on 14 April, having orbited the Earth 37 times during the 54.5-hour mission. It was the first American manned space flight since the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project...
.
He made the move to Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
in October 1998. One month later, he was invited by Jack Greene
Jack Greene
Jack Greene is an American country musician nicknamed the "Jolly Green Giant" and well known for his 1966 hit "There Goes My Everything."-Early career:...
to appear on Ernest Tubb
Ernest Tubb
Ernest Dale Tubb , nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" , marked the rise of the honky tonk style of music...
's Midnite Jamboree
Midnite Jamboree
The Midnite Jamboree was started by Ernest Tubb and is broadcast to this day on WSM radio each Saturday night at midnight, following the Grand Ole Opry....
, which is broadcast from "The Air Castle of the South", WSM
WSM (AM)
WSM is the callsign of a 50,000 watt AM radio station located in Nashville, Tennessee. Operating at 650 kHz, its clear channel signal can reach much of North America and various countries, especially late at night...
AM Radio 650, and "Home of the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
". Since that time, Rucker has made multiple appearances with Bill Anderson, Hank Locklin
Hank Locklin
Lawrence Hankins Locklin , better known as Hank Locklin, was an American country music singer-songwriter...
, Charlie Louvin
Charlie Louvin
Charles Elzer Loudermilk , known professionally as Charlie Louvin, was an American country music singer and songwriter. He is best known as one of the Louvin Brothers, and was a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1955.-Biography:Born in Henagar, Alabama, Louvin was one of 7 children...
, Jett Williams
Jett Williams
Jett Williams is an American country music performer.Jett is the daughter of country music icon Hank Williams, Sr. and Bobbie Jett, whose brief relationship with Hank Williams occurred between his two marriages. She is a posthumous child; her birth in Montgomery, Alabama occurred five days after...
, Junior Brown
Junior Brown
Jamieson "Junior" Brown is an American country guitarist and singer. He has released nine studio albums in his career, and has charted twice on the Billboard country singles charts. Brown's signature instrument is the "guit-steel" double neck guitar, a hybrid of electric guitar and lap steel...
, and others. The Midnite Jamboree is the second oldest live country music radio show in the world. Over the years, it has featured artists such as its original host, Ernest Tubb, along with other stars such as Stonewall Jackson
Stonewall Jackson
ຄຽשת״ׇׂׂׂׂ֣|birth_place= Clarksburg, Virginia |death_place=Guinea Station, Virginia|placeofburial=Stonewall Jackson Memorial CemeteryLexington, Virginia|placeofburial_label= Place of burial|image=...
, Martha Carson
Martha Carson
Martha Carson , born Irene Amburgey, was an American gospel-country music singer most popular during the 1950s.-Early life and rise to fame:Ambergay was born in Neon, Kentucky...
, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, George Hamilton IV
George Hamilton IV
George Hege Hamilton IV is an American country musician. He began performing in the late 1950s as a teen idol, later switching to country music in the early 1960s.-Biography:Hamilton was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina...
, Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...
, T. Graham Brown
T. Graham Brown
Anthony "T." Graham Brown is an American country music artist. Active since 1986, Brown has recorded a total of thirteen studio albums, and has charted more than twenty singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts...
, Randy Travis
Randy Travis
Randy Travis is an American country music singer and actor. Since 1985, he has recorded 20 studio albums and charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 22 of which were number one hits...
, Marty Stuart
Marty Stuart
John Martin "Marty" Stuart is an American country music singer-songwriter, known for both his traditional style, and eclectic merging of rockabilly, honky tonk, and traditional country music...
, Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...
, and Hank Williams.
Rucker released his first album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
entitled Nashville Scenes in 2001. He co-produced it with Doyle Grisham. In 2007, his second effort Untangle My Mind was released. This eighteen song project included duets
Duet (music)
A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...
with Clifford Curry
Clifford Curry
Clifford Curry is an American beach music and R&B singer.His career began in high school. He was the member of several groups including: The Echoes, The Five Pennies , Hollyhocks , and the Bubba Suggs Band...
, Hank Locklin
Hank Locklin
Lawrence Hankins Locklin , better known as Hank Locklin, was an American country music singer-songwriter...
, and Eddy Raven
Eddy Raven
Edward Garvin Futch is an American country music artist known professionally as Eddy Raven. Known for his Cajun-influenced country music, Raven has been a recording artist since 1962...
.
As a musician, he is credited on Locklin's 2006 gospel album, By The Grace of God: The Gospel Album, which also included the Oak Ridge Boys, the Jordanaires
The Jordanaires
The Jordanaires are an American vocal quartet, which formed as a gospel group in 1948. They are best known for providing vocal background for Elvis Presley, in live appearances and recordings from 1956 to 1972...
, and Gold City.
In late 2009, he joined cartoonist / singer / songwriter Guy Gilchrist
Guy Gilchrist
Guy Gilchrist is a cartoonist/poet/songwriter and author whose work includes a run on the comic strip Nancy, Your Angels Speak, Night Lights & Pillow Fights, Screams, The Poetry Guy, The Muppets and The Rock Channel...
as bandleader of his group called The Comics. The group did a series of Christmas shows in December 2009 with guest artists Mandy Barnett
Mandy Barnett
Amanda Carol "Mandy" Barnett is a country music singer and stage actress. In her musical career, she has released three albums and charted three singles on the Billboard country charts. Her highest-charting country single is "Now That's All Right With Me", which reached #43 in 1996...
and Tommy Cash
Tommy Cash
Tommy Cash, , is a singer-songwriter and younger brother of Johnny Cash.-Biography:Cash was born in Dyess, Arkansas, youngest of four sons and three daughters of Ray and Carrie Cash, and eight years after his brother, Johnny Cash. He formed his first band in high school. After high school...
. Rucker left the group in the fall of 2010.
On September 11, 2010, Rucker and his group from Nashville (which included Jennifer Brantley
Jennifer Brantley
Jennifer Brantley is a country and Americana singer/songwriter in Nashville, TN. She has released three CD's, "The Other Side," Break Down, " produced by Grammy Award winner Bil VornDick, . This CD also featured guitar player Johnny Hiland. "The Little Things" was produced by Johnny Neel, formally...
) made his debut on the legendary Wheeling Jamboree out of Wheeling, WV. The Jamboree was once the longtime rival of legendary country radio shows such as the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
and the Louisianna Hayride and at one time had artists such as Grandpa Jones
Grandpa Jones
Louis Marshall Jones , known professionally as Grandpa Jones, was an American banjo player and "old time" country and gospel music singer...
, Louvin Brothers
Louvin Brothers
The Louvin Brothers were an American country music duo composed of brothers Ira Lonnie Loudermilk and Charlie Elzer Loudermilk , better known as Ira and Charlie Louvin. They helped popularize close harmony, a genre of country music.-History:The brothers adopted the name Louvin Brothers in the...
, the Osborne Brothers
Osborne Brothers
The Osborne Brothers, Sonny Osborne and Bobby Osborne , were an influential and popular bluegrass act during the 1960s and 1970s...
, Chickie Williams & Doc Williams, and Jimmy Dickens.
Recently, Joe has been in rotation on the Musictogousa.com Songwriter's Network as well as performing on its live radio show hosted by Nashville Songwriter's Hall Of Fame member, Jerry Foster (of the famed writing team Foster and Rice. Other regualars on the network and live shows include legendary writers: Jim McBride
Jim McBride
Jim McBride is an American television and film director, film producer and screenwriter.-Filmography:* David Holzman's Diary * My Girlfriend's Wedding...
, Jimmy Payne
Jimmy Payne
Jimmy Payne is an ex-professional footballer, and one of a select number of players to have played for both Liverpool and Everton.-Life and playing career:...
, and Glenn Douglas Tubb, Jimmy Fortune
Jimmy Fortune
Jimmy Fortune is an American country music singer. He hails from Lovingston, Virginia.-Biography:...
. He continues to tour occasionally, recently opening for Doug Stone at the Farmer's Opry Country Music Festival in 2010.