Tennessee Ernie Ford
Encyclopedia
Ernest Jennings Ford better known as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the country and Western
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...

, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

, and gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

 musical genres. Today, he is best remembered for his hit recording of "Sixteen Tons
Sixteen Tons
"Sixteen Tons" is a song about the life of a coal miner, first recorded in 1946 by American country singer Merle Travis and released on his box set album Folk Songs of the Hills the following year...

".

Early years

Born in Bristol
Bristol, Tennessee
Bristol is a city in Sullivan County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 26,702 at the 2010 census. It is the twin city of Bristol, Virginia, which lies directly across the state line between Tennessee and Virginia. The boundaries of both cities run parallel to each other along State...

, 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...

, to Clarence Thomas Ford and Maud Long, Ford began his radio career as an announcer at WOPI-AM
WOPI (AM)
WOPI is a broadcast radio station licensed to serve Bristol, Virginia, USA. The station is owned and operated by Holston Valley Broadcasting Corporation....

 in Bristol, Tennessee. In 1939, the young bass-baritone left the station to study classical singing at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music
Cincinnati Conservatory of Music
The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music was a conservatory, part of a girls' finishing school, founded in 1867 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It merged with the College of Music of Cincinnati in 1955, forming the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, which is now part of the University of Cincinnati.The...

 in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

. First Lieutenant
First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...

 Ford served in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 as the bombardier
Bombardier (air force)
A bombardier , in the United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force, or a bomb aimer, in the Royal Air Force and other Commonwealth air forces, was the crewman of a bomber responsible for assisting the navigator in guiding the plane to a bombing target and releasing the aircraft's bomb...

 on a B-29 Superfortress
B-29 Superfortress
The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...

 flying missions over Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. After the war, Ford worked at radio stations in San Bernardino
San Bernardino, California
San Bernardino is a city located in the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area , and serves as the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States...

 and Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...

. In San Bernardino, Ford was hired as a radio announcer. He was assigned to host an early morning country music disc jockey program titled Bar Nothin' Ranch Time. To differentiate himself, he created the personality of "Tennessee Ernie," a wild, madcap exaggerated hillbilly. He became popular in the area and was soon hired away by Pasadena's KXLA radio.

Ford also did musical tours. The Mayfield Brothers of West Texas
West Texas
West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....

, including Smokey Mayfield
Smokey Mayfield
Arlie Vincent Mayfield, I, known as Smokey Mayfield , was a ranch supervisor in the Texas Panhandle and a bluegrass musician...

, Thomas Edd Mayfield
Thomas Edd Mayfield
Thomas Edward "Edd" Mayfield was a Bluegrass singer and guitarist, mostly known for being a member of the Bill Monroe and Bluegrass Boys band during the 1950s. Edd Mayfield and two of his Texas brothers, Smokey Mayfield of Spearman and Herbert E...

, and Herbert Mayfield
Herbert Mayfield
Herbert Earl Mayfield was a bluegrass musician and a member of the Mayfield Brothers band of West Texas. Playing the mandolin and the guitar, Mayfield played alongside his brothers, Thomas Edd Mayfield and Arlie V...

, were among Ford's warmup bands, having played for him in concerts in Amarillo
Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo is the 14th-largest city, by population, in the state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 190,695 at the 2010 census...

 and Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...

, during the late 1940s. At KXLA, Ford continued doing the same show and also joined the cast of Cliffie Stone
Cliffie Stone
Cliffie Stone , born Clifford Gilpin Snyder, was an American country singer, musician, record producer, music publisher, and radio and TV personality who was pivotal in the development of California’s thriving country music scene after World War II during a career that lasted six decades...

's popular live KXLA
KXLA
KXLA digital channel 51 is an independent television station licensed to Rancho Palos Verdes, California and serving the Los Angeles area. It telecasts Asian programming in Mandarin Chinese, Japanese , Korean and Vietnamese as well as infomercials. Channel 44 signed on the air in December 2000 as...

 country show Dinner Bell Roundup as a vocalist while still doing the early morning broadcast. Cliffie Stone, a part-time talent scout for Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...

, brought him to the attention of the label. In 1949, while still doing his morning show, he signed a contract with Capitol. He also became a local TV star as the star of Stone's popular Southern California Hometown Jamboree
Hometown Jamboree
Hometown Jamboree was an American country music radio and television show broadcast each Saturday night by KXLA radio, Pasadena, California and KTLA-TV, Los Angeles, California. The show was hosted by Cliffie Stone and first held at the American Legion Stadium in El Monte, California, and later at...

show. RadiOzark
Ralph D. Foster
Ralph David Foster , was an American broadcasting pioneer and philanthropist who created the framework for Springfield, Missouri to challenge Nashville, Tennessee as the nation's country music capital during the 1950s...

 produced 260 15-minute episodes of The Tennessee Ernie Show on transcription disks for national radio syndication.

He released almost 50 country singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 through the early 1950s, several of which made the charts. Many of his early records, including "The Shotgun Boogie
The Shotgun Boogie
"The Shotgun Boogie" is a 1950 song by Tennessee Ernie Ford. "The Shotgun Boogie" was Tennessee Ernie Ford's most successful release on the Country & Western charts, staying on the charts for a total of twenty-five weeks on the chart, and at number one for three weeks .The song has been covered by...

", "Blackberry Boogie," and so on were exciting, driving boogie-woogie records featuring accompaniment by the Hometown Jamboree band which included Jimmy Bryant
Jimmy Bryant
Jimmy Bryant was a prominent American session guitarist. He was billed as "The Fastest Guitar in the Country".-Biography:Ivy J. Bryant, Jr. was born in Moultrie, Georgia, the oldest of 12 children...

 on lead guitar and pioneer pedal steel guitarist Speedy West
Speedy West
Wesley Webb West , better known as Speedy West, was an American pedal steel guitarist and record producer. He frequently played with Jimmy Bryant, both in their own duo and as part of the regular Capitol Records backing band for Tennessee Ernie Ford and many others...

. "I'll Never Be Free," a duet pairing Ford with Capitol Records pop singer Kay Starr
Kay Starr
Kay Starr is an American pop and jazz singer who enjoyed considerable success in the 1940s and 50s. She is best remembered for introducing two songs that became #1 hits in the 1950s, "Wheel of Fortune" and "The Rock And Roll Waltz"....

, became a huge country and pop crossover hit in 1950. A duet with Ella Mae Morse
Ella Mae Morse
Ella Mae Morse , was an American popular singer. Morse blended jazz, country, pop, and R&B.-Career:Morse was born in Mansfield, Texas, United States. She was hired by Jimmy Dorsey when she was 14 years old. Dorsey believed she was 19, and when he was informed by the school board that he was now...

, False Hearted Girl was a top seller for the Capitol Country and Hillbilly division, and has been evaluated as an early tune.

Ford eventually ended his KXLA morning show and in the early 1950s, moved on from Hometown Jamboree. He took over from band-leader Kay Kyser
Kay Kyser
James Kern Kyser was a popular bandleader and radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s.-Early years:He was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the son of pharmacists Paul Bynum Kyser and Emily Royster Kyser. Editor Vermont C. Royster was his cousin...

 as host of the TV version of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 quiz show
Quiz Show
Quiz Show is a 1994 American historical drama film produced and directed by Robert Redford. Adapted by Paul Attanasio from Richard Goodwin's memoir Remembering America, the film is based upon the Twenty One quiz show scandal of the 1950s...

 Kollege of Musical Knowledge when it returned briefly in 1954 after a four-year hiatus. He became a household name in the U.S. largely as a result of his hilarious portrayal of the 'country bumpkin,' "Cousin Ernie" on three episodes of I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...

. He called Ricky Ricardo "Cousin Ricky Rickerdo". Most famous was the scene of Cousin Ernie and "The Wicked City Woman" (Lucy). where two of the greatest lines were derived. "You got quite a hitch in your get-a-long", referring to Lucy's swinging of her hips while portraying "The Wicked City Woman". This portrayal as "The Wicked City Woman" was an attempt to scare Cousin Ernie out of the city and Ricky & Lucy's home by "Vamping" (rubbing his head and messing up his hair). Instead of scaring him, Cousin Ernie liked it, and the famous lines "Vamp me some more " was born as a renowned favorite memory of "Cousin Ernie" on "I Love Lucy".

In 1955, Ford recorded "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier" (which reached number 4 on the country chart) with "Farewell to the Mountains" on side B.

"Sixteen Tons"

Ford scored an unexpected hit on the pop charts in 1955 with his rendition of Merle Travis
Merle Travis
Merle Robert Travis was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and musician born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His lyrics often discussed the life and exploitation of coal miners. Among his many well-known songs are "Sixteen Tons", "Re-Enlistment Blues" and "Dark as a Dungeon"...

' "Sixteen Tons
Sixteen Tons
"Sixteen Tons" is a song about the life of a coal miner, first recorded in 1946 by American country singer Merle Travis and released on his box set album Folk Songs of the Hills the following year...

", a sparsely arranged coal-miner's lament that Travis wrote in 1946, based on his own family's experience in the mines of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky
Muhlenberg County, Kentucky
Muhlenberg County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 31,499. The county is named for Peter Muhlenberg. Its county seat is Greenville....

. Its fatalistic tone contrasted vividly with the sugary pop ballads and rock & roll just starting to dominate the charts at the time:
You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
Saint Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...

, don't you call me, 'cause I can't go;
I owe my soul to the company store...


With a unique clarinet-driven pop arrangement by Ford's musical director, Jack Fascinato, "Sixteen Tons" spent ten weeks at number one on the country charts and eight weeks at number one on the pop charts, and made Ford a crossover star. It became Ford's 'signature song.'

Later years

Ford subsequently helmed his own prime-time variety program, The Ford Show
The Ford Show
The Ford Show is a half-hour comedy/variety program, starring singer and folk humorist Tennessee Ernie Ford, which aired in color on NBC television on Thursday evenings from October 4, 1956 to June 29, 1961....

, which ran on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 television from October 4, 1956, to June 29, 1961. In an ironic play of words, the show was named not after Ernie, but rather, the sponsor—Ford automobiles. Ford Theatre
Ford Theatre
Ford Theatre was a radio and television anthology series broadcast in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. At various times the television series appeared on all three major television networks, while the radio version was broadcast on two separate networks and on two separate coasts...

,
an anthology series, had run in the same time slot on NBC in the preceding 1955-1956 season. Ford's program was notable for the inclusion of a religious song at the end of every show; Ford insisted on this despite objections from network officials who feared it might provoke controversy. This became the most popular segment of his show. He earned the nickname "The Ol' Pea-Picker" due to his catch-phrase, "Bless your pea-pickin' heart!" He began using the term during his disc jockey days on KXLA.

In 1956 he released Hymns
Hymns (Tennessee Ernie Ford album)
Hymns is an album recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford that was released in 1956. It was the second best selling record in the United States in 1957. The album is one of the best selling of all time and spent 277 weeks on the Billboard 200....

, his first gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

 album, which remained on Billboard's Top Album charts for 277 consecutive weeks; his album "Great Gospel Songs" won a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 in 1964. After the NBC show ended, Ford moved his family to Portola Valley
Portola Valley, California
Portola Valley is an incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States. The population was 4,353 at the 2010 census. It was named for Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola, who led the first party of Europeans to explore the San Francisco Peninsula, in 1769.Portola Valley is one of the...

 in Northern California. He also owned a cabin near Grandjean, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

 on the upper South Fork of the Payette River
Payette River
The Payette River is an river in southwestern Idaho and is a major tributary of the Snake River.Its headwaters originate in the Sawtooth and Salmon River Mountains at elevations over...

 where he would regularly retreat.

A photo of Ford with country singer Hank Thompson and Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby
Jack Ruby
Jacob Leon Rubenstein , who legally changed his name to Jack Leon Ruby in 1947, was convicted of the November 24, 1963 murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy. Ruby, who was originally from Chicago, Illinois, was then a nightclub operator in Dallas, Texas...

 appeared in the 1988 book, The Ruby-Oswald Affair, by Alan Adelson.

From 1962-65, Ford hosted a daytime talk/variety show, The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show (later known as Hello, Peapickers) from KGO-TV
KGO-TV
KGO-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, based in San Francisco, California...

 in San Francisco, broadcast over the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 television network.

Ford was the spokesman for the Pontiac Furniture Company in Pontiac, Illinois
Pontiac, Illinois
Pontiac is a city in Livingston County, Illinois, United States. The population was 11,931 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Livingston County...

 in the 1970s.

Ford's experiences as a navigator and bombardier in World War II led to his involvement with the Confederate Air Force (now the Commemorative Air Force
Commemorative Air Force
The Commemorative Air Force , formerly known as the Confederate Air Force, is a Texas-based non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and showing historical aircraft at airshows primarily throughout the U.S. and Canada...

), a war plane preservation group in Texas. He was a featured announcer and celebrity guest at the annual CAF Airshow in Harlingen, Texas, from 1976 to 1988. He donated a once-top-secret Norden Bombsight
Norden bombsight
The Norden bombsight was a tachometric bombsight used by the United States Army Air Forces and the United States Navy during World War II, and the United States Air Force in the Korean and the Vietnam Wars to aid the crew of bomber aircraft in dropping bombs accurately...

 to the CAF's B-29 bomber restoration project. In the late 1970s, as a CAF colonel, Ford recorded the organization's theme song "Ballad of the Ghost Squadron."

Over the years, Ford was awarded three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...

, for radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

, records, and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...

 in 1984, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1990.

Offstage, both Ford and wife Betty contended with serious alcohol problems; Betty had the problem since the 1950s. Though his drinking worsened in the 60's, he worked continuously, seemingly unaffected by his heavy intake of Cutty Sark whisky
Whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Different grains are used for different varieties, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and corn...

. By the 1970s, however, it had begun to take an increasing toll on his health and ability to sing. After Betty's substance abuse-related death in 1989, Ernie's liver problems, diagnosed years earlier, became more apparent, but he refused to reduce his drinking despite repeated doctors' warnings. In 1990, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. His last interview was taped in September 1991 by his old friend Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...

 for her TV show. His physical deterioration by then was quite obvious.

Ford received posthumous recognition for his gospel music contributions by adding him to the Gospel Music Association
Gospel Music Association
The Gospel Music Association was founded in 1964 for the purpose of supporting and promoting the development of all forms of Gospel music. There are currently about 4,000 members worldwide...

's Gospel Music Hall of Fame
Gospel Music Hall of Fame
The Gospel Music Hall of Fame, created in 1971 by the Gospel Music Association, is a Hall of Fame dedicated exclusively to recognizing meaningful contributions by individuals and groups in all forms of gospel music.-Inductees:...

 in 1994.

Personal life

Ford was married to Betty Heminger from September 18, 1942, until her death on February 26, 1989; they had two children - Jeffrey Buckner “Buck” Ford (born January 6, 1950) and Brion Leonard Ford (born September 3, 1952 in San Gabriel, California
San Gabriel, California
San Gabriel is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is named after the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, founded by Junipero Serra. The city grew outward from the mission and in 1852 became the original township of Los Angeles County. San Gabriel was incorporated in 1913...

 - died Friday, October 24, 2008 in White House, Tennessee
White House, Tennessee
White House is a city in Robertson and Sumner counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The population was 7,220 at the 2000 census. According to the city website a special census was conducted in 2008 that placed the city population at 9,891 residents, with 3,587 households within the city limits...

, of lung cancer at age 56).

Less than four months after Betty's death, Ford, who had long suffered from severe alcoholism, married again. On September 28, 1991, he fell into severe liver failure
Liver failure
Acute liver failure is the appearance of severe complications rapidly after the first signs of liver disease , and indicates that the liver has sustained severe damage . The complications are hepatic encephalopathy and impaired protein synthesis...

 at Dulles Airport, shortly after leaving a state dinner
State dinner
A state dinner is a dinner or banquet paid by a government and hosted by a head of state in his or her official residence in order to renew and celebrate diplomatic ties between the host country and the country of a foreign head of state or head of government who was issued an invitation. In many...

 at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 hosted by then President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...

. Ford died in H. C. A. Reston Hospital Center, in Reston, Virginia
Reston, Virginia
Reston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, within the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The population was 58,404, at the 2010 Census and 56,407 at the 2000 census...

, on October 17—exactly 36 years after "Sixteen Tons" was released, and one day shy of the first anniversary of his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Ford was interred at Alta Mesa Memorial Park
Alta Mesa Memorial Park
Alta Mesa Memorial Park is a nondenominational burial ground located in Palo Alto, California. The facility was established in 1904 It includes traditional burial plots, a mausoleum and columbarium.-Notable burials:*Tennessee Ernie Ford, musician...

, Palo Alto
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...

, California, Plot: Lot 242 Sub 1, Urn Garden. His second wife, Beverly Wood Ford (1921–2001), died ten years after Ernie and her body was interred with her husband's.

Albums

Year Album Chart Positions RIAA Label
US Country US
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

1956 This Lusty Land 12 Capitol
Hymns
Hymns (Tennessee Ernie Ford album)
Hymns is an album recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford that was released in 1956. It was the second best selling record in the United States in 1957. The album is one of the best selling of all time and spent 277 weeks on the Billboard 200....

2 Platinum
1957 Spirituals 5 Gold
Ford Favorites
Ol' Rockin' Ern
1958 Nearer the Cross 5 Gold
Star Carol 4 Platinum
1959 Gather Round
Friend We Have
1960 Sing a Hymn with Me 23
Sixteen Tons
Sing a Spiritual with Me
Come to the Fair
1961 Civil War Songs of the North
Civil War Songs of the South
Looks at Love
Hymns at Home 67
1962 Mississippi Showboat 110
I Love to Tell the Story 43
Book of Favorite Hymns 71
1963 Long Long Ago
We Gather Together
Story of Christmas 14
1964 Great Gospel Songs
Country Hits Feelin' Blue
World's Best Loved Hymns
1965 Let Me Walk with Thee
Sing We Now of Christmas 31
1966 My Favorite Things
Wonderful Place
God Lives
Bless Your Pea Pickin' Heart
1967 Aloha
Faith of Our Fathers
1968 Our Garden of Hymns (w/ Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages....

)
World of Pop and Country Hits
O Come All Ye Faithful
The Best of Tennessee Ernie Ford Hymns
1969 Songs I Like to Sing
New Wave
Holy Holy
1970 America the Beautiful 192
Everything Is Beautiful
1971 Abide with Me
C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S
Folk Album
1972 Mr. Words and Music
Standin' in the Need of Prayer
1973 Country Morning 46
Sings About Jesus
1975 Make a Joyful Noise 35
Ernie Sings & Glen Picks
Ernie Sings & Glen Picks
Ernie Sings & Glen Picks is an album by singer Tennessee Ernie Ford and singer/guitarist Glen Campbell, released in 1975 .-Track listing:Side 1:# "Trouble In Mind" Ernie Sings & Glen Picks is an album by singer Tennessee Ernie Ford and singer/guitarist Glen Campbell, released in 1975 (see 1975 in...

(w/ Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...

)
1976 His Great Love
For the 83rd Time
1977 He Touched Me Word
1978 Swing Wide Your Golden Gate
1980 Tell Me the Old Story
1984 Keep Looking Back

Singles

Year Single Chart Positions Album
US Country
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

US
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

1949 "Tennessee Border" 8 singles only
"Country Junction" 14
"Smokey Mountain Boogie" 8
"Blues Stay Away from Me" (w/ Merle Travis
Merle Travis
Merle Robert Travis was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and musician born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His lyrics often discussed the life and exploitation of coal miners. Among his many well-known songs are "Sixteen Tons", "Re-Enlistment Blues" and "Dark as a Dungeon"...

)
"Mule Train
Mule Train
"Mule Train" is a popular song written by Johnny Lange, Hy Heath, Doc Tommy Scott and Fred Glickman. It is a cowboy song, supposedly sung by an Old West wagon driver spurring on his team of mules as he recites the mail-order goods he is delivering to far-flung customers.-Charting versions:Charting...

"
1 9
"Anticipation Blues" 3
1950 "The Cry of the Wild Goose" 2 15
"Feed'em in the Morning"
"Ain't Nobody's Business But My Own" (w/ Kay Starr
Kay Starr
Kay Starr is an American pop and jazz singer who enjoyed considerable success in the 1940s and 50s. She is best remembered for introducing two songs that became #1 hits in the 1950s, "Wheel of Fortune" and "The Rock And Roll Waltz"....

)
5 22
"I'll Never Be Free" (w/ Kay Starr) 2 3
"What This Country Needs"
"Cincinnati Dancing Pig" (w/ The Starlighters)
"Little Juan Pedro"
1951 "The Shotgun Boogie
The Shotgun Boogie
"The Shotgun Boogie" is a 1950 song by Tennessee Ernie Ford. "The Shotgun Boogie" was Tennessee Ernie Ford's most successful release on the Country & Western charts, staying on the charts for a total of twenty-five weeks on the chart, and at number one for three weeks .The song has been covered by...

"
1 14
"Tailor Made Woman" (w/ Joe "Fingers" Carr) 8
"Ocean of Tears" (w/ Kay Starr) 15
"You're My Sugar" (w/ Kay Starr) 22
"Mr. and Mississippi" 2 18
"The Strange Little Girl" 9
"Kissin' Bug Boogie"
"Hey Good Lookin'" (w/ Helen O'Connell
Helen O'Connell
Helen O'Connell was an American singer, actress, and dancer.Born in Lima, Ohio, O'Connell joined the Jimmy Dorsey band in 1939 and achieved her best selling records in the early 1940s with "Green Eyes", "Amapola," "Tangerine" and "Yours"...

)
"Rock City Boogie" (w/ The Dinning Sisters)
1952 "Hambone"
"Everybody's Got Girl But Me"
"Snowshoe Thompson"
"Blackberry Boogie" 6
"False Hearted Girl" (w/ Ella Mae Morse
Ella Mae Morse
Ella Mae Morse , was an American popular singer. Morse blended jazz, country, pop, and R&B.-Career:Morse was born in Mansfield, Texas, United States. She was hired by Jimmy Dorsey when she was 14 years old. Dorsey believed she was 19, and when he was informed by the school board that he was now...

)
1953 "I Don't Know"
"Hey, Mr. Cotton Picker" 8
"Don't Start Courtin' in a Hot Rod Ford" (w/ Molly Bee
Molly Bee
Molly Bee , born Mollie Gene Beachboard, was an American country music singer famous for her 1952 recording of the early perennial, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", and as Pinky Lee's sidekick on The Pinky Lee Show.Bee was also well known in the 1950s in Los Angeles, California as a regular on...

)
"Kiss Me Big"
1954 "Honeymoon's Over" (w/ Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedienne and singer.-Early life:Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg, daughter of a railroad foreman, Percy E. Thornburg and his wife, the former Mabel Lum . While she was very young, her father abandoned the family for...

)
16
"River of No Return" 9
"Ein Zwei Drei"
"Somebody Bigger Than You or I"
1955 "The Ballad of Davy Crockett
The Ballad of Davy Crockett
"The Ballad of Davy Crockett" is a song with music by George Bruns and lyrics by Thomas W. Blackburn.The first recording of the song was made by Fess Parker, quickly followed by versions by Bill Hayes and Tennessee Ernie Ford...

"
4 5
"His Hands" 13 Spirituals
"Sixteen Tons
Sixteen Tons
"Sixteen Tons" is a song about the life of a coal miner, first recorded in 1946 by American country singer Merle Travis and released on his box set album Folk Songs of the Hills the following year...

"
1 1 Ford Favorites
1956 "You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry
You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry
"You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry" is a 1963 single by British girl group duo The Caravelles. The single reached #3 in the Billboard Hot 100 in America, and a more modest #6 in the UK Singles Chart. The song had previously charted in the US by Ernest Tubb and Tennessee Ernie Ford."You Don't Have...

"
78
"That's All" 12 17
"John Henry" This Lusty Land
"Rovin' Gambler" 60
"Rock and Roll Boogie" single only
"First Born" 46 Ford Favorites
1957 "Watermelon Song" 87
"One Suit" 93
"False Hearted Girl" This Lusty Land
"In the Middle of an Island" 23 singles only
"Ivy League"
1958 "Bless Your Pea Pickin' Heart" singles only
"Sunday Barbeque" 97
"Glad Rags" 100
1959 "Black-Eyed Susie"
"Sunny Side of Heaven"
1960 "O Mary Don't You Weep" Sing a Spiritual with Me
"Little Klinker" singles only
"Bless the Land"
1961 "Dark as a Dungeon
Dark as a Dungeon
"Dark as a Dungeon" is a song written by singer-songwriter Merle Travis. It is a lament about the danger and drudgery of being a coal miner in an Appalachian shaft mine. It has become a rallying song among miners seeking improved working conditions....

"
"Little Red Rockin' Hood"
1962 "Take Your Girlie to the Movies" Mississippi Showboat
"Rags an Old Iron" single only
"How Great Thou Art" I Love to Tell the Story
1965 "Hicktown" 9 single only
"Now It's All Over" Bless Your Pickin' Heart
"Sing We Now of Christmas"A Sing We Now of Christmas
1966 "God Lives" God Lives
1967 "Lahaina Luna" Aloha
"Hand-Me-Down Things" single only
1968 "Talk to the Animals" World of Pop and Country Hits
1969 "Honey-Eyed Girl (That's You That's You)" 54 New Wave
1970 "Rainy Night in Georgia" Everything Is Beautiful
1971 "Happy Songs of Love" 58 singles only
1972 "Pea-Pickin' Cock"
1973 "Printers Alley Stars" 66 Country Morning
"Farther Down the River (Where the Fishin's Good)" 73
"Colorado Country Morning"B 70
1974 "Sweet Child of Sunshine"
"I've Got Confidence" Make a Joyful Noise
1975 "Come On Down" 52
"Baby" (w/ Andra Willis) 63 Country Morning
"The Devil Ain't a Lonely Woman's Friend" 96 single only
1976 "I Been to Georgia On a Fast Train" 95 For the 83rd Time
"Dogs and Sheriff John"
  • A"Sing We Now of Christmas" peaked at #2 on the RPM
    RPM (magazine)
    RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...

    Top Singles chart in Canada.
  • B"Colorado Country Morning" peaked at #85 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.

External links

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