A McSweeney's reject!
Two years ago many people became captivated by the podcast Cocaine and Rhinestones, and the stories of the early days of 20th Century Country Music. The show became a runaway hit and its faithful listening audience eagerly awaits the upcoming third season. These preview highlights might make the wait a little easier.
“...but Miss Willa's career never recovered from the furor that erupted from reports that in 1956, just prior to recording her third LP release “Miss Willa's Jamboree”, she had been seen on a train near Orville, California, brazenly reading a book in public.” From Episode 1, “Miss Willa Jay”
“Opry favorites Pastor Welles and Sister Nancy opened Nancyland in the spring of 1973, taking advantage of the tax breaks in Florida given to entrepreneurs willing to build on protected wetlands. The ever-present haze of mosquitoes couldn't keep the visitors away from rides and attractions like Jonah's Tribulations, Walkin' on the Water, and the Pony Sling- an attraction which consisted of four live ponies hanging from cables that children could ride while attendants dangled them over a man-made pond. A choir of blind children stationed nearby sang 'Nearer My God to Thee.' In its first six months, Nancyland made over $35 million dollars, draining the local economy and shuttering the schools and libraries in Miller County forever.” From Episode 2, “Pastor Welles and Nancy”
“No one woman ever seemed to be enough for Honky Tonk star Jimmy Ray Lee, so he began to marry them two or three at a time. Over the next few years and as his tolerance grew, Jimmy Ray would have to marry as many as a half dozen women a week, many of them more than once. The domestic bliss he experienced in the first few days of a marriage delivered a shot of dopamine to which he became completely, hopelessly addicted. This lifestyle had to catch up with him sooner than later, as it did on one hot, fateful night in August of 1981 in Downey, Kentucky. After a two-night triumph at the Downey Remembrance Gardens, Jimmy was proposing to a hat check girl when he was shot dead by sixteen angry husbands, over the tearful protests of their 20 wives.” From Episode 3, “Jimmy Ray Lee”
“Ricky Ray Randolph used to teach cardiac surgery and perform medical stunts at Dander Holler University in Plumroot, West Virginia. A gifted surgeon, Ricky had over sixty successful cardiac procedures under his belt when one day a man named Colonel Clyde Chester wandered into the operating theater looking for new talent. Amazed by what he witnessed there, Chester offered Ricky Ray a recording contract with his own label, Bar-B-Q Records. Ricky Jay walked out of the hospital in the middle of an operation, bought a guitar, and signed up for singing lessons. In less than three months, the newly christened 'Swingin' Dr. Ricky' was topping the regional charts with his hit 'Angel Sweet Baby (Angel's Song)', and soon after with 'Army Baby Gone to War.'” From Episode 4, “Ricky Ray Randolph”
“Enter one Carlotta Stone, who, by the age of eleven in 1955, had already played 500 nights of shows in honky-tonks, churches, pool halls, and county fairs. By her sixteenth birthday, she had topped every country and popular music charts over a dozen times with hits like “Henrietta Hen Laid a Dozen Eggs Agin”, and “Mama's Good Church Coat”. She had starred in two hit motion pictures, “Good, Clean Fun” (1960), and “Russkie Go Home!” (1960). Her name and face had been used in endorsements for everything from lipstick to Saran Wrap, from transistor radios to asbestos baby pajamas. Her father and longtime manager Tall Tom Lovett had Carlotta involuntarily committed in late '66 while in the middle of a lawsuit she had filed against him over missing royalties, claiming that she had shown signs of “female medical hysterics”. She was released after a simple outpatient lobotomy but chose never to return to Nashville.” From Episode 5, “Carlotta Jay Stone”
“...Well, that's how Bucky Roberts died, but what happened to the rest of the Hootineers? Well, the most of them met their fate one night after a show in Lubbock, Texas, havin' a hand fight over a piece of whiskey. Good night!” From Episode 6, “Bucky Jay Roberts and the Hootineers”
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