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22 The Nashville Musician October-December 2006
The three faces of Ferlin - a dynamic entertainer
By WALT TROTT
Ferlin Husky, who recorded a trio of million-selling
country-crossover singles, is back
after heart surgery with a brand new album
“The Way It Is (Is the Way It Was).”
A happier Husky, now in his 80th year,
claims he’s feeling better and even boasts a
new beauty on his arm, vivacious vocalist
Leona Williams.
Ferlin says the first time he had heart surgery
was in Minnesota, “I had four bypasses.
The next one was when they flew me in from
Cody, Wyo., and it was at Baptist Hospital here
in 1990. Then while working in Branson, I had
another heart attack. I’ve had nine bypasses
in all.”
Perhaps best known by fans for his soaring
rendition of the inspirational ballad “Wings
Of a Dove,” Husky’s also celebrated for
“Gone” one of the first signature songs marking
the birth of the late 1950s’ revolutionary
Nashville Sound. It was followed by Ferlin’s
Top 10 cover version of Jimmy C. Newman’s
1957 hit “A Fallen Star.”
“It’s Leona’s idea really that I did the latest
album . . . I didn’t really look forward all
that much to going back into the studio. I just
had eye surgery, wasn’t feeling all that well,
and had given up on recording,” Husky muses.
“For one thing, I had shortness of breath.
Then while we were still in the midst of pulling
it together, I had to go in for my heart again
. . . and I got back in the studio about three or
four weeks after that. But in the end, it came
out pretty good.”
In addition to the title tune written by
Leona, Ferlin sang four of his own compositions:
“We included some songs I’d done years
ago. Leona sang on ‘A Dear John Letter’ and
‘As Long As I Live,’ the old Kitty Wells-Red
Foley duet, with me.”
“A Dear John Letter” earned Ferlin his first
Gold Record in 1953, featuring newcomer
Jean Shepard singing, while Husky as a heartbroken
Korean War GI read a tear-stained farewell
letter from a former sweetheart. It stayed
#1 six weeks on Billboard’s country charts (out
of 23 weeks) and simultaneously scored Top
Five on pop lists.
Its success prompted Capitol Records to
follow up within 90 days a popular answer tune
“Forgive Me, John,” in which Jean Shepard
renounced the brother she spurned him for. By
its seventh week, it was a #4 country click -
and also Top 20 pop. Briefly it appeared Husky
was doomed to recitations, including “The
Drunken Driver,” then cut songs that failed to
chart, among them “Hank’s Song,” “Homesick”
and “I Wouldn’t Treat a Dog Like You’re
Treating Me.”
It was 15 months after his second duet
single that he again charted, this time with a
solo two-sided hit, the upbeat “I Feel Better
All Over, More Than Anywhere Else” (#6) and
(about newsboy) “Little Tom” a tearjerker (#7,
1955). That same year, Ferlin’s rube creation
Simon Crum stormed the charts via the Top
Five novelty number “Cuzz Yore So Sweet.”
With his newly-formed Hush Puppies
band, Husky charted - one week only - with
“I’ll Baby-Sit With You” (#14, 1955). It was
nearly two years before Ferlin returned to the
Billboard charts, this time with a much bigger
bang: “(Since You’ve) Gone,” #1 country 10
weeks (out of 27 weeks’ charting), and yet
another pop entry (#4, 1957). This time critics
were in tune with the powerful baritone,
which boasts a melodic but tearful vocal catch
that captivates listeners.
Ferlin in 1962 with then-wife Bettie, and their
children: Dana, Denise, Danny and David.
Husky: ‘When I seen anybody who had
talent, I tried to help them . . .’
The million-selling “Gone” was written by
veteran entertainer Smokey Rogers, and first
recorded by Husky (1952) when performing
under the stage name Terry Preston. Rogers,
who recorded a Capitol Top 10 himself in 1949
“A Little Bird Told Me,” also wrote or cowrote
the hits “Tho I Tried” for Wesley Tuttle
(#4, 1946), “You Can’t Break My Heart” (#3,
1946) with Spade Cooley, and “Spanish Fandango”
with Bob Wills (flipside to Bob’s
“Bubbles In My Beer,” #4, 1948).
During a hit-and-miss 20+ years with the
Capitol label, Husky charted 41 songs on Billboard:
“I don’t know just how many years I
was on there, but they did about 40 albums on
me.”
After his Capitol departure in 1972, he
added another 10 singles for ABC; out of 51
chartings, Ferlin totaled some 30 at or near
Top 20. Although the trade weekly didn’t chart
country albums until 1964 - thus ignoring
Husky’s many earlier hit LP’s - he still managed
to chart 14 Top 40 albums, notably “I
Could Sing All Night,” “Just For You” and
“Your Love Is Heavenly Sunshine.”
Husky discussed these chartings and his
60-year career, including successes, business
associates, latest album and about being beset
by health and personal problems in a twohours-plus
interview at Shoney’s in suburban
Hendersonville.
“When troubles surround us, when evils
come/The body grows weak, the spirit grows
numb . . .” penned Bob Ferguson in his composition
published by Husky Music in 1959.
“When these things beset us/He doesn’t forget
us/He sends down his love/On the wings
of a dove . .”
The lasting success of that song, and its
eternal message, has sustained Ferlin Husky
throughout a long and problem-prone life
which included the loss of a son and multiple
divorces. Fellow Missourian Ferguson, who
10 years later wrote “The Carroll County Accident,”
once explained “. . . Dove’s” inspiration:
“This is a personal expression of faith
and joy in achieving a goal. When I wrote it, I
had just completed 13 films on wildlife (for
the Tennessee Game & Fish Commission), and
I was elated that the job was done.”
Ferlin Husky was born Dec. 3, 1925 on a
farm in Missouri, near the communities of Flat
River, Hickory Grove and Cantrell, some 50
miles south of St. Louis. (Various biographies
have listed as his hometown one or the others,
none of which are shown on our map.)
The youngster received his musical inspiration
from his mom, whose front parlor was
a rehearsal hall for boys and girls with guitars.
An uncle named Clyde Wilson taught
Ferlin to play guitar, which he found under
the Christmas tree shortly after his 9th birthday.
In appreciation, he later gave Clyde a
touch of celebrity by putting his name on songs
that Ferlin wrote (notably the Top 10 “Little
Tom”).
“I loved Clyde. He passed away and was
so proud that I put his name on them. He’d
come to see me and I introduced him around.
Another name I used on songs was Billy Cole.
He was my cousin who died of cancer. I’ve
used 17 different writer names.”
Growing up in the Great Depression, and
coming of age during World War II, helped to
strengthen Husky’s character. He had a big
heart and would help such struggling entertainers
as Tommy Collins, Billy Mize, Dallas
Frazier, Buck Owens and Roy Drusky.
The latter’s son Roy Jr., nicknamed
“Twig,” told us that shortly before dad’s death,
Ferlin came up to the hospital to visit. Twig
said he was unaware of Ferlin’s role in Roy’s
early career: “After he left, my dad told me
that Ferlin had helped him out back when he
needed it, by letting him perform (and also recording
Drusky’s ‘I Will’ in 1958). We were
glad to see him.”
“When I seen anybody who had talent, I
tried to help them,” smiles Husky, recalling
his early Bakersfield days. “Dallas Frazier was
like my adopted son, just as Tommy was. They
stayed at the house. When Tommy or Leonard
Sipes (his real name) came out there to Bakersfield,
I changed his name to Tommy Collins,
taking it from a drink (Tom Collins). Buck
Owens? I dressed him up, putting some decent
clothes on him and got him with Capitol,
and also Chester Smith, who wrote the hit
‘Wait a Little Longer, Please Jesus.’ He had a
great little run.”
Husky himself would push the boundaries
of country music, taking it in different directions
simultaneously, stretching it by the
sophisiticated balladry of “Gone,” then turn
around and gently antagonize the era’s honky
tonk stylists via his near-chart-topping parody
“Country Music Is Here To Stay” as mimicked
by alter ego Simon Crum.
A versatile showman, Ferlin developed a
unique ability to impersonate fellow entertainers,
notably Roy Acuff, Jimmy Dickens, Eddy
Arnold, Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow, Lefty
Frizzell and even pop crooner Bing Crosby.
Simon also managed the feat of singing a duet
with himself, imitating Red Foley and Kitty
Wells, then a popular recording duo. His was
truly a one-man show.
In fact, Ferlin/Simon’s sets were so dynamic,
it got so other artists balked at following
him in the spotlight, and bookers had to
schedule Husky last, which didn’t phase him
as that’s the traditional star spot. During
Ferlin’s peak period, a beginner named Elvis
Presley opened shows on tour with the headliner,
from whom it’s said Elvis picked up
pointers as an entertainer.
With a 1957 summer replacement stint for
CBS’ legendary Arthur Godfrey, Ferlin became
one of the first country stars to host a
network TV show. He also appeared in a 1957
dramatic role on the Kraft Television Theater,
and guested on numerous top-rated programs
like Ed Sullivan’s Toast of the Town and Steve
Allen’s Tonight Show.
Ferlin appeared in Alan Freed’s 1957 romp
“Mr. Rock & Roll,” then Capitol labelmate
Faron Young and Ferlin co-starred in a 1958
take-off threatening to set the movie business
back on its ear, titled “Country Music Holiday,”
featuring Zsa Zsa Gabor and June Carter.
These achievements resulted in Husky being
the first country artist having a star in his honor
placed on the 1950s’ Hollywood Walk of
Fame.
Not bad for a kid who dropped out of
The veteran star’s 2006 album.
Ferlin in his hey-day.
school after the eighth grade, and who later
joined the Merchant Marine, shipping supplies
and troops abroad.
“I began entertaining on ship. We were
transporting troops and to entertain them I had
an old guitar I’d play on and sing songs. When
we’d have a sub alert or an air raid, I’d tell
stories, and all them boys would gather ’round
me ’cause they were scared, ’n’ hell, truth is, I
was scareder than they were. I’d make up the
stories.”
What sort of stories were they?
“They were true stories to start with, but
I’d tell ’em like I was somebody else and in
this different voice,” explains Husky, adding,
“You see, our neighbor across the creek back
home in Missouri was named Simon Crump.
I would tell stories about him out there in the
country. Most of my shipmates were Yankee
boys - oh, there were a few blacks who were
my buddies, because like me they were from
the South - and they all called me ‘Country.’
“They would say, ‘C’mon Country, tell us
some of those Simon stories.’ I told them Mr.
Crump was a big tall guy, sort of like Gary
Cooper when he played ‘Sergeant York’ and
that was the type of man Simon was. Actually,
he was like an uncle to me, and his daughter
still writes to me. Anyway, they got to
where they enjoyed hearing me tell stories.”
With World War II concluded, Ferlin returned
to the St. Louis area seeking an opportunity
to put his talent to use: “Roy Queen was
a gentleman who used to be on KMOX radio
there, and had been like Happy Cheshire and
Uncle Dick Slack, who were radio personalities
when I was a kid working on the farm.
Roy was a big DJ later for years and years. He
passed away about three years ago . . . But
Roy got me started . . . ”
Ferlin took a stage name of Tex Terry and
gained a radio slot on KXLW-St. Louis: “After
I left home, the reason I never used my
own name is because my parents never wanted
me in the music business. So when I started
working the honky tonks in St. Louis, I used
Tex Terry as I didn’t want to disgrace them.
After I became a success they were proud.”
In 1947, Ferlin relocated to the West Coast
where he worked in radio and met up with a
name artist who himself had “graduated” from
radio to movie stardom, playing sidekick to
cowboy king Gene Autry.
“Smiley Burnette helped a lot of people. I
got a job working with Smiley at the Big Barn
when he had a four or five-piece band workin’
that place. He talked to me backstage and
asked me to go on tour with him. Well, I went
on the one tour and when we got back, he got
rid of all them and just kept me. I worked with
Smiley about two years.”