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28 The Nashville Musician October-December 2006
. . Local 257’s Leona Williams’ new life
Leona today, in Patricia Presley photo.
(Continued from page 25)
‘Big City’ (a 1982 #1 for Epic, which she
helped write but got no credit - ‘That was a
husband-wife thing, I guess’), and we had
‘We’re Strangers Again’ together (as cowriters
and duet partners in ’83) on Mercury
Records.”
That was then Leona’s label, and the
tune’s title proved prophetic for the couple.
Nonetheless, Haggard also enjoyed a pair
of #1 Epic discs with Leona songs: “You
Take Me For Granted” (1983) and “Someday
When Things Are Good” (1984).
Only a few years after Leona and
Merle’s wedding, The Hag was admitting
to journalist Peter Guralnick that his marriage
was already rocky. He insisted he had
recently given up drinking, but not “carousing.”
Perhaps Leona chalked it up to midlife
crisis, but she was finding it harder coping
with his mood swings, and living on his
Lake Shasta houseboat where he partied
with band buddies. Shortly after their divorce,
Merle married his maid Debbie
Parret, though it was short-lived and he’s
now wed to fifth wife Theresa.
Throughout their marriage, his ex-wife
singer Bonnie Owens (with whom Merle
achieved a career breakthrough in 1964 via
their duet “Just Between the Two Of Us”)
performed with the Haggard Show. (Merle’s
first wife was also named Leona.)
“I liked Bonnie. She stood up for us at
our wedding. I even recorded ‘Starting
Over,’ which she wrote. Bonnie was such a
big supporter of Merle’s. She’d really get
out there and promote him with the fans. I
tried that, too, for awhile, but that wasn’t
me . . . I was saddened by her recent death,”
The former Leona Belle Helton was
born in Vienna, Mo., Jan. 7, 1943, one of a
dozen children: “I’ve got seven brothers and
four sisters, a whole bunch of us. Comin’
from such a large family was one of the
greatest things that ever happened to me. I
learned the meaning of love and togetherness,
and how to sing.”
Leona says she would often awaken in
the morning to her dad playing fiddle. Her
mother played the organ and played 4-string
banjo. “Somebody asked my dad one time:
‘You’ve got 12 kids and they all play the
guitar or fiddle or something. How did you
get them motivated to play, anyhow?’ He
said, ‘I just cleaned all of ’em up, those guitars
and fiddles, laid ’em all down there on
the bed and said, ‘Now you kids leave ’em
alone!’ That’s our little family story. We
grew up with a lot of love, a lot of kids and
good parents.”
Innate talent and a little arm-twisting by
big brother aided the pretty 15-year-old in
making her performing bow and landing her
own radio show on KWOS-Jefferson City.
“Warren was the brother I’m talking
about. He used to play fiddle in this little
band that came to Jefferson City, and the
guy who led the band was also a DJ on the
radio station there. They were called The
Johnny Boys, and were playing at this fun
place near home.
“Anyway, Warren asked Johnny if I could
get up and sing. He said sure. So I sang and
Johnny thought I was great. He said we’d
maybe get some sponsors and I could have my
own radio show. We did and it was called
Leona Sings every Saturday morning.”
What was the song she sang?
“It would’ve been a Kitty Wells’ song for
sure. I just loved her singing. Kitty was my
hero. I loved her songs, especially ‘Makin’ Believe’
and ‘Whose Shoulder Will You Cry On,’
and a bunch of those songs like that.”
How did Leona land her sponsors?
She said the whole town rallied, adding,
“And would you believe our biggest backer
was the local pool-hall?”
Little did she know that someone was taping
her program to send overseas to a sailor
from the Show Me State, stationed in a region
where his favored country music was scarce.
In an earlier interview she’d told us, “Ron
wrote me a letter and that started our relationship.
When he came back from the service, we
met each other and got married. That was when
I was 16.”
Leona was barely 17 when baby Cathy arrived.
But it wasn’t an end to performing, as
she and Ron, who played bass, formed their
own band and even lived in St. Louis. It was
there she met Dave Hooten, a St. Claire, Mo.,
native, who later worked with the Grand Ole
Opry’s Lonzo & Oscar, little dreaming that he
would become the last Lonzo when Rollin
(Oscar) Sullivan’s brother John (Lonzo)
Sullivan died in 1967.
After the Willliams’ move to Nashville, the
couple soon landed in Loretta Lynn’s touring
troupe, in which Leona played stand-up bass
fiddle.
“We worked for almost a year with her, and
I would sing harmony with her Blue Kentuckians’
band. That’s what she called ’em then.
We logged a lot of miles riding in her Cadillac,
sittin’ back-to-back. Loretta was real countrified.
We’d stop at the store and buy some bologna,
bread and we’d get green onions (ha!
ha!) and put ’em on sandwiches.”
Taking a leaf from brothers Wayne and
Roger Helton (who have cuts on her latest CD),
Leona began developing songwriting skills:
“First time I had a song cut, Loretta changed a
line or two, and did it.”
Leona’s “Get What’cha Got and Go” appears
on Lynn’s first #1 Gold album “Don’t
Come Home-A Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your
Mind)” released in 1967. She later had cuts by
divas Tammy Wynette (“Broad Minded”) and
Connie Smith (“Dallas”).
“When I moved to Nashville, I was a
beauty operator. I signed as a writer over there
with the Glaser Brothers and hoped to get
myself set up as an artist in the music business.
Then I met John Hartford and his wife
Betty. John’s from Missouri, too. At the time
they lived not too far away and we all got acquainted
through the Glasers.
“I would carry on, telling people ‘I’m John
Hartford’s hair stylist!’ My kids always said,
‘Mom, you know how to do everything!’ You
know one story leads to another, but Oscar
Sullivan had Dave Hooten in his group and he
used to play in my little band in St. Louis. He
got Oscar (and Redd Stewart) to take my tape
to Wesley Rose (of Acuff-Rose publishing) and
they wanted to sign me. Oscar joked he
played my tape at slow speed and Wes
said, ‘I’ve got to sign her, she sounds like
Roy Acuff!’ (Another hearty laugh).”
Thus Leona Williams was signed to
Acuff-Rose’s company Hickory Records,
where her first charting was a remake of
Dusty Owens’ “Once More,” which had
been a hit for Acuff a decade earlier. Before
leaving the label four years later, she
charted the titillating title “Country Girl
With Hot Pants On.”
Was she concerned about losing her
wholesome country girl image with that
tune and other suggestive songs like
“Since I’m Not With the One I Love (I’ll
Love the One I’m With)” and “Yes M’am,
He Found Me In a Honky Tonk”?
“I didn’t really think about the image
of it. Conway Twitty wrote ‘Since
I’m Not With the One I Love,’ and Glenn
Barber, who was also on Hickory, wrote
‘Yes M’am, He Found Me In a Honky
Tonk’ and I didn’t write ‘Country Girl
With Hot Pants On’ (by Jim Mundy) either,
so they weren’t my creations. In fact,
I didn’t want to cut that song at all. I
didn’t sleep a wink the night before I recorded
that, because I was so worried.
Hot pants were the style at the time, and
I was, after all, a country girl at heart and
didn’t care to show my legs. Believe it
or not, I was bashful.”
Although shapely, Leona wasn’t anxious
to be typecast a la Jeannie C. Riley,
forever linked to the mini-skirted mama
dressing down the “Harper Valley PTA.”
“But yes, I got some positive publicity
out of that song and in that way, it
was good because my shows started paying
me more after that.”
A memorable tour in that time period
took her to Vietnam where she spent 10
days entertaining troops during hostilities
in that war-torn country.
“You know while I was with Hickory,
Wesley wanted me to also sing some duets
with Don Gibson. Lord, I would’ve
loved that, as I was always a big fan of
his. We even learned a couple of songs
together, but it never happened. They
brought in Sue Thompson (of ‘Sad Movies’
fame) instead.”
Did her career disrupt home-life?
“No, I got married really young and
had Cathy, but I don’t think being married
or having children hurt (my) career
all that much. But sometimes the music
business won’t let you have a good thing
in your life; though it’s not the music, it’s
just the way it is when you’ve got to be
gone on the road . . . whatever.”
Why didn’t she hit gold status?
“Hey, some people get lucky,” she
retorts. “You really have to have all the
right people behind you. I tried and I recorded
with the big labels (MCA, Elektra,
Mercury), but I think they saw me as
competition to their acts, like Loretta or
Tammy, and they already had them on
their labels. So they let me get pushed
back. I’d written a lot of songs back then.
I told Wesley Rose when I wrote ‘Dallas,’
if I’m ever gonna have any kind of a
big hit, this is going to be it. All he said
was, ‘No, it needs another verse.’ Connie
Smith cut ‘Dallas’ and it did good for her.
“Then when I wrote ‘You Take Me
For Granted,’ Merle heard it and recorded
it right away. But still I love writing songs
and I like the way it makes me feel after
I write ’em. Oh, I finally cut ‘Dallas’ on
my new CD.”
In 2004 and again in ’05, that last time
with son Ron, she did some gigs in Ireland,
which gave her a lift emotionally:
“That was really fun going with him. We
played some of the big hotels, where they
had the big rooms. We got good crowds.
This last time, there was a guy named
Barry Doyle and he had this really great
band! Ron and I think about them all the
time. They were the best backup band, and
we had such a good time over there.”
Newly-widowed Leona busied herself
helping the Missouri Country Music
Assocation as a board member, which in
turn inducted her as a charter member of
MCMA’s Hall of Fame in 2004, along with
Leroy Van Dyke and younger veteran
Rhonda Vincent.
The fledgling MCMA enlisted her aid
in trying to schedule future Hall of Fame
inductions, and one of those she nominated
was Missouri native Ferlin Husky.
“Leona was asked to get in touch with
me, so she called Jean Shepard to ask how
to reach me. Then Jean calls me to tell me
Leona Williams was going to call, and to
answer the phone,” grins Husky, living in
Haines City, Fla. “I heard later Jean called
Leona right back to give her my number and
said, ‘Now’s a good time to call him, because
he’s answering his phone’.”
Leona picks up the story, “I was halfnervous
about calling. I’m always hesitant
about calling up any artist. I was at (son)
Brady’s down in Ozark and when he answered
I asked how he was doing and all
that stuff, before getting to the point. I told
him this group in Missouri had started up
an association that would include a Hall of
Fame & Museum eventually. I said that they
would like to induct him in 2005.
“Being from Missouri, Ferlin’s always
been special. Of course, I had met him earlier
on shows, but we never really got to
know one another. The first time I was able
to be there in Nashville to accept a BMI
award was for my song ‘You Take Me For
Granted,’ and I was seated at this big table
and was going through my divorce from
Merle. Seated on my left was Hank Cochran
and his wife Ann, while on the right side
was Ferlin. We all had a lot of fun talkin’.”
Leona also encouraged Ferlin to return
to the studio after a 10-year absence: “I
knew Tracy Pitcox, the young fellow who
owns Heart of Texas Records, well enough
to know he would like to have Ferlin record
on his label. He owns a Country Music
Museum there, and had done recordings on
me, Dave, Floyd Tillman (with whom Leona
sang ‘Let’s Make Memories’), Norma Jean,
Darryl McCall, Justin Trevino, Big Bill
Lister, and they’re now fixing to do Hank
Thompson.”
A reluctant Husky agreed, if Williams
and Trevino co-produced, and she sang with
him on re-recording his first chart hit “A
Dear John Letter” (which originally featured
Jean Shepard) and a remake of the Kitty
Wells-Red Foley hit “As Long As I Live.”
Ferlin recorded her song “The Way It
Was (Is the Way It Is),” which also serves
as the CD’s title track. The couple have since
been inseparable, sharing the stage together
on the road and she was there for him when
he went through his latest heart surgery Dec.
27 in Springfield, Mo.
Husky’s name remains conspicuously
absent, however, from the Nashville-based
Country Music Hall of Fame. He muses,
“When my time comes, I don’t think St.
Peter’s gonna ask whether I made it into the
Hall of Fame or not.”
Pressed regarding their relationship,
Leona smiles, tongue-in-cheek, saying there
are no marital plans: “We’re going to be like
the young couples today, just live together.”
So how does Ferlin feel coming full
circle, once again residing in (Vienna) Missouri?
“Yeah, it’s better- and I can understand
some of the words they’re sayin’ up here.”
One of Williams’ favorite albums was
the 1976 MCA live recording “San
Quentin’s First Lady,” which she recorded
with Merle’s band The Strangers inside the
prison, making her the first female to do so.
(It had also been home to Haggard for nearly
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