Red Foley – Old Shep (6-CD box)
Red Foley crooned before Eddy Arnold ever recorded. Elvis Presley included his maudlin 1941 hit “Old Shep” on his hard-rocking second LP in 1956. Foley’s 1950 Decca single “Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy” was one of Nashville’s first country/pop crossover hits. He starred on three major country broadcast shows: WLS National Barn Dance, Grand Ole Opry, and Ozark Jubilee. And yet not even Hall of Fame membership and a turbulent personal life (alcoholism, adultery, suicide and tax evasion) saved him from oblivion. Relegated to mere opening act status, Foley died at 58 in an Indiana motel room in 1968 while touring with 19-year-old Hank Williams Jr.
This six-disc box set covers Foley’s career starting in 1933, two years after he joined Chicago’s WLS Barn Dance. As “Ramblin’ Red Foley,” his phrasing, even his yodeling, stood apart from the era’s gold standard, Jimmie Rodgers. Yet during five years (1935-40) out of the studio, performing in Kentucky and Cincinnati, Foley underwent a metamorphosis. He returned to WLS in 1940 with more mature vocal phrasing infused with jazz, blues and Bing Crosby overtones that gave him added warmth and depth.
The Barn Dance’s undisputed star during World War II, Foley began a streak of hits for Decca that, while well-done, largely and regrettably focused on covers of others’ hit records, be it Harry Choates’ “Jole Blon” (“New Jolie Blonde”) or the Delmore Brothers’ “Freight Train Boogie”.
In 1946 Foley came to Nashville, replacing Roy Acuff as host of the Opry’s Prince Albert segment. He arrived with a band including guitarist Chet Atkins and quickly assimilated into the Opry cast. After Atkins quit (he was not fired, as the notes suggest), the musical quality remained high. Nonetheless, Foley remained focused on covers until the catchy, rocking “Chattanoogie” set him apart.
The illustrated hardback book includes interviews provided by writer Megan Rose from her research for an abandoned Foley biography. While making a case for Foley’s importance, annotator Cary Ginell gets carried away in declaring, “There should be statues of Red Foley in Nashville; streets should be named for him.” Foley is hardly alone in that respect.
Perhaps the most credible spin on the roots of Foley’s continued obscurity emerges from Kyle Cantrell’s 1990 Minnie Pearl interview. “When the crowd left, they left, and Foley left by the other exit,” she recalled, adding, “If you asked Foley if he loved his fans, he’d say yes. And he did. But he didn’t go that extra mile….The end result is they let him go.”