Tennessee Ernie Ford | |
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 Ford in 1957 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Ernest Jennings Ford (1919-02-13)February 13, 1919 |
| Died | October 17, 1991(1991-10-17) (aged 72) Reston, Virginia, US |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1949–1991 |
| Labels | Capitol Records,Word Records |
| Formerly of | |
Ernest Jennings Ford (February 13, 1919 – October 17, 1991),[1] known professionally asTennessee Ernie Ford, was an American singer and television host who enjoyed success in thecountry and western,pop, andgospel musical genres. Noted for his richbass-baritone voice anddown-home humor, he is remembered for his hit recordings of "The Shotgun Boogie" and "Sixteen Tons".
Ford was born inFordtown, Tennessee, United States, to Maud (née Long) and Clarence Thomas Ford.[2] He spent much of his time in his early years listening to country or western musicians, in person or on the radio.[3]
Ford began wandering aroundBristol, Tennessee, in his high school years, taking an interest in radio and began his radio career as an announcer atWOPI in 1937, being paid 10 dollars a week. In 1938, the youngbass-baritone left the station and went to study classical music at theCincinnati Conservatory of Music inOhio. He returned for the announcing job in 1939 and did it from 1939 to 1941 in stations fromAtlanta, Georgia, toKnoxville, Tennessee. Afirst lieutenant, he served in theUnited States Army Air Corps inWorld War II as thebombardier on aB-29 Superfortress, but the war ended before he was to be sent toJapan.[4] He was also a bombing instructor atGeorge Air Force Base, inVictorville, California.[3][5]
After the war, Ford worked at radio stations inSan Bernardino andPasadena, California. AtKFXM, in San Bernardino, Ford was hired as a radio announcer. He was assigned to host an early morning country music disc jockey program,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 country radio stationKXLA. He also did musical tours. The Mayfield Brothers ofWest Texas, includingSmokey Mayfield,Thomas Edd Mayfield, andHerbert Mayfield, were among Ford's warmup bands, having played for him in concerts inAmarillo andLubbock, during the late 1940s.[5][6]
At KXLA, Ford continued doing the same show and also joined the cast ofCliffie Stone's popular live KXLA country showDinner Bell Roundup as a vocalist while still doing the early morning broadcast. Cliffie Stone, a part-timetalent scout forCapitol Records, brought him to the attention of the label. In 1949, while still doing his morning show, he signed a contract with Capitol. He became a local TV star as the star of Stone's popular Southern CaliforniaHometown Jamboree show.RadiOzark produced 260 15-minute episodes ofThe Tennessee Ernie Show ontranscription disks for national radio syndication.[7]
He released almost 50 countrysingles through the early 1950s, several of which made theBillboard charts. Many of his early records, including "The Shotgun Boogie" and "Blackberry Boogie", were exciting, driving boogie-woogie records featuring accompaniment by the 'Hometown Jamboree' band, which includedJimmy Bryant on lead guitar and pioneer pedal steel guitaristSpeedy West. "I'll Never Be Free", a duet pairing Ford with Capitol Records pop singerKay Starr,[8] became a huge country and pop crossover hit in 1950. A duet withElla Mae Morse, "False Hearted Girl" was a top seller for the Capitol Country and Hillbilly division.[9]
Ford eventually ended his KXLA morning show and in the early 1950s, moved on fromHometown Jamboree. He took over from bandleaderKay Kyser as host of the TV version ofNBCquiz showCollege of Musical Knowledge when it returned briefly in 1954 after a four-year hiatus.[10] He became a household name in the U.S., largely as a result of his portrayal of "Cousin Ernie" in theI Love Lucy episodes "Tennessee Ernie Visits", "Tennessee Ernie Hangs On" (both 1954), and "Tennessee Bound" (1955).[11] In 1955, Ford recorded "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" (which reached number 4 on the country music chart) with "Farewell to the Mountains" on theB-side.
Ford scored an unexpected hit on the pop chart in 1955 with his rendering of "Sixteen Tons", a sparsely arranged coal-miner's lament.Merle Travis had first recorded it in 1946. It reflected experiences of the Travis family in the mines atMuhlenberg County, Kentucky.[12] The song's fatalistic tone and bleak imagery were in stark contrast to some sugary pop ballads androck & roll also on the charts in 1955:
You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
Saint Peter, don't you call me, 'cause I can't go;
I owe my soul to thecompany store...[13][14]
With Ford's snapping fingers[13][14] and a unique clarinet-driven pop arrangement by Ford's music director, Jack Fascinato, "Sixteen Tons" spent ten weeks at number one on the country chart and seven weeks at number one on the pop chart. The record sold over two million copies, and was awarded agold disc.[15] The song made Ford a crossover star, and became hissignature song.
Ford subsequently hosted his own prime-time variety program,The Ford Show, which ran onNBC television from October 4, 1956, to June 29, 1961. Ford's last name allowed the show title to carry a uniquedouble entendre by selling thenaming rights to theFord Motor Company (Ford had no known relation to theFord family who founded that company). TheFord Theatre, an anthology series also sponsored by the company, 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, a tradition he recalled during his days as a cast member onCliffie Stone'sHometown Jamboree live radio and TV show. Ford insisted on ending with a hymn on his own show despite objections from network officials and the ad agency representing Ford, who feared it might provoke controversy. Everyone relented after the hymns received overwhelmingly favorable viewer response. The hymn became the most popular segment of his show. He earned the nickname "The Ol' Pea-Picker" due to his catchphrase, "Bless your pea-pickin' heart!" He began using the term during his disc jockey days on KXLA.[3][16]
In 1956, he releasedHymns, his firstgospel music album, which remained onBillboard's Top Album charts for 277 consecutive weeks; his albumGreat Gospel Songs won aGrammy Award in 1964 and was nominated for several others.[6][17] After the NBC show ended, Ford moved his family toPortola Valley in northern California. He also owned a cabin near Grandjean,Idaho, on the upper South Fork of thePayette River, where he would regularly retreat.[3] In 1961, he recorded two albums ofAmerican Civil War songs, one for songs of theUnion and another for songs of theConfederacy.
From 1962 to 1965, Ford hosted a daytime talk/variety show,The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show (later known asHello, Peapickers) fromKGO-TV in San Francisco, broadcast over theABC television network. In 1968, Ford narrated theRankin/BassThanksgiving TV specialThe Mouse on the Mayflower forNBC. The mouse narrator seen at the beginning of the special, William the Churchmouse, was a caricature of Ford, in keeping with a Rankin/Bass tradition. Ford was the spokesman for the Pontiac Furniture Company inPontiac, Illinois, in the 1970s. He also became the spokesman forMartha White brand flour in 1972.
Although he left his own TV show, he went on other shows likeHee Haw in the 1970s,The Dolly Show, and onBarbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters in the early 1980s.[17]
Ford left Capitol Records in 1975. By that time, the quality of his country albums had become uneven and none of his releases were selling well. He would never record for a major label again.[16]
Ford's experiences as a navigator and bombardier instructor in World War II led to his involvement with the Confederate Air Force (now theCommemorative Air Force), a war plane preservation group in Texas. He was a featured announcer and celebrity guest at the annual CAF Airshow inHarlingen, Texas, from 1976 to 1988. He donated a once-top-secretNorden bombsight 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 theHollywood Walk of Fame, forradio,records, andtelevision. He was awarded thePresidential Medal of Freedom in 1984, and was inducted into theCountry Music Hall of Fame in 1990.[17]
Out of the public eye, Ford and wife Betty contended with serious alcohol problems; Betty had the problem since the 1950s, as well as emotional issues that complicated both their lives and the lives of their sons. Though his drinking began to worsen in the 1960s, he worked continuously, seemingly unaffected by his heavy intake ofwhiskey. By the 1970s, however, it had begun to take an increasing toll on his health, appearance, and ability to sing, though his problems were not known publicly. After Betty took her own life in 1989 because of prescription drug abuse, Ernie's liver problems, diagnosed years earlier, became more apparent, but he refused to reduce his drinking despite repeated doctors' warnings. His last interview was taped on September 23, 1991, by his long-time friendDinah Shore for her TV show, and was later aired on December 4 that year.[18][19]
Ford received posthumous recognition for his gospel music contributions by being added to theGospel Music Association'sGospel Music Hall of Fame in 1994.[6]
Ford was married to Betty Heminger from September 18, 1942, until her death on February 26, 1989. They had two sons: Jeffrey Buckner "Buck" Ford (born 1950); and Brion Leonard Ford (born 1952, inSan Gabriel, California), who died on October 24, 2008, inWhite House, Tennessee, of lung cancer, aged 56. In 1980, Ford lived in the Smoke Tree neighborhood ofPalm Springs, California.[20]
Less than four months after Betty's death in 1989, Ford married again. On September 28, 1991, he suffered severeliver failure atDulles Airport, shortly after leaving astate dinner at theWhite House, hosted by then-PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush.
Ernie Ford died in the HCA Reston Hospital Center, ofReston, Virginia, on October 17, 1991.[1][3] His body was interred at theAlta Mesa Memorial Park inPalo Alto, California.
His second wife, Beverly Wood Ford (1921–2001), died ten years after Ernie; her body was interred along his.[21]
Ford was a member of thePi Kappa Alpha fraternity, the Epsilon Zeta chapter atEast Tennessee State University, as well as theBohemian Club.
Albums
