Country Girl

Country Girl may refer to:

See also

Billy Vera

Billy Vera (born William Patrick McCord, May 28, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, author and music historian. He was a singer and songwriter since the 1960s, his most successful record coming with "At This Moment", a US number 1 hit in 1987. He continues to perform with his group Billy Vera & The Beaters.

Life and career

Vera was born in Riverside, California, and is the son of the radio and television announcer Bill McCord. His mother, singer Ann Ryan, was a member of the Ray Charles Singers backing Perry Como on his TV show and his hit records. He began his recording career in 1962 as a member of the Resolutions followed by the regional hit "My Heart Cries"/"All My Love" as Billy Vera & the Contrasts. He went on to a songwriting career in the 1960s, writing for Barbara Lewis, Fats Domino, The Shirelles and Ricky Nelson. He also wrote the garage band classic "Don't Look Back", performed by the Remains and later covered by Robert Plant.

In 1967 Vera, with Chip Taylor, penned "Storybook Children" and brought it to Atlantic Records. The groundbreaking decision to place former gospel singer Judy Clay with Vera in a white-black duet to record the song was a commercial and artistic success. The duo became big favorites at Harlem's Apollo Theater and their follow-up, "Country Girl-City Man" also charted. He had a solo hit single later that same year with the Bobby Goldsboro penned "With Pen in Hand", which was also the name of his next album.

Judy Clay

Judy Clay (September 12, 1938 – July 19, 2001) was an American soul and gospel singer, who achieved greatest success as a member of two recording duos in the 1960s.

Life

Born Judith Grace Guions, in St. Pauls, North Carolina, she was raised by her grandmother in Fayetteville and began singing in church. After moving to Brooklyn in the early 1950s, she was taken in by Lee Drinkard Warrick of The Drinkard Singers. From the age of 14, she became a regular performer with the family gospel group, which had originally been formed in Savannah, Georgia, around 1938, and which also at times included Lee Warrick's sister Emily (later known as Cissy Houston) and daughters Dionne and Delia (later better known as Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick). Clay made her recorded debut with the Drinkard Singers - who later became better known as The Sweet Inspirations - on their 1954 album, The Newport Spiritual Stars.

She left the Drinkard Singers in 1960 and made her first solo recording, "More Than You Know", on Ember Records. This was followed by further singles on several record labels, but with little commercial success, although "You Busted My Mind" later became successful on the UK's Northern soul club circuit. In 1967, Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records teamed her up with white singer-songwriter Billy Vera to make the United States' first racially integrated duo, and The Sweet Inspirations, to record "Storybook Children". The record made #20 on the US R&B chart and #54 pop. It was seen as the first interracial duo recording for a major label However, Vera has stated that television executives denied them appearances together, believing (wrongly) that Vera and Clay were more than just singing partners, and, to add insult to injury, had the song performed on network TV by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood.

Galway Girl

"Galway Girl" or "The Galway Girl" is a song written by Steve Earle and recorded with Irish musician Sharon Shannon, which was featured on Earle's 2000 album Transcendental Blues.

A cover version of the song by Mundy and Shannon reached number one and became the most downloaded song of 2008 in Ireland, and has gone on to become the eighth highest selling single in Irish chart history.

Plot

"Galway Girl" tells the semi-autobiographical story of the singer's reaction to a beautiful black haired blue eyed girl he meets in Galway, Ireland. Local references include Salthill and The Long Walk.

References in popular culture

"Galway Girl" featured in the 2008 Bulmers cider advertising campaign.

The song appears in the 2007 film P.S. I Love You, where Gerard Butler's character sings the song for Hilary Swank's character. This was also sung by Jeffrey Dean Morgan's character to Swank.

The song featured in the TV series Treme (in episode 9 of the second series, entitled "What Is New Orleans?"). It was performed by Steve Earle (in his role of Harley, a street musician) with Lucia Micarelli and Spider Stacy (of The Pogues) accompanying him on violin and pennywhistle.