Bill Anderson and Jan Howard
Listen/Download – Bill Anderson and Jan Howard – Someday We’ll Be Together
Greetings all.
I’ve been sitting on this 45 (not literally) for a long time, waiting for the right time to whip it on you all.
A while back, I was sitting in some department store parking lot somewhere, killing time while the fam did some shopping, and listening to the satellite survey on Sirius 60s.
I’m a huge fan of old top 40 surveys because they are often your only chance to hear all kinds of interesting tunes that never cracked the Top 20, making it high enough to get played on the radio back in the day, but not quite high enough to get picked up by the algorithms that govern modern oldies radio.
So, ears peeled, I was digging the sounds when the DJ did one of those flashbacks, prefacing the Supreme 1969 hit version of ‘Someday We’ll Be Together’ with the original by Johnny (Bristol) and Jackie (Beavers) from 1961.
I was aware of the earlier recording, but had never actually heard it. I dug it a lot, and set out on the intertubes to see what I might do in the way of acquiring a copy.
Though I was unsuccessful, in my travels I happened upon a listing for a version of the song by Bill Anderson and Jan Howard.
I knew that these were both country singers, so I dug a little deeper and discovered that it was in fact the same song, and since it was cheap as chips, I pulled the trigger.
“Whispering” Bill Anderson was one of the bigger country stars of the 60s and 70s. Jan Howard (who was married to legendary songwriter Harlan Howard) had her own string of hits starting in the early 60s.
Anderson and Howard started recording as a duet in the mid-60s, scoring a number of Top 10 Country hits.
Their version of ‘Someday We’ll Be Together’ was released in 1970 and made it to #4 on the Country charts.
Their version has a fairly standard vocal arrangement, but the addition of the combination of a fuzzed out lead guitar and pedal steel adds a groovy touch.
While it might not be everybody’s cup of tea, I’m still blown away by the odd juxtaposition of material and style (aside from countless country and soul tunes that crossed over naturally), and really dig this one.
I hope you do, too, and I’ll see you next week.
Peace
Larry
Glad to hear this one. I suspect there’s some interesting blog-worthy ground to cover involving country remakes of pop hits, particularly in that late 60s/early 70s countrypolitan period.
Bill Anderson is a very big deal. He’s credited as a co-author on a current hit, “Country” by Mo Pitney, which makes him the first songwriter in history to have a song on the country chart in seven different decades.
Thank you sir.
I had no idea that Anderson was still cooking. I remember watching a lot of the Nashville Network back when I was working nights and seeing him a lot.
I’ll bet your right about country covers. Things like this make me much more likely to keep my eyes open for similar things.