Despite all the success of country music over the past 30 years, the classic song “Walk On By,” recorded in 1961 by Mercury’s Leroy Van Dyke, has been named the biggest all-time country hit by Billboard magazine in its 100th anniversary issue (November 1, 1994). Based on sales, radio airplay and amount of time on the country charts, Van Dyke’s “Walk On By” was designated the #1 recording for the period of October 20, 1958, through June 25, 1994.

“It’s kind of a shock, but kind of nice,” says Van Dyke, who still performs more than 100 concerts annually in the United States, Canada and overseas, covering an average of 100,000 miles per year. “I’ve been at this for over 38 years, and when your main concern is getting to the next show, you’re too busy to stop and think that maybe you’re making history.”

Leroy’s longevity, his amazing staying power as a performer, is attributable to several factors: the timeless, wide appeal of”Walk On By” and other titles in his recorded repertoire, his professionalism both on and off stage, his unexcelled business integrity and his policy of giving fans at live performances what they want to hear.

The top 20 Billboard listing includes other great performers Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Marty Robbins, Ray Price, Ferlin Husky, George Jones, Buck Owens, Bill Anderson and others. Van Dyke is the only artist among the group who has maintained a full-time touring schedule since the late 1950’s. “I’m the only one on the list,” he says with a laugh, “who’s never ever disbanded, never slowed down, never quit or died.”

Although uncertain as to exact numbers, Van Dyke estimates sales of “Walk On By” at more than 3,000,000 copies; recorded before the advent of gold or platinum records, it has not been certified. It continues to be immensely popular on record and in concert worldwide. “One reason for its success,” Leroy says, “is that it strikes a responsive chord in listeners. You can call it a classic triangle or cheatin’ song if you wish, but it’s also true that anyone, anywhere, any age, can identify with ‘Walk On By,’ particularly if family or society thinks that person should love a certain person, but his or her heart belongs to someone else.”

“Walk On By” is not a “period” song, but has as much mass appeal today, and will have tomorrow, as it did when it rocketed to the top of the charts in 1961 and 1962. Many contemporary country stars know and perform the song, and every country band, worldwide, knows and plays it.

However, the song almost missed being a hit . . . twice. First, Van Dyke and his session leader, Jerry Kennedy (later a producer for Jerry Lee Lewis, The Statler Brothers and others), went to the Nashville office of Lowery Music to search for material, but could find nothing they liked. Lowery’s Gary Walker said he had one other song, but wouldn’t play it for them because it still needed work.

“I badgered him until he did,” recalls Van Dyke, “but the voice on the demo record was having trouble carrying a tune, and it sounded like it was recorded in a garage on a Webcor wire recorder. I was almost ready to say ‘no’ when it got to the chorus: ‘Just walk on by, wait on the corner.’ I said, ‘That’s it. I want it.’ ” The song (written by Kendall Hayes) didn’t have a second verse, so Walker wrote one that night while Van Dyke rearranged the chorus and touched up the first verse.

Recorded in Nashville with producer Shelby Singleton, Hank “Sugarfoot” Garland was responsible for the song’s signature guitar sound. Among others on the session were Hargus “Pig” Robbins on piano; Buddy Killen on bass; Kennedy, Harold Bradley and Kelso Herston on guitars; Willie Ackerman on drums; and Margie Singleton as featured background singer. The unique combination of material and personnel in the studio that day undoubtedly was magic. On a sad note, the recording engineer, Mort Thomasson, died on October 1994, just days before the momentous announcement of the place in history occupied by “Walk On By.”

When Mercury Records decided to promote the other side of the single, “My World Is Cavin In,” Van Dyke kept telling them, “You need to flip it over,” but not until there were rumors that Conway Twitty had also cut the song did Mercury push “Walk On By.” On September 25, 1961, it went to #1, where it remained for an incredible 19 weeks, and some music historians report that it stayed in the charts 42 weeks! One of the first major crossover hits, it was #5 on the pop chart. In addition, “Walk On By” was nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Western Recording.

Leroy’s 1956 hit, “Auctioneer,” which he wrote, has also been a million-seller as well as Top 10 country and Top 20 pop, and is a timeless country standard. “You’re lucky if you have one song people remember,” says Van Dyke. “I’ve been lucky enough to have two.”  For more go to www.leroyvandyke.com

 Information  provided by www.leroyvandyke.com via  Google

As a fan of Country Music you could say I and yourself would have to retrace a few years back to  actually get a root feel for this topic. Let’s take a look at the term country music. Country Music is considered by many to be a music depicted from deep rooted traditional living. Now what I mean by deep rooted traditional living is coming from a time of being raised up experiencing small town USA, large families having less than others and making do with what you had.

There are many songs that tell stories of how life existed when family triumphs and hardships bellowed out in these songs of how America lived,loved,cried,laughed, and  endured. I’ve had many conversations with people whom expressed their views that Country Music derived from folk,blues, and gospel music. Country Music may still have stories to tell about a life experience. The one remaining fact stands out today. Country Music has changed greatly in genre from a sound of steel guitars,fiddles,banjos, and mandolins to Les Paul Telecasters,Stratocasting streaming rock guitars and sexuality imaged expressions that sells to a demographic audience whose ideals have taken the place of traditional past  preceded generations who have a completely different definition for the term country music.

The status of today’s country music will perhaps continue to change it’s identity, but will ever continue to be a mystery of misunderstanding to those pioneers who have preceded today’s warriors of change.

comments made possible by S. Pride @www.myheartiscountry.com

Many of us might not know it, but country music is fast becoming a formidable force in the world of commercial music. The likes of Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, and the most recent, Taylor Swift, have taken the music industry by storm and have styles that remain ‘in the now’ even after decades have passed.

If you’re not a fan of bouncy pop music or don’t really appreciate the loudness of rock or metal, why not develop an appreciation for the country sound by getting some country guitar lessons?

The Basics

Country sound is a lot easier to digest because it has a calmer, more soothing vibe. In addition, a country guitar lesson doesn’t require you to plug into electricity to get yourself going. For most part, country music is accompanied by an acoustic guitar — and, for many, this is both nice to the ears and the budget.

Easy guitar lessons can be obtained online or by going through guitar lessons dvd courses. Either way, country guitar lessons are a dream to have — your parents and neighbors will also love you for it.

Learning how to strum country music on your acoustic guitar is similar to simply learning how to play this instrument. Of course, executing it successfully is dependent on how much you feel it, as the heart of country sound rests a lot on feeling and emotion.

It wouldn’t do you any good, or your listeners, to play country music that has no emotion to it, at all.

Practice

Whether you want country guitar lessons in preparation for a career or do it just as a hobby, it’s not likely you’ll get anything with your guitar if you don’t practice to mastery.

Listen to the songs you want to play, feel them, and do this everyday. Study the styles of your favorite artists and try to emulate them; better yet, try to develop your own style from what you’ve learned from them.

Don’t stop practicing until you feel like you’ve finally made the song your own. Remember, country music is all about heart — without it, the sound wouldn’t mean anything, at all.

You will find a lot of resources on easy guitar lessons online, as well as tips and advice on creating new styles with the guitar.

Find your niche and practice. If you find that country guitar lessons are what you need, then, by all means, develop the love and start playing.