Age 89, almost 90. His wife passed away in March.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/05/08/national/a065031D83.DTL&tsp=1
In the past couple years, I’ve heard him almost weekly on commercials for handmade orthopedic “Living Shoes” made in Louisville, KY. Even in the commercials, his voice was so smooth.
How can anyone not love Cattle Call?
He was (is) one of the few C&W singers I can stand to listen to. For The Good Times has to be one of the best ballads ever recorded.
I always remember him for his comment about why he voted for Olivia Newton-John as best female country artist in the 1973 Grammies(which she won, causing a rift in the country music scene).
He said something like, “I’m old, and I’m rich, and I can do whatever the hell I want to.”
He was the Bing Crosby of the Country Music scene. Smooth.
His song “These are the Thanks I Get (for loving you)” is one of the earliest non-kiddie songs I remember hearing in my life (nursery school, 2-3 years old). As a kid I enjoyed his album of old folkie standards (the one with “Wanderin’”, “The Roving Gambler”, and everyone-knows-it stuff like “Home on the Range” and “Down in the Valley”).
A golden voice - I used to listen to him when I was a wee tad, my mom playing his LPs on her automatic Magnavox turntable all day while she cleaned house…
I, for one, will miss him.
I merged Dirk’s thread with the older one.
samclem
Did Eddy Arnold record that? Ray Price had the big hit with it.
I loved Eddy Arnold. RIP