If Fred Rose had solely been Hank Williams’ artistic confidant, his contribution to nation music historical past would have been immense. However that’s solely a part of the story of an enormous of Nashville and past.
Rose additionally wrote hits for artists from Gene Autry to Bing Crosby, served as A&R man for not simply Hank however Bob Wills, the Louvin Brothers and others, and co-founded one in all Nashville’s largest track publishing firms, Acuff-Rose. No surprise that, in 1961, he was one of many first three inductees into the Nation Music Corridor of Fame. We’re remembering the lifetime of a rustic nice born on August 24, 1898.
Hits within the Twenties
Knowles Fred Rose grew up in St. Louis, the place he confirmed early musical prowess earlier than shifting, nonetheless a teen, to Chicago. His abilities as a songwriter had been established as early because the Twenties, when he co-wrote one in all Sophie Tucker’s best-loved releases, “Red Hot Mama,” a 1924 hit on Okeh; “Deed I Do,” additionally recorded by Tucker and widespread in 1927 for Ruth Etting and Johnny Marvin; and “Honest and Truly,” which offered properly for each Henry Burr and Ben Selvin. Rose additionally recorded himself, for Brunswick.
A transfer to Nashville within the Thirties introduced Rose into the orbit of the Grand Ole Opry, however he additionally labored in New York, the place he scored his first country-flavored success as a author with “We’ll Rest At The End Of The Trail.” It attracted variations by Bing Crosby, Tex Ritter, and the Sons of the Pioneers. For a part of the Second World Conflict years, Fred was writing in Hollywood for cowboy motion pictures.
The transfer that may finally make him one of the vital vital figures in nation got here in 1942, when Rose moved again to Nashville and co-founded the city’s first music publishing firm, Acuff-Rose Music, with Grand Ole Opry star Roy Acuff. Its noble aim, which helped it to be extensively revered across the business, was that “no man, or girl, that entered our door would be cheated our of a song, or one penny of anything that they’ve got coming.”
The agency would flourish for many years to return, with its places of work on eighth Avenue South, the place legend has it Hank Williams got here to jot down the track that impressed Rose to take him beneath his wing, “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still In Love With You).”
Rose‘s influence grew all the more widely as he took on an unpaid A&R role with MGM Records, for whom Williams became one of the company’s largest stars. The pair would have unbroken success till Hank’s premature loss of life in 1953. A number of of the artist’s best-known songs had been co-writes with Rose, together with “Kaw-Liga,” “Take These Chains From My Heart,” and “I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive.”
A songwriter and deal-maker
Rose had different notable landmarks as a author, particularly with “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain,” recorded in 1947 by Roy Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys and by western swing household outfit the Sleepy Hole Ranch Gang. It went on to entice infinite covers, and to turn into a signature track for Willie Nelson. In his A&R capability, Rose was an important determine for MGM and different labels, securing the Louvin Brothers a cope with Capitol amongst different signings.
Rose died of coronary heart failure, at simply 56, in late 1954, when his son Wesley took over his function at Acuff-Rose Music. However there was no changing Fred’s singular presence as one in all Nashville’s most artistic authorities, and when the Nation Music Corridor of Fame opened in 1961, he was amongst its first trio of honorees with Jimmie Rodgers and the person who had a lot to thank him for, Hank Williams.
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