Tennessee Ernie Ford wasn’t the primary artist to report “Sixteen Tons,” however he made it his signature. The music, impressed by the travails of the real-life coal miners of Kentucky, was first recorded by one in every of his forerunners on the Capitol label, Merle Travis, in 1947.
That widespread model, of a music that bore Travis’ songwriting credit score from then on, didn’t present up on the Billboard charts on the day, though Travis was rising with different hits on the time. By 1955, it was ripe for a remake – and would later turn out to be the title of one in every of Ford’s Capitol albums.
Ernest Jennings Ford, from Bristol, Tennessee, had been having large nation hits within the US for the reason that late 40s. Recording as Tennessee Ernie, he racked up no fewer than 14 nation chart entries in 4 years after debuting with the jaunty, accordion-toting “Tennessee Border” in 1949.
All however a kind of singles made the Prime 10, however none crossed over to the pop market, and neither did the primary launch to bear his surname, “River Of No Return.” It got here from the film of that identify starring Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe. Then the yr of Ford’s crossover arrived.
Tennessee Ernie in Disneyland
In 1955, he made each the nation and pop Prime 10 with “Ballad Of Davy Crockett,” from the Disneyland TV sequence. Ford hit even larger together with his “Sixteen Tons” remake, which spent ten weeks atop the nation chart and eight on the pop facet. For the remainder of the last decade, he would see extra motion within the pop market, and scored a number of main gospel-themed albums, together with Hymns, Spirituals and Nearer The Cross.
Curiously, Sixteen Tons the album didn’t arrive till 1960, and, much more surprisingly, was not a chart merchandise, though Ford was in the course of a ten-year run on TV together with his personal selection present. Nonetheless, main off with the title observe, it turned a vinyl salute to his triumphs of the last decade that had simply ended. The LP included his earlier nation No.1s, with “Mule Train” and his personal composition “The Shot Gun Boogie.”
Extra nation hits
Additionally included was 1950’s “The Cry Of The Wild Goose,” which, like “Mule Train,” noticed Ford scoring the nation hit with a music taken into the pop charts by Frankie Laine. Sixteen Tons additionally sported the nation prime tenners “Smokey Mountain Boogie” and “Blackberry Boogie.”
“The Old Pea Picker,” as Ford was recognized, returned to the nation chart within the mid-60s with the hit “Hicktown,” making additional appearances within the 70s and recording into the 80s. He died on the age of 72 in 1991, however Sixteen Tons is a high quality testomony to a much-loved inductee of the Nation Music Corridor Of Fame.
Purchase or stream the Sixteen Tons album.
