Country Music Hall of Fame member Ralph Emery passed away this morning (January 15) at Centennial Medical Center in Nashville with his family at his side.
What did Walter Ralph Emery do that was so great in country music? He just talked. And talked. And talked. His resonating voice boomed out of the 50,000 watt clear channel signal of WSM to much of the country in the 1960s and 70s, giving country music what was more or less its first "national network." Yes, WSM was just a "local" station, but people all over the country could hear it.
And, in the process, they could hear Emery interviewing the newcomers in country music who became legends. He played their records, often before anyone else in the country could (or would). A play on Emery's overnight radio show was massive exposure in those days. (In his first memoir, Memories, Emery claimed that he used that clout to make then-wife Skeeter Davis' song "The End of the World" into the massive country and pop crossover hit that it was in 1962.)
Emery's popularity with and brilliance at interviewing country stars was so good that, later in the 60s, he had an hour-long Monday-through-Thursday night (taped) program where he would interview the superstars and the up-and-comers.
Emery took his talents to television, hosting the widely-syndicated program Pop! Goes the Country (with its theme song by the Statler Brothers). And, when the Nashville Network decided to start a nightly country music talk show, it was Ralph Emery who sat behind the desk at Nashville Now.
Emery's popularity made him one of the preeminent authorities on the "Nashville Sound" era of country music. His books (including Memories, More Memories, 50 Years Down a Country Road, and The View From Nashville) sold well and contained a treasure trove of stories about the stars, the city, and the industry as it evolved through the decades.
He was also in songs, whether it was humorous (check out his "interview" with Lester "Roadhog" Moran sometime), a tribute (the Statlers' "How to Be a Country Star" included the advice to "talk plain like Ralph Emery"), or even an unflattering attack (the Byrds's song "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man" was Gram Parson's scathing rebuttal after Emery didn't appreciate the Byrds' appearance on the Opry in their Sweetheart of the Rodeo days).
He was rightfully inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame as well as the National Radio Hall of Fame and the Country DJ Hall of Fame.
That voice entertained and educated country music fans for two generations. And now it's sadly silent.
Ralph Emery was 88.
K.F. Raizor, author of the website Raizor's Edge and the book We Can't Sing and We Ain't Funny: The World of Homer and Jethro is our guest writer today on That Nashville Sound. She's ever so gracious to provide wonderful tributes to honor those to whom the music we treasure just wouldn't be the same without. Thank you, K.F.
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