On July 15, Livingston County will be in the company
of a Grammy-winning man who has imprinted his brand of country music
permanently on the world, Thought of as one of country music's most
innovative and talented writer/performers, Bobby Bare will take the
fair stage at 8 p.m. this Tuesday, Bare will share a variety of
music from his years in the industry. Robert Joseph Bare was born
and raised around Ironton, in rural Lawrence County, Ohio, at the
southernmost tip of the state. He got his start on WKOV radio in
Wellston, about 40 miles north of his hometown, then moved out west
to the Los Angeles area at the age of 18. Bare soon had his first
hit single with a talking blues type of song called "All
American Boy," on the Fraternity Label.
He had written
and recorded the song only a couple of days before he was to
be drafted into the Army but had no idea it was going to be
released. It soared to No. 2 on the pop charts, but at first was
erroneously credited to Bill Parsons, a friend of Bare's with whom
he had recorded the session.
After his
tenure in the Army, Bare had the opportunity to tour with Roy
Orbison, Jay and the Americans, Bobby Darin and was featured on
"American Bandstand." Bare won a Grammy for "Best
Country Recording" with "Detroit City" after signing
with RCA. He was nominated over the next several years for
"Best Country Single" and "Best Male Country Vocal
Performance."
Along with
Chet Atkins, Jim Reeves and the Anita Kensingers, Bare made the
first commercial country music tour of Europe. He returned to
Germany the following year for three months and has toured overseas
almost every year since.
He married a
singer, Jeannie Sterling and they moved to Nashville together. He
tried his hand at acting in a movie with Troy Donahue and Suzanne
Pleshette titled "A Distant Trumpet" and also in some
pilots for a TV series call "No Time For Sergeants," but
decided that what he really wanted to do was get married, raise some
children and be a country music singer. And that's exactly what he
did.
Throughout the
years Bare has worked with a variety of others in the music business
including Waylon Jennings, Roy Orbison, Chet Atkins, Skeeter Davis, Rosanna
Cash, Willie Nelson, Dr. Hook, Kris Kristofferson and Rodney
Crowell. But none of these collaborative efforts were as successful
as Bare's work with poet/author/cartoonist/ songwriter Shel
Silverstein. Bare had complete artistic control when he and
Silverstein recorded "Bobby Bare Sings Lullaby's, Legends and
Lies." The album includes "Daddy \What If," written .
by Silverstein that features Bare and his 5 year-old son Bobby Jr. -
T h e following year, Silverstein assisted the entire Bare
family in recording a children's album called "Singing in the
Kitchen." • Among the first to recognize the talents and
record the songs of Harlan Howard, Tom T. Hall, Billy Joe Shaver,
Mickey Newberry and many others, Bare has long been known as a
friend of the songwriter/artist. When the Nashville Network debuted
in 1983, it was Fitting that one of its first programs was
"Bobby Bare and Friends," a highly regarded one-hour weekly
show spotlighting the importance of the songwriter. The show
featured him shooting the breeze with his writer friends, followed
by a little pickin' and singin'. Over the years, Bare has made a
name for himself in, the United States and abroad. He continues to
write and record as he and Jeannie live on the shores of Old Hickory
Lake just outside of Nashville. And today, just as in the past, if
Bare's little traveling bag is sitting on the dining room table,
he's home, otherwise, he's on the road.
Constitution (MO) Tribune
10 July 1998
page 12
 
