Bobby Bare

Bobby Bare, Ironton, Ohio
Constitution, Missouri Tribune, 10 July 1998, page 12

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 writers/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, the Americans, and 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 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 called “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, Rosanne 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 Lullabys, Legends, and Lies.” The album includes “Daddy, What If,” written . by Silverstein which features Bare and his 5-year-old son Bobby Jr. – The 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.