- Vern Gosdin
Infobox Musical artist
Name = Vern Gosdin
Landscape =
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name =
Born = birth date and age|1934|08|05
Origin =Woodland, Alabama ,USA
Instrument =Vocals ,guitar
Genre = Country,Gospel
Occupation =Singer ,songwriter
Years_active = 1967-present
Label = Elektra
A&M
CompleatColumbia Records
VGM
Associated_acts =Emmylou Harris George Jones
URL = [http://www.thevoiceofcountrymusic.com Official website]Vern Gosdin (born
August 5 ,1934 inWoodland, Alabama ) is an Americancountry music singer . He idolized The Louvin Brothers and The Blue Sky Boys as a young man and sang in a gospel quartet called The Gosdin Brothers. Nicknamed "The Voice," an inheritor of the soulful honky tonk style of Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard rose to the top of the business and notched hit after barroom hit. Some of these scored hits in the 1970s and 1980s, included "Chiseled in Stone," "Set 'em Up Joe," "I'm Still Crazy," "That Just About Does It," "If You're Gonna Do Me Wrong (Do It Right)," "Today My World Slipped Away," "Slow Burning Memory," "This Ain't My First Rodeo," "Way Down Deep" and "I Can Tell By The Way You Dance."Career
As the sixth child in a family of nine, Vern Gosdin began singing in a church in Woodland, Al. where his mother played piano.
In 1961 he moved to California where he joined the West Coast Country music movement, first as a member of the Golden State Boys, then the Hillmen before forming The Gosdin Brothers with brother Rex. The duo hit the charts in the late 60s with "Hangin' On" on the Bakersfield International label, then with "Till The End" on Capitol Records.
He moved to Atlanta during the 70s, retired from performing and operated a glass company, but before the end of the decade he was back in the studio recording with Emmylou Harris and Janie Frickie.
He signed with Compleat Records in the early 80s, and in 1984 released "There Is A Season", picked by the Los Angeles Times as "Best Country Album" of that year.
He made the Top Ten consistently in the early '80s, really hitting his stride when he teamed with Max D. Barnes as a songwriting collaborator. The pair specialized in songs of cheating and barroom romance, often delivering an over-the-top emotionalism that got Gosdin compared to the ultimate legend of honky tonk vocals of
George Jones . In 1983, Gosdin had two Top Five hits — If You're Gonna Do Me Wrong (Do It Right) and Way Down Deep. The following year he had his first number one single with "I Can Tell by the Way You Dance (You're Gonna Love Me Tonight)" and had two additional Top Ten hits.After Compleat Records went bankrupt, Gosdin signed with Columbia in 1987. He had success right off the bat with "Do You Believe Me Now" he hit number one once again with the perennially popular Ernest Tubb tribute "Set 'Em Up Joe". Gosdin's "Chiseled in Stone", co-written with Barnes, won the Country Music Association's Song of the Year award in 1989.
His 1989 album "Alone" was concept album in a traditional country style. It chronicled the dissolution of Gosdin's marriage. From 1989-1991 he released a number of songs and three more made the "
Billboard " Top 10: "Right in the Wrong Direction", "That Just About Does It" and "Is It Raining at Your House". Recently, "Is It Raining at Your House" was covered byBrad Paisley .In 2008, Gosdin released "40 Years of the Voice", a four-CD career retrospective. The boxed set on VGM Records features 101 songs, including 14 previously-unreleased tracks recorded 35 years ago. The collection also offers 11 newly-recorded songs, as well as hits such as "Chiseled in Stone," "Set'em Up Joe," "Today My World Slipped Away" and "I Can Tell by the Way You Dance."A true labor of love and testimony to one great man's career, "The Voice of Country Music".
Discography
Albums
ingles
External links
* [http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/gosdin_vern/artist.jhtml CMT.com: Vern Gosdin]
* [http://www.thevoiceofcountrymusic.com/ Vern Gosdin official website]
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