A concert featuring country music artists David Frizzell and Janie Fricke will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 14th at the Palace Theatre in Corsicana; and is dedicated to the victims of Hurricane Harvey.
JMT Music Entertainment, the producers of the event, will donate a portion of the proceeds from the show to the Red Cross.
Just like Hank Williams, Jr., he’s standing in the shadows of a very famous man, but David Frizzell became a country star in his own right during the ’80s. The younger brother of country legend Lefty Frizzell, David was born September 26, 1941, in El Dorado, AK.
At the age of 12, he hitchhiked to California to join Lefty, who added the youth to his show and persuaded Columbia to sign him in 1958. Nothing came of the deal, however, and David spent the ’60s touring with his brother, recording for several minor labels and spending time in the Air Force.
He returned to Columbia in 1970 and placed two singles on the country charts, including the Top 40 entry “I Just Can’t Help Believing.” ( B.J. Thomas took it to the pop Top Ten the same year.)
Frizzell moved to Nashville a year later and recorded for the Cartwheel label. Just after he joined Buck Owens’ All American TV Show in 1973, Frizzell signed a contract with Capitol and recorded two modest hits, “Words Don’t Come Easy” and “Take Me One More Ride.”
After some mid-’70s recordings for RSO and MCA, he joined his younger brother Allen and Allen’s wife Shelly West on a tour around the Southwest.
David and West recorded some material, and their single “You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma” was included on Clint Eastwood’s 1981 film Any Which Way You Can; it topped the country chart early that year. “A Texas State of Mind” hit number nine in June, and the duo closed out 1981 with “Husbands and Wives,” a Top 20 hit. The following year, Frizzell and West hit the Top Ten again on the strength of “Another Honky-Tonk Night on Broadway” and “I Just Came Here to Dance.” They won numerous Duo of the Year awards beginning that year.
Jump started by his duet success, Frizzell hit number one as a solo act in 1982 with “I’m Gonna Hire a Wino to Decorate Our Home,” from Family’s Fine, but This One’s All Mine. His next two singles, “Lost My Baby Blues” and “Where Are You Spending Your Nights These Days,” hit the Top Ten during 1982-1983.
He recorded only one more Top 40 single, “A Million Light Beers Ago,” but Frizzell and West had back-to-back hits in 1984: “Silent Partners” and “It’s a Be Together Night.” Frizzell continued to record during the ’80s, for Nashville America, Compleat, and BFE.
Janie Fricke was one of the most popular female country singers of the ’80s, racking up an enviable string of hits and proving herself a versatile vocalist with a particular flair for ballads.
Fricke was born in South Whitney, IN, in 1947 and learned piano and guitar as a child; her first vocal influences were folkies like Joan Baez and Judy Collins, but she fell in love with country music as well.
During college, she sang commercial jingles for a Memphis radio station and moved to Nashville in 1975, where she quickly became an in-demand session vocalist.
She got her first major exposure in 1976, when producer Billy Sherrill teamed her with Johnny Duncan for a set of duets that included “Joe and the Cowboy,” “Stranger,” and “Thinkin’ of a Rendezvous,” the latter of which went to number one on the country charts.
Sherrill signed Fricke as a solo act, and produced her 1977 debut single, “What’re You Doing Tonight,” which just missed the Top 20. Collaborations with Charlie Rich (the number one hit “On My Knees”) and Duncan again (the Top Five “Come a Little Bit Closer”) kept her going strong through 1978, but her solo singles over the next couple of years had a hard time taking off.
Sherrill advised her to establish an identity by focusing on one style, and Fricke began to record a generous selection of ballads.
As a result, Fricke had a breakout year in 1981, when she landed two Top Five hits with “Down to My Last Broken Heart” and “I’ll Need Someone to Hold Me (When I Cry).”
That only set the stage for her smashing success over 1982-1984, when she scored an amazing six number one hits — “Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me Baby,” “It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Easy,” “Tell Me a Lie,” “He’s a Heartache (Looking for a Place to Happen),” “Let’s Stop Talkin’ About It,” and “Your Heart’s Not in It.”
Plus, the three singles she released during that time period that didn’t top the charts all made the Top Ten. By this time, she’d broadened her style to include more up-tempo tracks as well.
Fricke landed five more Top Ten hits from 1985-1986, including another number one in “Always Have, Always Will” and a number two in “She’s Single Again.”
However, her commercial momentum slowed abruptly afterward, and following 1989’s Labor of Love album, she and CBS Records parted ways. She recorded two albums for the small Branson label in 1992 and 1993, and issued the gospel record Hymns of Faith on Intersound in 1996.
In 2000, she mounted a comeback tour behind the album Bouncin’ Back, and two years later issued the concert set Live at Billy Bob’s Texas, which featured many of her old hits.
The Palace Theatre is located at 112 West 6th Avenue in Downtown Corsicana. All seats are reserved and tickets are priced from $25.00 to $45.00.
Tickets may be ordered at CorsicanaPalace.com, by phone at 903.874.7792 or at the box office during normal business hours.
