More Memories - Softcover

Emery, Ralph

Softcover

ISBN 10: 042514643X ISBN 13: 9780425146439

Publisher: Berkley, 1995

Synopsis

A renowned country music DJ, the host of TNN's "Nashville Now" offers a new collection of his stories about country stars of the past and present, including Patsy Cline, Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, and a host of others. Reprint.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

Emery and Carter prove lightning can strike in the same place twice: Witness this scintillating follow-up to their 1991 megabestseller, Memories. Emery (whose prime-time cable-TV show Nashville Now has 60 million viewers) reprises his humble beginnings in broadcasting at WTPR--a dusk-to-dawn 250-watter in Paris, Tennessee (pop. 5000). After broadcasting farm-to-market news at $45 a week, he began programming a Sunday morning country-music show--until his first fan letter informed him that listening to country on Sunday mornings was like eating green beans for breakfast. Switching to a gospel format featuring live services, Emery would race to the first church and set up a microphone, then speed back to the station to introduce the service. Jumping back into the station's jalopy, he'd rush to set up a mike at the next church while the first preacher was having his half hour on the air. The bulk of the narrative here, though, offers not autobiography but more of Emery's fascinating insider's anecdotes about the foibles of country-music stars; their families; the origins of their songs; and the zany behavior they use to drive away the boredom of working 300 one-nighters on the road each year. One bright episode concerns the silver-screen debut of Mel Tillis--a notorious stutterer but one of the first Nashville singers recruited by Hollywood. Facing the cameras for the first time, Tillis characteristically botched his lines with his stutter. When the furious director castigated him for improvising, the humiliated singer retired to his trailer for some liquid consolation. Meanwhile, the cast and crew convinced the director that Tillis's stutter made the line funny, and Tillis was invited back for another take: Intoxicated, he delivered his lines without hesitation--only the next morning did a sober Tillis finally declaim to perfection, stumbling over every word. Captivating, and likely to capture another top rung on bestseller lists. (For a less satisfied glance at Emery's life, see Skeeter Davis's Bus Fare to Kentucky, reviewed above.) (Sixteen pages of b&w photographs--not seen) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

Country music broadcasting legend Emery continues, again with coauthor Carter, the reminiscences he began with his bestselling Memories . He displays a fine eye for detail and a command of his subject that is the product of 40 years on the Nashville scene, most recently as host of Nashville Now , a country music talk show on the Nashville Network (TNN). In language as unabashedly sentimental as the lyrics of a country song, the anecdotes and interviews here cover the entire range of performers, from superstars to talented second-rank personalities and the mostly anonymous studio musicians whose contribution to the genre is immeasurable. Emery contends that country music is today too much of a business and mourns the loss of a sense of community which existed when he first entered the field. Of particular note are his descriptions of the reaction to the deaths of Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves, and his interview with Dick Clark, whom Emery praises as a professional without peer in the broadcast industry. The story of how the Grammys first came to Nashville is a sterling example of the gentle humor and goodnatured style of this affectionate remembrance. Photos not seen by PW .
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Berkley
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 042514643X
• ISBN 13: 9780425146439
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 288