Red Sovine

Sovine was born as Woodrow Wilson Sovine in 1917 in Charleston, West Virginia, United States,[1] earning the nickname "Red" because of his reddish-brown hair. He had two brothers and two sisters. Sovine (whose last name was pronounced So VINE) was taught to play guitar by his mother. His first venture into music was with his childhood friend Johnnie Bailes, with whom he performed as "Smiley and Red, the Singing Sailors" in the country music revue Jim Pike's Carolina Tar Heels on WWVA-AM in Wheeling, West Virginia.[2][3] Faced with limited success, Bailes left to perform as part of The Bailes Brothers. Sovine got married, and continued to sing on Charleston radio, while holding down a job as a supervisor of a hosiery factory.[2][3] With the encouragement of Bailes, Sovine formed The Echo Valley Boys.[4]

After a year of performing in West Virginia, Sovine moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, where the Bailes Brothers were performing on KWKH-AM. Sovine's own early morning show was not popular, but he gained greater exposure performing on the famed KWKH radio program, Louisiana Hayride.[1] One of his co-stars was Hank Williams, who steered Sovine toward a better time slot at WSFA in Montgomery, Alabama, and toward a contract with MGM Records in 1949. That same year, Sovine replaced Williams on Louisiana Hayride when Williams jumped to the Grand Ole Opry. Over the next four years he recorded 28 singles, mostly following in Williams' honky tonk footsteps, that did not make much of a dent on the chart but did establish him as a solid performer.[2][3]

Another Louisiana Hayride co-star who helped Sovine was country music legend Webb Pierce. Pierce convinced Sovine to lead his Wondering Boys band and helped him toward a contract with Decca in 1954. The following year Sovine cut a duet with Goldie Hill, "Are You Mine?" which peaked in the Top 15, and in 1956 he had his first number one hit when he duetted with Pierce on a cover of George Jones' "Why Baby Why".[1] Sovine had two other Top Five singles that year and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry.[2][3][5] After recording close to 50 sides with Decca by 1959, Sovine signed to Starday Records and began touring the club circuit as a solo act. That same year, Sovine was seriously injured in a car accident that claimed the life of two of his band members, Douglas Nicks and Johnny Morris.

In 1961, a song copyrighted, in 1955, by Sovine and co-writer Dale Noe became a sizeable hit on the pop chart. The tune was the ballad "Missing You", arranged in Countrypolitan style and was recorded by Ray Peterson for his own Dunes label. "Missing You" became a #29 Billboard "Top 100" hit. In the fall, it peaked at #7 on Billboard's "Adult Contemporary" chart. In 1963, Sovine passed on the helping hand given him by older performers when he heard the singing of minor league baseball player Charley Pride and suggested that he move to Nashville, Tennessee. Sovine opened doors for Pride at Pierce's Cedarwood Publishing, but his own career had stalled: "Dream House For Sale", which reached number 22 in 1964, came nearly eight years after his last hit.[2][3]

In 1965, Sovine found his niche when he recorded "Giddyup Go", which, like most of his other trucker hits, he co-wrote with Tommy Hill.[1] It is spoken, rather than sung, as the words of an older long-distance truck driver who rediscovers his long-lost son driving another truck on the same highway. Minnie Pearl released an answer song titled "Giddy-Up Go Answer". Sovine's version of the song spent six weeks atop the country charts and crossed over to the pop charts. Other truck-driving hits followed, including:

• "Phantom 309", a tale of a hitchhiker who hops a ride from a trucker who turns out to be the ghost of a man who died years ago giving his life to save a school bus full of children from a horrible collision with his rig. This story was later adapted by singer-songwriter Tom Waits, who performed "Big Joe And Phantom 309" during his Nighthawks At The Diner recordings. Waits' version of this song was covered by Archers of Loaf on the 1995 tribute album, Step Right Up: The Songs of Tom Waits. Musician Steve Flett named a recording project after the song. The song was originally written and recorded by Tommy Faile.
• "Teddy Bear", the tale of a disabled boy who lost his truck driver father in a highway accident and keeps his CB radio base as his only companion.
• "Little Joe", a tale of a trucker and his devoted canine friend which became his last big hit. This last story features Teddy Bear who can now walk.[2][3]

Sovine was also remembered for his Christmas tear-jerkers, which included "Here It Is Christmas" (a divorcee's holiday lament), "Billy's Christmas Wish" (a dialogue between a poor, sickly, runaway boy and a sidewalk Santa), and "What Does Christmas Look Like?" (a little blind girl asks her father to describe the Christmas she cannot see).

Sovine also scored a sentimental hit with "Little Rosa" in which an Italian-American railroad employee tells a stranger, in broken English, about getting a bouquet to place on the grave of his small daughter who was killed by a train while he was away.

Sovine was married to the former Norma Searls, who died in 1976 at the age of 57.[2][3] Together they had three sons, William, Michael (1955–1988), and Roger; and a daughter, Janet.[6] They were also survived by 12 grandchildren at the time of Red Sovine's death.

On April 4, 1980, Sovine suffered a heart attack,[1] while driving his 1979 Ford Econoline 150 van near the intersection of Battery and Lealand Lanes in southern Nashville. This caused him to run a red light and strike an oncoming vehicle driven by Edgar Primm, 25, also of Nashville, before coming to rest against a tree near the intersection. The crash happened a few miles from Sovine's home on Stillwood Drive.

Sovine, who was alive but unconscious when paramedics arrived, was taken to St. Thomas Hospital along with Primm for treatment. Primm was treated and released for minor facial injuries. Sovine was pronounced dead at 11:47 a.m., shortly after arriving at the hospital. According to a preliminary autopsy, Sovine sustained massive abdominal bleeding caused by a lacerated spleen and liver, and fractured ribs and sternum.[7]

For many years after his death, his greatest hits collection (The Best of Red Sovine) was advertised on television, exposing his music to a new generation of fans.

• ^A"Teddy Bear" also peaked at No. 1 on the RPM Country Tracks chart and No. 49 on the RPM Top Singles chart in Canada. It also hit No. 4 on the UK charts in 1981, the only song of his to chart in that country.