From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sun Mar 31, 2002  1:54 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Lefty Frizzell
 
LEFTY FRIZZELL (By Shaun Mather)

Born William Orville Frizzell, 31 March 1928, Corsicana, Texas
Died 19 July 1975, Nashville, Tennessee

Lefty Frizzell was one of the greatest country singers of all time and
along with Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams, is one of the most
influential. Today you can hear his sound in the voices of John Anderson,
Randy Travis and Alan Jackson. In his teens he served time for statutory
rape and spent his long days homing his songwriting skills. On his release,
he secured a steady gig in a Texas honky tonk where he came to the attention
of Jim Beck. In April 1950 they cut If You've Got The Money I've Got The
Time, which Beck took to Don Law of Columbia, who signed him to the label.
With I Love You A Thousand Ways on the flip, both sides went to number one
in the charts. This amazing debut was followed with other major successes,
Look What Thoughts Will Do, I Want To Be With You Always, Always Late, Mom
And Dad's Waltz and Travellin' Blues among them. Lefty always had a taste
for strong liquor and soon hit the self destruct button, firing his manager
and band, quitting the Grand Ole Opry soon after joining, and eventually
moving from Columbia to the Nashville based Cedarwood Record label. He
had a number one country hit in '64 with Saginaw, Michigan but otherwise his
career was stagnant. His drinking increased and his blood pressure went
higher, until finally, in 1975 he died of a stroke. Like his friend Hank
Williams, it was a pitiful end to a colossal talent.

Recommended listening: Life's Like Poetry - Bear Family (12 CD)
Biography : Daniel Cooper, Lefty Frizzell : The honky-tonk life of
country music's greatest singer. Boston : Little, Brown, 1995.
Website: http://www.dcom.net/lefty/disc.cfm
and http://www.rockabillyhall.com/LeftyFrizzell.html