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Cowboy Cool: Dean Martin's Country Side on 'Believe Your Ears'

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Tuesday, 31 January 2012 16:57
Written by Rich Kienzle

Today's Believe Your Ears music podcast will look at the best country recordings of Dean Martin.  Amid all his other albums, movies, work with Jerry Lewis and interludes with the Rat Pack of Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. he recorded some country tunes from 1950 to 1983.  Not all were gems but the best were some of the finest records he ever made.  We'll look at them from start to finish.  

He recorded quite a few country classics, but one of his best recordings was an obscure song written by the great West Coast singer-producer-songwriter Lee Hazlewood.  In 1965 ex-rockabilly singer Sanford Clark, known for his 50's hit "The Fool," recorded Hazlewood's "Houston" for Warner Brothers. 

Clark's vocal wasn't that hot.  But soon Jimmy Bowen, who produced Dean's records for Reprise, including the 1964 smash "Everybody Loves Somebody," heard the Clark single and decided not only the song, but the arrangement would work for Dean who with Bowen's help, recorded a far superior version that reached # 21 in 1965.

Here's some things from NBC's "Dean Martin Show." The first features him with guest Roger Miller of "King of the Road" fame, singing his song "Numbers."

This is Dino singing the Glen Campbell hit (and John Hartford composition)  "Gentle on my Mind."

 

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