May
2008
Saturday night, May 24th Huey and I made
the near 200 mile drive to our motel in Adamsville, TN On Sunday afternoon
the 25th I played a concert at the Double D Music Hall in nearby Crump, TN.
The show was opened by Bo Jack and River City Express. The River City
Express Trio backed me on my show. All did a good job. A good crowd welcomed
me to the stage and blessed me with a great reception throughout my show.
Tracy Davis had won a contest to join me on stage for a duet. She chose, "To
Love Somebody", which had been a top 20 country hit for me in 197 for us to
do. The crowd loved it. She did a fine job A long autograph line awaited me
at Huey's Record Rack. We made our drive back home that night. My wife,
Loretta's birthday will be July 3rd. I look forward to being with her on
that day.
Final Farewell: Glen Barber, Jerry
Wallace, Jim Hager, Eddy Arnold and Bo Diddley
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Narvel Autographing
Florida State Fair
Tampa, FL
Feb. 14, 2008Photo by L&S Hamilton Photography
Click photo for larger view |
April
2008
On April 1st my wife Loretta and I and our daughter, Stacia
observed what would have been Narvel "Bub" Felts, Jr.'s 44th birthday. Bub
had played drums with me (his dad). We lost him in a car accident on a foggy
highway near Campbell, MO On Sept. 14th, 1995. He was 31. This month Loretta
found a treasure tucked away in a dresser drawer that we didn't remember
having. The tape was from when Bub was doing some studio work in 1991. The
first few sons were by another artist. A note said, "Bub sings last song."
We listened, Loretta cried, Stacia and I got misty-eyed hearing his precious
voice again. It was very good. He could have been a hit country artist!
April 19th I did a concert at the, "Fun on the Farm Jamboree" which is held
in the Dixie Carter Performing Arts Center in Huntingdon, TN and aired live
on True Country Radio 100.9. We had a complete sell out! This is a near 500
seat beautiful theatre. Fans were there from several states including
Illinois but the long distance traveler award would have to go to Faye
Huffman and sister Patsy from Louisiana who bought their mother and sister
Judy who drove from Oklahoma to meet them there and attend. The show was
opened by several area singers who did two or three songs each. Double Edge
did a marvelous job backing me. The crowd blessed me with 3 standing
ovations Huey's record rack then opened and a long autograph line awaited in
the lobby.
April 30th Loretta and I celebrated out 46th wedding anniversary quietly at
home. She grows more precious as years go by.
P.S. "Fraulein" by me peaked at #8 in the Hotdisc top 40. This chart is
compiled from country DJ reports across Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
It's peak was April 17th with 111 reporting.
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T. G. Sheppard and Narvel Felts
Florida State Fair Park
Tampa, Florida
February 14, 2008
Photo by Sam HamiltonClick photo for larger view |
March
2008
March 1st I did a show at the Eagles Club
in Cape Girardeau, MO. I'd been there in March of '07 and sold it out. This
year it was full again. The Bill Barnett Band sis a great job of backing me.
In the receptive audience was out former 6 term US Congressman, Bill
Burlison and his wife. From KWKZ Radio (who promoted my show) was Rick Jones
and Doug Owens. They joined me on stage for a song. Long distance travelers
all the way from Baton Rouge, Louisiana were Faye Huffman and sister Judy.
Also in the crowd was Michael Anthony Smith and his wife, Debby. Michael
entertains as "The Hillbilly Cat" and looks the part. My daughter, Stacia
made this short 129 mile round trip drive with me as did Huey P. Long who
had driven down from Kansas City to sell my CDs at the show. A more than 2
hour autograph line awaited after my show at Huey's Record Rack.
On March 15th I played a concert at The
Middle Creek Theatre near Louisburg, Kansas. This was the 7th anniversary of
this show. A good receptive crowd attended my show. The Middle Creek Band
did a wonderful job backing me. In the audience was a lady who's been a big
fan of mine since 1974, Mary Lambright. Long distance travelers were Jerry
and Bev Mackey all the way from Minneapolis, MN. The were kind enough to
drive me the 68 mile round trip from our motel to the rehearsal, again to
the show. A long autograph line awaited after my show at Huey's Record Rack.
Sunday I made the drive home alone. I'd driven up on Friday, a some 800 mile
round trip.
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Click on pics
for larger view |
 |
Rudy Gatlin, Ronnie Prophet, Bobby Bare, Narvel
Felts & Moe Bandy back stage, Florida State Fair,
Tampa, FL
Feb. 16, 2008 |
|
Narvel Felts & Huey P. Long
Middle Creek Theatre, Louisville, KS - March 15,
2008
Huey travels with Narvel & handles sales |
February
2008
On Valentines Day, Feb. 14th I was a part
of the Country Gold Tour. We played the Florida State Fair in Tampa. The
other artists on the show were: Leroy VanDyke, Bobby Bare, Jim Ed Brown,
Helen Cornelius, T. G. Sheppard, Moe Bandy, The Gatlin Brothers and Ronnie
Prophet. This was one of the most amazing shows I've ever been a part of!
Once people paid to get into the fairgrounds they had to buy a ticket to get
into our show. The auditorium had 4,000 seats. Some 3,500 attended our noon
show then out 4pm show was a sell out so some 7,500 attended our shows.
With so many of us on the show, we did 4 songs each on each show. I was told
I got 3 standing ovations on the last show (the spotlights were so bright I
couldn't tell). Leroy then called me back for an encore. A long excited line
awaited at the autograph tables. They were pushing so hard at my table after
the 2nd show that they nearly knocked it down!
As all the artists shared the same dressing room and we were there from
around 9:30am till about 8pm we had a great visit. The auctioneers did an
excellent job backing us all. I've never heard anyone do better!
Final farewell to Bobby Lee Trammell who was found dead in his Jonesboro,
Arkansas home around the 20th of February. Like me, Bobby Lee was an
original Rockabilly in the latter of 1950. He had such records as, "You
Mostest Girl" and Shirley Lee". In the early 1960's his "Arkansas Twist"
became a big regional hit. In 1972, "Love Isn't Love ('Til You Give it
Away)" made the national country charts. In 1964 & 1965 he was a frequent
guest on my TV show, "Narvel Felts Show" on KAIT-TV channel 8, Jonesboro,
Arkansas. We did several personal appearances together back in those days.
In 1973 he was in Bill Rice's office while Bill and I worked up "Drift Away"
to record that night. Bobby Lee and I had supper together and he told me,
"This is the one you've been looking for. It's going to do it for you." He
was right! When I recorded "Reconsider Me" it was a split session with Bobby
Lee doing 2 songs, me doing 2 songs. After my take on "Reconsider Me" Bobby
Lee said, "Remember what I told you when you recorded "Drift Away"? This
one's gonna be even bigger." It was!
He later got into politics and won State Representative in his Arkansas
District 3 times! He called me this past year and we had a good long long,
overdue phone visit. He was 74.
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Narvel Felts,
Billy Lee Riley and Wade Olson
Ritz Carlton Hotel, Cleveland, Ohio
Nov. 10, 2007
"Prayers for Billy Lee Riley who recently suffered a
heart attack while undergoing hip replacement
surgery.
Photo by Holly Olson
View larger photo
|
January, 2008
On January 26th I did my annual concert
at the Florida Sunshine Opry in Eustis, FL. This was my first show of 2008,
the first of my 52nd year in the music business.
The day before I was up early at 6:30am, had my breakfast and drove the near
200 miles to the St. Louis Airport. There I went through security and caught
my flight to Tampa. There I rented a car and drove the more than 100 miles
on alone to my motel near Eustis arriving around 11pm.
A good receptive crowd attended my concert and blessed me with three
standing ovations. They were from Florida, North Carolina, Connecticut,
Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan and South Dakota. One couple, Larry and Linda
Armstrong from Minnesota had attended my last concert of 2007 in Hayward,
Wisconsin during a snow storm. Imagine my surprise when I saw them at my
first of '08, some 1700 miles from my last show!
The Sunshine Opry Band did a great job backing me... probably their best job
ever. A long autograph line awaited in the lobby.
The next morning I was up early again and arrive home 17 hours later.
From
time to time I release a record to the Hot Disc reporters around the world.
In '05, "Away" went to #5 in this Country Top 40. In '07, "Earth Angel" went
to #10. In late '07 I released "Four Seasons of Life" which I feel is the
best song I've ever written. It probably has too deep a meaning to be a big
commercial success as it peaked at #31. I'd like to share a few of the
reports with you from some of the ones who loved it.
John Bjoersvik - Radio Sotra, Norway; "A genius!"
Tom Robinson - Kingstown Radio, UK; "Narvel's best yet. So much feeling and
I've been a great admirer of his talents over many years. This performance
has depth of feeling in the vocals, music an a first rate storyline.
Excellent all around recording."
Jaap De Geus - Radio Spijkenisse, Holland; "What a wonderful thing it is
that this legendary fellow is still around. I'd wish him plenty of four
seasons to come."
Roy Hoysted - Breeze Radio, Australia; "The legend lives on."
I wrote "Four Seasons of Life" when I was 24, just before our first child,
Stacia was born. The older I get the more sense it makes. It's available on
my CD, "Super Songs Narvelized."
Photos:
Narvel with his band in 1979 & 2 of the latest photos from Narvel's fans
here
