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| Boudleaux Bryant 1920-1987 Photo Courtesy: Georgia Music Hall of Fame |
Bluegrass "Hit Writer" Boudleaux Bryant Born On This Date
Boudleaux Bryant (February 13, 1920 – June 25, 1987) was one-half of the American husband-and-wife country music and pop songwriting team (along with his wife Felice Bryant [August 7, 1925 – April 22, 2003]) who were best known for writing the bluegrass standard and what eventually became the Tennessee State Song ("Rocky Top") and other hits such as "Love Hurts" and numerous Everly Brothers hits, including "All I Have to Do Is Dream" and "Bye Bye Love".
The name Boudleaux Bryant may not be a household word, but the song titles and lyrics he and Felice are responsible for certainly are. What is absolutely even more amazing is the sheer plethora of material written about the two and readily available to anyone seeking it.
Boudleaux was born Diadorius Boudleaux Bryant in Shellman, Georgia, and was trained as a classical violinist. He performed with the Atlanta Philharmonic Orchestra during its 1937-38 season, but had more interest in country fiddling and joined a western music band. In 1945 he met Matilda Genevieve Scaduto (whom he affectionately called Felice) while performing at a hotel in her hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and their meeting resulted in an almost "fairytale-like" life, , marriage, partnership and career of two future Hall of Fame songwriters.
During the first years of their marriage, the Bryants struggled financially, living in a mobile home, where they wrote upwards of 80 songs. They solicited a number of country music artists in an attempt to sell their compositions but were either ignored or politely rejected until singer Little Jimmy Dickens recorded their "Country Boy". The song went to No. 7 on the 1948 country charts and opened the door to a working relationship with Fred Rose at Acuff-Rose Music in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1950, the Bryants moved to Nashville to work full time at songwriting.
The Bryants helped to launch the Everly Brothers' Career!
Beginning in 1957 the Bryants came to national prominence in both country music and pop music when they wrote a string of hugely successful songs for the Everly Brothers and hits for others such as Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly. In 1957, Boudleaux pitched an oft-rejected tune called "Bye Bye Love" to two aspiring young rockers named Don and Phil Everly, and two legends were born. Then in 1958, the Bryants gave the Everly Brothers the hit that was to be the signature song of their careers. "All I Have To Do Is Dream" was a number one hit on the country, pop and R&B charts. Over the years it reappeared on the charts in hit versions by Richard Chamberlain, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell, and even Andy Gibb and Victoria Principal.
"Boudleaux was a great philosophic teacher. Anybody would be a fool not to watch how they did it. That's the level that you wanted to be at. I learned more from them than from anybody." - Phil EverlyTheir compositions were recorded by many artists from a variety of musical genres, including Tony Bennett, Sonny James,Eddy Arnold, Bob Moore, Charley Pride, Nazareth, Jim Reeves, Leo Sayer, Simon & Garfunkel, Sarah Vaughan, The Grateful Dead,Elvis Costello, Count Basie, Dean Martin, Ray Charles, Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan (Dylan's Self Portrait album has one of Felice's tracks and one co-written with her husband), and others. While rarely arty or showy in a way that would break the spell, the Bryants' songs broke musical ground, especially harmonically.
"The people who were around Nashville recording loved those chords and Boudleaux was able to put in even more for the Everlys because they were really good guitar players." - Felice BryantSongwriters Hall of Fame says "The Bryants have probably contributed more successful songs to the mainstream of music out of Nashville than any other songwriting team. Their amazing output includes more than 6,000 songs, with over 1,000 recordings, which have sold over 200 million copies". (The Bryant's were inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 1986).
In 2010 on what would have been Boudleaux' 90th birthday, The 9513 Country Music Website published: Friday Five-The songs of Boudleaux Bryant and included five of their favorite videos of some of country music's biggest stars singing Bryant songs - saying that it could have just as easily been 50 of their favorites.
Here are some Prescription Bluegrass Favorites:
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“Unless one feels driven to compose and at the same time has all the instincts of a Mississippi riverboat gambler, he should never seek songwriting as a profession. Unless you know in your heart that you’re great, feel in your bones that you’re lucky and think in your soul that God just might let you get away with it, pick something more certain, like chasing the white whale or eradicating the common housefly. We didn’t have the benefit of such sage advice. Now it’s too late to back up. We made it. Sometimes it pays to be ignorant.” - Boudleaux Bryant
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| Boudeaux Bryant with The Everly Brothers |
Boudleaux Bryant is the third most successful songwriter of the 1950s on the U.K. chart and Felice the 21st.
There's a reason folks love "Rocky Top" so much. The Bryant's writing is so descriptive and juicy, yet simple enough to hold onto. Kitchy...yes. But a little kitchy is always in. Who can resist lines like "wild as a mink, but sweet as soda pop?" And in "Tennessee Hound Dog," I love these lines: "The hounds call him a has been, an old aged home for fleas" and "he looks like ugly warmed over." Oh, and the way that harmony bends up to the major chord at the end. Very perky. Nice touch. -Songwriter Becky Buller
Boudleaux Bryant Commissions
for classical composers
The Boudleaux Bryant Commissioning Program funds the creation of new chamber works by former winners of the BMI Student Composer Awards. Awarded on a regular basis, these commissions were established through the generosity of the family and friends of the late celebrated songwriter who began his career as a classical violinist, and therefore the commissioned works must feature a violin part in his honor. For each commission, the BMI Foundation chooses a prominent contemporary music performer or organization and they in turn select a former BMI Student Composer Award-winning composer to write the commissioned work. The first BMI Foundation/Boudleaux Bryant Fund Commission was written for the renowned contemporary chamber music group, eighth blackbird. By invitation only, no applications acceptedSee Historical Timeline for Boudleaux Bryant
Additional Reading
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