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The Silver Fox was a country music superstar. One who practically owned the country charts in the mid-70s. And won millions upon millions of fans the world over. Not to mention a scad of gold records, platinum albums, and recording industry awards |
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Not bad for someone who started out an Arkansas country boy during the brunt of the depression. But then again, that’s how Charlie Rich’s good friend Johnny Cash started out as well. Aside from his service years, Charlie lived in rural Arkansas until settling in Memphis during his days at Sun Records. It was at Sun that Charlie first met the man who would make him a star and become a country music legend in his own right, producer Billy Sherrill. The owner of Sun Records, Sam Phillips, had decided to branch out from Memphis by purchasing Billy’s Seventh Avenue studio in Nashville, he then hired Billy to engineer sessions for him. Beginning in 1961, Billy provided the engineering duties on a number of Charlie’s most memorable songs, including "Who Will The Next Fool Be", "Sittin’ And Thinkin’," and "Finally Found Out." After 2 more years at Sun’s Nashville and Memphis studios, Charlie bounced around a few studios—from RCA to Mercury to Hi (where he recorded a greatest hits of Hank Williams package) —before landing back in Nashville at the Epic division of CBS/Columbia in December 1967. Once again Charlie would find himself under the direction of Sherrill. Under Sherrill’s guidance, Charlie released three beautiful country albums over the course of the next 5 years — Set Me Free, The Fabulous Charlie Rich, Boss Man. Each album supplied healthy doses of prime country that were well received by the critics but provided only modest success. |
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