A native Tennessean, William Ramsey Kearney (1933-2020) was a local teen celebrity in the late 1940s, with a weekly radio show of his own, broadcasting out of Jackson, Tennessee until 1952. He rubbed shoulders with a lot of hillbilly performers, including some artists like Carl Perkins, who wound up as part of the Sun Records scene. Apparently, Kearney recorded a few tracks for Sam Phillips, but they were never released on Sun... After a stint in the Army, Kearney returned home and tried to make it in Nashville, and like a lot of talented hopefuls, he found things pretty hard in Music City, though he finally broke through as a songwriter with a string of tunes recorded by artists such as Eddy Arnold, Warner Mack, Ricky Nelson, and Mel Tillis, with whom he co-wrote the song "Emotions," which was a Top Ten hit for Brenda Lee in 1961. As a result, he landed a job as a staff writer for the Acuff-Rose publishing house and demo-ed songs for them to pitch, a gig that also led to him recording a few singles for Roy Acuff's Hickory label, and later on, one or two for Challenge.
Kearney was one of the zillions of pickers and singers who struggled to get on the radar and never quite made it... at least not in the conventional sense. Eventually he became his own boss by starting his own "song-poem" label, Nashco Records, where aspiring songwriters would send him their lyrics and Kearney polished them up into songs. During his work as a singer-for-hire back in the 'Seventies, he attained cult status as the guy who demo-ed John Trubee's purposefully obscene song-poem prank lyric, "A Blind Man's Penis," which as far as I know has never made it onto any of Kearney's Nashco reissues. And probably never will. Over the years, he also self-released numerous LPs, CDs and CD-Rs of his own work, and kept recording and producing well into the 2010s...
Ramsey Kearney "Tennessee Rock" (Sunjay Records, 1990)
This archival set from a Swedish collector's label gathers about twenty tracks from Ramsey Kearney's rockabilly years and a hefty chunk of his work as a song demo musician. It presents both sides of a 1955 single he released on Jaxon Records -- "Red Bobby Sox"/"Rock The Bop" -- as well as a whole slew of previously unreleased material, mixing ancient radio airshots and various far-flung demo tapes. These include three tracks cut for Sam Phillips at Sun Records (with two songs that feature Roy Orbison sitting in on rhythm guitar) and a bunch of Nashville sessions where Kearney was demo-ing songs for music publishers to pitch to established artists. The timeframe spans 1953-65 and shows Kearney working in several high-profile settings, at Fernwood Studios, Bradley's Barn, the Acuff-Rose publishing company's private studio, and elsewhere. Many of these tracks were never intended to publicly showcase Ramsey Kearney as a solo artist, but even just seeing him as a behind-the-scenes cog in the wheel is illuminating, and certainly helps explain his natural ease working in Nashville, as well as his comfortability working in what many might consider unglamorous circumstances, enabling others rather than seeking the spotlight himself.
Ramsey Kearney "Rock The Bop" (Stomper Time Records, 2018) (CD)
Very similar to the album above, this set includes more material -- thirty-two tracks total -- and a lot of the same sessions, including the 1960 Sun Records sessions and some of Ramsey's own early singles.
Ramsey Kearney "Behind A Song" (Nashco/Safari Records, 1982) (LP)
This album was, I think, the first Nashco LP, gathering several singles as well as new versions of songs that Kearney had written earlier, including "Emotions," a song he co-wrote with Mel Tillis that several Top 40 artists have recorded. The musicianship is generally pretty high-quality, better than you'd imagine from your average song-poem outfit, and while Kearney isn't an earthshaking vocalist, he definitely gets the job done. I'm not sure just how many of these albums he produced, but quite a few of them are listed below...
Ramsey Kearney "Together In A Song" (Nashco Records, 19--?)
Ramsey Kearney "Lots To Look Back On" (Nashco Records, 19--?)
Ramsey Kearney "I Write The Words" (Nashco Records, 1981-?) (LP)
As opposed to Music, who writes the songs...
Ramsey Kearney & Will Gentry "The Nashville Co-Writers" (Nashco Records, 1981) (LP)
Ramsey Kearney "Reflections Of You" (Nashco Records, 1981-?) (LP)
Ramsey Kearney "God Made Them All" (Nashco Records, 1981-?) (LP)
Ramsey Kearney & Will Gentry "Life" (Nashco Records, 1981) (LP)
Ramsey Kearney "Flowers Of Love" (Nashco Records, 1982-?)
Ramsey Kearney "My Happy Day" (Nashco Records, 198--?)
Ramsey Kearney/Various Artists "Memories And Reflections" (Nashco Records, 1983-?)
Ramsey Kearney & Will Gentry "Autumn Sunset" (Nashco Records, 1983) (LP)
Ramsey Kearney & Will Gentry "Oceans Of Love" (Nashco Records, 1984) (LP)
Ramsey Kearney/Various Artists "Country Music Singing" (Nashco Records, 19--?)
Ramsey Kearney "Broken Heart" (Nashco Records, 1986-?)
Ramsey Kearney & Will Gentry "Montego Bay" (Nashco Records, 1987) (LP)
Ramsey Kearney "Memories" (Nashco Records, 1987) (LP)
Thomas 'Speed' Funari "Red White And Blue U.S.A." (Nashco Music Service, 1987) (LP)
(Produced by Will Gentry & Ramsey Kearney)
The last of the red-hot vanity pressings... This "song poem" album features eleven songs written by one middle-aged guy, Mr. Thomas Funari, with arrangements provided by Will Gentry and vocals by Ramsey Kearney, who on occasion would be hired to record an entire album's worth of material from one, individual would-be songwriting auteur. This album includes a track called "Kelly," which was about Mr. Funari's granddaughter, and also includes one song performed by a gal just identified as "Mary Ann." (And is it just me, or did Mr. Funari bear an uncanny resemblance to Stan Lee??)
Ramsey Kearney "Here To Touch" (Nashco Records, 1987-?)
Ramsey Kearney & Will Gentry "One Day I've Never Had" (Nashco Records, 1988)
Ramsey Kearney & Will Gentry "If You Like Country Music" (Nashco Records, 1988)
Ramsey Kearney & Will Gentry "Chester Wardell's World Of Music" (Nashco Records, 1988)
Ramsey Kearney & Will Gentry "Dreams" (Nashco Records, 1988)
Ramsey Kearney "Walk Out Backwards" (Nashco Records, 1988-?)
Ramsey Kearney "Roundup Montana" (Nashco Records, 1989)
Another Will Gentry-Ramsey Kearney work-for-hire collaboration, bringing to life lyrics by Cammie Anderson, Mary Bowser, Joseph Day, Lillian Henderson, Rebecca Hendrix, Roscoe Lunceford, Maxine Newman, Anthony Persoud, Wendy Stephenson, and Mary Montana, who wrote the title track, "Montana Roundup." It's possible that some or all (on none?) of the lyricists were from Montana... No liner notes to indicate either way though I suppose (sigh) I could try Googling them all, one by one, to find out...
Ramsey Kearney "Portraits And Songs Of Yesterday" (Nashco/Safari Records, 1988) (LP)
Nashville's king of song-poem recordings takes a little diversion from manifesting would-be hits penned by hopeful rando unknowns and digs into his own history as a farm kid in Bolivar, Tennessee, when he thrilled to the radio performances of "Tennessee Plowboy" Eddy Arnold. This tribute album concentrates on the golden years between 1945-50, when the soppy pop stylings of the Nashville Sound were barely a glimmer on the distant horizon and Eddy Arnold was still a real country singer, albeit one who concentrated on sweet, sentimental material. Backed by Arnold's old steel player Little Roy Wiggins (who also contributes glowing liner notes) Kearney covers classics such as "Anytime," "Take Me In Your Arms," "I'll Hold You In My Heart," "There's Been A Change In Me" and -- of course -- "Bouquet Of Roses" and "Cattle Call." In all honesty, it's not the strongest set -- the backing band sounds okay, but Kearney seems a little long in the tooth -- but it's heartfelt and sincere. Plus, this is great material. If you only know Eddy Arnold from his endless series of bland pop-country albums on the 'Sixties and 'Seventies, do carve out some time to check out his early stuff. You'll be glad you did.
Ramsey Kearney "The Shining" (Nashco Records, 1989)
Ramsey Kearney "Portraits And Songs Of Yesterday" (Nashco/Safari Records, 1988-?)
Ramsey Kearney "Golden Dreams Of Hawaii" (Nashco/Safari Records, 1990)
Ramsey Kearney "Christmas Memories" (Safari Records, 1991)
Ramsey Kearney "Song Autobiography" (Self-Released)
