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Country Music Hall of Fame,
Class of 1961
Fred Rose (1898-1954) progressed from vaudeville performer to Tin Pan Alley songwriter, then after collaborating on some cowboy-type songs with Western movie actor Ray Whitley began to consider the possibilities in the world of country music. That was a good career move, eventually landing him in the Hall of Fame as one of the three inaugural inductees.
About the record: Brunswick 3714, recorded Nov. 21, 1927, in Chicago. Release date unknown, possibly 1928.
This song isn’t country. It’s an example of the Chicago jazzy pop style that Rose favored back in the late 1920s. (That’s him on the piano, too.) But how about that title, and those lyrics – pretty durned suggestive of the often less sophisticated but more blatantly emotional material that he’d master as a prime songwriter, pioneer publisher and patient producer, all in the country field. Compare “So Tired” to the later “Tears On My Pillow”; see if you don’t agree they’re quite interchangeable.
Fred Rose’s Hall of Fame profile
Next up: Hank Williams
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July 29, 2010 at 7:07 AM
Paul W Dennis
It’s staggering to contemplate how many good country songs Fred Rose wrote – many under pseudonyms such as “Floyd Jenkins”. Truly a remarkable man
August 12, 2010 at 10:23 PM
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