          |
Vernon Oxford's
BIO
Born on the 8th of June 1941,
Benton County, Arkansas, USA. comes from a musical, church-going
family, and his father passed his fiddle-playing talent on to his
son. He was given a guitar when he was 13 years old and has been
singing country and country/gospel ever since. In 1964 he moved to
Nashville with his wife, Loretta, and, after being turned down by
several companies, RCA Records signed him, releasing a single and an
album, both called "Woman, Let Me Sing You A Song" His recordings
are a throwback to the rural honky-tonk sound of Hank Williams, with
a voice to match, but he claims, "I am being me. I sing a lot of
Hank's songs but I never set out intentionally to imitate him. I
guess we're both country boys and we both sing from the heart." RCA
dropped him when his records did not sell, but a contingent of
British fans lobbied RCA so hard that they reversed the decision.
RCA released a UK double album in its Famous Country Music Makers
series, although Vernon was anything but famous at the time. He made
the US country charts with "Shadows Of My Mind" and then, in 1976,
with his controversial "Redneck! (The Redneck National Anthem)",
written by Mitchell Torok, and in the same vein, "Redneck Roots" and
"A Good Old Fashioned Saturday Night Honky Tonk Barroom Brawl". He
also recorded a humorous duet with Jim Ed Brown called "Mowing The
Lawn". He claims he just dreamed the words and music of his own
songs, "She's Always There" and "Better Way Of Life". Since
1977,Vernon has not had chart success in the USA, but that is not
one of his objectives. He says, "Going to church doesn't make you a
Christian, and, in 1978, I was born again, even though I was a
Baptist already". However,Vernon became the subject of a BBC
Television documentary, says, "I do cheating songs but now I do them
to represent what sin is: I use them to make a point about Jesus
Christ. 'Redneck!'" shows what I used to be before I was saved. I
sing gospel songs at the end of every show and tell them about the
Truth. Sometimes I combine singing with preaching. When I called a
girl out of the audience once, the power of God knocked her down and
she slithered like a snake across the floor. I have found peace and
happiness and I would like to help others to find it too.'
Discography:
Woman, Let Me Sing You A Song (RCA Victor 1967)***, By Public Demand
(RCA 1975)***, America's Unknown Superstar (RCA 1976)***, I Just
Want To Be A Country Singer (RCA 1976)***, Tribute To Hank Williams
(Meteor 1978)***, Nobody's Child (1978)***, If I Had My Wife To Love
Over (Rounder 1979)***, Keepin' It Country (1979)**, I Love To Sing
(1980)***, His And Hers (1980)**, A Better Way Of Life (Minit
1981)**, Pure Country (1982)***, The Tradition Continues (1983)**,
Power In The Blood (BBC 1989)**, 100% Country (1990)***, The Gospel
Truth (Rocade 1997)***. |
|
