Song started with just a title
This week in 1974: two inmates and two hostages were killed during an attempted escape at a Huntsville, Texas, prison; President Richard M. Nixon admitted he ordered a cover-up for political as well as national security reasons; presidential aides John Dean and John Ehrlichman were sentenced to jail terms; and a singer from Moorhead, Miss., had his 7th hit record.
A lot of songs are written from titles and according to Bob McDill—Johnny Russell’s 1974 hit “Red Necks, White Sox, and Blue Ribbon Beer” was one of those tunes.
McDill commented, “Chuck Neese was my publisher at the time and one day he just blurted that title out! I don’t know if he had heard it somewhere or just made it up but Waylon Holyfield and I went over to a little tavern on Melrose for lunch and had some Philly cheese steaks and drank a couple of beers and played some shuffleboard. We watched all those guys in there and took notes and then went back to the studio and wrote that song.” Johnny Russell’s RCA Victor single “Red Necks, White Sox And Blue Ribbon Beer” came on the country music charts August 4th, 1974 and peaked at No. 4.
It was his 7th charted song and was on the charts for 19 weeks.
Johnny Russell was born John Bright Russell in 1940 in Mississippi and was raised in Fresno, Calif. He placed 28 songs on the country music charts between 1971 and 1987. He joined The Grand Ole Opry in 1985.
Johnny Russell died in 2001 from complications of diabetes.
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