Song just ‘felt right’ to James
This week in 1970: NASA announced it would cut 50,000 jobs; U.S. Defense Department announced defense reductions to eliminate 1.25 million jobs; Pan Am flew a 747 with 330 passengers from New York to London for the first time; and a singer from Hackleburg, Alabama, had his 32nd hit record.
Some songs just “feel right” to a performer and according to Sonny James, his 1970 No. 1, “It’s Just A Matter Of Time,” was one of those tunes.
He said, “I was looking for a good song that I could play my style guitar out front. And I had that little guitar lick that I wanted to put on it. And that song just felt right so everything worked out. And it turned out to be a good record for me.”
“It’s Just A Matter Of Time” had been a big pop record for Brook Benton in 1956
And it also became Sonny James tenth consecutive No. 1 single.
The Capitol Records single entered the country music charts Jan. 17, 1970, and was No. 1 the week of February 14th and stuck there for four weeks.
It was Sonny James’ 32nd charted song and was on the charts for 14 weeks.
Sonny James (born: James Loden in 1928) placed 72 songs on the country music charts between 1953 and 1983 – including 23 No. 1s. Twenty-one of those 72 country charted songs also made the pop charts.
Sonny joined The Grand Ole Opry in 1965 and was inducted into The Country Music Hall Of Fame in 2006. He died in 2016.
Join me for “Roots Of Country” at 6 a.m. to noon Saturday on “The Pig” – 103.9 and 98.5. My feature artist will be Chet Atkins. Chester will talk about his life and career plus you’ll hear some Atkins pickin’ you haven’t heard in a long time! To listen online, go to Mypigradio. com and click on “listen live” or go to the “My Pig Radio” Facebook page. And join me at 6 a.m. to noon Sundays for “Sunday Country.”
Doug Davis & The Good Ole Boys will perform today at 10 a.m. at Alzheimer’s Alliance.