JANUARY 1973 ...Jerry Lee hots up the Opry
It wasn’t the Grand Ole JANUARY 20 Opry that first inspired Jerry Lee Lewis. On Saturday nights he tuned into The Louisiana Hayride, beamed out of station KWKH in Shreveport. It was on the Hayride that he heard Hank Williams, whose voice and songs chilled Jerry Lee’s blood and filled him with inspiration. In 1949, Williams switched to the Opry, and Jerry Lee switched stations too, just to stay in touch. When Lewis played at the Opry’s Ryman Auditorium home in Nashville some 24 years later, it was a dream come true. 1973 was only three weeks old, but it had already been eventful for the singer/pianist. From January 8 to 11, having just recovered from broken ribs after a hunting accident, Jerry Lee could be found in London’s Advision Studios with Delaney Bramlett and a stellar British rock line-up that included Peter Frampton, Rory Gallagher, Alvin Lee, Tony Ashton, Chas Hodges, Albert Lee, BJ Cole, Joe Jammer and Kenney Jones, as well as German bassist Klaus Voormann, and others. He proved apprehensive at first, later recalling with a shudder that the British rockers actually had long hair. But he quickly became impressed by their playing. When the double album that would be called The Session: Recorded In London With Great Guest Artists was done, Jerry Lee would attest, “They were the greatest musicians I ever heard.” Meanwhile, manager Eddie Kilroy, the producer who’d revived The Killer’s career at Smash records when he nudged him to record ’68 country set Another Place, Another Time, had lined up a shot at raising Jerry Lee’s status still further in the C&W music field by organising his Opry debut. When Lewis eventually sat at the piano stool that January 20 night, he didn’t say a word but just began playing Another Place, Another Time, the Jerry Chesnut song that had placed him back in the charts after a four-year break. Earning a warm reception for his belief in hardcore country, Jerry Lee flipped the switch, kicking into What’d I Say, launching a song-sequence in which country and rock mingled. Lewis pounded on, ignoring requests to pause for commercial breaks before playing his ace by inviting pianist Del Wood on-stage to duet with him. Wood was Opry meat and drink. Born Polly Hazelwood, she was a honky-tonk piano player whose Down Yonder had been a massive success in 1951. She’d been playing at the Opry since 1952, and Nashville loved her. So did Jerry Lee, hailing her as “one of the finest ladies who ever walked on two feet”. They sat at the piano together, with Jerry Lee at the front (“They see me once in a while and they don’t see you too often,” mused Del Wood) and then stomped into a hearty-party rendition of Down Yonder, sending the crowd into ecstasy. Lewis rocked some more, slamming into Johnny B Goode, Great Balls Of Fire and Whole Lot Of Shakin’ Going On, punctuating the latter with cries of “Shake it but don’t break it, wrap it up and I’ll take it.” After informing the Ryman crowd, “This was a Number 1 country and western tune,
“This is The Killer speaking, and I do what I like baby.” JERRY LEE LEWIS
a Number 1 rock’n’roll tune and a Number 1 rhythm and blues tune. It makes no difference. You are what you are and you do what you can do… thank God I can do it,” he broke into another ferocious boogie and the crowd went ape. Amid the frenzy, Lewis eventually pounded on into Chantilly Lace, again slotting in sparkling asides such as, “This is The Killer speaking, and I do what I like, baby.” He did exactly that a few moments later when he fearlessly announced, “Let me tell ya something about Jerry Lee Lewis, ladies and gentlemen – I’m a rock’n’rollin’, country and western, rhythm’n’blues singin’ motherfucker.” Amen. As Opry officials tried to re-establish some order, Jerry Lee kicked into Good Golly Miss Molly. Finally, as if to atone for all the devilment that had gone before, he closed his eyes and sang the words, “Hear that lonesome whippoorwill, he sounds too blue to fly…” Suddenly, he was no longer a rock’n’roll badass. He was Hank Williams, there on that famous stage, performing the Hillbilly Shakespeare’s signature song I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, restating the case for country music as few other performers could. The perfect goodbye, it concluded one of the greatest performances ever witnessed at the Ryman, ensuring a roof-raising reception that saw Jerry Lee Lewis flying even before he got on that plane home to Memphis.