Artist:Narvel Felts
Song:Lonely Teardrops
Album:The Very Best of Narvel Felts
Country singer Narvel Felts first recorded in the late 50s. But he had his greatest success in the 70s with hits like this 1976 cover of Jackie Wilson's Lonely Teardrops. He was born Albert Narvel Felts Nov. 11, 1938 in Keiser, AR but he grew up in Bernie, MO. Felts taught himself to play guitar. His main influences were Ernest Tubb and Floyd Tillman. After he won a high school talent contest, a local DJ had Felts appear on his show. Then Felts joined Jerry Mercer's band and pretty soon he was lead singer. Felts auditioned for Cowboy Jack Clement at Sun Records. Clement told him to return with the entire band. They did and they recorded but the recordings were not released. After playing a show in St. Louis, Felts signed with Mercury Records and released a few singles. He signed with MGM but nothing was ever released. Felts recorded for Evergreen Records in the late 60s. Johnny Morris was the head of A&R. Morris took Felts to Cinnamon Records and Felts' 1973 cover of Drift Away was a top ten country hit. After Cinnamon closed in 1975, Felts signed with ABC/Dot and scored a top five country hit with his cover of the Johnny Adams soul classic Reconsider Me. Then his 1976 cover of Lonely Teardrops reached #5 on the Country Singles chart. That is from Felts' 1976 album Narvel the Marvel. Morris produced all of Felts' ABC/Dot recordings. He lost his record deal when MCA bought ABC. You can get all his hits on this budget comp from Gusto's Deluxe label. Felts has recorded for small labels for years but he has continued to perform live. It looks like he is semi retired. Here's Narvel Felts performing Lonely Teardrops at the 1985 Wembley Country Music Festival on BBC2.
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