Song:Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town
Album:The Complete Gusto/Starday/King Recordings
I'm sure most music fans are familiar with the 1969 Kenny Rogers and the First Edition top ten hit Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town. But two years earlier Johnny Darrell scored a top ten country hit with the same song. This seemed to happen a lot to him. Darrell would record a song and someone else would have a bigger hit with the same song later. Darrell had most of his success in the late 60s. He was born Eddie Ray White July 23, 1940 in Hopewell, AL and he grew up in Marietta, GA. Darrell moved to Nashville to manage a Holiday Inn while trying to get into the music business. He met legendary singer songwriter Bobby Bare who got him a deal with United Artists Records and veteran producer and former Cricket Bob Montgomery. His first single Green, Green Grass of Home had already been a country hit for Porter Wagoner. And then in 1966 Tom Jones topped the charts with his version. Then Darrell released Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town. The song was written by Mel Tillis and first recorded by Waylon Jennings in 1965. Darrell's 1967 recording reached #9 on the Country Singles chart. The 1969 Kenny Rogers and the First Edition version reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. This happened a third time when his 1967 country hit The Son of Hickory Hollar's Tramp was covered by O.C. Smith and it was a top 40 pop hit in 1968. And it happened a fourth time when Darrell's recording of the Bobby Goldsboro song With Pen in Hand reached #3 on the Country Singles chart and covers by Billy Vera and Vikki Carr were top 40 pop hits. I sense a pattern here. Through his friendship with Bobby Bare, Darrell got involved in Willie Nelson's fledgling outlaw country movement. So he toured with Nelson. The problem was Darrell lost his record deal. He recorded a couple of singles for Cartwheel Records. But they were swallowed by ABC and then closed. And he recorded a couple of singles for Monument. He finally recorded the 1975 album Water Glass Fill of Whiskey for Capricorn Records. But it had been too long since he had a hit so it went nowhere. Darrell's UA recordings were acquired by Gusto which explains the title of this comp. It's available as a digital download. Darrell continued to perform in the 80s. But diabetes led to failing health and he died on Oct. 7, 1997 at age 57. Here's a video for Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town by Johnny Darrell.
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