Ask “Mr. Music”
Jerry Osborne



FOR THE WEEK OF FEBRUARY 8, 2016

DEAR JERRY: About 25 years ago, on either KAJA or KCYY, I heard an uptempo song that opens with a girl singing "Will you love me again."

It features a country-rock guitar sound similar to Dwight Yoakam's "Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose."

I don't recall much else, but I'd be grateful for any info.
—Lori Prescott, San Antonio

DEAR LORI: It is no surprise that a great song by a native San Antonian would be heard on the Alamo city's top country music stations.

Thanks to some superb clues — and just one keystroke away from nailing the title — this was an easy case.

Your mystery tune is "Till You Love Me Again" (A&M Americana 1468), issued in late 1989, and even on the charts at the same time as Yoakam's "Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose." Coincidence? I think not.

The singer-songwriter of "Till You Love Me Again" is Leticia "Tish" Hinojosa (Heno-hosa), an esteemed entertainer in the world of indie folk, western, Latino, Tejano, country-rock, and something she calls "Tex-Mex bluegrass."

With 28 years in the business, Hinojosa has recorded 16 albums, including the 1992 NAIRD (National Association of Independent Record Distributors) Indie Folk Album of the Year, "Culture Swing."

Along the dusty trail, she has teamed up with some industry legends, including Dwight Yoakam (who keeps turning up here), Kris Kristofferson, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Michael Martin Murphey, Nanci Griffith, Flaco Jimenez, and Los Lobos.

Tish is not only a critically acclaimed songwriter in the traditional sense, but she takes it to another level by writing some of the same songs in English and Spanish. She may write a portion of the same tune in each language, or create two separate songs, each in a language of its own.

Having product for all of North America is great for marketing, but in a recent interview Tish revealed another motivation — a far more personal one:

"One reason I do that is for practice, because I don't speak that much Spanish anymore.

"My parents were from Mexico, and I was the youngest of 13 children. Growing up I spoke a lot of Spanish, but when I left home, and eventually left the country [to live in Germany], Spanish was no longer necessary for me.

"But I felt it was important to hang onto my mother tongue by playing with it in my songwriting, especially when I lived in Nashville where I felt very isolated from my culture.

"My very first bilingual project was to translate part of Irving Berlin's 'Always' ['Siempre']. I recorded it in 1988 and it's on my 'Taos to Tennessee' album. It was just a way of practicing my language.

"Where it becomes quite challenging is when translating an English song, with all the appropriate rhymes, to Spanish, then having to come up with a whole new set of lyrics and rhymes.

"Sometimes I start in English, and sometimes in Spanish, and at times I crisscross the two. It's kind of like a puzzle for me, and I really enjoy doing that."

No more than your many fans enjoy the scrumptious results, Tish.

DEAR JERRY: Congratulations on creating the world's first "Snuffography."

From that I see that Snuff Garrett produced 33 charted records for Bobby Vee, far more than he did for anyone else.

However, what is the total number of Bobby Vee recordings produced by Garrett? It must be at least 33, since not everything made the charts.
—Sam Watkins, Artesia, N.M.

DEAR SAM: Knowing that Snuff produced more Bobby Vee recordings for albums than for singles, I knew the overall total would definitely exceed 66.

Well, it certainly did. I verified 162 total Vee tunes produced by Garrett, the 33 that charted, plus another 129 that were either uncharted singles or Bobby Vee album tracks.

The true total is likely higher, but there are a few albums made when Snuff and Bobby worked together regularly, but where no producer credit is given. Since I could not be certain, they are not part of the count.

Alphabetical by title, here are all 162:

A Christmas Wish
A Fool Never Learns
A Forever Kind Of Love
A Girl I Used To Know
A Letter From Betty
A Not So Merry Christmas
Anonymous Phone Call
Any Other Girl
At A Time Like This
Baby Face
Bashful Bob
Be True To Yourself
Blame It on the Bossa Nova
Blue Christmas
Blue on Blue
Bo Diddley
Bobby Tomorrow
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
Brown-Eyed Handsome Man
Buddy's Song
Candy Man
Can't Get Used to Losing You
Caravan
Charms
Christmas Vacation
Cross My Heart
Crying in the Rain
Danke Schoen
Dawn
Devil Or Angel
Do You Want to Know a Secret
Don't You Believe Them
Dry Your Eyes
Early in the Morning
Electric Trains And You
Everybody's Somebody's Fool
Everyday
Everyday (Alternative Take)
Forget Me Not
From Me to You
Ginger
Girl of My Best Friend
Go Away Little Girl
Goodbye Cruel World
Goodnight Irene
Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen
Heartbeat
Hey Girl
Hey! Baby
Hey! Little Girl
Hickory, Dick And Doc
Honeycomb
How Many Tears
How To Make A Farewell
I Can't Say Goodbye To You
I Gotta Know
I Remember You
I Wish You Were Mine Again
If I'm Right Or Wrong
If She Were My Girl
I'll Be Home for Christmas
I'll Make You Mine
I'll String Along With You
I'm Gonna Make It Up To You
I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter
In And Out Of Love
In My Baby's Eyes
It Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy
It Doesn't Matter Anymore
It Might As Well Rain Until September
It's So Easy
Jingle Bell Rock
Let's Call It A Day Girl
Linda Lu
Little Queenie
Lookin' for Love
Love Me Do
Lover's Goodbye
Love's Made a Fool Out of You
Lucille
Maybe Baby
Measure My Love
Memphis
Moon River
More Than I Can Say
Mr. and Mrs.
My Christmas Love
My Dad
My Golden Chance
My Love Loves Me
Needles and Pins
Never Love A Robin
No Obligations
Oh, Boy!
One Last Kiss
P.S. I Love You
Peggy Sue
Peggy Sue (Alternative Take)
Please Don't Ask About Barbara
Please Help Me I'm Falling
Pretend You Don't See Her
Pretty Girls Everywhere
Punish Her
Raining in My Heart
Remember Me, Huh?
Rubber Ball
Ruby Baby
Run To Him
Save the Last Dance for Me
Sealed With a Kiss
Sharing You
She Loves You
She's Sorry
Silent Night
Silent Partner
Silver Bells
Since I Met You Baby
Someday (When I'm Gone From You)
Spanish Harlem
Stayin' In
Stranger In Your Arms
Sukiyaki
Suspicion
Sweet Little Sixteen
Take a Walk, Johnny
Take Good Care Of My Baby
Teardrops Fall Like Rain
Tenderly Yours
That'll Be the Day (#1)
That'll Be the Day (#2)
The Night Has A Thousand Eyes
Theme for a Dream
(There'll Come A Day When) Ev'ry Little Bit Hurts
(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays
Think It Over
This Is The End
This Is Where Friendship Ends
True Love Ways
Twist and Shout
Venus in Blue Jeans
Walk Right Back
Walkin' With My Angel
Well … All Right
Well … All Right (1977 Version)
What About Me
What Do You Want?
What Else Is New
What's Your Name
When You're in Love
Where Is She?
White Christmas
White Silver Sands
Wild Night
Winter Wonderland
Wishing (#1)
Wishing (#2)
Woman In My Life
Yesterday And You (Armen's Theme)
You Better Move On
You Can't Lie to a Liar
You Won't Forget Me
Young Love

IZ ZAT SO? If asked to name the eight solo artists who, for the first half of the 1960s (1960-1964), had 30 or more nationally charted songs, I'm thinking even pop music historians might overlook Bobby Vee and Brook Benton.

For this purpose, neither peak chart position nor longevity are factors.

Claiming a spot on this list required cranking out one successful single after another over a five year span. And these 20 men and women did it best:

1. Fats Domino (42)
2. Elvis Presley (40)
3. Ray Charles (40)
4. Brenda Lee (39)
5. Connie Francis (38)
6. Rick Nelson (36)
7. Brook Benton (36)
8. Bobby Vee (30)
9. James Brown (29)
10. Chubby Checker (29)
11. Paul Anka (28)
12. Bobby Rydell (28)
13. Bobby Darin (27)
14. Dion DiMucci (26)
15. Frank Sinatra (25)
16. Sam Cooke (25)
17. Nat King Cole (25)
18. Pat Boone (22)
19. Johnn Tillotson (21)
20. Andy Williams (20)





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