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Red Sovine music biography continued...

into music was with his childhood friend Johnnie Bailes, with whom he performed as "Smiley and Red, the Singing Sailors" on a local radio program. Through his work on the radio, Sovine met Hank Williams, who helped him get a record contract with MGM Records in 1949. Over the next four years he recorded 28 singles, mostly carrying on Williams' honky tonk tradition, but they didn't make much of an impression on the charts. He moved on to Decca in 1954, and had his first number one hit in "Why Baby Why." Sovine had two other Top Five singles that year and joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry. After recording close to 50 sides with Decca by 1959, Sovine signed to Starday, a pioneer in the spoken word truck driving song. Starday went on to pair Sovine with truck driver material and the singer found his niche in the genre in 1965 when he recorded the chart topping "Giddy-Up Go." Subsequent truck driving hits included the ghost story "Phantom 309 and "Teddy Bear," a tearjerker tale of a disabled child's relationship with a caring trucker. Sovine followed up "Teddy Bear" with "Little Joe," a tale of a blinded trucker and his devoted canine friend, which became his last big hit. Sovine died in 1980 after suffering a heart attack while driving his own truck, leaving behind a collection that would be covered by many country stars that followed in his footsteps.