| Back in those days, Opry management kept a tight rein on its artists.
A small Nashville clique controlled publishing, bookings and direction
of many of the artists' careers. John was an outsider both physically
and in spirit. One of the rules was that Opry members had to perform a
substantial number of weeks per year in order to remain members. For big
stars, this schedule was chafing: Saturday nights (the night the Opry
show broadcast) were big money-making tour nights,and the artists had to
pass up lucrative shows in favor working for scale if they wanted to
maintain the exposure the Opry gave them. (This has changed in recent
years, as the Opry now needs the stars much more than the stars need the
Opry.)
Within six months of joining the Opry, John's attention was focused
elsewhere. On January 19, 1957 he made his first of 10 appearances on
the Jackie Gleason Show. More than any other event, this gave him the
wanderlust. On August 31, 1957 he was in California doing a Town Hall
Party TV show, a program he would come to appear regularly on. This was
the night he was approached by Don Law of Columbia Records, who dangled
the big bucks and the big time in front of his eyes. This would be his
ticket out! In November 1957 he signed a secret contract with Columbia
(secret, because his contract with Sun extended until the end of July
1958), and the same month he met with execs from the Hollywood movie and
TV studios to explore roles. Hey, if Elvis could do it, why not him? On
March 31, 1958, as his time with Sun grew short, he performed on
Lawrence Welk's TV show. He had no ties to Nashville, no reason really
to even go there except for his Opry obligations. He was being paid so
little by Sam Phillips at Sun that recording took a backseat to touring
and (he hoped) acting. It is interesting to note that between the
recording of "I Walk the Line" on May 1, 1956 and the end of
his time with Sun--over two years--he spent a mere 14 days in a Sun
recording studio. The rest of the time he spent touring and performing.
But he came to see his future in Hollywood. So, in September 1958, a
month after "officially" joining Columbia, he moved his family
to Coldwater Canyon in Hollywood. He also quit the Opry. Nashville just
wasn't his place. In fact, while Columbia had him recording at Owen
Bradley's studio in Nashville, John only spent five days there from the
time he moved to California through the end of 1959.
The move to California had major repercussions, not all of them good.
In fact, almost none of them good. The hoped-for movie career did not
materialize. The Tennessee Two--Grant and Perkins--did not make the move
to California with John, so the relationship became somewhat distant, as
the three would only hook up for the rare studio sessions and tours,
where the Two would drive from Memphis and meet up with John at the
site. More and more, John would make appearances without them, as he
did, for example, September 17, 1959 on the "Oh, Boy!" TV show
in England and on October 23, 1959 on the Burl Ives Bell Telephone Hour
national TV special. And in November 1959, his Memphis-based manager,
Bob Neal, who had been with him just about from the beginning (Neal was
a Memphis DJ who helped break the early Sun sides), threw in the towel
as well, turning things over to Californian Stew Carnall (and that only
lasted until July 1961 when Canadian Saul Holiff took over). By the
early 60's (when the "hell raising days" began), he was
frequenting Greenwich Village and running around with Joan Baez, Mimi
and Richard Farina, Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan. The estrangement from
Nashville was evident especially in John's country chart action: after
"Don't Take Your Guns to Town" hit Number 1 in March 1959, he
had no more No 1s until the summer of 1963 with "Ring of
Fire," and his last top 5 song during that period was Nov 1959. In
fact, from 1960 on, he had only one top 10 country record. And, although
three of his daughters were born in Memphis (only Tara, born 8/24/61 in
Encino, was a "native" Californian), they would all remain
with their mother in Ventura County when John and Vivian's marriage
disintegrated, and all grew up as "California Girls," with
their father a virtual stranger as he migrated through the 60s.
John was a "guest" on the Opry at various times through the
60s, even though he was definitely not considered to be a country singer
by the Nashville establishment. He was a "folk singer" all the
way (think "Ira Hayes" and the August 22, 1964 Billboard ad
attacking country radio; "Orange Blossom Special" and
"Ballads of the Tue West;" the Dylan friendship and
recordings; the folk appearances: March 21, 1964 on
"Hootenanny;" July 26, 1964 at the Newport Folk Festival;
Janaury 13, 1965 on "Shindig;" and the June 17, 1965
appearance at the New York Folk Festival; and the.Peter LaFarge-written
profile of John in the May 1, 1965 issue of the folk magazine "Sing
Out." This was surely not Bill Monroe territory). When John
terrorized the Opry stage in 1965 during an ill-fated guest appearance,
stomping out the footlights because they got in his eyes, well, that was
all she wrote. They had to let him in for the awards shows, but he was
not welcome to perform. The October 4, 1965 arrest in El Paso for
carrying an excessive amount of prescription drugs across the border was
also a very "folkie" thing to do. Until, that is, he chose to
host his TV show from the Opry stage. Nothing succeeds like success.
Then, all was forgiven. We always loved ya, John, yada yada. Yeah,
right.
- Mark
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