Mexican Joe - Jim Reeves and the Circle O Ranch Boys (1953)

Greatness started early on with Jim Reeves, achieving a No. 1 country hit with his second mainstream release on the Abbott label and today's song "Mexican Joe". The song was written by Mitchell Torok. The song was recorded on January 18, 1953 at the KWKH-AM studio in Shreveport, Louisiana and was released in early March of the same year. The song features Jim Reeves doubling guitar and vocals along with Don Davis (bass), Joe Hayes (Fiddle), Tommy Bishop (guitar), Floyd Cramer (piano), and Jimmy Day (steel guitar). This was his first time ever hitting the charts and he nabbed a No. 1 country hit, No. 1 Cash Box country hit, and a No. 23 on the Hot 100, spending a total of 26 weeks somewhere on the charts. It's fun to see how much Jim's work changed over the years from starting out with novelty-type style and morphing into the Nashville ballads that he became known for. James Travis Reeves was born August 20, 1923 in Galloway, Texas. Growing up, he was into sports and won and athletic scholarship to the University of Texas. School lasted six weeks before he dropped out and started working the shipyards in Houston. He got back into baseball as a hobby, but took it slow as he wasn't sure if he'd be drafted into WWII or not. He would end up being declared 4-F and ineligible, so he ended up playing semi-pro ball before being contracted by the St. Louis Cardinals farm team in 1944. He would play in the minor leagues before severing his sciatic nerve and ending his sports career. While all this was going on, he also began work as a radio announcer and sort-of-singer. He took after Jimmie Rodgers and Moon Mullican for his sound but also looked to Bing Crosby, Eddy Arnold and Frank Sinatra as well. In the late 1940's, he would end up joining Moon Mullican's band as well as venturing solo. He would take another radio job at KWKH-AM in Shreveport, Louisiana, home of the Louisiana Hayride, and on a fateful night when Sleepy LaBeef (some accounts say it was Hank Williams) was late for his air time, they asked Reeves to step in. Reeves began recording in 1950 with two releases on "Macy's Recordings" label. He would be picked up by Abbott Records in 1953, finding early success and by 1954, got his first No. 1 Country hit. When working the Hayride, Reeves met Little Joe Hunt and the pair would collaborate and get a second Country No.1 for 1954. The two paired up and traveled and toured together for several years. Reeves would release his first album in 1955 and upon this release, he had already signed a 10-year deal with RCA Victor. It was a banner time for the Louisiana Hayride as MANY artists from that time period got signed such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jim Ed Brown, Maxine Brown, the Wilburn Brothers and Little Joe Hunt. Reeves did well for Victor, however he was growing tired of sticking to the same east Texas sound they wanted him to make, and he took a chance in 1957 during a demo recording, lowering his voice amid protests from RCA, but with thumbs up from producer Chet Atkins, and he would create not only a No.1 Country hit, but a No. 11 on the pop charts as well. This began his reputation of being able to cross genres and began gaining an audience outside of country fans. The 1960's started with a No. 1 Country hit and a platinum record. In 1963, Reeves released a Christmas album which of course did well. Reeves was partly responsible for spreading country music across the pond(s) to the UK, India, Germany, Sri Lanka, and South Africa. In fact, in the early 1960's, he was more popular than Elvis there and even released several albums in the Afrikaans language which even included some scarce 16 2/3rpm speed releases. He had an extremely successful tour of Ireland and the UK in 1963 and as a bit of a fun fact, when Elton John was first starting to sing in pubs, some of Reeves' songs were in his repertoire. 1964 saw a successful tour of Norway, and he would be back in studio that July for what would be his last official recording session (he recorded one more song in his home studio later in July). Unfortunately, on July 21, 1964, he and his business partner/manager/pianist were flying to Nashville with Reeves at the controls when they encountered a thunderstorm and crashed. Investigators believe from eye witness accounts that he was following visual references to the airport and accidentally let his speed get too low and he was at too low of an altitude to recover from the stall. Reeves was elected posthumously to the Country Music Hall of Fame during 1967, and into the Texas Country music Hall of Fame in 1998. Each year, the Academy of Country Music awards the Jim Reeves International Award to an artist who has made an "outstanding contributions to the acceptance of country music throughout the world.