Had Harold Lloyd Jenkins signed with the Philadelphia Phillies, .450 batting average and all, we might never have heard Conway Twitty. Fortunately for us and likely National League pitching, Harold decided to pursue a career in music. A career that started rockabilly in 1957 inspired by Elvis Pressley. Harold had the look, the twitch, and the sound. He needed a name. Need a name? Pull out a map. Let’s see … Conway Arkansas, Twitty Texas, now all we need is a song.

Twitty’s early recording releases for Mercury Records did poorly. One night while playing the Flamingo Lounge in Hamilton Ontario, Conway and his drummer scratched out a song to cover the B side of their next planned release, “I’ll Try.” “I’ll Try” didn’t fare any better than its predecessors, but one Ohio radio station took to playing that B side song. “It’s Only Make Believe” caught on, eventually topping Billboard’s pop chart, perhaps because listeners thought it was Elvis, joking around with a name like “Twitty.” “It’s Only Make Believe” went on to sell over four million records.

The pop road ended in the late ‘60’s with a turn to country roots and a move to Oklahoma City. The country chapter of Conway’s career topped the country charts in 1970 with “Hello Darlin’.” Darlin’ was followed by the epic run of duet successes we covered on these pages with Loretta Lynn. In 1978 Twitty cut the single “The Grandest Lady of Them All” in honor of the Grand Ole Opry. Remarkable tribute from a prominent country star never inducted into Opry membership.

Conway Twitty’s country career would go on for another twenty years with hit after chart topping hit, fifty six in all, a record to stand the test of time until George Strait matched and passed it in 2007. Conway Twitty built a loyal fanbase some compared to a religious revival earning the tongue in cheek nickname, “The High Priest of Country Music.”

Next Week: Randy Travis
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Ride easy,
Paul