Originally dubbed The Tennessee Plowboy,
Richard Edward Arnold started singing on radio station
WTJS Jackson, Tennessee in 1936. Arnold played various
venues during the following years and in 1943 was playing
six-days a week on WSM, before signing to RCA Records.
Arnold
made his country chart debut in 1945 with "Each Minute
Seems A Million Years" and saw his first number-one
in 1947 with "What Is Life Without Love". His
thirteenth number-one came in 1955 with "Cattle Call"
and hit the charts again 54 years later with that very
same song when he recorded a new version with the up-and-coming
starlet LeAnn Rimes in 1999. By 1966 Arnold had earned
a new nickname 'The Ambassador Of Country Music' after
his softer technique brought him success with pop and
easy-listening arrangements.
After All These
Years is a brand new CD that Eddy has been
working on for some time. This is his 100th album release
and not many other artists, if any can claim the same
achievement. 12 tracks with all but one song being New…in
as much as Eddy has not recorded them before. The one song
that he revisits is his golden classic "You
Don't Know Me" from 1956. After All These
Years comes with no studio enhancement of his voice…this
is the way he wanted it!!! Now aged 87 Eddy Arnold's voice
has lost a lot of its strength, but my goodness can the
man still sing and make you sit-up and listen after almost
70 years in the
business. Stylistically Eddy's voice still has that
wonderful, rich and warm feel about it that has kept him
at the top of the tree all these years.
Teaming up with producer "Cowboy"
Jack Clement, Eddy Arnold offers his own interpretation
to standards "When I Dream"
and Roger Miller's "King Of
The Road". With an emotional weight of lyrics
and romantic sensibility, other notable songs to be found
here include the sweetly-yearning "I'm
Gonna Be Home With You", "If
I Lived My Life Without You", "After
All These Years", plus the nostalgic "Old
Porch Swing" kicking-off this prestigious
set.
Billboard magazine ranked Eddy as the
No1 country star of all-time, with record sales that are
said to have topped 85 million. He has had 92 top-ten
hits, with 28 sitting on the top-spot. Eddy's career has
seen a total of 145 weeks spent at the No 1 spot, which
is unmatched by any other star. In 2000 the White House
presented Eddy with the National Medal of Arts. Similarly
the Recording Academy gave Eddy its Grammy Lifetime Achievement
Award in 2005
The leading American magazine USA TODAY is planning
on doing an article around this CD. At the age of 87 will
we see Eddy Arnold chart again!!! Journalist Robert K.
Oermann who has written the liner notes has the last word.
"Cherish this music and cherish this man. We will not
see his like again".
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