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Showing posts from May, 2022

Last Date, From Instrumental to #1 Country Hit

After leaving Elvis Presley's band, pianist Floyd Cramer found work in Nashville as a studio musician. He appeared on many of the records that produced "The Nashville Sound," and eventually stepped out of the shadows as a solo performer, recording a number of instrumental singles and albums. 1960's  Last Date became the most popular, named because of its melancholy nature. Conway was performing in Canada when he heard Last Date for the first time, and within a few weeks he had written his own lyrics for it. With no country music connections at the time, he tucked it away in a box with other country songs he had written. Legendary songwriter Boudleaux Bryant also composed lyrics to the melody, resulting in My Last Date (With You) , which went on to become a big hit for Skeeter Davis.  Conway probably believed his version of the song would never see the light of day, but as luck would have it Floyd Cramer played the piano at Conway's next rock & roll session i

Conway Concert Poster Mystery

A couple years ago someone in a Conway Facebook group posted a picture of a concert poster that was going up for sale at auction. As I've been known to do on more than one occasion when it comes to Conway, I went into full detective mode. In the photo I could just barely make out the name of the auction house, and a Google search told me it was in Pennsylvania. It was a silent auction held the first Saturday of each month, with bidders writing down their bid on a tag placed at each item. I called and was told that proxy bids could be placed by anyone who couldn't be present the day of the auction, but items had to be picked up in person. They don't ship anything. In the HUGE state of Pennsylvania, what are the chances I would know someone who lives nearby? I could only think of one person I know in the state *period*, a fellow Conway collector in fact, and as luck would have it he told me he drives past this particular town frequently on the weekends. I placed my bid by pho