JOHNNY O'NEILL - They Call The Wind Maria (1959) Live TV "Town Hall Party" (Remastered)

50s County and Western Music from TV Broadcast : "Town Hall Party" April 19, 1959.
"They Call the Wind Maria" is an American popular song with lyrics written by Alan J. Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe for their 1951 Broadway musical, "Paint Your Wagon", which is set in the California Gold Rush.
Rufus Smith originally sang the song on Broadway, and Joseph Leader was the original singer in London's West End.
It quickly became a runaway hit, and during the Korean War, the song was among the "popular music listened to by the troops".
Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra recorded the song in 1951, and it was among the "popular hit singles at the record stores" that year.
It has since become a standard, performed by many notable singers across several genres of popular music.
A striking feature of the song in the original orchestration (also used in many cover versions), is a driving, staccato rhythm, played on the string instruments, that evokes a sense of restless motion.
Other versions : Harve Presnell, Roberts Pernell, Ed Ames, Sam Cooke, Rufus Smith, Burl Ives,
David Hill, Lavenders, The Smothers Brothers, The Kingston Trio, Doc Watson, The Mariners,
Leon Bibb, Marty Wilde, The Dozier Boys, Baja Marimba Band, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers,
The Browns, Bud and Travis, Arthur Conley, The Country Gentlemen, Vic Damone, Eddie Fisher, Frankie Laine, Vaughan Monroe and his Orchestra, Robert Goulet, Earl Wrightson, P.J. Proby,
Bobby Osborne, Zoot Sims, The Mixtures, Bob Oates, Gilbert Price, Marty Bronson, Robert Horton, Jack Barlow ... among others...
Columbia Records released a Town Hall Party LP album in 1958, featuring many of the regular cast members of the series.
That same year, however, brought changes to the program.
NBC radio had discontinued carrying the Saturday night shows, and rising union scale rates made it impossible for Wagnon to keep the huge cast of recording artists on the Compton stage week after week.
The band was made smaller and many regular cast members departed in 1958.
Billy Mize and Cliff Crofford, talented vocalists/instrumentalists/composers, joined the much smaller cast as band members and soloists.
#countrymusic #wagonTrain #liveconcert

[@jomsborgwiki5749]

NICE! 🤠👍🏻

[@blueanthias]

Thanks for these great old recordings. Don’t know how you acquired them, but thanks for helping to preserve them. You can’t even find many of these artists on music apps. 🙏

[@jjtaps7012]

Hello my friend good vidéo like amitiés

[@guybos1]

What a great voice. I heard a version of this song by Ed Ames, which is also very good !