ROOTS of Country Music

The Professional Work of Webb Pierce

(Aug. 8, 1921 ~ Feb. 24/1991)

Career Highlights

No. 6 Country Music Artist (1944 - 1993)

Stage Name: The Wandering Boy

Grand Ole Opry Membber (1955)

Barn Dance Affiliate: Louisiana Hayride

Film, Night Club Radio & TV

1-Film, 2-Night Club, 3-Radio, 4-TV

Billboard Chart Data

• No. 1 Singles: 12
• Top-10 Singles: 54
• Crossover Singles: 1
• Charted Singles: 96
• Chart Years Active:  1952 - 1982 

Career Label: Decca Records (1952-1975) 

Billboard Top-10 Singles

1. Wondering* -1952
2. That Heart Belongs to Me*
3. Back Street Affair*
4. I'll go on Alone -1953
5. That's Me Without You
6. The Last Waltz
7. I Haven't Got the Heart
8. It's Been So Long*
9. Don't Throw Your Life Away
10. There Stands The Glass*
11. I'm Walking the Dog
12. Slowly*# -1954
13. Even Tho*
14. Sparkling Brown Eyes, 1
15. More and More*
16. You're Not Mine Anymore
17. In The Jailhouse Now*2 -1955
18. I'm Gonna Fall Out of Love With You
19. I Don't Care, 3
20. Love, Love, Love*, 4
21.  Were Me
22. Why, Baby Why*, 5
23. Yes I Know Why -1956
24. 'Cause I Love You
25. Little Rosa, 5
26. Any Old Time
27. Teenage Boogie
28. I'm Tired -1957
29. Honky Tonk Song*
30. Oh, So Many Years, 6
31. Bye, Bye, Love
32. Missing You
33. Holiday For Love
34. Cryin' Over You -1958
35. You'll Come Back
36. Falling Back to You
37. Tupelo County Jail
38. A Thousand Miles Ago -1959
39. I Ain't Never, 7
40. No Love Have I
41. Fallen Angel -1960
42. Let Forgiveness in -1961
43. Sweet Lips
44. Walking the Streets
45. How Do You Talk to a Baby
46. Alla My Love -1962
47. Crazy Wild Desire
48. Take Time
49. Cow Town
50. Sands of Gold -1963
51. Those Wonderful Years
52. Memory # 1 -1964
53. Finally, 6
54. Fool Fool Fool -1967

#-8th Biggest Chart Song in Country Music

1-With Wilburn Brothers

2-3rd Biggest Chart Song in Country Music

3-Spent 12 Weeks at No. 1 

4-Spent 13 Weeks at No. 1

5-With Red Sovine

6-With Kitty Wells

7-Spent 9 Weeks at No. 2. His only crossover single

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Duet Albums

Webb Pierce & Willie Nelson

• Album Title: In the Jailhouse Now
• Columbia Records, PC 38095 (1982)
• Recorded 1981, Spicewood, Texas USA
• Engineered by Chips Morman, Larry Greenhill & David Cherry

Musicians: Willie Nelson (vocal, guitar), Webb Pierce (vocal), Weldon Myrick, Jimmy Day (Steel), Mike Leech, Bee Spears (bass), Gene Chrisman, Paul English (drums), Bobby Wood, Bobby Emmons (piano, keyboards), Johnny  Gimble (fiddle), Grady Martin, Reggie Young, Jody Payne, Chips Morman, Leon Russell (guitar), Mickey Raphael (harmonica), Toni White, Paul Davis (vocals).

Tracks

• There Stands The Glass
• Wondering
• In the Jailhouse Now
• You're Not Mine Anymore
• Heebie Jeebie Bluesn No. 2
• Slowly
• I Don't Care
• Back Street Affair
• Let Me Be the First to Know
• More and More

Members of Webb Pierce's band:

• Faron Young
• Floyd Cramer
• Jimmy Day

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Wondering: The Webb Pierce Story

Webb Pierce was one of the most popular and successful honky-tonk vocalists of the '50s in a competitive arena that included such greats as Ray Price, Hank Williams, Carl Smith, Marty Robbins, Faron Young, Hank Snow and Eddy Arnold. His success was reflect in his Billboard chart activity as Pierce racked up sixty one Top-20 hits between 1952 and 1962.

Webb Pierce was born on August 8, 1921 in West Monroe, Louisiana and grew up with the music of Jimmie Rodgers, Gene Autry, western swing bands of Texas and Oklahoma, and the Cajun bands of his native state. He enlisted in the US Army and in 1942 he married Betty Jane Lewis. After he was discharged, the couple moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, where he found work on KTBS.

In late 1949, Pierce accepted a spot on the Louisiana Hayride (KWKH). Building a band around himself with such future legends as Floyd Cramer (piano), Tillman Franks (manager and bass), Jimmy Day (steel guitar), Tex Grimsley (fiddle), Teddy and Doyle Wilburn and Faron Young (vocals), Webb was soon the hottest act on the Hayride. With Hayride producer Horace Logan, Pierce launched a record label, Pacemaker, which featured several Hayride acts in addition to Pierce himself, who was by then also recording for California’s Four Star Records.

In 1951, Pierce got out of his 4 Star contract and was signed by Decca Records. His debut chart single, "Wondering," became his breakthrough hit, climbing to No. 1 in January 1952. After the single became a hit, Pierce left Louisiana for Nashville, where he met and married his second wife, Audrey Greisham. Pierce had his second No. 1 single, "That Heart Belongs to Me” in June.

In September, the Grand Ole Opry needed to fill the vacancy left by the firing of Hank Williams, so they invited Pierce to join the cast. After Williams'  death (1/1/1953), Pierce became the most popular singer in country music for the period 1953 ~ 1959.

For the next five years, every single he released hit the Top 10, with a total of eleven reaching number one, including "There Stands the Glass" (1953), "Slowly" (1954), "More and More" (1954), and a song that is ranked No.3 All-time in country music "In the Jailhouse Now" (1955). That song stayed at the top of the Billboard chart for 21 weeks.

Pierce left the Opry in 1955 and began appearing on Ozark Jubilee, a television program on the ABC network. He left Ozark Jubilee in 1956 and returned to the Opry but left for good the following year.

After “I’m Tired (No.3, 1957),” “Honky Tonk Song” (No. 1, 1957) and “Tupelo County Jail” (No. 7, 1958), his run on top ten records continued until 1964. His final top 10, “Fool, Fool, Fool,” charted in 1967, though his singles regularly charted until 1972. Pierce left Decca Records in 1975, making a handful of records for Plantation Records (1975 ~ 1976), but with little chart success.

Webb continued charting until 1982. That year, Willie Nelson asked Pierce to sing with him on a remake of “In the Jailhouse Now.” It was Pierce’s ninety-sixth and last charted record.

Mt. Pierce died of pancreatic cancer on February 24, 1991. He was inducted into the Country music posthumously in 2001. Webb Pierce’s career stands as one of the most successful in the history of country music.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Researched, written and compiled by Richard Bell, Roots of Country Music. Oct. 13, 2011.