The Good Samaritan Boys "The Good Samaritan Boys" (1961)
Early recordings by Stan Hitchcock and his first band, the Waymakers... Haven't heard it, but similar material was reissued on the Early Years CD above.
Stan Hitchcock "Just Call Me Lonesome" (Epic, 1965) (LP)
(Produced by Billy Sherrill)
Stan Hitchcock "I'm Easy To Love" (Epic Records, 1968) (LP)
Stan Hitchcock "Softly And Tenderly" (Epic Records, 1969) (LP)
Stan Hitchcock "Honey, I'm Home" (Epic Records, 1970) (LP)
Stan Hitchcock "Dixie Belle" (GRT Records, 1970) (LP)
Stan Hitchcock "Stan Hitchcock Country" (Cinnamon Records, 1973) (LP)
(Produced by Tommy Alsup)
His last solo album of the 'Seventies had a classic countrypolitan sound, evoking Glen Campbell, Charlie Rich and others... The repertoire included several Jerry Foster songs, a notably bland cover of Kris Kristofferson's "For The Good Times," a reprise of his hit, "Dixie Bell," and a couple of songs by Bob McDill (including "Half-Empty Bed," which was co-written with Allen Reynolds.) If you're anti-countrypolitan, this one's easy to dismiss, but for listeners more open to the style, this album has its charms as well as its flat points... Highlights include the bouncy "Let Me Roll," which as a Jerry Reed-ish feel, and for pure, over-the-top orchestral Nashville kitsch, "Lonely Wine" gets kind of kooky and wild. Nothing to write home about, really, but worth a spin. [By the way: the liner notes include what seems to be a free-verse, stream-of-consciousness poem (written by Hitchcock?) of the sort normally seen on folk-rock records, and it definitely has the tang of early '70s drug culture, as witnessed here... And after awhile, the happiness and the hurt/blend into one awareness/you have not been alone/the footprints have not been one - but of two -/and the steps taken, both easy and hard/have been together./I love you. Groovy, man! Hey, by the way, does the sound man still have some of that stuff that you guys could share with me? We're, like, totally down to seeds and stems again, my friend. Like, wow, man. You have a groovy aura...]
Stan Hitchcock "Music Row" (Audiograph Records, 1983)
Stan Hitchcock "Country Christmas" (Stan Hitchcock Records)
Stan Hitchcock "Softly & Tenderly/From The Old Country Church" (Stan Hitchcock Records, 2006)
This is a reissue of his 1969 Epic album, with new tracks added as bonus material.
Originally a protege of Red Foley, singer Stan Hitchcock moved from the Ozarks to Nashville in the early 1960s and hosted a national TV country music show from 1966-71, scaling back to a regional show in the 70s, then eventually became one of the founding members and program director for Country Music Television at the dawn of the cable era. His own performing career never really took off -- he charted scarcely over a dozen times, and usually in the back end of the Top 100 -- but he was a notably personality on the Nashville landscape for many years. Here's a quick look at his music...
