Showing posts with label George C. Wallace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label George C. Wallace. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

George Wallace Jr's First Single

George C. Wallace III (also known as George Wallace Jr.) is the only son of Alabama Governors George Corley and Lurleen Wallace. George Wallace Jr. had his own his political career, during which he served as Alabama's State Treasurer and on the Alabama Public Service Commission. As a young man he also had something of a musical career as frontman for his own garage band. George Wallace Jr.'s bandmate John Botts writes about them playing at father George C. Wallace's political rallies and that "while Lurleen was being treated for her cancer, she would often call the boys while they were rehearsing, place the phone by her hospital bed, and enjoy their music until she fell asleep."

George Wallace Jr's first record was released circa the mid-60s. The A side is an ode to his politician parents:


Side B an ode to a "Little Blue Pill".



Though I haven't found a discography, I know that there are also several releases by George Wallace Jr. on MGM. According to a Huntsville Times article from 2008, George Wallace Jr. is now enjoying his life away from politics. Besides working on writing a book he says he is also playing music so, maybe his musical career is not over yet.

Many thanks to George Hadjidakis for the label scans.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Country Singer Vs. Notorious Politician

When I first posted this, all I knew about Miss Hilton Hammond was that her song "Charlie" was included on a compilation called "Girls Girls Rockin Vol 6" on Collector records and that she'd recorded another 45 I'd found in a local thrift store. (Thanks to the esteemed Glenn House Sr., I now know a good deal more about her and hope to devote more space here to her story in the future.)

Both songs on my 45 are about one of the most famous and controversial governors in the history of the US, George Corley Wallace Jr., specifically his 1968 presidential campaign. Now, maybe all politicians are a little Faustian, but Wallace gave the devil a run for his money. He began his political career as a moderate backed by the NAACP. But after being defeated in a primary election for governor by a foul-mouthed white supremacist he decided to change his politics and hire a speech writer from the KKK. He won the governorship by a landslide in 1962. His "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door" in 1963, which intended to prevent black students from registering for courses at the University of Alabama, prompted President John F. Kennedy to order federal intervention. The resulting national attention made Wallace a hero to segregationists and running as an independent in the presidential election of 1968, he won nearly 10 million votes. He also branded Alabama with the national image of a backwater filled with vicious crackers who would keep the black population down by any means necessary. Alabamians who didn't support Wallace where not happy about any of this.

When Miss Hilton Hammond presented two songs critical of George Wallace to K-Ark records where she was under contract, they told her there was no way they would release them. So she recorded them in Birmingham and released them herself on Hammond Records, Ink. Side two is "Won't You Come Home George Wallace" and simply argues that Wallace should stay at home and off the presidential campaign trail. It's sung to "Bill Bailey" played on the piano. Side one can heard here.