At one time the rural American songbag was called "hillbilly" music. Always a somewhat disparaging word, the term was nevertheless used by the musicians themselves. Even Hank Williams - with his well pressed cowboy suit and smooth and mellow vocals - used the word. But it was Hank's song "Lovesick Blues" that was first designated as Country and Western in The Billboard issue of July 26, 1949.

Some, though, think it was really Eddy Arnold who effected the change from "hillbilly" to Country and Western. Eddy began his music career in the 1940's and by 1944 his manager was a gentleman named Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk. Due to the vagaries of how Andreas left his native Holland, he assumed the name of Tom Parker and somewhere along the way he acquired the honorary title "Colonel". It was under Tom's firm but astute hand that Eddy moved to be one of the top Country singers in the nation.

Colonel Tom did not overly focus on the artistic side of the business but instead worked to get his clients - and himself - the best monetary deal possible. Always on the lookout for new venues, he wrangled Eddy a spot playing in Las Vegas. A country singer in Vegas? What a radical concept! The Colonel then negotiated some movie roles where Eddy got top billing.

But after a while Eddy began to chaff under the Colonel's direction. For one thing, Eddy wanted to move into television which he saw as the entertainment medium of the future. But this was a career path vetoed by the Colonel. So in the early 1950's the two split and Tom moved to managing the career of a swiveled hipped former truck driver from Memphis.

Although he was dubbed "The Tennessee Plowboy", Eddy's performances would eschewed any stereotype: no overalls or wearing floppy hats nor being surrounded by bevies of long haired beauties in short shorts with blouses tied up at the midriffs. But although by the late 1940's Hank and Eddy had developed near parity in popularity, Hank had developed a reputation for unreliability and cantakerousness. So when in 1952, the NBC network needed a summer replacement on the infant medium of television, they picked Eddy.

Yes, that's 1952. That may seem an early date for the family to be glued to the tube but by then a full 50% of American homes had a television set. So when The Eddy Arnold Show premiered on July 14, 1952, you could sit back and enjoy a whopping 15 minutes of listening pleasure.

But it wasn't just the fact that Eddy had a series in the fledgling days of television that made him an entertainment icon. He was the summer replacement for a former barber who had left the family business to become one of the fastest rising popular singers in the country.

We have to admit that keeping track of the early television shows hosted by Perry Como can be a challenge. His first television program is cited variously as The Perry Como Show, The Perry Como Chesterfield Club, or just The Chesterfield Supper Club.¹ The confusion is compounded because some of Perry's shows were radio, some were television, and some were both.

Also the different shows seemed to be simply a name change and they were really the same program featuring Perry's smooth baritone with his various and famous guests. Or they were different programs but with the same name. Perry's last regular series was Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall from 1959 to 1967,² and he also hosted numerous specials and made many guest appearances. All in all Perry's radio and television career ranged from 1943 to 1995.

Eddy's best selling song was "Make the World Go Away", whose eponymous LP was also his best selling album. It was a stretch though to call either the single or the album Country and Western, and when he appeared on television, some viewers didn't realize they were watching one of the biggest Country stars of the day.

Eddy certainly had rural roots and he had sixteen #1 hits on the Country charts and eight #1 Country albums. But it's also true that he would appear on television in conventional coat and tie³ with his vocals backed by a full studio orchestra and chorus. Eddy would often sing what can only be called popular tunes including "My Way" (made famous by Frank Sinatra), "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" (Wayne Newton's big hit), and even "I Started a Joke" where his resonant baritone had a decided contrast with Robin Gibb's high tenor. And believe it or not, some of Eddy's songs can honestly be labeled as, yes, easy listening.

But one of Eddy's best sellers was C&W by any definition and found considerable playing time on the radio. That was Tennessee Stud. The song was written and first recorded by an Arkansas high school teacher and administrator named James Corbitt Morris.⁴ and Eddy's version fared well. It reached #19 on Billboard's Hot Country Chart in 1949.⁵ Although the song has been recorded by other musicians, none of their releases have broken into the Top 100 which is a bit of a shock to the fans of Arthel Lane Watson who some feel performed the definitive version of the song.⁶

You'd think no one could mistake Eddy's "Cattle Call" for a pop tune. It has about every requirement for a Country and Western song (including Eddy's skillful yodeling) and with accuracy can even be called a "cowboy" song. And yes, it hit #1 for Country Music in store sales in 1955.⁷

But that was also the version where Eddy sang with the backing of the full orchestra and chorus conducted by - get this - Hugo Winterhalter. The song literally has to be heard to be believed, and Eddy's later performances of the song weren't quite so lush as he returned to the more traditional Country and Western instrumentation.

Of course, Eddy appeared on Ed Sullivan's really big shew. That was in 1964 and he was also on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson a total of ten times and once even stood in for Johnny as the guest host. But although Eddy never hosted the Muppet Show - a mark of true fame in the 20th Century - he did appear on the Jimmy Dean Show whose co-star was the Muppet star Rowlf the Dog. Eddy kept going long afterwards and he was still making the Country Charts well after the turn of the Millennium.