Lefty Frizzell

One of the most influential vocal stylists in country music history – his highly individual style has influenced other legendary artists like Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Johnny Rodriguez.

In the eraly 1950’s, Lefty had a long string of #1 hits, incl. “Always Late (With Your Kisses)”, “If You’ve Got The Money, I’ve Got The Time” and “I Love You A Thousand Ways”. With the decline of the pure “Hillbilly” sounds and the rise of the smooth, more pop-oriented “Nashville Sound”, his success started to fade away. Nevertheless, he continued to record throughout the 1960’s, with some of the songs still going strong on the charts like “Saginaw, Michigan” (#1 in 1964) and “Long Black Veil” (#6 in 1959). His other recording activities failed to provide major success, the songs were hitting the charts only at lower positions. His style, though,  always stayed close to country music and the steel guitar always played an important role in his music. Lloyd Green can be heard on some of the Columbia and ABC albums that were recorded around 1970.

Lefty Frizzell passed away in 1975.