George Hamilton IV

The passing of George Hamilton IV barely caused a ripple in the music world Thursday.  George passed away from a heart attack and was 77 years old.  But he started out as a teen idol of sorts recording a bunch of sides of ABC Paramount before going into the country music world and scoring a number 1 hit with Abilene.  For a 10 plus year career at RCA Victor, Hamilton is better known for discovering and incorporating folk rock into his albums. He was one of the first artists to record Gordon Lightfoot.  He covered Urge For Going a Joni Mitchell write up.  But my favorite songs remain It's My Time, one of the better John Loudermilk songs ever written although it sounded too much like Break My Mind. But since I couldn't find the forty five of It's My Time, I paid 10 dollars for a used copy of the Gentle Soul Of George Hamilton IV from the now gone Memory Lane Records in Tempe years ago.  Even better was a 97 cent record found at The Salvation Army called West Texas Highway, his long forgotten 1971 album for RCA, and he covered James Taylor's Sweet Baby James, a then unknown Michael Martin Murphy and Boomer Castleman's title track of WTH and the Ozark Mountain Daredevils Larry Lee What's Forth Worth as well as some fine songs by Harlan Howard and Bill Anderson.  And produced by Bill Ferguson (Porter Waggoner).  But by then country radio had ignored him although he continued to record for RCA and later ABC, MCA and Dot and a few more.  By the late 90s George was doing gospel 90 percent of the time although he would make the rare secular album such as 2011's  In The Heart Of Texas.

For CD greatest hits, George is non existent. Collectibles issued his RCA album of Abilene and it's a solid album but Sony Music never thought to include him in their long deleted RCA Country Legends series in the US but there's a import that cherry picks the hits and leaves out It's My Time but gives the listener She's A Little Bit Country. Not a good trade off.  Bear Family has done a much better although sloppy job of the RCA early years and The ABC Paramount era with To You And Yours, which is more of the latter label than the former.  So it's either the overblown To You And Yours From Me And Mine 6 CDs box with the early recordings and odd and ends, or it's the 3 cd set My North Country Home which might be the best Gordon Lightfoot tribute album, with the songs that Gordon wrote.  But don't hold your breath for any more of the RCA albums to be reissued but most if not all have highlights.  Except for She's a Little Bit Country.

RIP to a great country singer.