I'm Just a Country Boy - Misplaced Pages

"I'm Just a Country Boy" is a song written by Fred Hellerman and Marshall Barer. In 1954, the song was recorded by Harry Belafonte accompanied by Hugo Winterhalter And His Orchestra (RCA Victor) and released on 78 rpm and 45 rpm record. It was the B-side of the record, "Hold 'Em Joe" (Calypso) being the A-side. The print on the record informs us that the song was written by Fred Brooks and Marshall Barer, noting that Fred Brooks was a pseudonym for Fred Hellerman (of The Weavers fame) who was blacklisted in the McCarthy era for his socialist ideals.

Cover versions

In 1960 Sam Cooke recorded the song as the second track on his album Swing Low.
In 1962 Steve Camacho released the song on the album "Folk and other songs" with the title "Turtle Dove".
Bobby Vinton covered the song on his 1966 LP Country Boy.
In 1967, Julie Felix' version "I'm Just A Country Girl" appeared on EP "Songs from the Frost Report, Part 2" (Fontana). Also in this case Fred Brooks and Marshall Barer were identified as the creators of the song.
The Hager Twins, Jim and John, included the song on their 1972 album Music On The Countryside.
American country music artist Don Williams released his version in July 1977 as the first single from the album Country Boy. "I'm Just a Country Boy" was Don Williams' seventh number one on the country chart. The single stayed at number one for one week and spent a total of eleven weeks on the country chart.
Richard Manuel of The Band recorded the song in 1985. It was one of his last recordings before his death, and was released posthumously as "Country Boy" on The Band's 1993 album Jericho.
In 2007, the song was included in Alison Krauss' CD A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection (Rounder) as "You're Just a Country Boy". In the booklet that comes with the CD, Fred Hellerman and Marshall Barer are given the credits for the song. The text of the booklet indicates unawareness of recorded versions before Don Williams'.
Other known versions are: George McCurn - March 16 1963, Jim Ed Brown - 1965, Ronnie Lane - 1975; Jimmie Rodgers (pop singer); Jim Croce (demo); Roger Whittaker; David Ball; John Holt; The Brothers Four; Bobby Vinton.
60s pop icon Bobby Vee recorded the song in his final sessions, released in 2014 as The Adobe Sessions

Chart performance

Chart (1977)	Peak position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)	1
US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (Billboard)	110
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	1

Footnotes

"Smithsonian Folkways". Folkways.si.edu. 2013-03-20. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 386.
Helm & Davis 2000, pp. 307
March 16, 1963, Vancouver CFUN Radio
"Don Williams Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
"Don Williams Chart History (Bubbling Under Hot 100)". Billboard.

References

Helm, Levon; Davis, Stephen (2000). This Wheel's on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of the Band. ISBN 1-55652-405-6.

v t e Don Williams
Studio albums	Don Williams Volume One Don Williams Volume Two Don Williams Vol. 3 You're My Best Friend Harmony Visions I Believe in You Especially for You Listen to the Radio Yellow Moon Cafe Carolina New Moves One Good Well True Love And So It Goes
Singles	"The Shelter of Your Eyes" "Come Early Morning" "Atta Way to Go" "We Should Be Together" "I Wouldn't Want to Live If You Didn't Love Me" "The Ties That Bind" "You're My Best Friend" "(Turn Out the Light And) Love Me Tonight" "'Til the Rivers All Run Dry" "Say It Again" "I Recall a Gypsy Woman" "She Never Knew Me" "Some Broken Hearts Never Mend" "I'm Just a Country Boy" "I've Got a Winner in You" "Rake and Ramblin' Man" "Tulsa Time" "Lay Down Beside Me" "It Must Be Love" "Love Me Over Again" "Good Ole Boys Like Me" "I Believe In You" "Falling Again" "Miracles" "If I Needed You" (with Emmylou Harris) "Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good" "Listen to the Radio" "Mistakes" "If Hollywood Don't Need You (Honey I Still Do)" "Love Is on a Roll" "Nobody but You" "Stay Young" "That's the Thing About Love" "Maggie's Dream" "Walkin' a Broken Heart" "It's Time for Love" "We've Got a Good Fire Goin''" "Heartbeat in the Darkness" "Then It's Love" "Señorita" "I'll Never Be in Love Again" "I Wouldn't Be a Man" "Another Place, Another Time" "Desperately" "Old Coyote Town" "One Good Well" "I've Been Loved by the Best" "Just as Long as I Have You" "Maybe That's All It Takes" "Back in My Younger Days" "True Love" "Lord Have Mercy on a Country Boy"
Related articles	Discography List of songs written by Don Williams "Amanda" Pozo Seco Singers Bob McDill Allen Reynolds

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