Dick Feller
Encyclopedia
Richard Dean "Dick" Feller (born January 2, 1943) is an American
country
musician
and songwriter.
, Missouri
. On his twelfth birthday, Feller got his first guitar from his grandfather that was bought at a garage sale
. Although it only had one string, young Feller immediately started to tune it. Some time later, he started taking guitar lessons by hitching rides with the local mailman to a neighboring town, and, at fifteen years of age, he was playing for dances with a local band. Graduating from high school, Feller played lead guitar in various rock
and blues
groups. Around 1964, Feller went to Los Angeles
to play in a band and hone his songwriting skills. Having had no particular luck, he returned home to Missouri to continue playing with local bands.
In 1966, Feller moved to Nashville, Tennessee
and toured with Mel Tillis
’ The Statesiders, Skeeter Davis
, Stu Phillips
, and Warner Mack
, with whom he also recorded. After sending some songs to Johnny Cash
's publishing company, House of Cash, he got a record contract with Columbia Records
.
In 1971, Tex Williams
recorded Feller's song "The Night Miss Nancy Ann's Hotel for Single Girls Burned Down", which became a Top 30 single in the US. In 1972, Cash got a top five country hit with Feller's "Any Old Wind That Blows
".
Jimmy Dean
's producer then asked Feller to write a song for Dean similar to what he wrote for Williams, which became "Lord, Mr. Ford". Dean did not record it, but he took the song to Jerry Reed
's publishing company, Vector Music. Reed recorded the song, as well as two other songs by Feller: "The Lady is a Woman" and "One Sweet Reason". "Lord, Mr. Ford" was a number one hit for Reed in 1973.
That same year, Feller made his own recording debut, and the single "Biff, The Friendly Purple Bear" made it to the Top 25. He released his first album, Dick Feller Wrote..., a few months later through United Artists
. His next single, the humorous "The Credit Card Song", peaked in the Top Ten. In 1974, Feller signed with Asylum Records
. His first release for the label was the single "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation", which made it to the Top 15. These three Feller records also crossed to the Billboard Hot 100 or Bubbling Under The Top 100, and Easy Listening Top 50.
Feller continued writing songs and playing guitar on the records of other contemporary artists, such as Jerry Jeff Walker
, Guy Clark
, and Mike Auldridge
. At the same time, he also made some more of his own recordings. In 1975, he had his last chart entry as a performer, with the song "Uncle Hiram and His Homemade Beer", which made it to the Top 50.
His first overseas tour was made in 1980, and, the next year, he played with The Kelvin Henderson Band and Country Couples in England
, Scotland
, and Holland. In 1981, John Denver
recorded a pop country hit with Feller's "Some Days Are Diamonds (Some Days Are Stone)
", which Bobby Bare
had earlier recorded.
His final record, a live album, was released in 1982. Together with Don Schlitz
, he composed songs for the movies Smokey and The Bandit 3 and Alamo Bay
. For several years after, he wrote and toured with Lewis Grizzard
as opening attraction for the Evening With Lewis Grizzard stage show and also co-produced Grizzard's album Alimony
in 1994.
Feller wrote many songs with Sheb Wooley
on Kickin' Asphalt, which was released in November 1999. Del Reeves
performed another Feller–Wooley composition on the same album.
Through the years, Feller has also written and performed a number of commercials for different companies and products, such as the Dodge
television commercials "Do You Like Trucks?" and "Little Boy's Dream" and the Pepsi
jingle "By Any Other Name". Feller has also made commercials for AT&T
calling cards, Beech-Nut
tobacco, Colgate-Palmolive
, and Ponderosa Steakhouse.
Awards:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
and songwriter.
Biography
Feller was born on January 2, 1943 in BronaughBronaugh, Missouri
Bronaugh is a city in Vernon County, Missouri, United States. The population was 245 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Bronaugh is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. On his twelfth birthday, Feller got his first guitar from his grandfather that was bought at a garage sale
Garage sale
A garage sale, also known as a yard sale, rummage sale, tag sale, lawn sale, attic sale, moving sale, or junk sale, is an informal, irregularly scheduled event for the sale of used goods by private individuals, in which "block sales" are allowed, so that sellers are not required to obtain business...
. Although it only had one string, young Feller immediately started to tune it. Some time later, he started taking guitar lessons by hitching rides with the local mailman to a neighboring town, and, at fifteen years of age, he was playing for dances with a local band. Graduating from high school, Feller played lead guitar in various rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
groups. Around 1964, Feller went to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to play in a band and hone his songwriting skills. Having had no particular luck, he returned home to Missouri to continue playing with local bands.
In 1966, Feller moved to Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
and toured with Mel Tillis
Mel Tillis
Lonnie Melvin Tillis , known professionally as Mel Tillis, is an American country music singer. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s, with a long list of Top 10 hits....
’ The Statesiders, Skeeter Davis
Skeeter Davis
Mary Frances Penick , better known as Skeeter Davis, was an American country music singer best known for crossover pop music songs of the early 1960s. She started out as part of The Davis Sisters as a teenager in the late 1940s, eventually landing on RCA Records. In the late '50s, she became a solo...
, Stu Phillips
Stu Phillips
Stu Phillips is an American composer of film scores and television-series theme music, conductor and record producer.-Career:...
, and Warner Mack
Warner Mack
Warner MacPherson , known professionally as Warner Mack, is an American country music singer-songwriter. Mack had many hits on the country charts from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, some of which crossed over to the pop charts....
, with whom he also recorded. After sending some songs to Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
's publishing company, House of Cash, he got a record contract with Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
.
In 1971, Tex Williams
Tex Williams
Sollie Paul Williams , known professionally as Tex Williams, was an American Western swing musician from Ramsey, Illinois....
recorded Feller's song "The Night Miss Nancy Ann's Hotel for Single Girls Burned Down", which became a Top 30 single in the US. In 1972, Cash got a top five country hit with Feller's "Any Old Wind That Blows
Any Old Wind That Blows (song)
"Any Old Wind That Blows" is a single by American country music artist Johnny Cash. Released in November 1972, it was the third single from his album Any Old Wind That Blows. The song peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. It also reached number 1 on the RPM Country Tracks...
".
Jimmy Dean
Jimmy Dean
Jimmy Ray Dean was an American country music singer, television host, actor and businessman. Although he may be best known today as the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand, he became a national television personality starting in 1957, rising to fame for his 1961 country crossover hit "Big Bad...
's producer then asked Feller to write a song for Dean similar to what he wrote for Williams, which became "Lord, Mr. Ford". Dean did not record it, but he took the song to Jerry Reed
Jerry Reed
Jerry Reed Hubbard , known professionally as Jerry Reed, was an American country music singer, innovative guitarist, songwriter, and actor who appeared in more than a dozen films...
's publishing company, Vector Music. Reed recorded the song, as well as two other songs by Feller: "The Lady is a Woman" and "One Sweet Reason". "Lord, Mr. Ford" was a number one hit for Reed in 1973.
That same year, Feller made his own recording debut, and the single "Biff, The Friendly Purple Bear" made it to the Top 25. He released his first album, Dick Feller Wrote..., a few months later through United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
. His next single, the humorous "The Credit Card Song", peaked in the Top Ten. In 1974, Feller signed with Asylum Records
Asylum Records
Asylum Records is an American record label founded in 1971 by David Geffen, and partner Elliot Roberts, who had previously worked as agents at the William Morris Agency. Founded specifically to provide a record contract for Jackson Browne, the label signed Tom Waits, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell...
. His first release for the label was the single "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation", which made it to the Top 15. These three Feller records also crossed to the Billboard Hot 100 or Bubbling Under The Top 100, and Easy Listening Top 50.
Feller continued writing songs and playing guitar on the records of other contemporary artists, such as Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Jeff Walker is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is probably most famous for writing the song "Mr. Bojangles.-Biography:...
, Guy Clark
Guy Clark
Guy Clark is an American Texas Country artist. In his career, he has released more than twenty albums, primarily on major labels. He has also written singles for other artists, including Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner and Rodney Crowell....
, and Mike Auldridge
Mike Auldridge
Mike Auldridge is widely acknowledged as a premier resophonic guitar player. He played with The Seldom Scene for many years, creating a fusion of bluegrass with jazz, folk and rock.Auldridge started playing guitar at the age of 13...
. At the same time, he also made some more of his own recordings. In 1975, he had his last chart entry as a performer, with the song "Uncle Hiram and His Homemade Beer", which made it to the Top 50.
His first overseas tour was made in 1980, and, the next year, he played with The Kelvin Henderson Band and Country Couples in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and Holland. In 1981, John Denver
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
recorded a pop country hit with Feller's "Some Days Are Diamonds (Some Days Are Stone)
Some Days Are Diamonds (Some Days Are Stone)
"Some Days Are Diamonds " is a song written by Dick Feller. Feller's version was released in 1976 but failed to chart. The song was covered by John Denver on his 1981 album Some Days Are Diamonds...
", which Bobby Bare
Bobby Bare
Robert Joseph Bare is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is the father of Bobby Bare, Jr., also a musician.-Early career:...
had earlier recorded.
His final record, a live album, was released in 1982. Together with Don Schlitz
Don Schlitz
Donald Alan "Don" Schlitz, Jr. is a country music songwriter. For his songwriting efforts, Schlitz has earned two Grammys, as well as four ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year awards...
, he composed songs for the movies Smokey and The Bandit 3 and Alamo Bay
Alamo Bay
Alamo Bay is a 1985 drama film about a Vietnam veteran who clashes with Vietnamese immigrants who move to his fictitious Texas bay hometown. The film was directed by Louis Malle, and stars Amy Madigan and Ed Harris. Future Texas A&M and Dallas Cowboys linebacker Dat Nguyen, who was 9 at the time...
. For several years after, he wrote and toured with Lewis Grizzard
Lewis Grizzard
Lewis McDonald Grizzard, Jr. was an American writer and humorist, known for his Southern demeanor and commentary on the American South...
as opening attraction for the Evening With Lewis Grizzard stage show and also co-produced Grizzard's album Alimony
Alimony
Alimony is a U.S. term denoting a legal obligation to provide financial support to one's spouse from the other spouse after marital separation or from the ex-spouse upon divorce...
in 1994.
Feller wrote many songs with Sheb Wooley
Sheb Wooley
Shelby F. "Sheb" Wooley was a character actor and singer, best known for his 1958 novelty song "Purple People Eater"...
on Kickin' Asphalt, which was released in November 1999. Del Reeves
Del Reeves
Franklin Delano Reeves , better known as Del Reeves, was an American country music singer, best known for his "girl-watching" novelty songs of the 1960s including "Girl on the Billboard" and "The Belles of Southern Bell"...
performed another Feller–Wooley composition on the same album.
Through the years, Feller has also written and performed a number of commercials for different companies and products, such as the Dodge
Dodge
Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
television commercials "Do You Like Trucks?" and "Little Boy's Dream" and the Pepsi
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...
jingle "By Any Other Name". Feller has also made commercials for AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
calling cards, Beech-Nut
Beech-Nut
Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation is a baby food company that is currently owned by the Swiss branded consumer-goods firm Hero Group.- History :...
tobacco, Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American diversified multinational corporation focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal products, such as soaps, detergents, and oral hygiene products . Under its "Hill's" brand, it is also a manufacturer of...
, and Ponderosa Steakhouse.
Awards
Five of Feller's songs have won BMIBroadcast Music Incorporated
Broadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
Awards:
- "Any Old Wind That Blows"
- "The Credit Card Song"
- "East Bound and Down"
- "Lord, Mr. Ford"
- "Some Days Are Diamonds (Some Days Are Stone)"
Albums
| Year | Album | US Country | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Dick Feller Wrote | 41 | United Artists |
| 1974 | No Word on Me | 30 | Asylum |
| 1975 | Some Days Are Diamonds | 44 | |
| 1982 | Audiograph Alive | — | Indigo |
| 2001 | Centaur of Attention | — | Cyberphonic |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
CAN Country | CAN AC | |||
| 1972 | "The Sum of Marcie's Blues" | — | — | — | — | Dick Feller Wrote |
| 1973 | "Daisy Hill" | — | — | — | — | |
| "Biff, the Friendly Purple Bear" | 22 | 101 | 17 | 59 | ||
| 1974 | "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation" | 11 | 85 | 38 | — | No Word on Me |
| "The Credit Card Song" | 10 | 105 | 38 | — | Dick Feller Wrote | |
| "Cry for Lori" | — | — | — | — | No Word on Me | |
| 1975 | "Uncle Hiram and the Homemade Beer" | 49 | — | — | — | Some Days Are Diamonds |
| 1976 | "Some Days Are Diamonds (Some Days Are Stone) Some Days Are Diamonds (Some Days Are Stone) "Some Days Are Diamonds " is a song written by Dick Feller. Feller's version was released in 1976 but failed to chart. The song was covered by John Denver on his 1981 album Some Days Are Diamonds... " |
— | — | — | — | |
| 1982 | "Instant Glue" | — | — | — | — | Audiograph Alive |