Country Music Crosses Over

royclough · Post by **royclough** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 9:48 pm

of course Kent Glen Campbell did It's only Make Believe, in the UK Billy Fury had a big hit with the song and for the past 20 years it has featured in The Searchers stage act.

harley · Post by **harley** » Sat Jul 02, 2005 4:17 am

Johnny Horton also did "The Battle Of New Orleans" (in 1814 we took a little trip...) and a great version of "Honky Tonk Man". Other somewhat well-known songs were "North To Alaska" and "Johnny Reb".

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sat Jul 02, 2005 7:03 am

Coincidently I am listening to Conway Twitty right now and just heard "It's only make believe" (his country updated version, I like the original better), although I love his country stuff too. Are you sure there's no such thing as coincidences Peter? Maybe we're all on the same wavelength.I remember the battle too, haha!

brammy · Post by **brammy** » Sat Jul 02, 2005 10:39 am

yup, Roy... I got the Campbell and Fury versions of Make Believe too. Both were very good.

It prompted me to get a few more Billy Fury songs.... I never realized it, but that boy could really sing! (no wonder John Lennon was in awe of him when the Silver Beatles auditioned for the Billy Fury / Larry Parnes sponsored tour - which they didn't get, going to Scotland with Johnny Genltle instead (pictured here) ... and what a ****** stage name Johnny Gentle is!.... but I digress)

Didn't know that The Searchers were doing it. The slower original is very good but I really got hooked on Ronnie McDowells upbeat version.

tim · Post by **tim** » Sat Jul 02, 2005 11:13 pm

"It's Only Make Believe" doesn't feature in the 'standard' Searchers' set these days. But it was a 'regular' item from January 1986 (and for a good number of years afterwards) when Spencer James joined.

royclough · Post by **royclough** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 12:13 am

Depends what you call a standard set Tim, on these package tour things where they do 40 minutes then yes it is not featured anymore but was still in the set list, at least last time I saw them, which is fairly regular on the solo show things.

tim · Post by **tim** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 5:28 am

I've been to a couple of shows recently and it didn't feature in either half of either show. The only 'country' number was Brooks and Dunn's "Every River".

royclough · Post by **royclough** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 5:41 am

What a good song too Tim but I'm biased for reasons I won't mention.