Melonie Cannon & Friends to Pay Tribute to Vern Gosdin
Vern Gosdin is one of those veteran country music legends whose legacy never seems to be given proper credit in popular society, even among more traditional country fans. It’s always Willie, Waylon, Dolly, George, Tammy, Loretta, and Merle. But Melonie Cannon is setting out to do what she can to keep the memory of Vern Gosdin alive by recording a whole album of his songs, and inviting some of her friends to help out along the way.
To be released on May 26th, A Tribute to Vern Gosdin will include 13 songs either written or made popular by the country crooner known by many simply as “The Voice,” with guest appearances by Cody Jinks, Willie Nelson, Jamey Johnson, Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Jim Lauderdale, Doyle Lawson, and Sidney Cox. Gosdin’s longtime electric guitar player Mike Baker also participates, as does Vern’s regular backup singer Curtis Wright.
For Melonie Cannon, her roots with Vern Gosdin and his music run deep. She is the daughter of famous country music producer and songwriter Buddy Cannon, who is know for working with scores of country artists, most especially Willie Nelson in recent years. Melonie can regularly be seen on stage singing backup in Jamey Johnson’s band, and has appeared on scores of other recordings for folks like George Jones, Sammy Kershaw, and Reba McEntire.
Melonie owes a special debut of gratitude to Gosdin. She’s gives Vern credit for believing in her as a singer even before her own father did. Gosdin took Melonie under her wing when she was a teenager, and got her father to pay attention to her as a serious country vocalist. Buddy Cannon produces the upcoming Vern Gosdin tribute with co-producer Butch Carr.
“These songs weren’t just playing on my radio, they were being sung at my kitchen table,” Melonie Cannon says. “They are a part of my being; they are my childhood. I lived through the thoughts and ideas that turned words and music into country treasures.”
Ahead of the album, you can hear Melonie’s take on “Is It Rainin’ at Your House” below, and you can receive the song early if you pre-order/pre-save the new album.
“‘Is It Rainin’ at Your House’ has always been one of my favorite songs,” Melonie says. “Way before I knew how sad it was, I was connected to songs like that — the ones that matter to your heart — when I was a kid. I was immersed in Dean Dillon, Hank Cochran and Vern Gosdin songs as long as I have memories. This song is all three of those men in one magic melody.”
TRACK LIST:
1. Is It Rainin’ at Your House
Vern Gosdin, Hank Cochran, Dean Dillon
2. Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music) with Jim Lauderdale
Joe Maphis, Rose Lee Maphis
3. Right in the Wrong Direction
Vern Gosdin, Hank Cochran, Mack Vickery
4. If You’re Gonna Do Me Wrong (Do It Right) with Vince Gill
Vern Gosdin, Max D. Barnes
5. Way Down Deep with Doyle Lawson & Jamey Johnson
Max D. Barnes, Max T. Barnes
6. Do You Believe Me Now
Vern Gosdon, Max D. Barnes
7. Dream of Me
Buddy Cannon, Raleigh Squires, Jimmy Darrell
8. Till the End with Willie Nelson
Cathy Gosdin
9. I Know the Way to You By Heart with Alison Krauss & Sidney Cox
Tony Laiolo
10. I’m Still Crazy
Vern Gosdin, Buddy Cannon, Steve Gosdin
11. I Guess I Had Your Leavin’ Comin’
Vern Gosdin, Buddy Cannon, Dean Dillon
12. Set ‘Em Up Joe with Cody Jinks
Vern Gosdin, Buddy Cannon, Dean Dillon, Hank Cochran
13. Is It That Time Again
Vern Gosdin, Buddy Cannon, Dean Dillon
April 7, 2023 @ 10:17 am
My top five favorite country singers does not include Merle Haggard, Willie Waylon, or even Georgia Jones. My love of country music runs a little deeper than that. No disrespect to the obvious legends, but my favorite country singers, in no particular order, or Charley pride, Mel Tillis, Vern Gosdin, Kenny price, and Don Walser
The simple fact is that no matter what mood I am in, no matter what is going on, the recorded material of those five artists more than anybody else in the business, is always home
Singer of sad songs by Vern Gosdin is one of the best songs I know
I equate Vern Gosdin, and his choice of songs, and style of singing, to garlic mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy with a big jug of sassafras tea and a ham sandwich with mustard
It isn’t fancy, complex, complicated, or in need of long verbose phrases to describe it.
It’s just plain good, in the way that sometimes only the less is more approach can be
Vern Gosdin didn’t have the spectacular range of Jones, Waylon, Conway Twitty, he didn’t have the deck sterically of Merle Haggard, he didn’t write all of his own songs, he didn’t play his own guitar solos, he didn’t record as much material as many of those legends
But everything he did do, he did right
April 7, 2023 @ 12:49 pm
Willie put Gosdin on the bill of two of the four Farm Aid shows held in Illinois, and I think at least one of the Texas ones.
And I don’t remember Walser touring much, but Tish Hinojosa took him out as part of her mid 90’s tour showcasing Texas artists.
April 7, 2023 @ 6:11 pm
I saw Don Walser at the Lincoln Center Summer Stage in New York around 2000, so I can attest that he toured at least once. The guy whose bandleader introduced him as the “Pavarotti of the Plains, the Domingo of the Desert” performing in the plaza in front of the Metropolitan Opera House where Pavarotti and Domingo had each performed many times. I walked through the plaza hours before the show when they were setting up and doing sound checks. Don and Patricia Jane were sitting in folding chairs amid all the commotion, but I was able to stop and talk to them. A week later, I ordered a Don Walser T-shirt. Called a number that was in the CD booklet. Partricia Jane answered the phone. Told her I needed an extra large. “Just a regular extra large, not a Don extra large,” I added. She laughed at that. I mailed a check to them in Texas. I got the shirt about 2 days later, probably before they received the check.
April 7, 2023 @ 4:22 pm
That Charlie Pride album ‘Live at Panther Hall’ is one of my favorite country albums to play. I’ve got a couple copies on vinyl. Idk if it was released on other formats.
April 8, 2023 @ 11:24 am
I know it was also released on reel to reel originally as well. I have that and the original LP release.
April 8, 2023 @ 10:09 am
Great singers. I’m glad to see Kenny Price up there. I thought I was the only one who appreciated his voice.
May 8, 2023 @ 11:41 am
Mel your version of this song is great! Girl you’ve got “it”. I don’t usually gravitate to female country singers, but I think you have changed my perspective on that!
April 7, 2023 @ 11:06 am
“Set ‘Em Up Joe” is one of the greatest country songs ever. Jamey Johnson and Randy Travis also performed beautiful editions.
Cody Jinks should sing it by himself.
April 8, 2023 @ 12:39 am
agree on the Travis’ and Johnson’s versions…they will be hard to beat.
April 7, 2023 @ 12:21 pm
A Vern Gosdin tribute album without “Chiseled in Stone” ?
April 7, 2023 @ 4:05 pm
Some songs are just kind of uncoverable. You’re not gonna improve on Gosdin’s vocal on that one
June 7, 2023 @ 6:55 am
truer words were never spoken 🙂
April 7, 2023 @ 2:16 pm
Very cool. Melonie, if you are reading this, you need to do some of this material live. Have you considered a Vern Gosdin tribute show with special guests? They do a lot of shows like that at Nashville Palace. I’ve been to the annual Keith Whitley Tribute. They’ve done Daryl Singletary tribute shows there as well. Just an idea since you are passionate about Gosdins music. Just an idea. Great stuff by the way.
April 7, 2023 @ 6:27 pm
Daryl Singletary has some of my favorite versions of classic country songs. What a voice.
April 7, 2023 @ 4:21 pm
What fabulous guest appearances she has on this!
April 7, 2023 @ 4:52 pm
I put Vern in the same category as Gene Watson. Awesome singers who always get looked over. They are two of my favorites.
April 8, 2023 @ 1:33 am
I would also include Tony Booth in that category.
April 7, 2023 @ 6:22 pm
(I’m not high or drunk) Can’t help feeling like we traded some connection to the creative frequencies and forces when we got high speed internet and are now stuck in a cultural dead zone. It’s mind blowing how many timeless country songs came out in a given year in the 80’s. Can’t beat Vern’s Chisled in Stone album. I was born in 86’ and it’s crazy to me how many INCREDIBLE country albums came out in that year.
April 7, 2023 @ 7:09 pm
Awesome.
One small, but important, point of disagreement to your list of country artists who are given proper credit: Tammy does not belong on that list. Her creative partnership with Billy Sherrill is to me the greatest in country music history. And it’s not just the hits either.
April 7, 2023 @ 8:03 pm
I finally listened to Trigger’s account of Vern being a suspect in hiring goons to assault and possibly murder his producer, featured elsewhere on this site. I Googled the victim, Gary S. Paxton. His obit in the NYT from 2016 says that “Mr. Paxton believed the gunmen had been hired by a singer who wanted to break his contract,” an apparent reference to the Voice.
I wonder if Buddy Cannon had any insights into that.
April 8, 2023 @ 12:44 am
She does a great job in Johnson’s band, love her band…looking forward to this album
April 8, 2023 @ 3:13 am
I had a chance to see Vern Gosden once but I drank too much in the afternoon and didn’t go.
I made the same mistake for shows by John Anderson and Chris Le Deoux (spelling?)
April 8, 2023 @ 5:37 am
Vern and George Jones are my fav country singers. I got to see them both in concert in Indiana together. I got backstage and met Vern and got to watch Jones from the wings backstage with Nancy his wife. What a night!!!
April 8, 2023 @ 6:49 am
Been a long while since Melonie Cannon has released an album. I really only know of her from her recent work with Mickey Lamentia in which she helped with writing for his Honky Tonk Confession EPs. Wonder if Mickey and his band are providing backup for this project?
Hard to gather much from the first single, but I’ll be interested to see how this turns out.
April 8, 2023 @ 7:42 am
Verne also writ Aroun The Wurld In 80 Dase but mosta u 2 stupida no this, an hes also my 6 cussin twise remuved
May 8, 2023 @ 12:29 pm
I can’t even imagine you calling who knows! stupid! You can’t even spell!
April 8, 2023 @ 3:44 pm
Man this is awesome. Vern does not get enough credit or recognition. His singing, writing, playing, and harmonies are undeniably Hall of Fame worthy. I am very glad Buddy Cannon is involved, I have been a fan of Buddy Cannon’s work ever since I first heard “Dream of Me” back in 1981.
April 8, 2023 @ 8:03 pm
I love merle,George, waylon,but without a doubt V ern and gene watson get overlooked WAY TOO MUCH!! When Vern sings sings a song,it’s done. You don’t redo a masterpiece. I still can’t believe Luke combs gets to be a opry member in 6 months and it takes gene watson 60 years!! Somethin not right in NASHVILLE!!!
April 9, 2023 @ 7:53 am
Vern Gosdin was always one of the best singers. “Chiseled in Stone” is a very powerful song that doesn’t get the recognition it truly deserves. I dare say it’s probably more impactful than “He Stopped Loving Her Today”. Especially the line “You don’t know lonely until it’s chiseled in stone”. That has got to be the most hard hitting line in any song ever recorded.
My favorite of his has always been “Dream of Me”. It’s so hard to find the original version as I believe he was in between major labels when he recorded it. Even going back to the 60s when he recorded with his brother he had great songs.
Vern will always be one of those underrated artists that should have been in the same stratosphere as George and Merle. There are other several deserving artists of the 70s and 80s that came and went, but their mark on country left a lasting impression.
Slightly off track, but anyone remember Razzy Bailey? You really want to talk about an artist that is forgotten about today? He still holds the record of having 3 consecutive double sided #1 singles; a feat no other artist has accomplished to this day and for all of that, he was forgotten about shortly thereafter. I enjoyed his song “Midnight Hauler”.
To sum all this up, there will always be the superstars and the greats, but there are also the good singers who seem to fall into the cracks. I’m just sorry that Vern Gosdin seems to be in the category.
April 9, 2023 @ 7:38 pm
His mainstream commercial success didn’t start until he was 48. Still unheard of today. He definitely is my favorite of that era. Isn’t a bad time for his music. I think his death for whatever reason was the saddest I’ve been out of anybody. I felt a connection to him for some reason. Although I wasn’t born until the 80’s, didn’t listen to country until early 90’s, and most likely didn’t hear his music until the 00’s. Never got to see him in concert either.
I can’t even remember the cd I have but it’s 24 songs on it. The first 12 are songs and the last 12 are just telling different stories of the songs and the people involved in it.
April 12, 2023 @ 6:06 am
So looking forward to this. Melonie is the best voice in country music that no one has ever heard.
April 27, 2023 @ 6:25 am
hi this is a great album but does anyone know if this is coming to vinyl looking forward to this
July 17, 2023 @ 9:59 am
My husband passed away in 2020, one month short of his 84th birthday. As his short term memory was really fading fast, he’d get so mad. He’d look right at me and say “Set um up Joe and play walkin the floor”. He never forgot the lyrics.
RIP Jesse Pearl