Eddy Arnold: Country Music’s Nashville Sound Pioneer
Eddy Arnold (May 15, 1918 – May 8, 2008) was an American country music singer. He was a Nashville Sound innovator of the late 1950s and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones.
Early Life and Education
Arnold was born on May 15, 1918, on a farm near Henderson, Tennessee. His father, a sharecropper, played the fiddle, while his mother played guitar. When Arnold was 11, his father died, forcing him to leave school and help on the family farm—an experience that earned him his later nickname, the Tennessee Plowboy. He attended Pinson High School in Pinson, Tennessee, where he played guitar for school functions before quitting to work the farm. Despite leaving school, he continued performing, often arriving on a mule with his guitar hung on his back. He also worked part-time as an assistant at a mortuary.
Career and Achievements
Arnold made his radio debut in 1934 at age 16 on WTJS-AM in Jackson, Tennessee. He was hired permanently by WTJS in 1937 and moved to WMPS-AM in Memphis in 1938, where he became one of its most popular performers. He later worked at KWK-AM in St. Louis and WHAS-AM in Louisville before joining the Grand Ole Opry in 1943.
In 1944, Arnold signed with RCA Victor and began working with manager Colonel Tom Parker, who would later manage Elvis Presley. His first single received little attention, but his second, “Each Minute Seems a Million Years,” reached number five on the country charts in 1945. This success launched a decade of dominance: his next 57 singles all ranked in the top 10 of the US country charts, including 19 number-one hits. In 1946, he scored his first major success with “That’s How Much I Love You.” By 1948, he had five successful songs on the charts simultaneously and nine songs in the top 10 that year, with five reaching number one and holding that position for 40 of the year’s 52 weeks.
During the late 1940s, Arnold hosted Mutual Radio’s Purina-sponsored segment of the Opry and the Checkerboard Jamboree, a midday program shared with Ernest Tubb broadcast from a Nashville theater. He also appeared on the CBS Radio series Hometown Reunion with the Duke of Paducah. In 1949 and 1950, he performed in the Columbia movies Feudin’ Rhythm and Hoedown. Arnold quit the Opry in 1948 and briefly competed with it on Saturday nights through his Hometown Reunion broadcast.
In the early 1950s, Arnold moved into television, hosting The Eddy Arnold Show, a summer program broadcast successively by all three television networks in place of the Perry Como and Dinah Shore programs. From 1955 to 1960, he appeared as a guest and guest host on ABC-TV’s Ozark Jubilee. He hosted the syndicated Eddy Arnold Time from 1955 to 1957 and NBC-TV’s Today on the Farm from 1960 to 1961.
Nashville Sound and Second Career
As rock and roll rose in the mid-1950s, Arnold’s record sales declined. However, he adapted by recording with Hugo Winterhalter and his Orchestra at RCA Victor Studios in New York. Winterhalter’s pop-oriented arrangements of “The Cattle Call” and “The Richest Man (in the World)” expanded Arnold’s appeal beyond country music. This style, pioneered by Arnold and fellow RCA artist Jim Reeves, became known as the “Nashville Sound.” Arnold fired Colonel Tom Parker in 1953 following a dispute; Joe Csida managed his performances from 1954 to 1963, and Jerry Purcell took over in 1964.
In the summer of 1965, Arnold scored his first number-one country song in 10 years with “What’s He Doing in My World.” Six months later, he released “Make the World Go Away,” accompanied by pianist Floyd Cramer and the Anita Kerr Singers, which became his most well-known song and his only top ten pop hit. The song achieved international success. Bill Walker’s orchestra arrangements provided backing for 16 consecutive successes in the late 1960s. Arnold performed with symphony orchestras in New York City, Las Vegas, and Hollywood, including two concerts at Carnegie Hall and performances at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles.
Arnold left RCA Victor in 1973 for MGM Records, recording four albums with several top-40 successes before returning to RCA in 1976, where he remained for the rest of his career.
Awards and Honors
In 1966, Arnold was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the youngest performer to receive the honor at that time. The following year, he was voted the first-ever Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year. In 1984, the Academy of Country Music awarded him its Pioneer Award. He sold more than 85 million records during his lifetime and ranked 22nd on Country Music Television’s 2003 list of “The 40 Greatest Men of Country Music.”
Later Years and Legacy
Arnold declared himself semi-retired during the 1980s but continued recording. His album You Don’t Miss A Thing was released in 1991, and he toured for several more years afterward. In 1968, he released an autobiography titled It’s A Long Way From Chester County. Arnold died on May 8, 2008, just a week before his 90th birthday.
Additional Resources
For more detailed information about Eddy Arnold’s life, recordings, and influence on country music, readers can consult his Wikipedia biography and other comprehensive country music archives and historical databases that document his extensive career and contributions to American music.
Observer Voice is the one stop site for National, International news, Sports, Editor’s Choice, Art/culture contents, Quotes and much more. We also cover historical contents. Historical contents includes World History, Indian History, and what happened today. The website also covers Entertainment across the India and World.
Follow Us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, & LinkedIn
