Moe Bandy - Career Success

Career Success

In 1962, tired of the bruises and fractured bones, he began to pursue a career in country music. He assembled a band that he called Moe And The Mavericks and found work playing small beer joints, honky-tonks and clubs over a wide area around San Antonio, Texas. When he was young he tried to sound like Hank Williams and George Jones - "I even had my hair cut short like his".

Although work was plentiful, the pay was poor and during the day he worked for his father as a sheet metal worker. This was to last for the next 12 years, during which time he made a few recordings for various small labels. In 1964, he had his first single, "Lonely Lady", on the Satin label, but it made little impression. He did manage to get his band a residency on a local television program called Country Corner and in this capacity, he provided backing for several touring stars.

In 1973, he went solo when record producer Ray Baker, who had listened to Bandy's demos the previous year, suggested that he come to Nashville, Tennessee. Bandy obtained a loan and recorded a song called "I Just Started Hatin' Cheatin' Songs Today". Initially released on Footprint Records with a limited pressing of 500 copies, it soon came to the attention of the Atlanta-based GRC label. In March 1974, it entered the US country charts, eventually peaking at number 17. Other minor hits followed, including "It Was Always So Easy To Find An Unhappy Woman (Till I Started Looking For Mine)" and "Don't Anyone Make Love At Home Anymore".

In 1975, a song written by his friend Lefty Frizzell and Whitey Shaffer gave him a number seven country hit, firmly establishing his reputation. "Bandy The Rodeo Clown" was to become not only one of his own favorites but also one of his most popular recordings. (Shaffer was greatly amused by the way Bandy pronounced woman as "woh-min", and began to send him songs with the "woh-min" in them.)

Bandy sang in a simple style that extracted the utmost from his songs of lost love, sadness and life. Although by no means a Hank Williams sound-alike, his method of putting across his honky tonk songs shows a distinct influence from Williams. He met with immediate success at Columbia Records with Paul Craft's "Hank Williams, You Wrote My Life" and quickly added further hits, including "Here I Am Drunk Again".

From 1977 through 1979, he was a country chart regular with singles such as "I'm Sorry For You, My Friend" (the song Williams had written for their mutual friend Lefty Frizzell), "Cowboys Ain't Supposed To Cry", "That's What Makes The Jukebox Play" and a duet with Janie Fricke, "It's A Cheating Situation".

In 1979, he achieved his first solo number one with "I Cheated Me Right Out of You".