Bottom 30 (1980) Placing: #6
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Woodrow Wilson Sovine was born on 17th July 1918 into an impoverished family
in Charleston, West Virginia, USA.
He died on 4th April 1980, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Sovine was taught the guitar by his mother and was working professionally by the
time he was 17 on WCHS Charleston with Johnny Bailes, and then as part of
Jim Pike And His Carolina Tarheels. In 1948 Sovine formed his own band, The Echo
Valley Boys, and became a regular on Louisiana Hayride . Sovine acquired the nickname
of "The Old Syrup Sopper" following the sponsorship by Johnny Fair Syrup of some
radio shows, and the title is apt for such narrations as "Daddy's Girl". Sovine
recorded for US Decca Records and first made the country charts with "Are You
Mine?", a duet with Goldie Hill.
Later that year, a further duet, this time with Pierce, Webb , "Why Baby Why",
made number 1 on the US country charts. They followed this with the tear-jerking
narration "Little Rosa", which became a mainstay of Sovine's act.
From 1954 Sovine was a regular at the Grand Ole Opry and, in all, he had 31 US
country chart entries.
He was particularly successful with maudlin narrations about truck-drivers and
his hits include "Giddy-up Go" (a US country number 1 about a truck-driver being
reunited with his son), "Phantom 309" (a truck-driving ghost story!) and his
million-selling saga of a crippled boy and his CB radio, "Teddy Bear" (1976).
Sequels and parodies of "Teddy Bear" abound; Sovine refused to record "Teddy
Bear's Last Ride", which became a US country hit for Diana Williams. He retaliated
with "Little Joe" to indicate that Teddy Bear was not dead after all.
Among his own compositions are "I Didn't Jump The Fence" and "Missing You", which
was a UK hit for Reeves, Jim . Sovine recorded "The Hero" as a tribute to John
Wayne, and his son, Roger Wayne Sovine, was named in his honor.
Links ...
Chart Records entry on Sovine
Another fan site
