Biography of Lefty Frizzell

If a singer's greatness can be measured by those he's influenced, then Lefty Frizzell is at the top, his vocal style echoing in George Jones, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, John Anderson, Dwight Yoakam, Randy Travis, and others farther down from this summit. Frizzell took honky-tonk and vocally stretched the words and music, making them smoother and more ballad-like, wringing out the emotion in each phrase. He started out in the dance halls and honky-tonks of West Texas, scoring his first hit with "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time" in 1950, which stayed on the charts for twenty weeks. In 1951 he had four singles in the Top Ten at the same time: "I Want to Be with You Always," "Always Late," "Travelin' Blues," and "Mom and Dad's Waltz." Two later hits were "Long Black Veil" (1959) and "Saginaw, Michigan" (1964). After 22 years on the Columbia label, Frizzell joined ABC in 1973 and had three hits with them: "I Never Go Around Mirrors" and "Lucky Arms" in 1974, and "Falling" in 1975, the year this ultimate honky-tonker died. ~ David Vinopal