On Monday 18 March 2024, Gene Watson recalled the duet album, ‘Your Money & My Good Looks‘ (Upper Management Music, 2011), which he recorded with Rhonda Vincent, in 2011.
‘Back in 2011, Rhonda Vincent and I made a duet album together, and we’ve been enjoying singing those songs ever since.
One song that we made a video for was ‘Gone For Good’ in Nashville.
The song was written by a fantastic songwriter and singer, Jimmy Melton.
If you go see 45rpm perform in Nashville, you’ll see Jimmy as the lead singer (and that’s a show you should get to if you love real country music).
I just happened to see the photos from that video shoot, and it reminded me of the evening we shot that.
Today, I don’t believe we could have done that.
Nashville has grown so much that the downtown area doesn’t look like what you see in the video, and there’s no way we could have walked the streets as we did – it’s doubtful they’d let us shoot a video on the bridge.
Today, it would be wall-to-wall with folks on the sidewalks downtown.
We didn’t have anyone asking people to stand back, that is just how deserted the sidewalks were on a weeknight back then.
Even the Ernest Tubb Record Shop has closed, but I hope the sign will remain forever.
I know I’ve said this before, but when the Wilburn Brothers – Doyle Wilburn (Monday 7 July 1930 – Saturday 16 October 1982) and Teddy Wilburn (Monday 30 November 1931 – Monday 24 November 2003) – took me to Ernest Tubb’s Record Shop after my first time on the Opry, and there I was standing next to the Ernest Tubb (Monday 9 February 1914 – Thursday 6 September 1984), well, I was speechless.
At that time, there was no one bigger in the business, and I couldn’t believe he was talking to me.
That was a dream come true for me.
He became a friend, and we even recorded together later on’
Source
Gene Watson on Facebook
In 1979, Ernest Tubb (Monday 9 February 1914 – Thursday 6 September 1984) saw the release of ‘The Legend & The Legacy’ (First Generation Records, 1979), the initial release of which was issued on LP as ‘The Legend & The Legacy, Volume 1’.
Ernest Tubb’s ‘The Legend & The Legacy’ (First Generation Records, 1979) was released on First Generation Records, but due to legal issues, was withdrawn and released on Cachet Records, a record label based in Canada.
In 1977 and 1978, producer and pedal steel guitarist Pete Drake (Saturday 8 October 1932 – Friday 29 July 1988) brought Ernest Tubb, and his then current line-up of The Texas Troubadours, into his recording studio, Pete’s Place in Nashville, to record basic tracks.
Unknown to Ernest Tubb, Pete Drake later secretly brought in other famous country music singers and musicians to overdub vocals and instruments to the already recorded tracks.
Special guests on Ernest Tubb’s ‘The Legend & The Legacy’ (First Generation Records, 1979) included the following artists:
• Chet Atkins (Friday 20 June 1924 – Saturday 30 June 2001)
• Johnny Cash (Friday 26 February 1932 – Friday 12 September 2003)
• Merle Haggard (Tuesday 6 April 1937 – Wednesday 6 April 2016)
• Loretta Lynn (Thursday 14 April 1932 – Tuesday 4 October 2022)
• Willie Nelson
• Johnny Paycheck (Tuesday 31 May 1938 – Wednesday 19 February 2003)
• Ferlin Husky (Thursday 3 December 1925 – Thursday 17 March 2011)
• Waylon Jennings (Tuesday 15 June 1937 – Wednesday 13 February 2002)
• George Jones (Saturday 12 September 1931 – Friday 26 April 2013)
• Marty Robbins (Saturday 26 September 1925 – Wednesday 8 December 1982)
• Conway Twitty (Friday 1 September 1933 – Saturday 5 June 1993)
• Charlie Rich (Wednesday 14 December 1932 – Tuesday 25 July 1995)
Pete Drake (Saturday 8 October 1932 – Friday 29 July 1988) intended to have two editions of Ernest Tubb’s ‘The Legend & The Legacy’ (First Generation Records, 1979) released, hence the ‘Volume 1’ title but, as a result of poor distribution and sales, the album quickly went out of print.
Subsequent re-issues of Ernest Tubb’s ‘The Legend & The Legacy’ (First Generation Records, 1979) on CD included additional tracks.
Ernest Tubb’s ‘The Legend & The Legacy’ (First Generation Records, 1979) was re-issued again on the 20th anniversary of its release, in 1999, by First Generation Records in a limited run.
In 1989, Step One Records released Ernest Tubb’s ‘The Legend & The Legacy’ (First Generation Records, 1979) as ‘The Ernest Tubb Collection’ (Step One Records, 1989), a 2-CD set, which included additional tracks, two of which feature Gene Watson on guest vocals, ‘Yesterday’s Winner Is A Loser Today’ and ‘Sad Songs & Waltzes’ (written by Willie Nelson).