Music Appreciation
Related: About this forumSpeaking of Hoyt Axton ...
You might recognize the person who drove up in the Rolls-Royce to make the cocaine purchase. Ring any bells?
Anyway:
Easy Rider (1969) The Pusher (Opening Scene)
409,624 viewsApr 28, 2014
W. Carter
1.94K subscribers
Directed by Dennis Hopper. Starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Jack Nicholson. Wyatt and Billy are two motorcycle riders (bikers) on their way to Mardis Gras, and encounter hitchhikers, a drunken lawyer, a jail cell, a whorehouse and the death of a friend. Music by Steppenwolf, The Pusher.
Freedomofspeech
(4,226 posts)I love this song!
Clash City Rocker
(3,396 posts)Her most famous composition was Heartbreak Hotel, which believe it or not was inspired by a suicide note. Otherwise she mostly wrote country music.
https://willienelsonmuseum.com/museum/mae-axton-bio/
Bradshaw3
(7,522 posts)The Axtons are also related to the Guthries (Woody and Arlo) and to former senator David Boren.
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,489 posts)Mon Mar 25, 2019: Today would have been Hoyt Axton's 81st birthday.
As promised:
You beat me to it. His birthday would have been Monday.
Also see: This Day in Music
I've updated the material from a 2017 post:
Eighteen years ago today, Hoyt Axton died.
Now there was a musical family.
Hoyt Axton Show, July 4, 1976
Born: March 25, 1938, Duncan, Oklahoma, US
Died: October 26, 1999 (aged 61), Victor, Montana, US
Years active: 196099
Official website: https://web.archive.org/web/20050826150814/http://sixcats.com/axton/hoyt.htm
Hoyt Wayne Axton (March 25, 1938 October 26, 1999) was an American folk music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and a film and television actor. He became prominent in the early-1960s, establishing himself on the West Coast as a folk singer with an earthy style and powerful voice. As he matured, some of his songwriting became well known throughout the world. Among them were "Joy to the World", "The Pusher", "No No Song", "Greenback Dollar", "Della and the Dealer", and "Never Been to Spain".
Early life
Born in Duncan, Oklahoma, Axton spent his pre-teen years in Comanche, Oklahoma, with his brother, John. His mother, Mae Boren Axton, a songwriter, co-wrote the classic rock 'n' roll song "Heartbreak Hotel", which became the a major hit for Elvis Presley. Some of Hoyt's own songs were also later recorded by Presley. Axton's father, John Thomas Axton, was a naval officer stationed in Jacksonville, Florida; the family joined him there in 1949.
Axton graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in 1956 and left town after Knauer's Hardware Store burned down on graduation night, a prank gone wrong.
He attended Oklahoma State University on a scholarship, and he played football for the school, but he left to enlist in the US Navy.
Career
After his discharge from the navy, he began singing folk songs in San Francisco nightclubs. In the early-1960s he released his first folk album, The Balladeer (recorded at the Troubadour), which included his song "Greenback Dollar". It became a 1963 hit for The Kingston Trio.
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However, his most lasting contributions were songs made famous by others: "Joy to the World" and "Never Been to Spain" (Three Dog Night); "Greenback Dollar" (Kingston Trio); "The Pusher" and "Snowblind Friend" (Steppenwolf); "No-No Song" (Ringo Starr); and an array of others, covered by singers such as Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, BJ Thomas, John Denver, Waylon Jennings, Jonathan Edwards, and Anne Murray. Axton also sang a couple of duets with Linda Ronstadt, including "Lion in Winter" and "When the Morning Comes" (a top 40 country hit). His composition "Joy to the World", as performed by Three Dog Night, was #1 on the charts for six straight weeks in 1971, making it the top hit of the year. He named his record label Jeremiah after the bullfrog mentioned in the song.
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Personal life
Axton was married four times; the first three ended in divorce. He had five children.
Axton struggled with cocaine addiction and several of his songs, including "The Pusher", "Snowblind Friend", and "No-No Song", partly reflect his negative drug experiences. However, he was a proponent of marijuana use for many years until he and his wife were arrested in February 1997 at their Montana home for possession of approximately 500 g (1.1 lb) of marijuana. His wife later explained that she offered Axton marijuana to relieve his pain and stress following a 1995 stroke. Both were fined and given deferred sentences. Axton never fully recovered from his stroke, and had to use a wheelchair much of the time afterwards. He died at age 61 at his home in Victor, Montana, on October 26, 1999, after suffering two heart attacks in two weeks.
On November 1, 2007, Axton and his mother were both inducted posthumously into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
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Television appearances
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers ( 1982, Season 1 (the only season), Episode 3, "Challenges," and Episode 8, "Rodeo," in which he sang "I Dream of Highways" ) - Cooper Johnson
That last line, the one about Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, is my edit. I just added Episode 3 this afternoon.
Since his mom wrote a hit for Elvis, let's start with the King:
Here's Hoyt Axton himself:
onemediamusic
Published on May 3, 2015
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This performance was recorded live at Church Street Station in Orlando, Florida.
It looks like a really swell joint, doesn't it?
I could never leave this one out:
Or this:
On drums, Joey Edmonton. For more about him, see:
Happy 71st birthday, Jerry Edmonton.
For 2019, I'm adding this, from Hee Haw:
When The Cowboy Sings
Published on Nov 20, 2017
2naSalit
(86,646 posts)So I know a guy here in the valley who was friends with Mr. Axton and has one of his guitars, Peter Fonda used to have a place not far from here and one of Steppenwolf's drummers lives nearby too, saw him a couple days ago at the grocery store.