Mickey Newbury

Milton Sims "Mickey" Newbury Jr. was born on May 19, 1940, in Houston, Texas, to Mamie Ellen (née Taylor) and Milton Newbury. An American singer-songwriter and Broadway performer, Newbury died on September 29, 2002, and is a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

As a teenager in Houston, Newbury sang tenor with a vocal group called The Embers, which opened for performers including Sam Cooke and Johnny Cash. At age 19, he paused his musical ambitions to enlist in the Air Force, serving four years before returning to pursue a career as a songwriter. He subsequently relocated to Nashville and signed with the publishing company Acuff-Rose Music.

Newbury's first single, "Who's Gonna Cry (When I'm Gone)," was released in 1964. By 1966, his song "Funny, Familiar, Forgotten Feelings" had become a Top Ten country hit for Don Gibson and a worldwide hit for Tom Jones. His most remarkable commercial achievement as a writer came in 1968, when four of his compositions reached the Top 5 on four separate charts simultaneously: "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" reached No. 5 on the Pop/Rock chart for Kenny Rogers and the First Edition; "Sweet Memories" hit No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart for Andy Williams; "Time is a Thief" reached No. 1 on the R&B chart for Solomon Burke; and "Here Comes the Rain Baby" topped the Country chart for Eddy Arnold.

On the strength of that success, Newbury secured a solo recording deal with RCA and made Harlequin Melodies, an album he largely disowned, considering his subsequent Mercury release Looks Like Rain his true debut. His move to Mercury allowed him to work with friends Jerry Kennedy and Bob Beckham, following a verbal agreement with Steve Sholes that released him from his five-year RCA contract. Looks Like Rain was recorded at Cinderella Sound, a studio that guitarist Wayne Moss had built inside a converted two-car garage in a residential area of Madison. Newbury's choice to record outside Nashville's established studio system influenced other artists, including Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.

Newbury recorded three albums at Cinderella Sound, each distinguished by the use of sound effects to connect songs and give the records a conceptual quality. His album Frisco Mabel Joy contains his most recognized composition, "An American Trilogy," a medley combining "Dixie," "All My Trials," and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." According to Joe Ziemer's memoir Crystal & Stone, Newbury performed the song — which had been banned by some southern radio stations — as a protest against censorship. His own recording reached No. 26 on the pop chart in 1972 and No. 9 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart, remaining in the Top 40 for seven weeks. Elvis Presley subsequently recorded the song, and his performance of it during the January 1973 Aloha From Hawaii television special brought it worldwide exposure.

Throughout the early 1970s, Newbury released Live at Montezuma Hall (1973), Heaven Help the Child (1973), and I Came to Hear the Music (1974), albums that earned critical praise but limited commercial success. By 1975 he had left Nashville entirely, relocating to Oregon with his wife and son. His name nonetheless surfaced prominently in 1977 when Waylon Jennings released the No. 1 hit "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)," which includes the lyric referencing "Newbury's train songs." Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and David Allan Coe each cited Newbury as a significant influence on their songwriting, though Newbury expressed little interest in aligning himself with the outlaw country movement.

In 1976, Newbury signed with ABC Hickory Records and recorded Rusty Tracks (1976), His Eye Is on the Sparrow (1977), and The Sailor (1979). In 1979, he also appeared on Broadway in Broadway Opry '79. In 1980, Newbury was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, at the time the youngest person to receive that honor. He signed with PolyGram-Mercury and released After All These Years in 1981, then stepped back from recording until 1988, though he appeared on the Bobby Bare and Friends television program in 1983 and participated in the Canadian program In Session. His final album, Blue To This Day, was completed just before his death and released posthumously.