William Orville Frizzell was a Texas boy, born in 1928 into an oil
field family that transplanted him to Arkansas as an infant.
I’m guessing he didn’t have much say in the matter; otherwise he would never
have left Corsicana.
We know him as Lefty, a name he got following a schoolyard scuffle. Later it was reputed that he became a Golden Gloves boxer, but that apparently isn’t true.
We know him as Lefty, a name he got following a schoolyard scuffle. Later it was reputed that he became a Golden Gloves boxer, but that apparently isn’t true.
Sometime early in his youth, Lefty Frizzell picked up a
guitar and learned how to play. Apparently he was pretty good because he
got airtime on a local El Dorado radio station as young as 12-years-old, then
came to Dallas to win a talent contest. By the time he was 19 he had his own
half-hour program on a Paris, Texas radio station.
Lefty proved to be a pretty good songwriter too, a skill he
honed in a New Mexico jail serving time for statutory rape. One of his songs so
impressed Columbia Records that they signed him to a contract. “If You’ve Got the Money I’ve Got the Time”
was first recorded in 1951 by Hank Williams, but Lefty had the bigger hit with
the song, and it has been recorded by dozens of country acts since.
Here is Lefty doing performing cut in 1958 on the old radio
and TV program on which he was a frequent guest, Town
Hall Party.
Merle
Haggard was a Lefty aficionado who recorded and performed this song often in
concert.
Willie Nelson idolized Lefty, even producing a tribute album
in 1977 titled “To Lefty From Willie.”
Although he didn’t include Lefty’s signature song on the album, he performed it
often and recorded it on more than one album. Here he is playing to an
appreciative Dutch crowd in 2001.
David Frizzell, a fine musician in his own right, struggled
in the shadow of his older brother. The contest apparently didn’t affect his
feelings for his brother and mentor.
Lefty had 13 number one hits over a two-year period,
including four on the charts at one time; a feat never before accomplished and
beaten since only by the Beatles.
Lefty lived hard and died young. Always a heavy drinker and
smoker, in the early hours of July 19, 1975 he suffered a stroke. He died
less than 12 hours later, Lefty was 47 years old.
Besides Merle and Willie, others who have paid homage to the
short but notable life of Lefty Frizzell are George Jones, George Strait, Keith
Whitley, and Randy Travis. Roy Orbison’s stage name as he toured with the
Traveling Wilburys was Lefty Wilbury, in direct tribute to a famous fellow
Texan.
Lefty left large imprints on the country music world. Some
of his other hits are Saginaw, Michigan,
I Never Go Around Mirrors, I Love You A Thousand Ways, Always Late, and Long Black Veil, a song which crossed over to the pop stations.
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