October 17, 1955. Capitol Records releases Ernie Ford's 52nd single; the A-Side: a bluesed-up arrangement of the Bob Merrill / Terry Shand hit, "You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry". On the B-Side, an original from songwriter Merle Travis that Capitol resisted releasing; a song that J. Edgar Hoover called 'blatantly Marxist'. A song many believed might mean the end of Ernie Ford's career. A song put on the B-Side in the hopes it would quickly disappear. It was called 'Sixteen Tons'. Hard-core rec

Hollywood. June 26, 1958. From a medley marking the last show of Season Two, Ernie and the Top Twenty gang spin a memory with the Reggie Woods, Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connoly standard, 'Try a Little Tenderness'. Classic. Tennessee Ernie Ford NBC Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Birthplace of Country Music Museum #greatamericansongbook #TryALittleTenderness #tinpanalley #thetoptwenty #thefordshow #ClassicTV | Tennessee Ernie Ford