Dick Damron & The Same Old Thing Again
Born Joseph Glenn Damron on March 22, 1934 in Bentley, Alberta, Dick Damron is without a doubt the most widely recognizable name/figure I covered on, Lost Country. He was by no means a household name in Canada and likely only known to the hardest of Honky-Tonk enthusiasts in the U.S.A, but with a long list of accolades and the respect of everyone he encountered, Damron had nothing shy of a brilliant career in Country music.
A respectable vocalist, excellent songwriter and top-notch performer, DD is a Canadian Country Music Hall of Famer, a 5-time CCMA award winner, a Juno nominee and member of the International County Music Hall of Fame. Over the course of his stellar run, Damron had upwards of 70 releases while recording for the RCA, MCA, Columbia, Quality, Condor, Laurel, Point, Harmony, Marathon, Broadband, Apex, RPA, and Westland Recordings labels. Though he was an accomplished multi-instrumentalist it was perhaps his songwriting that garnered Dick the most attention and throughout the years his songs were recorded by legends like Charley Pride, George Hamilton IV, and Canadian stars Wilf Carter, Carroll Baker (Canada’s Queen of Country Music), and Terry Carisse. Folks on the fringes like Jimmy Arthur Ordge and most recently, yours truly can be added to that list.
For Lost Country, I went back to some of the earliest recordings of Damron’s, from a pair of Nashville sessions (1961 & 1963) that starred Pete Drake on Pedal Steel. His first hit, Hitch-Hiking was born from those recordings but in all honestly that one never really did it for me. I landed on The Same Old Thing Again, a killer Honky-Tonk shuffle that I began singing live in 2020. Mike Weber takes the lead on Pedal Steel and it made sense to hire Redd Volkaert to pick lead guitar on this one as Redd spent a good chunk of years in Alberta before wising up and heading south of the border to make a real name for himself. I thought surely Redd must’ve backed Damron along the way or at the very least had a friendly relationship with DD. It’s a solid version ours but if I could do it again it’d be at a little quicker in tempo to give it a similar urgency to the way we do in my live shows.
I’ve got no dirt on Damron - nothing scandalous. Only praise from fellow musicians and fans. For example, in my interview with another Canadian Country Music Hall of Famer, Marie Bottrell, she shared a story of a family member passing while on tour and gearing up for a 6-nighter at Ranchman's in Calgary. Dick came to the rescue without a second thought, stepping up to the plate to cover for Marie with her band so she could fly home to attend the funeral. Now unlike a class-act such as Marie, some of the more local & regional acts I covered on Lost Country were tried and true party animals; drinkin’ and druggin’ living the (not so) pure and hard Honky-Tonk life. Not all of them subscribed to that lifestyle but by all accounts the overwhelming majority of them had what you might call an uncivilized relationship with alcohol.
For example, in the 70’s and into the early-mid 80’s Joe Firth’s Promised Land was as hard-drinkin’ as they came but observed a strict no-drug policy. Anything outside of alcohol was fervorously frowned upon. Even other bands partaking were subject to judgment… but not Dick Damron. Dick was Country as they came but also rolled with the longhairs and hippies and was shy to share his fondness of marijuana as evidenced and celebrated it in his hit song, Homegrown. Some of those rural farm boys didn’t trust Mary Jane but Firth and the boys had great admiration for Damron so of course, Dicky got a pass on his weed smoking.
After years of spending the winters soaking up the rays and singing songs down in Mazatlán, Mexico Damron returned to Bentley, where he still is today. Up until the last year or so he was quite active on Facebook and readily available to correspond in comments and messages. In 2021, I arranged for a phone chat with him for The Northern Report Podcast but with Mr. Damron being hard of hearing, the endeavour proved unsuccessful. Sadly, I’ve yet to find time to track him down out in Bentley for an in-person chat.
Dick Damron music continues to regularly play in our house, car and blasting in my headphones. His influence as a writer and particularly as a performer weigh heavily on me and should be evident to anyone who’s been watching or listening to Sean Burns in these last few years. Mr. Damron is a Canadian treasure and an Artist more music fans should be familiar with. Hopefully in, Lost Country, I’ve begun to do my part.
Here’s to you, DD.
Play me that some of that same old thing again.
”2-3-4-and-in…”
SB -
On vacation in Mexico
Sunday, January 14th
11:31PM
Room 31113. Grand Riviera Princess Resort