Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story

295 Pages·2007·4.269 MB·English

by  Diane Diekman

THE FARON YOUNG STORY
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Diane Diekman
Live Fast, Love Hard
The Faron Young Story

music in american life
A list of books in the series appears at the end of this book.

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Diane Diekman
University of Illinois Press
Urbana and Chicago
© 2007 by Diane Diekman
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
c 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Diekman, Diane.
Live fast, love hard : the Faron Young story /
Diane Diekman.
p. cm. — (Music in American life)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-252-03248-6 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Young, Faron.
2. Country musicians—United States—Biography.
I. Title.
ml420.y74d54 2007
782.421642092—dc22 [b] 2007005066
contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
1. Faron Young, 1
A Study in Contrasts
2. A Shreveport Beginning 5
3. On to Nashville 16
4. “Goin’ Steady” and into the Army 26
5. The Young Sheriff, Living Fast
and Loving Hard 37
6. Country Music on Life Support 47
7. Legends in the Making 55
8. “Hello Walls,” Goodbye
Capitol Records 69
9. Family Matters 78
10. Wings and Wheels 86
11. The Music City News 92
12. Making Music in the 1960s 97
13. Faron and Friends 108
14. Business on Music Row 118
15. A Drunk, Not an Alcoholic 126
16. From Severed Tongue to
Number One 135
17. “This Little Girl of Mine” 142
18. The Sheriff and His Deputies 149
19. There He Was in Tulsa 159
20. Giving Hilda a Break 167
21. After the Top Tens 177
22. D-I-V-O-R-C-E 185
23. Closing out a Career 194
24. Last Call 203
Epilogue 217
Appendix: Faron Young’s
Country Deputies 219
Notes 223
Index 253
Illustrations follow page 54.
preface
I met Faron Young on St. Patrick’s Day
1970 at a concert in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He wouldn’t let me walk
the three miles back to my college dorm at midnight and insisted on tak-
ing me there in his bus.
Over the years, after graduating from college and joining the U.S. Navy,
I attended Faron’s concerts whenever his tour schedule matched my navy
assignment. He would salute when he saw me. We exchanged occasional
letters and telephone calls. Our last conversation took place shortly before
my transfer to Japan in August 1996.
The American Forces Network radio announcement of Faron’s suicide
left me in shock. Few acquaintances in Japan had heard of him, and I
grieved alone. I saturated myself in his music on New Year’s Day 1997 by
cranking up the volume on my stereo and letting Faron’s voice envelop
me the entire day.
During the next several years I started thinking about writing his
biography. He seemed to be forgotten by the general public and the coun-
try music industry. The prospect of listening to Faron Young stories and
meeting country music entertainers I’d admired from afar tantalized me.
With no contacts and no publishing credits, I initially used my military
rank to give me credibility. I thought being a captain in the U.S. Navy
would count for something.