The HeeHaw Dead

[radiojane]

Ok Ihave that mental picture indelibly engraved.
Jeff and Bill looking like they are getting ready to head to home depot for peat moss or lunch at Applebees, Larry wandering around with his guitar and OleTater setting fire to the set with his cigar and making it worse by pouring his bourbon on the corn to try to put it out.
We loved Hee Haw when I was a kid. Archie Campbell is cousin a few times removed and before his death was very gracious to various family members that went to his show.
Country Music has gotten overproduced and too slick for my tastes. I listen to the oldies country channels on AOL radio while I work.
Give me Johnny Lee or the Bellamy Brothers over Garth Brooks any day.
Gretchen Wilson is about the only real deal out there.
regards,
Mary

Oh lord. Now I'm going to be sing Redneck Woman all damn day Mary!!!! Thanks!!!

I remember the first time my mom described someone as looking like they stepped right out of the cast of hee haw. I had to know what she meant. So I got a quick education. Wow was that a corny show!

[STsFirstmate]

Oh lord. Now I'm going to be sing Redneck Woman all damn day Mary!!!! Thanks!!!
I remember the first time my mom described someone as looking like they stepped right out of the cast of hee haw. I had to know what she meant. So I got a quick education. Wow was that a corny show!

Hell Jane I am a Redneck Woman and proud of it LOL! Not quoting Jeff F but my own early years...if you routinely wiped your butt with pages from a Sears Roebuck Catalog in an outhouse you might be a Redneck!
regards,
Mary

[Cettie]

And the days when you rubbed the shiny pages together to rough them up a little more so they gripped better. The rough index pages of the catalog always got used first.

[Ludigan]

Grady Lee Nutt was born on September 2, 1934 in Amarillo, Texas, the oldest of four children (three sons and a daughter) born to Grady C. and Doris (née Rickman) Nutt. Raised in a family of devout Baptists, Nutt was a licensed minister by the age of 13.

While serving as a minister and seminary administrator, Nutt began accepting speaking engagements. His speeches were blended with humor and he came to the attention of Ralph Edwards, the producer of the popular TV series Truth or Consequences and This Is Your Life. He was soon a semi-regular on The Mike Douglas Show.

In 1979 he was added to the regular cast of Hee Haw, a position he held until his death. During his stint on Hee Haw he was given 90 – 120 seconds in which he would do an improvisational routine, much like that of David "Stringbean" Akeman, who was killed in 1973.

In 1981, he was cast as Rev. Grady Williams in a pilot for an NBC sitcom called The Grady Nutt Show.The episode dealt with Rev. Williams being called to preach the funeral of man disliked by the entire community and dealing with his teenage daughter's foray into dating. The 30-minute pilot was broadcast on NBC, but had not yet been put into production as a series at the time of his death.

On November 23, 1982, following a speaking engagement in Cullman, Alabama, Nutt boarded a chartered flight (a Beechcraft Baron 55, aircraft registration number N18411). The plane crashed immediately after takeoff, killing Nutt, the pilot and co-pilot. The cause of the crash was undetermined, however weather conditions such as fog and rain were cited as contributing factors in the accident. He was buried on the Wilson family farm in Fayette County, Tennessee.

[slambang69]

So why did he change his name to Conway Twitty? Conway I can agree with...but Twitty???

his real name was harold jenkins he got the first name driving through conway ark. he started as a rock &roll singer and was a real good guy

[rjbrasher]

Ok Ihave that mental picture indelibly engraved.
Jeff and Bill looking like they are getting ready to head to home depot for peat moss or lunch at Applebees, Larry wandering around with his guitar and OleTater setting fire to the set with his cigar and making it worse by pouring his bourbon on the corn to try to put it out.
We loved Hee Haw when I was a kid. Archie Campbell is cousin a few times removed and before his death was very gracious to various family members that went to his show.
Country Music has gotten overproduced and too slick for my tastes. I listen to the oldies country channels on AOL radio while I work.
Give me Johnny Lee or the Bellamy Brothers over Garth Brooks any day.
Gretchen Wilson is about the only real deal out there.
regards,
Mary

my fave country was the 80s/90s era. Now country has left its roots and is mixed with rock, rap, ...etc i still listen to blue grass and some of the oldies myself.

I wasn't a huge garth brooks fan, i didn't understand why people went nuts over him. Same with tim mcgraw and John Michael Montgomery.

Sure i loved a few songs, but that was about it lol

[STsFirstmate]

And the days when you rubbed the shiny pages together to rough them up a little more so they gripped better. The rough index pages of the catalog always got used first.

Yep the index and paper order sheets definately got used first.
Regards,mary

[STsFirstmate]

Grady Lee Nutt was born on September 2, 1934 in Amarillo, Texas, the oldest of four children (three sons and a daughter) born to Grady C. and Doris (née Rickman) Nutt. Raised in a family of devout Baptists, Nutt was a licensed minister by the age of 13.

While serving as a minister and seminary administrator, Nutt began accepting speaking engagements. His speeches were blended with humor and he came to the attention of Ralph Edwards, the producer of the popular TV series Truth or Consequences and This Is Your Life. He was soon a semi-regular on The Mike Douglas Show.

In 1979 he was added to the regular cast of Hee Haw, a position he held until his death. During his stint on Hee Haw he was given 90 – 120 seconds in which he would do an improvisational routine, much like that of David "Stringbean" Akeman, who was killed in 1973.

In 1981, he was cast as Rev. Grady Williams in a pilot for an NBC sitcom called The Grady Nutt Show.The episode dealt with Rev. Williams being called to preach the funeral of man disliked by the entire community and dealing with his teenage daughter's foray into dating. The 30-minute pilot was broadcast on NBC, but had not yet been put into production as a series at the time of his death.

On November 23, 1982, following a speaking engagement in Cullman, Alabama, Nutt boarded a chartered flight (a Beechcraft Baron 55, aircraft registration number N18411). The plane crashed immediately after takeoff, killing Nutt, the pilot and co-pilot. The cause of the crash was undetermined, however weather conditions such as fog and rain were cited as contributing factors in the accident. He was buried on the Wilson family farm in Fayette County, Tennessee.

I really liked Grady Nutt. I had forgotten all about him. He reminded me of my Granddad's young pastor. He made my Grand Dad a little nuts because he was funny and liked to get do fish frys and barn dances at the church. It took some adjustment but he finally came around.
I had forgotten he had died in a pain crash.
Regards,
Mar

[walts_loving_wife]

i'm with you guy's. I HATED Hee Haw with a passion. and I think that bullshit Blue Comedy tour crap with that Larry The Cable Guy and Jeff Foxworthy are the modern day version of Hee Haw. somehow they think being a white trash, trailer living, cousin loving, snuff chewing, moonshine sipping, sleeveless flannel wearing, red neck hillbilly is funny. just stupid America showing it's somehow "COOL" to remain stupid and uneducated.

I totally agree, and hearing Larry the Cable Guy hollerin about "Git Er Done" makes me want to slap the taste out of his mouth. What an annoying bunch.

[cricket]

Wow, Grady Nutt is buried in Fayette County, TN, I'm just one county over. It's a small small world

[Ludigan]

Think about it. Why in the hell would you call yourself Conway Twitty.

Accounts of how Harold Jenkins acquired his stage name vary. In one version, Jenkins felt that his real name wasn't marketable, and he changed his show business name in 1957. Looking at a road map, he spotted Conway, Arkansas and Twitty, Texas. Thus, he went with the professional name of Conway Twitty.

Another version suggests Jenkins met a Richmond, Virginia, man named W. Conway Twitty Jr. through Jenkins' manager in a New York City restaurant. The manager served in the Army with the real W. Conway Twitty.

Later, the manager suggested to Harold Jenkins that he take the name as his stage name because it had a ring to it. W. Conway Twitty subsequently recorded the song, "What's in A Name But Trouble" in the mid-1960s, lamenting the loss of his name to Harold Jenkins.

[Dangitbawb]

Yeah, I was "forced" to watch this drivel back when I was growing up, you only had 3 channels back then, and in the dead of winter, there was no place to go but watch TV. I had a thing for Susan Raye back then, although Barbie Benton was easy on the eyes as well. From what I've read, this show was the country version of "Laugh In" although unfortunately it lasted much longer. Other than the musical acts, most segments were no longer than 30 seconds. Apparently they would only film 2 weeks out of the year, so that the players in the show could do their other venue's. I will never understand for the life of me how this show made it as long as it did...

[choff]

Buck Owens was once the owner of KNIX-FM in Phoenix.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KNIX

If memory serves correctly I believe Hee Haw for a brief time was one of the few shows that could air on multiple channels within the same market. I can remember visiting Virginia Beach in the late 70's turning on their local TV only to discover Hee Haw was seen on 3 of the 5 channels available on the motel's TV set.

[LowLife]

Hee Haw replaced the political and (to some) controversial The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS. After CBS dumped Hee Haw, the show became syndicated and sold itself to TV stations in different markets. This allowed them to continue on for years and years and years. I remember Roy Clark once saying that they used to record each season's episodes of the syndicated version in two weeks. I suppose it was good pay for working two weeks a year on the show. Maybe Laugh-In should have tried the syndicated route.