Mac Davis and Bobby Braddock
By Ken Paulson
Songwriters in the round can have the feel of a poker game, particularly when someone plays a big hit. Sudenly, everyone is raising, playing their own hits.
That can make for a very entertaining evening, particularly when every songwriter has a hot hand.
On the final night of Tin Pan South, the round at the Bluebird Cafe was pretty astonishing. Bobby Braddock sang “He Stopped Loving Her Today” and “Let’s Talk About Me,” and then his daughter Lauren stepped in for “D-I-V-O-R-C-E.”
Mac Davis did “Memories,” I Believe in Music” and “Don’t Get Hooked on Me,” apologizing for the misogynistic lyrics of the latter.
Sonny Curtis, a rock pioneer and member of the Crickets, did “Walk Right Back,” “The Straight Life” and “I Fought the Law,”
among other hits.
So how did Jim Weatherly keep pace with all of that? It helps when you’ve written big hits for Gladys Knight and can close with “Midnight Train to Georgia,” a song he originally recorded as “Midnight Plane to Houston.”
Before performing his biggest hit, Weatherly saluted Lynn Anderson, who once recorded “Midnight Train” and was sitting in the audience. She ended up singing along from her seat.
Only in Nashville.