Subject: George Hamilton IV, a friend of folk music
From:
Rick Fielding
Date: 01 Jun 99 - 12:45 PM
In the "Dirty Old Man" song thread, George the fourth's name has come up, and it got me to thinking. He's all but forgotten in most music circles these days but for over 20 years was a wonderful transitional artist bringing folk-style music to country audiences. I got to know him in the late sixties and he was truly one of the nicest people I've met in the business. Considering he'd had two "monster hits" (A Rose and a Baby Ruth, and Abilene) and several other number one country songs, he could have had quite an attitude, and nobody would have minded. Instead, he was tremendously supportive of the "folky" songwriters, and if you met him on tour, and were polite (as he was) he'd invite you to visit him in North Carolina - and he meant it!
I think his son George the Fifth, is reasonably big in country circles now, but I'm afraid "New Country" never grabbed me so I'm not up to speed with the "Hat" crew.
If someone ever writes a biography of this artist, they won't have to scramble for nice things to say about him. He is a class act.
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sj
