Ten Favorite Light Songs: Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music) (#7)

Tweet

Battling bronchitis and the after-effects of that whopping tax bill, I'll soldier on (I was in the Navy, so I guess I should say I'll sailor on ) to post my next song on the list of my favorite "light" songs, songs with the word light in the title. Theme gleefully stolen from @teamfreak16 so check out his songs, too. #7: Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music) - Joe & Rose Lee Maphis Betcha by golly wow I don't have to tell you, with a title like that, that it's a country music song! One of the great, influential acts in the late 1950s Bakersfield, California country music scene, Joe and Rose Lee Maphis were a husband-and-wife team. Joe was one of the flashiest guitar players you'll ever see: not only technically good, he was also a showman with the instrument. (Check out the video of him, Merle Travis, and a then-12-year-old Larry Collins doing "Wildwood Flower" on an episode of Town Hall Party.) He was also a good songwriter. This classic, oddly enough, wasn't first recorded by the author! Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs did a bluegrass version about a year before Joe and Rose Lee recorded. As there was heavy regionalism in country music in those days, despite the song being very popular on the west coast it didn't dent the national charts. In fact, its first appearance on the Billboard country charts didn't come until Vern Gosdin covered it in 1985. Joe Maphis died in 1986. I had the honor of meeting Rose Lee Maphis at a concert celebrating the Bakersfield Sound exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame a few years ago. She's doing quite well at the tender age of 92. Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music) Written by Joe Maphis, Rose Lee Maphis, and Max Fidler Recorded by Joe & Rose Lee Maphis Released as a single, 1953 (Also covered by Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, 1952; and Vern Gosdin, 1985) A-drinkin' and dancin' to a honky tonk band: