Favorite Big Songs: There's a Big Wheel (#8)

@FourWalls (69033)
United States
March 27, 2018 8:33pm CST
Continuing with the country music theme (and the Country Music Hall of Fame), I move from the "little" song list to the "big" list and today's song. Again, just by coincidence, these songs popped up on the day when the Country Music Hall of Fame inductees for 2018 were announced. It doesn't bother me, of course. The more country music, the merrier! I'm sure not everyone shares my love and appreciation, though. Here's the next song. #8: There's a Big Wheel - Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper This was quite the hit for the West Virginia duo Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper in the late 50s. Their career traveled from the Wheeling Jamboree to the Grand Ole Opry. Stoney was an accomplished fiddler, and oh, man, Wilma Lee's plain mountain voice could knock walls down. They were never "big" enough (no pun intended) to make it to the Hall of Fame as members. However, the man who wrote the song -- Don Gibson -- definitely was. This gospel-themed song talks quite a bit about God without ever mentioning "God" in the lyrics. Wilma Lee & Stoney did a number of gospel albums (their version of "Walking My Lord Up Calvary's Hill" is spine-tingling), so this fit in their repertoire quite nicely. Stoney died of a heart attack in 1977. Wilma Lee carried on as a member of the Opry until suffering a stroke that forced her into retirement in 2001. She died in 2011. Their daughter, Carol Lee Cooper, was the leader of the Opry background singers the Carol Lee Singers as well as host of the Midnite Jamboree at the Ernest Tubb Record Shop for decades. If you watch the video linked below, you'll see the bass player beating on his bass instead of playing it. That's because the original recording of this song featured a bass drum. (You'll also see a very young Curtis McPeake on banjo, but that probably only interests me. ) There's a Big Wheel Written by Don Gibson Recorded by Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper From There's a Big Wheel, 1959 He's a whole lot bigger than you:
From the rare film "Country Music on Broadway."
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4 responses
@JudyEv (342175)
• Rockingham, Australia
28 Mar 18
I didn't know this song. I couldn't stop staring at the dress!
2 people like this
@FourWalls (69033)
• United States
28 Mar 18
She dressed like that all of her life. I have a photo of the two of us together at the Opry from the mid-90s, and she was still wearing a dress like that (only it was black instead of white).
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@JudyEv (342175)
• Rockingham, Australia
29 Mar 18
@FourWalls Oh wow! How cool is that?
1 person likes this
• Hefei, China
28 Mar 18
Excuse me ,Does"Big"songs mean the country 's songs? Just like the national anthem? I don't make sure the meaning of it.
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@FourWalls (69033)
• United States
28 Mar 18
The word “big” is in the title.
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• Hefei, China
28 Mar 18
@FourWalls oh well,i have thought it is a official music O(n_n)O~. You mean that it is a song whose name contains "big" isn't it?(#^.^#)
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@FourWalls (69033)
• United States
28 Mar 18
@Doctorwhos1 -- correct. We do these "themes" a lot, taking a word and picking songs that we like with that word in the title.
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@JohnRoberts (109846)
• Los Angeles, California
28 Mar 18
I have never of this one before.
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@teamfreak16 (43418)
• Denver, Colorado
19 May 18
You're right, she did have quite a set of pipes. Was it uncommon for the female vocalist to also play the guitar back then? For television purposes, I mean?
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@FourWalls (69033)
• United States
19 May 18
No, not really. Kitty, Wanda, Loretta...they all played and sang. I think the TV age kinda nipped it in the bud.
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