Billy "Crash" Craddock--Rub It In (1974)

     Billy Craddock got his start in the 50's as a rockabilly singer. He was signed to Columbia records and was positioned to be their "Elvis". It never quite turned out that way as the biggest hit he could muster was, "Don't Destroy Me" which eked in at number 94 on the charts. Craddock was however a major teen idol in Australia during that time.
     The sixties brought on a long dry spell as he drifted from one label to the next. Mercury, King, and Chart all tried to be the one to make him a star. By the late 60's however, he was without a label, and for the most part was out of music as well as he was back in his native North Carolina working in a cigarette factory and hanging drywall. After doing that for a bit, he went back to music, not going in more of a country format.
     This led him to a contract with Cartwheel records and his first country hit, a cover of Dawn's, "Knock Three Times". A move to ABC Records in 1973 gave another jolt to his career as he scored a host of hits, including three number 1's. One of them being, "Rub It In".
     The song, written and sung in 1971 by Layng Martine, and produced by Ray Stevens for his Barnaby label made it to the pop charts that year. Craddock reached number 1 on the country charts and number 16 on the pop charts. He never had that big of a hit again on the Hot 100, but continued making hits in country for the rest of the decade. You can check out his latest recordings and much more at his website: http://billycrashcraddock.com/

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Coven--One Tin Soldier (1971)

     One wonders if 40 years from now, our children (grandchildren? great-grandchildren) will look at something like the "twilight" series and read about the frenzy that accompanied it and scratch their heads and smile, as they attempt to figure out what the fuss was about.
      I wonder that same thing looking back at the "Billy Jack" series. Tom Laughlin directed, co-wrote and starred in the movie. When a distributor could not be found, Laughlin took the film to theaters himself. It bombed when first released in 1971, but by word of mouth it took on a life of it's own a couple of years later and grossed over 40 million dollars.
     This is not a movie blog, and I am not much of a movie watcher now, but can tell you that on reflection, watching the movie in a drive-in as a 13 year old was a lot more exciting than watching it now. (probably because I didn't reflect on trivial things like a guy who preached peace while kicking bad guy ass. )
     The song that came from this movie actually had it's major success the year the movie bombed. In 1971 it reached number 26 on the charts, and could have possibly been instrumental in keeping the movie alive long enough to reach an audience. The story of the group Coven would probably have made a better film than "Billy Jack". Jinx Dawson, the lead singer of the group had a distinctive voice, striking looks, and was, along with the other band members, true practitioners of the black arts. The group and it's role in the heavy metal scene is in need of a blog post all their own, but if your interested, look them up...it's a fascinating story.
     "One Tin Soldier" actually made it on to the top 100 three times in it's chart life. Coven never had another charting single, and the original  group broke up in 1974, although they have returned in several different forms over the years, with Dawson always the driving force. She has also had a career in modeling and acting as well.

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