Nashville Country Jamboree

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Nashville Country Jamboree was created by Johnny Elgin as a vehicle to cover popular country & western hits - as well as recording new tunes by Elgin and other songwriters- on Spar Records.

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History[edit | edit source]

Active in the mid to late sixties during the time Johnny Elgin worked at Spar, Nashville Country Jamboree are considered Nashville's first country-rock group. In fact, many of the members went on to form Area Code 615 and Barefoot Jerry.

A young Johnny Elgin after spending time in the Korean War dedicated himself to music.


Before moving to Nashville, Elgin was already a well-established country performer, including hosting a radio show in Georgia ("The Peach State Jamboree" on WJAT-AM) and a hit single in 1957 with "Sittin' Alone with the Blues." In Nashville, he was briefly an ad salesman at WKDA. Encouraged by his song "Hello, City Limits" that became a hit for grand ole Opry member Benny Martin, Elgin focused more on songwriting and publishing. Consequently, Elgin had his own Kash Records (often stylized as KA$H) in the early 60s, mostly '62-'65. In 1965, he joined Spar Records, an independent label that focused on 'sound-alike' records that covered popular country, pop, and rock songs of the day and selling their records at a discount compared to the original.

As the head of the country division, Elgin assembled the nashville Country Jamboree from seasoned local musicians. With a deep bench of session musicians that had cut their teeth with their own local bands, such as Charlie McCoy & the Escorts, Ronny & the Daytonas, The Sliders, The Gators, The Casuals, and more. With this pool of talent, the albums often included original compositions along with the covers.

The records sold extremely well for the day in the high six figures, helping to finance other releases for the independent Spar label. Elgin left Spar in 1970 and later focused on gospel and Christian music. He lived in Hendersonville and passed away in 2017.

Members[edit | edit source]

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the several releases included a rotating cast of session musicians, not all on every record:

Jerry Foster (vocals)

Rusty Thornhill (vocals)

Johnny Singer (vocals)

Bobby Russell (vocals)

Marijohn Wilkin (vocals)

Charlie Bare (vocals)

Chase Webster (vocals)

Johnny Elgin (guitars, vocals)

Bergen White (keyboards)

Mac Gayden (guitars, bass)

Steve Bess (drums)

Henry Strzelecki (bass)

David Briggs (keyboards)

Bill Pursell (keyboards)

Hargus 'Pig' Robbins (keyboards)

Floyd Cramer (keyboards)

Buddy Harmon (drums)

Kenny Buttrey (drums)

Jack Eubanks (guitars, bass)

Norbert Putnam (bass)

Wayne Moss (guitars, bass)

Hank Garland (guitars)

Jimmy Wilkerson (guitars)

Bob Moore (bass)

Ernie Newton (bass)

Willie Ackeman (drums)

Jerry Smith (keyboards)

Billy Sanford (guitars)

Charlie McCoy (bass, guitars, trumpet, keyboards, harmonica, vibes)

Grady Martin (guitars)

Weldon Myrick (steel guitar)

Lloyd Green (steel guitar)

Pete Drake (steel guitar)

Josh Graves (dobro)

Bobby Thompson (banjo)

Ray Eddington (guitars)

Releases[edit | edit source]

An LP label sticker showing Elgin originals.

2011 Reissue: Nashville Country Jamboree, Nashville's First Country-Rock Group ‎(CD, Album) on SPV, #309022

Unknown dates:

Sings A Boy Named Sue & 11 Other C&W Hits ‎(LP, Album) on Spar Records, #4804

Straight From Nashville ‎(LP, Album) on Spar Records, #4810

20 No. 1 Country Hits ‎(LP, Album) on Nitram, #NLP 518

Nashville Country Jamboree Sings Today's Country Hits ‎(LP, Album) on Spar Records, #3013

Country Hits By The Nashville Country Jamboree ‎(LP, Album) on Spar Records, #4812

Nashville Country Jamboree ‎(LP, Album) on Plantation House, #CA-3

The Saturday Night Sound Of ‎(LP, Album) on Spar Records, 3017

External references[edit | edit source]

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/nashville-country-jamboree-mn0002418946

https://www.discogs.com/artist/3788124-Nashville-Country-Jamboree

http://www.45cat.com/label/kash Label owned by Johnny Elgin, before joining Spar.

https://www.rocktimes.info/Archiv/gesamt/n/nashville_country_jamboree/same.html

https://www.discogs.com/artist/1288845-Johnny-Elgin

https://www.hendersonvillefh.com/obituary/Johnny-Elgin

http://www.slipcue.com/music/country/countrystyles/hippiebilly/N_01.html