Moe Bandy It's a Cheating Situation - She's Not Really Cheatin' (CD)

(2013/Morello Records) 20 tracks - 2 Classic Albums on 1 CD -

Unfaithful lovers have always been a staple subject for country lyrics, a fact Marion 'Moe' Bandy underlined when he named these two albums from 1979 and 1982.

They're a reminder of what a fine storyteller he is, and backed up his assertion that 'my songs are about life. There's cheating, drinking and divorcing going on everywhere and that's what hardcore country music is all about.'

The albums came at a point when he was gaining equal attention for his double act with Joe Stampley. The Number 1 country-chart success of their tongue-in cheek single 'Just Good 01' Boys' encouraged Moe and Joe (as they were inevitably billed) to continue the pairing in parallel with their own solo careers, a link that brought them novelty hits from 1979 through to the mid Eighties. But it was a different pairing, with Janie Fricke, that made the title track to it's A Cheating Situation' so appealing. It shot to Number 2 in the US country singles chart, paving the way for Bandy's one and only solo chart-topper, 'I Cheated Me Right Out Of You', later in the year. That would appear on his next album, 'One Of A Kind'; single two from 'It's A Cheating Situation' was the Number 9 hit 'Barstool Mountain'.

The 'Cheating Situation' album made Number 19, Bandy's best showing (disregarding his Moe and Joe side trip) for a couple of years. His career was already nearly two decades advanced, having started in 1962 as frontman of Texan bar band Moe and the Mavericks. After recording for the small GRC label, he won a solo contract with mighty multinational Columbia in 1976 and began racking up sales and critical accolades, being hailed as a bar-room balladeer in the tradition of Hank Williams and George Jones.

The Seventies was a decade when country went pop with Kenny Rogers and John Denver, while the likes of Waylon and Willie offered a funkier outlaw alternative. Delivering traditional Texas-style honky-tonk music with twin fiddles and a steel guitar, Moe Bandy was less than fashionable. By 1979, it seems, the world had caught up with him.

geb. 12.2. 1944 in Meridian - Mississippi Record Labels: GRC, Columbia, MCA Erster Hit: I Just Started Hatin`Cheatin`Songs Today (1974) Erster Top Ten Hit: It Was Always So Easy (1974) Mitte der 70erJahre schlug der ehemalige Metallfacharbeiter und Rodeoreiter Moe Bandy im Country Music Business wie eine Bombe ein und dies mit einer Musik, die man zu jener Zeit längst für tot oder zumindest für wenig gewinnbringend erklärt hatte, mit Honky Tonk Music. Bandy, der Hank Williams als sein großes Vorbild nennt, blieb knapp 10Jahre ein Top Star mit zahlreichen Hitparadenerfolgen. Dann begann sein Stern zu sinken. ,Ich war zu lange bei ein und derselben Firma“ erläuterte er in einem Interview und wechselte prompt von Columbia zur MCA.