Those Early Days (1949-1962)
Earl Merle was born in the small town of Duck Hill, MS. His momma was a school teacher and his father was a door to door wallpaper salesman. As a boy, Earl would sneak into the Mississippi juke joints to hear the cowboys play guitars and sing. Watching them made him realize he wanted to be a famous Country and Western singer. Then one day his daddy went on the road to sell his wallpaper and never returned home. Earl found and old acoustic in the back of his daddy's closet and a star was born. He practiced that guitar 14 hours a day and slept with it at his side. He performed for his momma and grandparents and his Grand Daddy introduced him to his friend Colonel Tom Parker. Yes, the same Col. Parker that discovered Elvis Presley.
Earl and Elvis briefly toured and performed together but as fate would have it, Earl contracted pneumonia and had to leave the tour. Elvis shot to the top of the charts and Earl was left behind. It was then he hit the ground running, never looked back and put together his first band, The Dixie Wranglers.While a member of the Dixie Wranglers, Earl wrote his first Top 10 C&W song "Whiskey, Women & Wallpaper". It was all about his humble beginnings and the story of his parents failed marriage. His second and final hit with the Dixie Wranglers was "Peep Show Romeo". It went to number 6 on the C&W charts and Earl was now even more hungry for a Number 1 hit.
The Journey To Stardom (1963-1968)
It was now late summer of 1963 and The Dixie Wranglers were not getting along. Earl convinced guitar player Les Langdon to stay with him and start a new band. They formed the band Earl Merle & The Southern Gents. The band recorded one album and had a small hit with the song "12 Ways to Skin a Cat". Big things were on the horizon however. A scheduled performance on the Ed Sullivan show was sure to skyrocket Earl to stardom. Earl Merle & The Southern Gents were all set to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show February 9th, 1964. Once again however, tragedy struck and Les Langdon died tragically in a head on collision with of all things...an ambulance. The band was forced to back out of their scheduled performance and Ed Sullivan booked a lesser known (at the time) band to fill the slot. That band? The Beatles.
After the tragic loss of his dear friend and guitar player, Earl submerged himself in his music. It was at this point he wrote most of the classic songs we know today. Songs such as Honkey-tonk Love Affair, Juke Joint Darlin', Plantation Vacation, Downwind From the Slag Heap, and Make Love With Your Boots On. He had songs but he had no band. So he set out once again to find his next group of musicians.
The Delta Bushwhackers (1969-1973)
After four years of writing music, Earl put together "The Delta Bushwhackers". It was mostly friends of his then on again/off again girlfriend, Tammy Wynette and other players from The Grand Ole Opry. It was now early 1969 and Earl hit the road with his new band, new songs, and new love. The tour started in February of '69 and took The Delta Bushwhackers across the country 3 times. Sold out shows, huge crowds, women, and lots of booze. The parties got to everyone and took it's toll on Earl and Tammy's relationship. Tammy left the tour in late July and Earl was crushed. He wanted her by his side for their upcoming performance at the now legendary Woodstock Music festival. With Tammy gone, Earl lost his passion to play, but he soldiered on in preparation for Woodstock
The Bushwhackers were all set to perform on August 18th, 1969 at Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, NY. On August 14th, one day before the festival opened, Artie Kornfeld, one of Woodstock's promoters got cold feet. Seeing that the musical lineup was predominantly "Hippie Music" as Earl called it, he decided to cancel the Delta Bushwhackers and instead gave their timeslot to Jimi Hendrix. Earl couldn't believe his friend could do such a thing. Jimi Hendrix heard that Earl was to perform the Star Spangled Banner and loved the idea so much that he performed his own version which has gone down in music history...all thanks to Earl.
As the tour wound down in November of 1969, Earl and all the members of the Delta Bushwhackers were burnt out. Earl returned to his new home town of Nashville, TN and began writing and relaxing. Aside from a few appearances at the Grand Ole Opry and a two week engagement in Reno, NV, Earl Merle and the Bushwhackers laid low and lived life. Earl continued to write more music and penned the hits Hillbilly Honeymoon, This, That and the Other Guy, and his first C&W hit single Slap Jack Cactus. Itching to record his new compositions, Earl hit the studio with the Delta Bushwhackers and recorded the album "Mississippi Mud Pie". The album was release to great acclaim in October of 1973 and the record company wanted a tour.
The Long Hard Road (1974-1979)
With an album flying up the country charts, the record company wanted Earl to tour. So he assembled the Delta Bushwhackers and began rehearsals. Rehearsals were tough. Cletus Clemens, The Delta Bushwhacker's bass player was just tired of the whole band and touring. So things were halted while Earl set out to find a new bass player. He ran into a Louisiana boy by the name of Henri Broussard. Henri joined the Delta Bushwhackers and the rehearsals commenced. They hit the road in January 1975 and toured all 48 states by December of that year. In late January of 1976, Henri learned that his wife was with child and told Earl that he would remain as a studio bass player, and tour up until the birth of his child. The band started up touring again in February of 1976 and it was a steady stream of sold out shows, TV appearances, and all around success for The Delta Bushwhackers. By early August Henri's wife was really showing and they knew a baby would soon arrive. Touring slowed a bit and on August 13, 1976 Henri's wife gave birth to their first child, a boy, Johnny Broussard. The tour was set to conclude in October of 1976. Henri finished the dates and the band once again rested after a job well done.
Addicted to the fame and fortune, Earl hit the road once again adding a session player on bass. Another tour from March to November of 1977 brought more success and notoriety to Earl Merle and his band The Delta Bushwhackers. Earl's name was now upfront, the Delta Bushwhackers were his "backing band" and that started to cause some problems. When the tour concluded in November it was agreed that everyone would take time off until the New Year and future plans would be discussed at that point.
By February of 1978 Earl was ready to once again hit the road. However, the Delta Bushwhackers didn't like being simply Earl's backing band. Egos clashed and in a fit of rage...Earl fired the whole band. He was now solo...on his own...a lone wolf. So he called upon his old love, Tammy Wynette. Tammy put him in touch with a number of Nashville and Grand Ole Opry players and a new band was put together in no time flat. The band was still called the Delta Bushwhackers, but it wasn't the Delta Bushwhackers the fans knew, and from the start of the tour people were disappointed and felt like Earl had done a "bait and switch" simply for a cash grab.
By August the members of the Delta Bushwhackers were constantly changing. Session players here, Opry players there, it was a mess. Shows were not up to the standards that Earl was known for and ticket sales started to decline. In true Earl fashion, never canceling a show, he finished the tour. It was October 1978 and Earl was starting to show signs of fatigue. He started writing again but the songs weren't coming as easily as they were before. He felt tired, uninspired, and contemplated retirement. Earl was set to record a new album early in 1979 but the record company wasn't impressed with the songs he presented. A greatest Hits compilation was released to fulfill his record contract and with that...Earl was without a record deal, a band, and the future looked very bleak. He road out the rest of '79 in seclusion. Many people that were close to Earl at this time have said that the death of Elvis in 1977 really started to affect him. They were both mega-stars, and they both started to spiral out of control. Earl was still alive and grateful for it. So he made the reluctant decision to retire from the music business. Music was changing, Disco and Punk were hot and Country Western music seemed to be "the stuff your parents listened to."
Retirement and Resurgence (1980-1989)
The new decade brought on a new lifestyle for Earl. The last thing Earl did in 1979 was cameo in the Blues Brothers movie. The classic film was released on June 20, 1980 and featured Earl sitting at the bar in Bob's Country Bunker. A number of scenes with Earl having dialogue were filmed but ended up on the cutting room floor. Director John Landis felt they slowed the continuity of the film. Earl enjoyed the experience and credits John Belushi for getting him the part. Earl recalls, "He was a fan of mine and wanted me in those scenes in the honky-tonk bar. I obliged had a great time filming it."
It wouldn't be the first time Earl was to appear in a movie. In 1982 he was contacted by independent film maker Marty DiBergi to appear in his documentary about the iconic Heavy Metal band Spinal Tap. Derek Smalls was a fan of Earl's and through the grapevine heard that Earl admired Spinal Tap's dedication, stage show, and ability to perform a free-form Jazz exploration in front of a festival crowd. The documentary was plagued with delays, show cancelations, and bad press. By the time DiBergi and Spinal Tap met up with the Country Music legend, tensions were high and the footage recorded were less than flattering. Guitarist Nigel Tuffnel was said to have gone on a tirade when Earl called his prize Surf Green Fender Bass VI a "girly guitar that Dolly would play." In an attempt to keep the movie positive and upbeat, Earl's footage was not used and is apparently still in DiBergi's vault. The documentary "This Is Spinal Tap" was released on March 2, 1984 to minimal success despite fitting 14 people on a King leisure bed.
In March of 1983, The Nashville Network was launched. It was essentially a Country Western version of MTV. It shot artists like Clint Black, Marty Stewart, Dwight Yoakam, and Garth Brooks to the top of the C&W charts. Classic artists like Earl and his friends were sort of ignored at first. But slowly people realized that those classic artists had lots of fans who wanted to see them on this new platform. Earl remembers, "I started seeing these young kids playing this new, slick country on cable tv. Then I started seeing my friends pop up. Waylon, Dolly, Willie, and I started to get an urge to hit the stage again."
Earl started to make a few appearances on the Nashville Network, and even Country Music Television (CMT) but always performed his classic hits with the house band. He enjoyed playing again, and he realized that he still had fans that wanted to see him. The year was 1985 and Earl had been retired for 6 years. He had songs written, but no band or record deal. Earl started to rekindle old business relationships. He'd stayed friends with Henri Broussard and went to many of Henri's sessions in Memphis just to hang out in the studio to collaborate and even play a little rhythm guitar on a few artist's songs.
By 1988 Earl was all over TNN (The Nashville Network) and CMT. Still performing as a solo artist and now even making appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and The Tonight Show. Record companies saw dollar signs and started to approach him once again but Earl was reluctant. He had never sold his soul to a record company and wanted to make music his way, and on his terms. Henri then put Earl in touch with Polymer Records executive Artie Fufkin whom he had done session work for. Fufkin had worked with Spinal Tap and met Earl during the filming of the Spinal Tap documentary. Polymer offered Earl a 3 record deal over the next 6 years but Earl didn't want to sign six years of his life over to a record company. Polymer made a counter offer of one new album, a greatest hits compellation and a major US tour within three years. Earl accepted and just like that...he was back in the game.
Sessions for what would be Earl Merle's comeback record began in January of 1989 at Kiva Studios in Memphis, TN. Henri would play bass once again and used many of the session players he'd worked with over the years. While recording at Kiva Studios, Earl would cross paths with Blues guitar legend Stevie Ray Vaughan. Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble were recording their album "In Step" and Stevie being a fan...had to meet Earl. They talked for hours and Stevie wanted to cover one of Earl's songs. However, Earl's strict publishing contract does not allow people to cover his songs or play them live unless Earl is on stage with them. So Stevie did the next best thing. He covered a song Earl covered while in the Dixie Wranglers, "Boot Hill". It was Stevie's tribute to Earl that was not initially released on the In Step album. Stevie Ray would die tragically in a helicopter crash on August 27, 1990 leaving the musical world in tears. His version of "Boot Hill" would be released on his posthumous album "The Sky Is Crying." Earl recalls, "I cried when I heard that. I was in the control room when they cut that song. Man he was a monster on a Stratocaster. He played slide guitar on that one because we used a slide guitar when we cut it with the Dixie Wranglers."
Sessions for Earl's new record concluded in April of 1989. Then things went off the rails. Earl suffered a heart attack and everything was put on hold. Earl would head back to Nashville where he would convalesce for nearly 8 months. Polymer was pissed and they sent Artie Fufkin to see where their record was and when the tour was starting. Earl's doctor said no tour for at least 18 months so Polymer decided to shelf the record until Earl made a full recovery. "We didn't want to release the album and have it go limp without a tour to promote it. You can over saturate as well as under saturate a market so it's a fine line" stated Fufkin when asked for comment. Earl would finish the decade recovering from a heart attack and his comeback album put on indefinite hold. He was starting to wonder if it was all worth the trouble again.
Country Music Legend Earl Merle (1990-1999)
By October of 1990 the doctors gave Earl the "all clear" to tour. However, while he was recovering Polymer records was dissolved into it's parent company Polygram and Earl's deal was thrown out. It took nearly 2 years for Earl to get possession of his recordings and as he put it "that fight took a lot out of me. I also met the new face of the recording industry." 1992 closed out with Earl finally getting his recordings, he had a completed album, but no band and no record deal. He had no real plan of action and felt maybe his best days were behind him. Earl felt defeated but his next record deal would come from a very unlikely place. Independent record label Lampwick Records was following Earl's legal battles in the news and contacted him with an offer. He'd have complete control over his music and Lampwick would promote him and distribute his music. Earl agreed, handed over the recordings for mastering and things began to look promising once again.
1994 started out with Earl once again putting a new band together. His first call was to Henri who would play bass once again and help find the rest of the members. One thing was clear from the beginning, they would be Earl's backing band. They never even picked a name. Some referred to them as "Earl's Bushwhackers" but that never appeared in print anywhere and as Henri always said "We're Earl's band, we don't need a name." Earl's comeback album "Mobile Home Mayhem" was released on Lampwick Records on January 30, 1995 to great reviews. It's first single "Chock the Wheels" debuted at Number 4, followed by "Trailer Park Odyssey" hitting Number 2. Then lighting would strike. The song "There She Goes (with my dog & pickup)" shot to Number 1 and stayed there for 4 months! Earl was now filling stadiums and along came the tv appearances, radio interviews, product endorsements and collaborations with up and coming artists like Shania Twain, Travis Tritt, and too many others to even mention. The Mobile Home Mayhem Tour lasted 18 months and by the end of 1997 Earl was now billed as "Country Music Legend Earl Merle." A title that he still shrugs off to this day.
On April 1, 1998 Earl received a lifetime achievement award from the Midwest Country Music Association (MCMA). A new album was being planned and Earl wanted it done ASAP. The whole Y2K scare was in full swing and if the world was gonna end at the stroke of midnight January 1, 2000...Earl didn't want to leave this earth with a half finished product. Sessions started at his home studio in Nashville on August 2, 1998 and concluded by October 15th. Masters were submitted to Lampwick Records on January 4, 1999 and the album "Caught With Your Pants Down" was released February 1 to mixed reviews. Some said the album featured too many guest appearances and didn't feel like an Earl Merle album. Earl was proud of it though. He played with his friends and they all had fun doing it. Lampwick loved the album and promoted the hell out of it but is wasn't selling enough to cover their expenses. A tour was in the planning stages to help recoup some money and was set to begin in March of 2000. It was to be called "The World Didn't End Tour" but by late October Lampwick was bankrupt and had to close it's doors leaving Earl uncertain of his future once again.
Another Last Hurrah (2000-2007)
Lampwick Records did their best to keep Earl's comeback afloat but it was an uphill battle the whole way. Company President David Divoky stated "I know Earl was crushed. But we were broke and had no other options. Nobody wanted to buy out his contract so everything just dissolved." Financing for the 2000 tour came from a very unlikely place. Good ole Henri Broussard built up quite a nest egg with his side business breeding Salamanders. He rolled all that money into real-estate investments in southern Louisiana and financed Earl's tour. The tour launched in May of 2000 and lasted a year. In 2001 Rhino Records contacted Earl about releasing a remastered box set of all his material up to that point. Negotiations started and on April 16, 2002 "Something To Help Pay My Taxes: An Earl Merle Retrospective" was released. It flew off the shelves and Earl was able to give a little money back to Henri after financing the last tour.
They say once you release a box set you become a Legacy Act. Only four new songs were recorded for the new box set and Earl once again made the rounds on tv, radio, and bookstores to promote it. Earl performed solo, promoting his box set for almost 2 years. In 2004 he wanted to record new material but Rhino was reluctant. He locked himself in his home studio and recorded "Off Into the Sunset". It was to be his last album before retiring once again. The album was released August 22, 2005. The very next day Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of the US and destroyed New Orleans, Biloxi, and number of other cities. Nobody was talking about Earl's new album. It's his lowest selling album to date, it was just sort of looked over and forgotten about. "I wanted that Farewell Tour. One like the Rolling Stones do every couple years. One last big thank you to the fans" stated Earl. So he and Henri secured sponsors, and organized the tour themselves. 40 shows over the course of a year. Henri returned on bass along with Bushwhacker guitarist Eddie Ray Raymond and drummer Billy "Bam Bam" Bonner. The tour kicked off on March 9, 2007 and was doomed from the start.
On May 20, 2007 while on a short break in the tour, best friend and bass player Henri Broussard was found unresponsive in his hotel room in Pensacola, FL at the age of 68. Earl was devastated. "He was my best friend, my road manager, and just a great guy. He never did me wrong and I miss him dearly. On the bright side...that lucky bastard died in his sleep. The best way to go" laments Earl. Henri was 10 years older than Earl and never spoke of the health issues he was having. His cause of death was Congestive Heart Failure. Earl contemplated cancelling the rest of the tour. But he NEVER cancelled a show and didn't want to do it now. This was his farewell tour after all. So he pressed on with some help from Henri's son, Johnny Broussard. Earl remembers, "I talked to Johnny at his daddy's funeral and said I want to keep touring. It'll be to remember Henri and for me to say farewell to the fans. But I need a Broussard on bass and Johnny was as good, maybe even better than his Daddy." The tour resumed on June 5 and continued to sold out shows until it concluded New Years Eve in Nashville, TN.
Retired Yet Again (2008-2021)
Earl disappeared from public life all together once he retired. He focused on family, sailed yachts, raised cattle, and even spent time in Mauritania as an amateur archeologist searching for the lost city of Atlantis. He was doing the things he never had time do do and he was loving life. Many forgot about him due to the fact that he wasn't out performing, or even making public appearances anymore. But if you've learned anything reading this, you'll know that all of that was about to change when Earl's doorbell rang on his 72nd Birthday. The unexpected visitor? Johnny Broussard. Johnny recalls, "Earl never had a cell phone or a computer. And he never answered his landline. So the only way to reach him was in person. I was in town so I stopped by to wish him a happy birthday and to let him know that people were talking about him and listening to him again." When the Gub'ment locked us in during Covid, people needed things to do. Somebody found Earl on Spotify and over the course of 18 months he blew up and got popular again. "Johnny told me I was trending on Spotify. I didn't know what the hell he was talking about. I told him his daddy would be very sad if he started doing drugs" jokes Earl. But it was true, Earl's music was finding new audiences and Johnny Broussard had a plan.
The Birth of The Moonshiners (2022-Present)
After Johnny's visit, Earl had the itch to perform again. "I was blessed a third time. Most people don't get too many chances. I had yet another chance to share my music with the world" said Earl. But all he had was Johnny Broussard on bass. He once again needed a band and wanted a fresh group of younger musicians who could really take his shows to the next level. He needed to compete with what has been coined "Pop Country". Earl dug deep into his phonebook. Reached out to his old friends who were still alive, looking for those hot young country players. It was at that moment he remembered an Italian fella he saw playing in an Eddie Rabbit Tribute Band in Tuscany, Italy.
Vincenzo Palermo was born in Taormina, Sicily and was one of the hottest drummers around. "I remember seeing him play at a hotel resort in Tuscany and I was blown away by his drumming. What really surprised me is that Italian boy could barely speak English when I introduced myself after the show, but he could sing those Eddie Rabbit tunes without his thick accent" Earl remembers. Earl kept in touch with Vincenzo and when Earl asked him to be his drummer, he packed up and flew to the United States to start rehearsals. Preliminary rehearsals started in November of 2022 but Earl still needed a lead guitar player.
Earl's old guitar player from The Delta Bushwhackers, Billy Ray Raymond, told Earl of a guitar player he heard in and around the Austin music scene. Bernie "Slick Fingers" Felderski was born in Webster, TX and originally an accordion player. Bernie switched to guitar after realizing the Austin Polka scene wasn't that great. Earl flew down and grabbed Austin's hottest guitar picker before anyone else could.
Initially the Moonshiners were going to be a three piece. Bernie Felderski on lead & Pedal Steel guitar, Vincenzo Palermo on drums, Johnny Broussard on bass, and Earl Merle on vocals & rhythm guitar. But while Earl was at a club in Nashville, TN he stumbled upon Bo Hatfield. Bo had an Earl Merle Tribute band and could sing Earl's songs almost as good as Earl could! Earl approached the young singer and Bo was star struck and couldn't believe he was standing face to face with his hero. It was at that moment Earl dropped a bomb on young Bo. "He was playing my music without me on stage. That goes against my publishing contract and I could have sued the boots off that boy." stated Earl. Instead he gave Bo an ultimatum. Join The Moonshiners and Earl will forget about Bo's blatant disregard for Earl's publishing contract.
With all that said, The Moonshiners were complete and official rehearsals began in February of 2023. Earl Merle & The Moonshiners hit the road for a few gigs in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisianan and some of the audio for those performances was leaked, check the media section of this site. We got our hands on some of the recordings! Their first official, advertised public performance was at the Metairie, LA VFW. A Veterans benefit that Earl and The Moonshiners blew the roof off of! Currently they're performing quite a few private functions but have more public performances coming starting later this spring. A tour of the Midwest is planned so check the calendar for up to date info.
We'll let Earl himself close out his amazing story. Take it away Earl:
I can't thank my fans, friends, and family enough for letting this old Mississippi boy keep on doing what I love most. I've seen and done it all three or four times over and I made it out alive. Most of my close friends are gone. Waylon, Elvis, Tammy, Henri and countless others. I hope they're smiling down on me and the Moonshiners while we perform for the greatest fans that have ever lived. I could not have dome it without all of you!
Sincerely,
