Even tho it's a short month, February is already shaping into one of the better months for Great Country Music fans across Central Florida. Most of the major recording labels out of Nashville have a tendency to slow down production over the Christmas/New Years holidays, but that pace has picked up again, and many of your favorite stars are back on the charts. During the holiday slow-down, a great many of the top acts were either at home with their families, or in a Nashville studio coming up with new product. As mentioned in last month's column, 1981 is shaping into one of the best years ever for Great Country Music and it'll be interesting to see what Nashville can do to top last year's tremendous productivity.

Celebrations during February: (birthdays) ... Claude King (5th), the legendary Ernest Tubb (9th), Moe Bandy (12th), Tennessee Ernie Ford (13th), Hank Locklin (15th), piano master Del Wood (22nd), Faron young (25th) and Johnny Cash (26th).

Several country milestones were established during February in past years: Lynn Anderson's "Rose Garden" was certified "gold" on February 3, 1971; Elvis Presley recorded his first Nashville session on February 10, 1956; Jimmy Rodgers recorded one of his big hits "Any Old Time" on February 21, 1929; Porter Wagoner joined the Grand 01' Opry on February 23, 1957; and Loretta Lynn's "Fist City" came on to the charts for the first time February 24, 1968. (That song eventually went to # 1 nationally for the Coal Miner's Daughter). But probably one of the most important events ever to affect the music industry took place on February 19, 1878 ... when Thomas Alva Edison received a patent on the phonograph. That first phonograph was a far cry from what's available today., but it still represented one of the biggest achievements in home entertainment. The first recordings were produced on a cylinder instead of a disc, and the quality certainly left a little to be desired ... but thanks to Edison, a whole new industry was founded. Did you ever stop to think that it is weren't for Thomas Edison, we'd all be listening to records by candle light? (Really!!!) And if it weren't for Thomas Edison, there'd probably be thousands of would-be-singing-stars washing cars and waiting on tables for a living. Come to think of it, there are still a lot of would-be-stars washing cars and waiting tables for a living (That's what Nashville folk call "payin' yer dues.")

Every once in a while, along comes a singer you can't help but like. This month, we pay tribute to some genuine Central Florida talent. Carl Chambers of Auburndale and Judy Bailey of Lacoochee, among others. Carl's name is certainly familiar to 'Floridians who have been following country music for any length of time , and now he has his first national release out on Prairie Dust Records. The song is called "Take Me Home With You", and It has "hit" written all over it. Most of the instrumental work was done in Auburndale at Central Sound Studios with Len Walls driving the 16-track MCI. Carl did the vocals and over-dubbed the fiddle in Nashville where Larry Morton co-produced with Carl. WGTO sincerely wishes Carl good luck in what we hope will be a long and lucrative recording career.

Judy Bailey is a young lady from Lacoochee who can be heard singing the duet with Moe Bandy on CBS Records, "Following the Feeling". Judy recorded one other duet on the new Moe Bandy album that's just out and is currently negotiating for a solo contract with that same label. She's a shy young thing, but loaded with talent and charm ... certainly she's no stranger to singing ... and we hope her name can now be added to a growing list of star singers who hail from the Great State of Florida. It impresses me how much genuine talent is available here in Florida ... and it's exciting to watch new acts in the process of developing into genuine stars.